A 28th-round pick of the California Angels in 1979 and a 22nd-rounder of the Angels in 1982, Rizzo played 171 minor league games over three seasons before turning to another line of work.

Rizzo knew he didn't want to leave the game of baseball, but how to climb an organization's front-office ladder was a quandary he faced. In the Nationals general manager's latest video blog, he talks about choosing scouting over coaching in the minors, why he made that choice and what life was like as he transitioned to player development.

It clearly turned out to be the right call, because look where he is now.

Yet before he became the Nationals general manager, Rizzo too had dreams of playing in the major leagues.

In 1979, the California Angels selected Rizzo in the 28th round, though he never recorded any stats in the Angels' minor league system. Three years later, however, Rizzo was again drafted by the Halos, this time in the 22nd round, where he enjoyed a short, but sweet, three-year career in the minor leagues. In three seasons with the short-season Single-A Salem Angels, Single-A Peoria Suns and Single-A Redwood Pioneers, Rizzo finished with 121 hits, five home runs, 44 RBIs and a .247 batting average.

OK, so maybe Cooperstown won't be calling for Mr. Rizzo.

But while his playing days are over, Rizzo's passion for baseball has continued to flourish, peaking as the man responsible for building the Nationals into contenders in the National League East.

He hasn't forgotten his playing days, however, and is quick to laugh at himself for the not-so-memorable career he put together in the early '80s. Take a look at Rizzo's thoughts on his time on the diamond in the latest installment of the Rizzo blog!

The minor league season is wrapping up for the year, and two of the Nationals' farm teams (Double-A Harrisburg and Single-A Potomac) made their league's playoffs.

Rizzo sat down with MASNSports.com Nationals beat reporter Ben Goessling to talk about what that means and to recap some of the highlights of the minor league season.

Ben Goessling: With a couple of the minor league teams making the playoffs, does that mean anything for you in terms of gauging the success of the season? What stock do you put into the win-loss record in the minors?

Mike Rizzo: We've always said the job of the minor leagues is to develop players for the major leagues. The one and only level we really care about winning games is the major league level. The minor leagues are there to prepare ourselves for success in the major leagues. Now, part of the developmental process is learning how to win. So it's important. We never forego developing a player to win a game in the minor leagues, but it's a nice reward for the hard work of the players and staff to make the playoffs. And again, we're building a championship-caliber organization, and winning is a part of the process of developing a consistent major league player.

BG: The development process is maybe a little more thorough and methodical here than it's been in the past. Does that translate to a better record on the field, just because guys aren't bouncing around as much?

Mike Rizzo: I don't know about what they used to do before I was here. I have a developmental philosophy in my mind. I've employed it my whole career. We were very successful in Arizona with the development plan that I have, and we're implementing it here. I feel it really retards the progress of players to be pushed and moved too quickly. I think that you have to command a level before you move up. Age and experience level have little to do with how you move. The mastering of a level and a good thorough base for that level is how we judge moving players or not.

BG: Tyler Moore is a guy that obviously caught everybody's attention this year (at Single-A Potomac). How much did he raise his stock in your eyes, or in the organization's eyes, with what he did down there?

Mike Rizzo: Well, we always liked Tyler, from the time we drafted him (in 2008). He was a philosophical type of draft, where he had great success at a major college (Mississippi State) in a major conference. Those are the type of guys that we take later on in the draft. In my career, I've had success taking players from the SEC in later rounds, with your Brandon Webbs and your Dan Ugglas. When we're looking in those lower round drafts, those are the guys because they play at such a high level to begin with. They usually know how to play the game and have an ability level to play at such a high college level. It's almost like those really good conferences and those really good college programs are like a step of minor league development.

BG: You guys drafted him three times. Is that what made you keep coming back to him, saying, 'This guy's got the pedigree. Why don't we take another shot and see if we can sign him?'"

Mike Rizzo: Exactly. Our scouts pounded the table to redraft him and take him because they saw something in the player's approach at the plate and his stroke and his physicality that they really liked. And again, being from that conference and playing at that level of competition was important to us.

