Nationals GM Mike Rizzo explained to Ben Goessling of MASNSports.com that he asked for specific players in potential deals and refused to make trades when clubs kept offering different combinations of players that didn't include the Nats' target. Here are other trade-related notes from Rizzo’s exchange with Goessling:
- The Nationals believe Wilson Ramos will be an everyday catcher in the near future and have confidence that he could be a regular MLB catcher right now.
- Matt Capps, the player the Nationals traded to obtain Ramos, will get a raise through arbitration next year, but the upcoming pay hike did not compel the Nats to move their former closer.
- Rizzo says the club wasn’t looking to trade Adam Dunn, and “didn't find the value for him.”
- The Nationals were not looking to make “a quantity deal” for multiple so-so prospects. Instead, Rizzo wanted impact players.
- The deadline is fun for fans, but what about executives? Rizzo says he enjoys the trade deadline, since it’s “kind of fantasy baseball in the real world.”
