The youth movement is indeed in full effect in DC, or West Palm Beach right now, as Nationals President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo told Grant & Danny flat out Monday that "there are very few jobs set in stone" – meaning, ostensibly, that if any of the top prospects show they are ready, they will break camp.
"Nobody ever blocks a great player. When players are ready to get to and impact the big-league club, they'll get here, and they'll be in there every day," Rizzo said. "We always go into this thing with a 'what can help our team and give us the biggest bang for our buck for what we have' attitude, and if five of these prospects won't allow us to send them out, that's a good decision to have to make."
James Wood, whose monster spring included a 1-for-3 day while Rizzo was talking to G&D, was the impetus for that discussion, and once again: a lot of jobs are wide open, so if Wood shows he's ready to skip Triple-A completely, that may be on the table.
"I won't say anyone doesn't have a chance, but they have to kick the door down and force us to put them on the team," Rizzo said. "It's not the best guys long-term, it's the best guys right now, and it has to make sense for their development. We're here with few positions set in stone; competition is rampant, which I think is good for a young teams, and if any of these guys are ready to go, we've shown no apprehension to bringing young guys to the big leagues."
The Prospect Promotion Incentives won't have any effect on that, Rizzo says, as it's always "what's best for player and the team long-term," and that includes wanting to win games now.
"When you're ready for the big leagues, everyone will know it, and we'll bring you, but our goal is to win games," Rizzo said. "We haven't done much of it the last couple years. The byproducts of learning how to win and getting reps in the big leagues is all great in the long-term, but we want to win games this year, and it's not out of our expectations to give ourselves a chance to win every day. Nobody wants to see long rebuilds, but we have a plan in place and see the light at the end of the tunnel."
One thing that has made that losing and the rebuild easier, though, in hindsight?
"I think we're as deep and well-defined and toolsy as we've ever been," Rizzo said. "This is the best group of prospects we've ever had, but we've never come in last four years in a row and gotten a lot of high picks and international money for it, and we traded away a lot of good players to get some of them too. We're waiting for next wave to come to get on another run of excellence, and our improvement at the end of last year was vast. The fans have been supportive, and we feel good where we're at."
