General manager Mike Rizzo said on 106.7 The Fan last week that the Washington Nationals would be "busy and active for sure" at the MLB trade deadline and "aggressive and make deals that will make a lot of sense for us." But after just one deal in the days leading up to Tuesday's deadline, The Junkies asked if his phone was working.
"It was working, it's brand new. It was fully charged and working and we had plenty of phone calls and text messages on it, just couldn't find a deal that we liked and pulled the trigger on," Rizzo said on Wednesday during his weekly appearance with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office.
In the end, the Nats' lone move was to send first/third baseman Jeimer Candelario to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for two minor-leaguers: left-handed pitcher DJ Herz and infielder Kevin Made.
On the trade, Rizzo said that as the deadline approached "there were probably seven or eight teams that touched base with us and then when it got down to it there was two serious contenders for him."
The GM said that with many contending teams being set at the corner infield position, there was a bit of a depressed market for Candelario at the deadline.
"The market shrunk at the end," Rizzo added, "Two serious contenders were on him and the Cubs' two young prospects were the guys that we liked the most. And we pulled the trigger. And we got two really young guys with a lot of upside."
Herz, 22, has made 14 starts at Double-A this season and Rizzo liked that he was striking out 12.2 batters per nine innings. He has a 3.97 ERA and a 1.424 WHIP in 59.0 innings pitched with 80 Ks and 37 walks. Rizzo added he will be headed to the Nats' Double-A affiliate in Harrisburg.
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Made is "a young toolsy shortstop that can really play defense and has an outstanding throwing arm and we think the bat has potential for him to be an everyday player," Rizzo said. In 70 games at High-A South Bend, the 20-year-old has 17 doubles, two triples and three homers while slashing .241/.328/.355 with a .683 OPS. He will head for the team's Double-A affiliate in Wilmington.
On the player Washington gave up, Rizzo praised Candelario for his veteran leadership.
"Candy was great for us. What a great guy in the clubhouse for us. That was one thing I really didn't know much about that he was that great in the clubhouse," Rizzo said. "We knew that he was a great guy [manager Dave Martinez] had him in Chicago, but he was a mentor to those young infielders and was great in the clubhouse and had a terrific year for us."
And, he continued that run of good play in his first game back with the Cubs with a 4-for-5 day including a double and two runs scored in a 20-9 win over Cincinnati at Wrigley Field.
Rizzo told the Junkies that he, Martinez and Candelario had a nice discussion and he had an emotional goodbye and told the player he "was a breath of fresh air and you had a helluva season and go have some fun and see if you can make the playoffs."
While that deal was hardly last minute, Rizzo explained that he had made deals in his past with only moments to spare, detailing how it is a matter of "threshold for risk" when it comes to looking at a player's medical reports before making a trade.
"I've done one deal in my fifteen trade deadlines where we didn't have time for a medical background check on him and we just pulled the trigger on the deal," he said. "It's a trust factor you have to have with the other GM... he assured me that his player was healthy and I assured him that our player was healthy and because we wanted to make this deal badly, we just did it without the medical check."
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