BG: Where does he project from here? Is it fair to say he's mastered Potomac with what he did there this year? Is the next step Harrisburg?

Mike Rizzo: Certainly, he goes to spring training with an opportunity to make Harrisburg, or better. Where he's at developmentally, with his offensive game, he could be a guy that could skip a level in his career. Defensively, he's come a long way, and that's really the reason he was at that level the whole season. We wanted him to work on his defense and master that. We felt comfortable with the bat all along. But he's come a long way defensively, also.

With the end of the season fast approaching, Rizzo's attention will soon turn to the Hot Stove League - negotiating with free agents and making trades to improve the Nationals for the 2011 season.

In the meantime, Rizzo sat down with MASNSports.com Nationals beat writer Ben Goessling to discuss some of the pressing issues the team will deal with in the offseason: the need for an ace in the rotation, the health of Chien-Ming Wang and the contract status of first baseman Adam Dunn.

Ben Goessling: In terms of building a rotation for next year, how do you feel with the inventory at this point? You know you're not going to have Strasburg. How comfortable are you with everything else, and what do you feel you need to add?

Mike Rizzo: I think I'm pretty comfortable with it. We have seven guys vying for five rotation spots, at least, and that's not factoring that someone might come up that we don't expect to compete. Spring training's going to be exciting next year because there's going to be competition at several positions. And you know my philosophy - I love competition. I think it brings out the best in people when they have something to prove. So we're comfortable with the depth and inventory we have. I certainly would like to get a guy to lead that rotation and be a front-of-the-rotation guy, via free agency or trades or that type of thing. Those, as you know, are few and far between. They're tough to get and often expensive to get. But I feel comfortable with the depth. I do think we need a leader of that rotation. That would be one of our needs in the offseason.

BG: When you know you have Strasburg coming back in another year, can you count on him to be that leader, or is it too dicey with the injury to assume he's going to be that guy?

Mike Rizzo: I count on Zimmermann to be part of it, so I think I'm going to plan on Stras being a part of it. That's not to say we're not going to make a stronger rotation where, if Stras or somebody else falls out of that plan, we're still deep in the rotation inventory. We'll get more guys than the five spots because you're never going to go through a season with five starters. Once you get into championship-caliber play, you're going to be needing more than five guys.

BG: You mentioned free-agent starting pitchers being expensive. Is that something you'd be open to taking a run at - a big-ticket free agent pitcher this offseason?

Mike Rizzo: We're going to look at all our avenues. We've shown that we'll go after free agents. We're going to continue to be aggressive in that mode. We're going to be aggressive in the trade aspect of acquiring players. As we've seen, we can be pretty creative with waiver claims and that type of thing. We're going to be aggressive in all aspects to acquire the players we need to continue going in the right direction, to get us over the hump, to get us to being a championship-caliber club.

BG: Where does Chien-Ming Wang factor into things going forward? Obviously, he's not going to pitch this year. Do you look at signing him to a contract before you get to arbitration with him?

Mike Rizzo: I'm in constant conversations with his agent. Alan Nero is not only a terrific agent, he's a guy that I've known very well, and he's a friend of mine. Chien-Ming has worked extremely hard this season in getting back - an extremely hard and extremely painful rehabilitation. It's taken longer than obviously all of us thought. But we see the light at the end of the tunnel. We see a guy that hopefully can contribute to us next year. We're certainly going to work on ways to keep him in the organization. The way he's worked, it would be a shame if he doesn't contribute for us this season.

BG: Is it frustrating or disappointing to have signed him, hoping he would be part of your rotation, and be at the end of the year knowing he's not going to be?

Mike Rizzo: Yeah. It's frustrating. It's nothing that he did or we did. It's just an unfortunate circumstance that it took longer than our training people thought or our doctors thought and than he thought. But like I said, he's had a great attitude about it the whole time. I can't fault him for not being prepared. We certainly weren't going to rush him into performing for us this year and have him regress. I think he's very appreciative of that, and I know his agent has been appreciative of the way we've handled him. Hopefully we can come to some agreement where we can reap the benefits of rehabbing him for the season.

