When announcing a multi-year contract extension in September, Washington Nationals GM and team president Mike Rizzo said the club would get a chance to see a reboot in motion at the 2021 trade deadline. I just talked about it on my blog. We’re trying to get back to being competitive again.
“I’m just hoping to get a chance to experience the rebuilding dog days and reap the glory that rebuilding brings,” he explained.
“That was my thought process. Rebuilding is never fun. No general manager or field manager likes the word ‘rebuild.’ Because rebuilding usually means losing a lot of games over a significant number of years.
“This is my second rebuild, so I experienced a loss, but it was worth it to maintain excellence and competitiveness for eight to 10 years and play a competitive game at the end of the season.” It’s worth it.”
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As Davey Martinez once said, bumpy roads can lead to beautiful places.
“All the struggles and struggles you go through cannot compare to the glory you got in 27th place in Game 7.” world series Get in the man’s mitts,” Lizzo said, mentally reminiscing about 2019 for a moment.
“That’s why it was so important for me to be here to see this situation through to the end, to be a really competitive team in a competitive division and to get back in the ring for the Nationals fan base.” We could look forward to finding the next successor to acquire.”
The GM added that now that the team has reached its pinnacle, it needs to take the next step.
“I think we’ve seen a lot of growth in a lot of players this season, and that’s important, especially the young players,” Rizzo told reporters.
“The important thing for me is to take the next step. I think you’ve seen some young pitchers take that next step. [MacKenzie] Goa, [Josiah] gray, [Jake] Irvin, players at the major league level have taken the next step. There are relief pitchers in the bullpen who have taken the next step. We developed the bullpen backend almost from scratch. ”
With these internal development pieces in place in the bullpen and the rotating arms the club has assembled, young position players like CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia, and Keibert Ruiz continue to grow and improve, and the next high-end prospects. A wave of players is coming. They have added through the draft and trades, and D.C.’s GM thinks the club is close.
“You do that [Jake] Ars of the world, and [James] with woods [Brady] I can see why there’s so much excitement about housing and that type of thing and not only within our organization but within our fan base as well.
“Because they see this timeline coming true. They see the end of this rebuilding tunnel and we’ve been through this before too, so there’s a timeline and how this is going to happen. We have a blueprint for how it works and we hope that this restructuring mirrors the last one and that we can get to another 10 years of advantage in the near future.”
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Looking forward to the offseason at that point in September, Rizzo said the club will evaluate its roster and determine the next steps in the process of developing candidates.
When Lizzo spoke to reporters recently, the message was much the same.
“Like the other 29 players, we’re looking for pitchers, starting pitchers and relievers,” Rizzo said. Quoted by Washington Post reporter Andrew Golden At this month’s GM meeting. “You can’t get enough of it no matter how much you eat it. We want to find a bat that helps that group of young hitters. You can never have enough relief pitchers or starting pitchers.”
Additional pitchers will be needed for the club to fill in from inside or outside options, filling both corner infield spots and possibly even the outfield. What do you hope the Nationals will do this winter? Will there be further negotiations to fill holes while continuing to evaluate talent at all levels of the organization? Do you want to close one or two big deals to energize the process?
