Did the Washington Nationals miss the perfect opportunity to trade MacKenzie Gore?

Mike DeBartolo and the Washington Nationals brass decided to hold on to MacKenzie Gore. This could be a big mistake

The biggest move the Nationals made at this Trade Deadline was actually their decision to hold on to MacKenzie Gore. He was the biggest trade chip the Nationals could have reasonably moved. Gore is a very talented pitcher, but he is not without his flaws and only has two years of control after this year.

While Gore’s summer troubles did not come until July this year, they did end up rearing their ugly head. After putting up an All-Star level 3.02 ERA in the first half, Gore has had three ugly starts since. He has allowed 15 runs in 12.2 ugly innings in his last three starts. That has ballooned his season ERA to 3.80.

With that in mind, it is a risk to hold on to Gore. If we see further regression, his value could crater as he both loses his shine and inches closer to free agency. As a Boras client, an extension with Gore feels highly unlikely, so capitalizing on his value would have been a sound decision.

However, it always takes two to tango. If the offers were not good enough, holding on to him is understandable. Mike DeBartolo clearly felt that the offers were not good enough and he said as much in his presser.

However, as a GM, it is your job not to overvalue your own players and reject offers that would help your team. We do not know what was out there, so who knows if that happened here. Gore’s value is not going to get a whole lot higher than this though. Up until the last three starts, he was one of the best pitchers in the National League and he was under team control for three potential playoff runs.

Even if you trade him in the offseason, that is one less playoff run for a potential suitor. Those three playoff runs made him so valuable on the market. There is reason to believe that the Nats were not the only team with controllable starters that were not getting the offers they were looking for. Guys like Sandy Alcantara, Joe Ryan and Edward Cabrera all ended up staying put.

However, we do know there was heavy interest in Gore. The Cubs made a very public run at Gore, but they ended up not putting enough chips on the table to get that big starter they wanted. Interestingly, there was reporting that the Padres made a run at Gore.

Assuming the package that the Padres ended up dishing out for Mason Miller was not on the table, I am fine with not sending Gore to San Diego. Outside of Leo De Vries, who was sent to the A’s, there is just not a real headlining prospect in that system. It is crazy how aggressive AJ Preller is though.

I am really curious to see if the Cubs offer ever comes out. There was reporting that the Nats wanted third baseman Matt Shaw. If the Nats were unwilling to do a deal that did not include Shaw, that would be an example of Mike DeBartolo over playing his hand.

The Cubs have a lot of young talent that is close to the big leagues. Two of Owen Caissie, Moises Ballesteros, Jefferson Rojas and Jaxon Wiggins would have been intriguing to say the least. The Cubs also have interesting guys deeper in their system that would entice me as well.

At the end of the day, we probably won’t ever know the full offer, but I really hope the Nats did not overplay their hand. If the Nationals hold on to Gore while not committing to real improvement in the next couple years, that would be a massive blunder.

With Gore still around, the Nats need to commit to this core with real spending in the offseason. While it would be unreasonable to expect playoffs next year, if Gore is still around, this team needs to make big strides.

This 2025 season has been an unmitigated disaster. It has exposed how shallow this roster really is. Trading MacKenzie Gore could have helped the Nats build a deeper roster for the future. However, if the offers were not there, you cannot trade a guy for MacKenzie Gore just for the sake of it.