The Nationals have also spent basically nothing in free agency the last few years also. They have one of the lowest projected payrolls in baseball next year. Their plan is to wait until the young players get to a good point and then surround them with more talent - and the next 1-2 years should be the time to do that. I don’t know why they would give up Gore unless the deal is too good to pass up. He is only going to get better.
If they did give him up, which I’d say is unlikely, they would be focused on getting quality pitching in return. That’s what they need.