As we head towards the trade deadline, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo is being typically tight-lipped about what the team intends to do. In fact, he is almost bordering on the cryptic and vague. According to Amanda Comak of the Washington Times, the Nationals and Rizzo are taking more calls than they are making, and that as always, they will be both buyers and sellers at the deadline.
"I don’t know any other way to be," Rizzo said. "If you can make a trade to better yourself long-term (we will.) ... If we’re buyers, it’ll be a long-term asset that will help us this year and down the road. We could also be sellers, too." Obviously Rizzo isn't going to show his hand before the deadline. But he really isn't giving us anything, other than to say that teams have learned to stop calling about Danny Espinosa. That's pretty much all we know. But at the same time, I do admire this approach because Rizzo isn't painting himself into a corner by calling himself either a buyer or a seller. The Nationals are trying to get better, and will consider any trade that enables them to do that. That's where they are at this deadline, apparently.