With the Washington Nationals in the middle of a rebuilding year and at 31-48 on the season, the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline represents another opportunity for general manager Mike Rizzo to better position the club for success in the future. But how active will the Nats be?
"Well, I think we're gonna be aggressive, take that whatever way you wanna take that. We're gonna do whatever's best for the organization and for the long term. We've got some good players that a lot of teams are calling about, we've got six or seven guys that we've fielded phone calls about already," 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.
"I think it will be an active, aggressive trade deadline," Rizzo told the Junkies. "I think that as always if we see an opportunity to create value in the organization and to improve ourselves and get better we're certainly not afraid to make a move and make a trade. It's something that I think we've seen in the last two trade deadlines that's really set us up to start taking off with this rebuild.
"I think you see the core group of young players that's going to be part of a roster for the next championship-caliber club. You see where our minor league system has come from three drafts and two trade deadlines ago to today. And I think you see the progress, not only on the field with our young players but the feeling and the progress within the organization."
One of the names that the Junkies brought up, but Rizzo did not address, was relief pitcher Kyle Finnegan, who has pitched to a 3.66 ERA this season in 31 appearances over 32 innings. The 31-year-old has a career 3.47 ERA in 189.1 innings pitched.
Rizzo added generally, "We've got a plan to turn this thing around, we're implementing the plan, and we have to be true to the plan and it's something that we take very, very seriously... and I think you can clearly see what we're trying to do and the next championship-caliber club is out there in our minor league system somewhere along with our big league guys. That's kinda how we're kinda gonna attack the trade deadline and we're going to be careful to make the right moves and put ourselves in the position to be a factor in this thing next year."
First, the amateur draft is also coming up in July, with the Nationals picking highly, and Rizzo called it "another cog in that rebuild machine."
With the All-Star Game coming up in Seattle, the conversation turned to which player might represent Washington at the Mid-Summer Classic and right fielder Lane Thomas' name was the go-to answer.
"He certainly has had statistically, his numbers kinda pop off the page," Rizzo told the Junkies. "If you ever watch us play, you know that we kinda go as Laane Thomas goes. Since [manager] Davey [Martinez] put him in the leadoff spot he's kinda taken off and has played terrific baseball."
Thomas, who came over from St. Louis during the 2021 season, is slashing .299/.347/.516 for a .864 OPS and 139 OPS+ through 77 games with 21 doubles, 14 home runs and 43 RBI.
"Not only offensively, he's getting much, much better defensively," the GM added. "He's learning that right field, the kinda little nuances of right field in Nats Park. He's throwing out a lotta runners on defense. And he's 95th percentile in speed and arm strength. So, he's a really good player kinda coming into his own and he'd be a very honorable candidate for the Nationals."
Rizzo added that "a couple of other guys that come to mind for me" would be young pitchers Josiah Gray (3.43 ERA in 89.1 innings) and MacKenzie Gore (3.89 ERA in 85.2 innings) who have performed well, but, "I think Thomas is probably the No. 1 candidate for us to go to the All-Star game."
Thomas added two hits a walk and two RBI in the top of the 11th on Tuesday night against the Mariners to help give the Nats a 7-4 win.
"Yeah, a good grinder," Rizzo said. "The pitching staff was great [Jake] Irvin gave us a chance to win, one out away from a quality outing, can't mention it enough about Finnegan going two innings and then [Hunter] Harvey shutting it down and [Jordan] Weems was just outstanding, attacking the strike zone and really pitched with a lot of guts and courage, went after guys when he had to and got out of a lot of scraps and some jams.
"And the defense was terrific... I think you can kinda just see that middle of the defense getting better and better together as they're playing together more and more they're kinda growing together and you can really see some acrobatic feats day in and day out. And with those guys it's all about consistency and I think as they get the reps the consistency will be there."
The conversation also hit on the spectacular Shohei Ohtani ("He has more value than any other guy in baseball") and the recent promotion of 24-year-old right-hander Jackson Rutledge from Double-A to Triple-A. Rizzo said how the organization will continue to take it slow with him missing significant amounts of time with injury but added is "more of a pitcher now than he was."
And there is a chance for Nationals fans to see Rutledge in the big leagues later this season as he is on the Nats' 40-man roster, but there are several milestones the GM wants to see him hit before that happens. Listen to get the full conversation on the player above!
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