WASHINGTON — There is a scene in the film “Moneyball” where general manager Billy Beane declares that his Oakland Athletics will try to recreate Jason Giambi in the aggregate.Washington Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni did not make that exact claim for his club, nor did he trade an MVP candidate away, but there is a similar thread to pull on here. The Nats, at least as currently constructed, felt comfortable replacing recently traded players Foster Griffin, Luis García Jr. and Curtis Mead internally while adding to the farm system.“It’s really tough to replace those guys — like, Curtis and Luis both, they’ve been two of the best hitters in the major leagues this year,” Toboni said on trade deadline day. “That being said … ideally, we can look up a month or two from now and say, ‘Hey, the offense hasn’t slowed down much.’ If anything, it’d be cool if we reached new heights.”The claim was bold. It came with caveats. And yet, after dropping seven of eight on the road, the Nationals came home and completed a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. The players they acquired have already produced, and the fill-ins have … filled in admirably. Has that made the deadline sell-off easier to sell to the clubhouse? Can we say that the Nats have nailed the whole “compete now and later” strategy? Both are TBD.But there’s a compelling vision. Here’s what it looks like and what the team expects from the 2026 fill-ins and the possible 2027 debutants, leaning on what we’re hearing around the organization and seeing in small, encouraging samples.Do trade deadline deals lead to World Series rings?Joe CrisalliRecreating 1B Luis García Jr.What they have to replace: The highest slugging percentage in the National League.Who’s being asked to fill in: Andrés Chaparro and Abimelec Ortiz.Why this could work: These guys rake.Replacing García’s clubhouse presence? Hard. Replacing his NL-best .560 slugging percentage? Hard, but more feasible.Ortiz has three extra-base hits and even more hard outs in 22 MLB at-bats. He had an .845 OPS this season in Triple-A Rochester, with underlying metrics that indicate he was a bit unlucky. And while it might be unfair to expect Ortiz to replicate Garcia’s power, he rarely chases, which could help him maintain a higher OBP.Oh, and almost everything that was just said about Ortiz applies in some way to Chaparro, be it through hard contact, bad luck or a high OBP.The Nationals like Ortiz’s mature approach and believe it’s sustainable. They believe Chaparro could have a Mead-like trajectory, beginning as a platoon bat against lefties before eventually earning regular at-bats against righties (possibly at DH or third base).Recreating Foster GriffinWhat they have to replace: Almost a guaranteed win.Who’s being asked to fill in: Andrew Alvarez and … a TBD Triple-A starter.Why this could work: Tutelage and peripherals.Players brought in on one-year deals are not always the best mentors. Griffin was different. The lefty helped his peers tweak their game-planning routines, especially Alvarez. Over the last few weeks, Alvarez has prepared by watching the opposing hitters’ most recent at-bats against lefties, because that’s what Griffin taught him to do.“Sometimes, reports and things that you look at on paper might not tell the whole story,” Alvarez said. “I’m not gonna watch someone throwing 99 (mph) and play that and do it, but … it’s watching their sequences in the last 30 days, and just getting visuals, seeing how they’re reacting to certain sequences, but then also knowing myself and what I do.”