Cade Cavalli is a strong building block. The Nationals have to add around him.

On Friday night, the Nationals’ entire roster stood shoulder to shoulder in the back of the room for a rarity of sorts in this decade: a news conference for a player signing a long-term contract extension.

Cade Cavalli inked a four-year, $47 million extension with the Nationals last Friday, with a fifth-year club option that brings the total value to $70 million. One week later, with his family and agency watching in the first row, Cavalli spoke glowingly about his and his team’s future.

By keeping him, the Nationals finally have a cornerstone pitcher in their rotation — a piece they’ve been desperately searching for since they won the World Series in 2019. But Cavalli alone won’t be enough. If they want to build a true contender, they’ll need a formidable pitching staff around him.

“We all hate losing in here. We play the game to win,” Cavalli said. “I look forward to doing it with this group in the future. Next year we’re gonna get after it, and we fully plan on playing in October. We’re walking around here feeling the weather, like this feels like playoff baseball weather. We’re planning on being or playing in it next year, and I know that every guy feels it and thinks that.”

That’s the sentiment you want to hear from your ace. But the reality is the Nationals won’t be playing in October unless they address the glaring weakness that is their pitching staff, whose 4.65 ERA ranks 26th in baseball.

The Nationals won their World Series thanks to a strong, veteran lineup and an elite pitching staff headlined by Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin.

They’ve been searching for a building block since. After the World Series, they thought it would be Strasburg, the last pitcher to have a news conference at Nationals Park. He signed a seven-year, $245 million contract. Through no fault of Strasburg or the team, the right-hander pitched only 31 1/3 innings because of lingering symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome and retired in 2024.

Corbin pitched to a 5.62 ERA in 137 starts over the next five seasons and led the league in losses three times. Scherzer was traded to the Dodgers during the 2021 sell-off that signaled the beginning of a rebuild. A full-blown search for the next ace began.

All eyes were on Josiah Gray, a one-time All-Star acquired for Scherzer who missed nearly two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery and just returned to the big leagues in mid-September. Then the focus shifted to MacKenzie Gore, a one-time All-Star acquired in the Juan Soto trade whose bright spots were marred by inconsistency. He was traded to the Texas Rangers last offseason for five prospects.

Cavalli, then, brings a sense of closure to the team’s search. The Nationals offense, with reinforcements this offseason, should be good enough. But their focus has to be on building both a rotation and a bullpen that can compete come October.

Of course, there’s an easy solution: spend. The Nationals enter this offseason with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.

They would be wise to add a starter or two, in addition to bullpen help, in free agency. If they believe they can contend for a playoff spot next season, and it seems they do, a track record goes a long way. It’s difficult to bank on young starters with limited experience.

Washington could invest in a big-name pitcher, as did when it signed Scherzer to a seven-year deal in 2015. Even if they don’t go that far, there are modest investments on shorter deals the Nationals could make on players they value.

Those kinds of deals have been missing in Washington in recent years; outside of Cavalli and catcher Keibert Ruiz, the Nationals haven’t committed to a deal longer than two years since reliever Will Harris signed a three-year contract in 2020.

President of baseball operations Paul Toboni said the Nationals will be open-minded. He also presented what will be a delicate balance to navigate in the coming months. They know they need to improve their pitching. Signing players could help immediately. The trade-off is those signings could hinder the development of their internal options.

“Whether we’re a playoff team next year or not, yeah, we’re going to go out and sign some players,” Toboni said. “But I think what’s really going to drive it is, like, can our guys internally take huge steps forward? And not just one or two, like five, six, seven, eight, to make sure that we not only have the top-end talent to make a push but that we have the depth.”

Heading into next season, beyond Cavalli, Andrew Alvarez has likely earned himself a rotation spot with his 2.15 ERA over his last nine appearances entering Friday. Connelly Early, acquired for corner infielder Curtis Mead, should slot into the rotation as long as he’s healthy. Beyond that, it’s a mystery.

Manager Blake Butera said the good news is the Nationals have plenty of starting pitching depth — more than they had when the season began.

“It’s almost like there’s more pitchers, more starting pitchers than there are spots in the rotation, which is a really good problem to have,” he said.

The trick is, many are unproven.

“We have a number of pitchers on our staff that, in many ways, are at inflection points in their career, and like we really got to push it this offseason,” Toboni said.

When asked to name those pitchers, he grouped them in two buckets: the up-and-coming pitchers who have gotten a taste of the majors or are in Triple-A, and the established big leaguers who have underperformed.

The first group includes Jackson Kent (eight appearances in 2026), DJ Herz (20 appearances, one in 2026) and Jarlin Susana (one Triple-A start and participating in the Arizona Fall League). The second includes Jake Irvin (5.02 ERA in 111 games) and, to a lesser extent, Gray.

Having depth is helpful in a long season when pitching injuries typically pile up. The difficult part is figuring out who can take the next step and establish themselves alongside Cavalli as a core member of the next great Washington rotation.