BG: So he'll go to instructional league and continue the rehab process?

Mike Rizzo: Yeah. He's going to stay in Florida. He's going to go through the instructional league and see if he can build arm strength at this point. That's what he needs, to be stretched out and build arm strength. Hopefully he can come into spring training healthy and ready to compete for a spot.

BG: I know you're not talking much about specifics with Adam Dunn (and his contract). But in a general sense, is there a point where you say things need to pick up, with free agency approaching? Are we at that point? What's the philosophy there?

Mike Rizzo: The philosophy is, we like Adam Dunn. We think he's part of the plan. We're going to stay in communication and try and get him signed. If we can't get him signed, it'll be unfortunate, but we're certainly going to have somebody at first base that's going to be a bat for us, and I hope it's Adam, because he's done a lot for the organization and he's a heck of a good player.

BG: You have until the offseason until he has to declare for free agency. But is there a point where the alarm goes off in your head and you say, 'This thing needs to pick up?'

Mike Rizzo: No. I don't think there's any time parameters or any deadline, other than the imposed deadline by rule.

BG: Last thing: Bryce Harper. What's he been up to since he was introduced here?
Mike Rizzo: He'll be fully prepared when he gets down there (to Viera, Fla., for the Nationals' instructional league) on the 16th. He's been working out with a trainer from his agency group and working out baseball-wise with the college team (at Southern Nevada). He's hitting them far, probably.

This week, Nats GM Rizzo took some time to answer a few fan questions about the rest of this season, the team's minor league plans for the future and the whipped cream pie that blindsided him after the Nationals signed No. 1 overall pick Bryce Harper.

Natsfan1a: Was the pie whipped cream or shaving cream?

Mike Rizzo: It was whipped cream, and it was delivered with a lot of velocity by Stan Kasten - although it was extremely funny and light-hearted. It was a good situation because it was a good and happy occasion. But it did get in my eye, and it did sting a little, even though it was whipped cream. It tasted pretty good.

Riverdog: Since most of the affiliates' contracts are up at the end of this season, will they all be reupped? if not, which ones will be let go?

Mike Rizzo: We're happy to announce that we're re-upping with the Syracuse affiliation. It's a terrific relationship between us and the Simone family. We love it there. They love having us there. We feel like that is a good situation for us to be in long-term. Right now, we have made the decision to re-up with Harrisburg in Double-A. We like that situation. They've redone the ballpark. Harrisburg is a really good situation and a really good developmental place to be. With Potomac, the proximity to the Nationals is great, and we really like the relationship we have there. Hagerstown is a situation we really like, also. The geography works for us, and the new ownership group there is terrific. So we're looking for long-term relationships with those. The rest - Vermont, and the GCL - we haven't decided yet.

Peric: Who do you think will be the top four starters in your rotation going into ST 2011? Are you planning on bringing up Danny Espinosa, Chris Marerro, and Michael Burgess when rosters expand?

Mike Rizzo: The starting rotation for 2011 is kind of a fluid situation. We certainly see Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg being in the mix. Also, we have Yunesky Maya, Ross Detwiler, Craig Stammen, Matt Chico, Shairon Martis, Livan Hernandez, John Lannan and Jason Marquis. We have eight or nine quality pitchers for five spots. It's going to be a great competition in spring training. We feel that's the depth of our organization.

We're going to expand the roster with a handful of players. It's not going to be a big call-up. Chris Marrero and Michael Burgess are not going to be the ones that are called up. But we do have a mind to call up two or three players from Syracuse after their season.

Nate: You recently signed a couple of high-ceiling prep arms in Cole and Ray. What is the status of our high ceiling prep arms from 2007 (Smoker and McGeary)? After struggling as a starter, is Smoker's home in the bullpen? How is McGeary's rehab, and what are the plans for him?

Mike Rizzo: Josh Smoker has taken well to his new role as a bullpen guy. We've shortened up his innings; he has much better velocity that way - and he can concentrate on being a two-pitch pitcher, instead of a four-pitch starter. Jack McGeary is rehabbing after Tommy John surgery. We hope to have him back next year, and hopefully he recovers fully.

