The 2024 edition of the MLB trade deadline was an exceptionally busy period and it went "a little better than expected" for the Washington Nationals, general manager Mike Rizzo said during his weekly appearance Wednesday 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. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender
Rizzo said the club wasn't expecting the early Hunter Harvey trade around the All-Star break with the Kansas City Royals that netted them a draft pick and a prospect and with that "jump-starting the activity," Rizzo says he thinks the Nationals "did very well" at the deadline.
But before getting into the deals, Rizzo was asked, with the Nationals as sellers and looking at posting a losing record for the fifth-straight season, how close is Washington to being a winning team?
"I think you see the light at the end of the tunnel," Rizzo told The Junkies. "I think anybody who has watched the team closely and critiqued us they see that we're getting close. When you have emerging young starters and emerging corps group of young players and more on the way, I think you supplement that with some astute free agent signings and you're right in it.
"...Some teams are perpetually rebuilding and that's not us. We rebuilt once, had eight, nine years of success and we're rebuilding again. But in that time, we've won four divisions and a wild card and a world championship. That a lot of other teams rebuilding can't say."
So, now, let's take a look at a few of the deals that happened and those that didn't happen for Washington:
Nationals send outfielder Lane Thomas to the Cleveland Guardians for left-hander Alex Clemmey (Guardians’ No. 8 prospect), shortstop Rafael Ramirez Jr. (No. 22) and infielder Jose Tena.
Rizzo: "Lane's a terrific player for us, last year he was All-Star quality for us, and probably should have made the team. This year, dominating lefties again and playing good outfield, he's got a cannon for an arm, he's stealing bases. A leader in the clubhouse and he's just an all-around American boy, he's just a great kid. And did a lot of good things for the organization and we'll miss him.
"But when you think about the trade deadline, you think about what you have at the big league level, where your deficiencies are in the minor league level and what you need to do to become a championship-caliber club. And we saw Lane probably being at his apex of his trade value, more trade value this year for Lane Thomas than there was last year for some reason, even with there being more control last year.
"We had a market value in our minds for what we would do Lane for and bounced around a lot of teams and there was a lot of interest and lot of action with him with the contenders. And you package in the fact that we've got some outfielders that are close to the big leagues that will impact the team in the very near future we thought that it was a deal that we couldn't pass up at this time."
Rizzo added that the Nationals loved Clemmey in the draft last year – he was the 58th overall pick (Second Round) – and he has a "ceiling to be a really good front of the rotation starting pitcher."
Ramirez is "having a little bit of a down year," but the Nationals "see bright things for him." Tena, 23, has some power and can play across the infield and will give the club some "immediate help at the upper minor league level" and MLB level.
Nats traded right-handed reliever Dylan Floro to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league third/first baseman Andres Chaparro.
This deal went right to the 6 p.m. EDT deadline on Tuesday and Rizzo said it has become a little common for the club to work all the way to the last minute, but they're not thrown together that late on a whim, of course.
"When we say last-minute deals, we've been talking to these teams for days or hours leading up to this last minute," the GM told the Junks. "You just finally get the team to commit to what your deal wants to be or you commit to what their deal is or something in between."
Rizzo said the Nationals are excited to get a look at Chaparro, who "really swings the bats well" and gives them a "potential power bat at the corners."
Deals that didn't happen
Rizzo said the Nationals "didn't take any calls" on the club's young starting pitching and if the conversation turned that way "we dismissed it right away."
"We're not moving [MacKenzie] Gore or [Mitchell] Parker or [DJ] Herz or [Jake] Irvin or any of those young kids," the GM said. "I think teams recognize that and stay away from those guys."
Rizzo also hit on the outfield prospects the Nationals are very excited about in the system and addressed a historic loss in Arizona – "we got our ass beat" – on Tuesday night. Listen to the full conversation on the audio player above!