"Acting" DC GM Mike Rizzo in Washington Post writer Tracee Hamilton's article entitled, "Trade Deadline Won't Produce Immediate Gratification for Nats":

"For the immediate future, this year, next year, Nick (Johnson's) our first baseman right now. The Lerner family . . . there's no mandate to move salaries, to move players just to clear space. We need to make good, prudent baseball deals.

"I talk with ownership all the time and I think the fans have been extremely patient with us in the three years since '06 when the Lerners took over...

"People in the front office, we know what Stephen Strasburg means to our major league ballclub."