Washington Nationals Manager Dusty Baker, left, and General Manager Mike Rizzo will trot out a team much different than the one that lost in Game 5 of the NL Division Series, but it’s not clear whether the team will be better. (Cliff Owen/Associated Press)

When the Washington Nationals traded for left-for-dead lefty Enny Romero last week, they ended their offseason with a whimper compared to their higher-decibel pursuits of Chris Sale and Kenley Jansen. That Romero was the most high-profile addition to their bullpen signified the perplexing ambiguity that characterized their offseason.

The Nationals, who looked a player or two away from challenging juggernauts like the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, shot high a few times but mostly laid low. They entered this offseason needing a closer but came away without one. They had few questions emerge after narrowly missing the National League Championship Series, but they have more uncertainties — and fewer elite prospects — than they did in October. Somehow, the Nationals seem built to contend again anyway.

The offseason began with a priority — the bullpen — and optimism about their ability to address it. The Nationals needed to secure a closer, and three elite closers were available. They prioritized Mark Melancon, the cheapest and most familiar of the three, but their offer to the 31-year-old righty fell short on money and flexibility. So Melancon signed with the San Francisco Giants.

[Svrluga: Now pitching the ninth inning for the Nationals? Good question.]

They leapt into the Jansen race a month or so after that — and did so with an offer higher than what the Dodgers set forth. But Jansen said he wanted to stay in Los Angeles and decided to do so. The Nationals pivoted.

The acquisition of center fielder Adam Eaton, here greeting fans during during an offseason event, was the big move of the offseason. It will have ripple effects throughout the lineup and farm system. But the Nats also stand out for the offseason deals they failed to make. (Bill O'Leary/Washington Post)

Meanwhile, Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo emphasized his team’s flexibility. Because Trea Turner and Danny Espinosa could play in a variety of places, he could improve his lineup with either a shortstop or a center fielder — or even a corner outfielder, if the right man came along. While discussions with the Pittsburgh Pirates over all-star Andrew McCutchen progressed, Rizzo targeted Adam Eaton, the kind of gritty, cheap, controllable player he covets.

[Boswell: Everyone knows these Nationals’ names, but not their games]

Rizzo also wanted White Sox lefty Sale, the kind of ace who would have lifted the Nationals into World Series conversations like Max Scherzer did two years ago. The White Sox wanted Turner, but Rizzo wouldn’t budge. Sale headed to Boston.

But the ongoing talks with Chicago led to the quick consummation of another deal, a surprising three-for-one in which Rizzo surrendered top-rated prospect Lucas Giolito and playoff roster rookie Reynaldo Lopez, as well as one of the Nationals’ 2016 first-round picks, for Eaton. Such a deal had been unthinkable as recently as the trade deadline, when a package like that might have been competitive for someone like Andrew Miller. But Giolito’s stock had fallen and Eaton’s contract promised five years of team-friendly outfield depth. Rizzo pulled the trigger.

From then on, the Nationals underwent a few roster touch-ups, instead of the kind of makeover an elite closer or a few high-priced relievers or an all-star-type power hitter might have provided. With Wilson Ramos gone to Tampa Bay — a departure the Nationals had planned for all along — Rizzo acquired former farmhand Derek Norris from San Diego, betting $4.2 million on a bounceback season.

Eaton’s arrival bumped Turner back to shortstop, leaving Espinosa out of a starting job. Espinosa’s temperament never jived well with bench life, so Rizzo sent him and the more than $5 million he will make next season to the Los Angeles Angels. Rizzo also non-tendered Ben Revere, a failed and now-dispensable center field experiment, saving around $6 million in arbitration money in the process.

All of the Nationals’ free agent expenditures amounted to less than what Revere would have made in arbitration. They spent $4.9 million on bringing back bench staples Chris Heisey and Stephen Drew, both of whom are pivotal figures. Drew reemerged as an offensive threat last season, and he combined with Heisey’s pinch-hit wizardry to give Dusty Baker a lefty-righty power punch off the bench. With Espinosa gone, Drew also seems likely to serve as the primary backup to Turner at shortstop, a role more important because Turner has never started regularly at shortstop in the big leagues before.

But even in a market inundated with available relievers of all shapes and sizes, the Nationals’ spending ended there. They considered outfielder/first baseman Brandon Moss, Scott Boras pushed catcher Matt Wieters, and Rizzo scoured the league for value, as he tends to do. But as of a day before pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach, Fla., the Nationals did not sign a single new big league free agent.

They could still add. Players like Wieters, outfielder Angel Pagan and others have yet to find big league jobs. Free agents they signed to minor league deals — Vance Worley, Neal Cotts, Matt Albers and others — will try to crack the big league roster.

Romero, a hard-thrower whose fate hangs on his command, has a good chance to make the Opening Day bullpen. But that he qualifies as the biggest bullpen acquisition the Nationals made this offseason sums up the ambivalence surrounding their dealings this winter.

Perhaps Romero can help. Perhaps Eaton will emerge as an annual all-star and Norris will rebound. Perhaps Shawn Kelley or Blake Treinen will emerge as an elite closer. Perhaps some non-roster invitees will show more stuff than expected. But the Nationals emerged from an offseason in which so many sure things were available with less certainty than when they entered it. This is not the same team that lost to the Dodgers last October. But as spring training begins, the lingering question for these Nationals is whether different also means better.