Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats at the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline…

Notes and quotes on the deals the Nationals made and one they didn’t…

RIZZO AT THE TRADE DEADLINE [RIZZO POINTS TO HEAD]:

First it was Hunter Harvey, a waiver wire pickup in 2022, going to Kansas City in return for the Royals’ No. 2 prospect (on MLBPipeline’s list), and a competitive balance round pick in this year’s draft (No. 39 overall) which Washington used on the University of California, Berkeley’s catcher Caleb Lomavita.

Then it was Jesse Winker, who signed a free agent deal with the Nationals this winter going to the New York Mets in return for 2022 6th Round pick pitcher Tyler Stuart, 24, who is now ranked 17th overall in the Nats’ system by MLB Pipeline’s scouts, as the 4th highest-ranked right-hander in the organization.

Lane Thomas, acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals at the deadline in 2021, in return for Jon Lester, was dealt to the Guardians, in return for three of Cleveland’s prospects, left-hander Alex Clemmey, 19, now the highest-ranked lefty in the Nationals’ system on MLB Pipeline’s list, infielder José Tena, 23, and 19-year-old infielder Rafael Ramírez, Jr.

Just before the deadline, Dylan Floro, who signed a one-year deal in D.C. after a down-year in 2023, and bounced back, was dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks (the Nationals are now playing) in return for infielder Andrės Chaparro, 25, who was, “hitting .332, with 26 doubles, one triple, 19 home runs, 75 RBI[s], 41 walks, three stolen bases, and 69 runs scored in 95 games for Triple-A Reno,” and led, “Arizona’s system in average, on-base percentage (.403) and hits (122).”

Turning the players they traded into seven prospects, a number of whom are now in the Top 20 in the organization, GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo said on a Zoom call after the trade deadline passed, is an organizational success story.

“I think it’s a scouting and player development success story,” Rizzo explained. “We flipped Harvey, and Winker, and Thomas, from the trade deadlines, and from the waiver wires — we acquire these players in unique ways, and really the player development people developed them into players that have been coveted by other teams and got some really good, impactful prospects, for our trouble. We’re excited about the process that we have here, and I think it showed that it worked very, very well, and looking forward to seeing some of these new players, and getting our hands on them, getting our development guys on them and see if we can make them into guys that can help us on our next big league championship club.”

With the 2024 Draft and the deadline out of the way, Rizzo said, he was happy with the work the organization did to bolster their ranks, and help speed along the process of building the next (legitimately) competitive ballclub.

“We thought we fulfilled a lot of our objectives at the trade deadline,” he told reporters.

“I think we’ve got a deeper minor league system, we feel that we’ve got a couple impact players, and we think that it’s going to prove that it’s going to be very beneficial long-term.

“We’re happy with the return. The process, we felt worked well for us, and we’re really happy and excited about a lot of the players that we got in return.”

What were Rizzo and the front office targeting this time around, in the fourth deadline of the organizational reboot?

“We kind of attacked this trade deadline like we do the draft,” he explained. “We were trying to get the most impactful players that we could in each and every deal, because we think depth of impact players are what it’s all about. We attacked the middle of the diamond, the pitching mound, and the middle of the diamond. We got exciting players — going back to the Harvey deal where Lomavita was kind of a product of the trade deadline, and Cayden Wallace, and you get a left-handed pitcher with the upside and the pedigree of Clemme, and we thought Tena was a good pickup for us, and Ramírez, Jr. is a guy that we’re going to be interested seeing him develop, so we thought that we got the most impactful prospects back that we could.”

Eric Rueb/The Providence Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Harvey and Thomas both had a year-plus of team control remaining, so the Nationals were willing to listen on both and see if anyone met the high bar they set to trade either of them or just hold on to them, like they did with Kyle Finnegan (who also has a year-plus left). Why did they deal Thomas, but not Finnegan? Did the outfield depth in the system make it easier to trade an outfielder as opposed to a closer?

“I think that played a part in it, but I think that in this particular situation we got a player that we thought we got market value in return,” Rizzo said, “and that was the reason we pulled the trigger. When you can headline it with the upside 19-year-old Clemme, and Tena, and Ramírez, [Jr.], I think that was — the surplus value of those guys and the impact that they could have, and the upside that they all have, I thought was a good return for a really good player in Lane Thomas.”

In a seller’s market for relievers (see the return on Harvey), was the right deal for Finnegan just not there?

“It had to be market value. That’s what we were shooting for. This guy pitches at the back of a baseball game,” Rizzo said, of the reportedly highly sought-after closer. “He’s proven that he can handle the closer’s role. I don’t think we were asking for anything extravagant, but we did want market value for a closer that has another year of control. And that had a lot to do with it. We weren’t handcuffed or forced to move a player because his contract’s expiring or financial ramifications. We like this player. We think that he’s going to help us this year and next year and he’s a wonderful person, and he’s a good relief pitcher, he takes the ball whenever [manager] Davey [Martinez] hands it to him, and very selfless in that regard. He’s our bulldog and our guy in the ninth inning. None of the deals in our mind reached the eye-level of the market, so we were having conversations ‘til the end, and see if some deals changed, but at the end of the day we didn’t get a deal that we were comfortable with and we didn’t have to move the player and we really like having him at the back of the bullpen.”

Did the Nationals approach this year’s deadline any differently than the past three, with the club, in the front office’s view, close to fielding a competitive ballclub in the near future?

“We attacked this trade deadline, like I said before, we’re trying to get the most impact that we can in the long-term. So high-upside with low-risk is what you’re trying to do and that’s what we kind of went after this year, and really every year.”

And the possibility that next year, after four years of selling, they’ll be looking to buy instead? Will it be nice to be buyers if their club is as close as they think right now?

“It’s more fun,” Rizzo said. “I know that much. It’s way more fun grabbing All-Star players than it is giving away All-Star players, so in that regard it will be a lot more fun, but this is challenging, and this is a tough time for players, and we recognize that, and we think it’s a necessary time, and I think that this organization, this front office did a remarkable job and has always done a remarkable job at the trade deadline, and I think this year was no different.”

“Yeah it will be amazing, it really will,” Martinez said when he spoke about last night’s rough loss to the D-backs. “The key is if we start doing that [buying vs selling], it means at the end of the year we’re really going to play for something. I don’t really feel like right now we’re out of anything by any means, we’re close…”

But they’re likely to be even more competitive, with more highly-regarded prospects in the mix in the majors next year, and could finally add the pieces where they see needs via free agency or trade.

“A year from now is a pretty long time away, so we’re going to focus on today,” Martinez said, as always staying on brand.