Before the lockout began in early December this winter, and as soon as they could once it came to an end in mid-March, the Washington Nationals carried out their plan to build a team which can potentially compete this season if everything ([stresses]: “Everything!”) goes right and they catch other clubs by surprise early in the organizational reboot period the team kicked off with their sell-off at the trade deadline last July.
“When the bell did ring [once the lockout ended], we — like every other team — hit the phones hard and there were a lot of phone calls going back and forth, and like we usually do, we have our checklist of things we’d like to get done in the offseason,” GM Mike Rizzo told reporters on the first day of Spring Training last month.