Nationals add to organizational depth, sign Brendan Ryan to minor league deal

Washington Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo talked during Daniel Murphy's introductory press conference in the nation's capital, about a conversation he had with the infielder the previous night.

Murphy, described by Rizzo as a high IQ ballplayer, was, the General Manager explained, "telling me about my prior draft choices," and, "... what the roster would look like," and, Rizzo said, "... having veterans back up veterans was a key phrase for us," when discussing the team the Nationals were putting together for 2016.

New manager Dusty Baker too, talked about the importance of having depth not only on the major league roster, but in the minors as well.

"We're trying to get some depth in Triple-A, because it's going to take... to win this thing," Baker said. "It takes the entire organization.

"It takes more than just the 25 guys that are here. Very rarely have I been on a team where you go start to finish without anybody -- somebody getting hurt or something and we've been hurt a lot and some key players."

The Nats have added depth at the major league level, with the trade that brought Ben Revere from Toronto, adding the veteran outfielder to the mix in the majors with Jayson Werth, Michael Taylor and Bryce Harper, and they've also signed the likes of Logan Schafer, Chris Heisey and Reed Johnson, along with catcher Jhonatan Solano, veteran third baseman Scott Sizemore and pitchers like Sean Burnett, Nick Masset, Aaron Laffey and more.

They made another addition to the infield mix this afternoon.

The Nationals announced that they signed 33-year-old infielder Brendan Ryan to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league Spring Training.

Ryan spent the last two seasons with the New York Yankees, playing a total of 49 games in 2014 and 47 games in 2015.

He put up a .229/.275/.333 line with six doubles and two triples in 103 plate appearances in what was his ninth major league campaign last season.

The #Nats have agreed to terms with INF Brendan Ryan on a Minor League contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) February 2, 2016