Washington Nationals: best trades of the Mike Rizzo tenure, ranked
Mike Rizzo has been on both ends of the spectrum when negotiating trades for the Washington Nationals. Today we rank his top three swaps.
Jim Bowden was the only General Manager the Washington Nationals had known (in their time since the Montreal Expos relocated to DC) up until 2009. He then resigned over allegations he was skimming money from international prospects.
The Mike Rizzo experience began as the interim General Manager, though after five months he was hired full time. Eight years later, in 2017, he was named President of Baseball Operations as well as GM.
When he started his run overseeing trades, Rizzo was trading veterans for prospects to try to build up the Nationals minor league system. Once the Nats transitioned to a perennial division leader, Rizzo began swapping prospects at the trade deadline for pieces that could improve the Nationals’ chances of doing damage in the postseason.
The cliche in baseball is both teams want to come out winners in a trade situation. The truth is, there is always a winner, and fans want their team to be the one on the right side of any lopsided deal.
Over the years Mike Rizzo has been accustomed to winning the majority of the trades he made. Let’s dive into the three best trades he has executed as General Manager of the Washington Nationals.
Nationals trade Christian Guzman to Texas Rangers for Tanner Roark and Ryan Tatusko.
Christian Guzman was nearing the end of his contract with the Nationals. He was set to enter free agency after the 2010 season and the club knew they were not going to resign him.
After a poor first season with the club followed by sitting out an entire season recovering from a shoulder injury, Guzman had rebounded to provide the team with ample play. At 32 years of age, he didn’t hit for any power and had little speed remaining, but he provided a veteran presence, some postseason experience (from earlier days with the Minnesota Twins) and a decent glove.
The return would be meager for a rental player of this type, and the Nationals got two lower level pitchers. Both were AA pitchers, with one selected out of the 25th round in Tanner Roark and the other Ryan Tatusko.
Guzman would play in 15 games for the Rangers and then his career was over.
Tatusko made it as high as AAA, though never pitched in the big leagues.
Roark is where this trade is won, however. Upon being called up in 2013 he was 7-1 with a 1.51 ERA splitting time between the bullpen and rotation. Eventually, he found a spot in the starting five and pitched six years for the Nationals winning 64 games.
Nationals trade A.J.Cole, Brad Peacock, Tommy Milone, and Derek Norris to the Athletics for Gio Gonzales and Robert Gilliam
Both Brad Peacock and Tommy Milone had brief cups of coffee with the Washington Nationals and were considered fifth starters at best. Derek Norris was an up and coming catching prospect who was blocked at the top level by Wilson Ramos. A.J.Cole was a former fourth round draft pick who was sitting in Single-A.
GIo Gonzales was coming off an All-Star season where he won 16 games for the Oakland A’s. He was a front end starter who would compliment Jordan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg nicely.
Robert Gilliam was coming off of a 12 win season at Single-A Stockton with hopes of being developed into a big league caliber arm.
Peacock never pitched for the A’s though has put together a nice seven-year career for the Houston Astros. His best year was the World Series year of 2017 when he went 13-2.
Milone won 31 games over three years for the A’s and has been a journeyman since. He’s suited up for five teams since leaving Oakland (one of which was a return to the Nationals) and seems to make the most of his minor league contracts.
Cole never pitched for the A’s and was sent back to the Nationals as a part of the Michael Morse trade. He could never hold on to a fifth starter spot and worked out of the bullpen before being cut loose.
Norris played six years in the league and hit .230 before off the field problems ended his time in baseball.
The crown jewel of this trade was Gonzales. In his first campaign with the Nats, he won a league best 21 games and made the All-Star team. In 7 years he won 86 times with a mid-three ERA and helped the Nats to four playoff appearances where he made a combined six starts. The left-hander was a nice three hole pitcher for Washington and was never an injury risk.
As part of a three team trade, the Nationals sent Steven Souza and Travis Ott to the Tampa Bay Rays and the San Diego Padres sent Joe Ross and Trea Turner to the Nats.
This trade has highway robbery written all over it and the Nats are still reaping the rewards of this 2015 heist.
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Steven Souza was 26 years old and no longer considered a prospect. His best contribution to the Washington Nationals was the diving catch he made to save a no hitter for Jordan Zimmerman. He would have one, 30 home run season with the Rays and has been battling injuries since, last surfacing with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Travis Ott was a 25th round draft pick who was in Single-A at the time of the trade. He would pitch one game above Double-A for the Rays and be out of baseball by 2018.
Trea Turner was a first round draft pick of the Padres who has been a catalyst for the Nationals offense since being inserted. He has battled some injury problems, though when he is healthy he hits for average and steals bases. Turner was the starting shortstop on the Nationals World Series team this year and should be on the team for years to come.
Next. Mismanagement led to the demise of Storen. dark
Joe Ross has struggled to hold onto the Nationals fifth spot in the rotation during his tenure with the club. His topsy-turvy pitching performance was followed by Tommy John Surgery. Since rejoining the rotation late in 2019 he has pitched very well and was trusted enough to make a spot start in Game 5 of the World Series. Entering 2020 he seemed to have a leg up for the battle for the fifth starter spot for the Washington Nationals.