(AP Photo/Alex Brandon All rights reserved)
It has been a long day at the Gaylord resort in National Harbor, Maryland as the focus was off Mark Melancon as he chose another offer, and it was off Andrew McCutchen as Mike Rizzo would not meet the demands of the Pirates. The focus shifted the Nats attention and resources towards Chris Sale.
The new strategy is to pursue Chris Sale who becomes the catalyst or a domino to fortify the front of the starting rotation allowing Mike Rizzo to trade a back-end starter for an outfielder we were told by a source.
That all seems wonderful in theory, but first things first, the Nationals are looking to acquire Chris Sale, and there are other teams who are also in the mix for Chris Sale.
The Nationals are rumored to be including Lucas Giolito and Victor Robles as the centerpieces of the Nats’ side of the trade; however, Mike Rizzo does not want to include Robles in any trade.
The Nationals starting rotation if they acquired Chris Sale could look like:
- Max Scherzer
- Chris Sale
- Stephen Strasburg
- Tanner Roark
- Joe Ross or Gio Gonzalez
One of the #5 projected starters could be traded for an outfielder as part of a larger trade or Mike Rizzo could also look at middle infielders and keep Trea Turner in centerfield. Teams in the mix could be the Marlins, Yankees and Astros who are all looking for MLB starters who are cost-controlled.
I'd call this a formidable 1-2-3 punch #Nats pic.twitter.com/VJLO3dAKQE
— Jake Russell (@_JakeRussell) December 6, 2016
