Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo spoke with reporters for the last time at Nationals Park this season. The conversation ended up as a recap of the 2010 season and what’s in store for the offseason and 2011. The big news has to be Adam Dunn. Rizzo – just like on Tuesday – would not comment directly on negotiations. But he did address how Dunn’s status with the team affects the organization’s offseason plan.
“That negotiation is going to be in conjunction with the rest of the negotiations, the rest of the plans that we have to make changes,” Rizzo said. “We need to get a four-hole hitter that plays first base. We understand that. We want it to be Adam Dunn. But if it isn’t we need to address that situation.”
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What that back-up plan is Rizzo wouldn’t say, of course. But it is fair – if Dunn, in fact, leaves via free agency – to give the man the entire winter to find a solution. I think most people in the organization understand they will take a hit if Dunn leaves and no credible outside solution is found. Players will be angry. Fans will be angry. Hard to see how the Lerner family would be fine with that outcome, either. Such is life as the general manager of a pro sports team.
Rizzo insists the team’s biggest need is still a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher to go with Stephen Strasburg, out most of next year after Tommy John surgery. That move could come through free agency. But Rizzo didn’t rule out a trade, saying the team’s depth of minor-league prospects makes a big trade more feasible than in recent years.
“I think it’s obtainable either way. Free agency is obviously the easier option. All it costs you is money,” Rizzo said. “And trade opportunities come in lieu of players that are probably going to help you on the big-league level, too. But I think both ways, they’re obtainable and I think we’re going to explore every avenue to get that…I certainly think we have depth prospect-wise now in our minor-league system to pull off a deal for a pitcher.”
Offense is an issue, too, of course. The Nats had a strong middle of the order with Ryan Zimmerman, Dunn and Josh Willingham – at least until Willingham finally went down with a knee injury in August. But the overall team on-base percentage was low and that has to change.
“I think we need more balance,” Rizzo said. “We certainly need to set the table for the middle of the lineup, for the big hitters to drive in runs. And I think we need to have a lineup that grinds out at-bats, drives up pitch counts to starting pitchers to get into bullpens.”
Rizzo said Danny Espinosa would not be handed the second base job next spring. As promising as his September has been he’ll need to fight off other candidates to make the Opening Day roster and start from Day 1. Nyjer Morgan will have the same chance to prove he can be the leadoff hitter the club thought it had acquired in 2009. Rizzo has been pleased with his defensive improvement in the second half. He also noted a healthy Jason Marquis has a track record to give the Nats another stable presence in the rotation.
All of that – the buzz Strasburg generated, a wave of solid young position players finally arriving with more possibly on the way, making a run at free agent Mark Teixeira two winters ago – should help attract a higher caliber of free agent to the organization, Rizzo said. That remains to be seen. But at least the perception of the organization has improved.
“I think that, from the response I get from agents and from players, this is a destination people want to be at. The industry sees what we’re trying to do here, possibly more so than the public,” Rizzo said. “The industry sees what we’ve got going here – the core of young players here. [Phillies manager] Charlie [Manuel] himself has said many glowing things about where we’re going, and so has [retiring Braves manager] Bobby Cox. And they see us the most. So I rely on what they tell me. I rely on their view of things greatly. I think they see where we’re going. They see the inner-workings of what we’ve done.”
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