For Washington Nationals general manager, Mike Rizzo, the trade deadline always creates opportunity. So far, he has already pulled off two trades. Before the All-Star break, Rizzo dealt Hunter Harvey to the Royals for Cayden Wallace and a Comp Round draft pick that was used to select Caleb Lomavita. And after Saturday’s game, the Nats’ GM traded Jesse Winker to the Mets for a Double-A pitcher, Tyler Stuart — a 6’9″ 250 pound right-hander.
The Nationals have quite a few other tradeable assets as well (alpha order):
Before you over-react to Corbin’s name on that list, we will cover below why Corbin is on the list.
The Nationals have traded 1 position player and 1 reliever this month. While it is almost certainly a given that not all of the other 7 players listed above will be traded, perhaps the baseball gods are smiling down on the Nats. In a year in which pitchers, especially relievers are in demand, the Nationals have 6 additional pitchers they could trade. Continuing to improve the quality of the prospects at the lower levels in the organization would be a great result from this year’s deadline.
Yes, some of these names are not likely to be traded. But let us not forget that while on the IL, Kyle Schwarber was traded for Aldo Ramirez. Who knows, maybe Joey Gallo could be traded — again doubtful. Admittedly, a lotto ticket who may never work out, but who knows. So maybe there is a team willing to roll the dice and trade for Trevor Williams too.
Likewise, Rizzo pulled off a great deal to get Lane Thomas in exchange for Jon Lester. So I am not going to underestimate Rizzo’s ability to perhaps get something in exchange for Patrick Corbin. Bottom line is there is nobody who should ever underestimate Rizzo’s trading acumen.
Please vote in the poll below to let us know which player(s) will be traded. And yes, you can pick all 7 no matter how unlikely that is.
Here’s hoping this is the last year for the foreseeable future that the Nationals are sellers at the deadline; AND this coming Hot Stove season is the last one for a while that is signing reclamation projects in hopes they can be flipped. And based on this nice quote from James Wood, perhaps there is a Nationals/Winker reunion in the future. Is he the veteran leader this team needs moving forward?
“I think we all leaned on [Winker] a little bit. It’s tough — but we always wish him the best. Not too much of the best, obviously, he’s staying in our division, but yeah, he’s great.”
— James Wood said after the game
In closing, please comment on your choices and your rationale.
