(ed. note - "With the Trade Deadline now just four (and a half) days away I'm going to try to collect as many links and rumors as possible during the day for anyone who can't spend all of their time searching the internets or hanging out in Federal Baseball.com's Comments sections. So here are the two big links that are being discussed in NatsTown™ this afternoon..."):
ESPN.com's Buster Olney and SI.com's Jon Heyman Links After The JUMP...
• Buster Olney Blog - ESPN "Why Rose Can't Escape Himself"
-- Buster Olney Blog on ESPN.com talking about Mike Rizzo's "No Firesale" comments.
• Nationals Talk:
With "Active" DC GM Mike Rizzo still hearing from no less an authority than principal owner Mark Lerner that the Nationals still plan to continue looking for a permanent GM, it's interesting to read ESPN.com's Buster Olney's article where an anonymous "GM" he quotes argues that the stain of a 117-loss season is enough to make the Nationals think twice about trading away some of the talent on their roster:
"Even Washington is under pressure to win as many games as they can. I feel for Mike Rizzo [the acting GM], because everybody in the media wants him to dump major league players, and he's in a position where if he trades Nick Johnson and Adam Dunn he might be looking at a 42- to 45-win season. That's hard to live down, no matter how you get there. It's hard to give up."
The only other news out there comes from SI.com's Jon Heyman's Twitterfeed where he writes:
#giants scouted willingham and johnson this weekend. sf better get some bats. #nats
?'s For The DC Faithful...
• Does not making Mike Rizzo the full-time GM keep him from making trades that will be better for the team in the long run, but leave him as the GM of a 117-loss team? I guarantee you Mr. Rizzo's not thinking that way, but who could blame him if he was...?
• Who's the more valuable trade commodity now, Nick Johnson or Josh Willingham?
• Rizzo said DC would not trade Dunn? Do you still believe him? Should the Nationals trade Dunn?
• Will the Nationals do anything?
Discuss...