“It’s a difficult decision to make,” Washington Nationals’ GM Mike Rizzo explained last winter, in talking about the choice to kick off their reboot of the organization with trades of expiring contracts (and a year-plus of control of Trea Turner) at the 2021 trade deadline.
“But oftentimes the decision is made for you, and this year it was. And we recognized where we were and what work we had in front of us and we decided to begin a building process that will allow us to compete at the highest level for a continuous part of — over the years.