The Nationals were one of baseball's most active teams leading up to the July 31 trade deadline, acquiring two players from the Minnesota Twins for closer Matt Capps and two more from the Texas Rangers for infielder Cristian Guzman, as well as fielding numerous offers for first baseman Adam Dunn and left fielder Josh Willingham.

Rizzo caught up with MASNSports.com Nationals beat writer Ben Goessling on Sunday to discuss how the month went in Washington.

Ben Goessling: What's your general thought on how the month went and how you guys came out of it? How are you feeling about how things worked out?

Mike Rizzo: We feel good about it. The end result, we feel good about. We lost a terrific guy and a good relief pitcher in Matt Capps, but we think we made future gains in (Wilson) Ramos. Ramos, we believe, is an everyday catcher in the very near future, as soon as today, if we needed him to come up today. So we think we put a (player in) in a key position and a key premium spot that's going to help us for many years to come. We made some smaller moves with (Cristian) Guzman. To move him, it gives Alberto Gonzalez and (Adam) Kennedy more playing time, and it allows us to add to our inventory of starting pitchers. These guys are no slouches, either. Both of these guys (Ryan Tatusko and Tanner Roark) are good pitchers at a level where you could see them in the majors in the near distant future. We're always trying to upgrade our inventory of pitching, so we like that deal. And they often say, some of the best deals you make are the ones you don't make. We weren't looking to trade Adam (Dunn), and we didn't find the value for him, so we just kept him. We're looking for him to continue his fine play throughout the rest of the season.

BG: With the two guys you got for Guzman - they both project as starters, I assume?

Mike Rizzo: Yeah. They're both Double-A starters with great track records. They're having terrific seasons, and they both have stuff. They're both stuff guys that have a chance to advance. Tatusko throws 90 to 94. He'll pitch at 92-93, but he's got the really good curveball and good command of his pitches. Roark is more of an 89 to 92 guy, but he's a four-pitch mix guy with control.

BG: With the Capps trade, I know you had talked all month about keeping the price high. Does that trade validate that, in a way, that you got a prospect like Ramos?


Mike Rizzo: I don't think it validates the thought process behind it. That was just our philosophy going in. Matt Capps was a controllable guy for us. He was an All-Star closer. It doesn't make sense to sell him cheap. He's a terrific closer. He's going to impact the Twins very, very positively. They get to keep him next year. You can't sell an All-Star closer with 26 saves short, especially when there's no reason to move him because you still control him next year. Your assets like Capps and Willingham and Dunn, you ask a certain price. With players like Guzman, it's obviously not as high. So it's a case-by-case issue. A lot of times, the impact of the player has a lot to do with it. Oftentimes, the amount of control you have on the player has to do with it, and what plans are beyond 2010.

BG: So with Capps, who was going to be arbitration-eligible after this year and obviously due a raise, was that a consideration at all?

Mike Rizzo: No. The tough part to trade him was that we had him for another year. All-Star closers are going to make what All-Star closers make. He would have made that in arbitration, and we would have had a guy we could count on in the ninth inning. The whole trade came down to, if (Ramos') name was not bandied into the deal, the deal would not have been done.

BG: There was a lot of talk from various places about you guys driving hard bargains and people being frustrated or feeling like it was difficult to deal with you guys. How do you react to that?

Mike Rizzo: I don't understand the concept of, they're frustrated with me. They knew exactly what we were asking for. The conversations were oftentimes short, because they knew what we were asking for. They didn't waver one bit throughout the process. With several teams, we asked for the same player throughout this whole process, and they kept throwing different players at us, and we kept saying no. If them being told 'no' frustrates them, so be it.

BG: You said the whole month it was going to be painful to get Dunn or Willingham. It was fairly clear to (the media) and probably to everybody else, too, I would imagine.

Mike Rizzo: I don't understand where the frustration comes from; I guess it's from not getting a player that you really wanted. But there was a way to get the player if you really, really wanted him. And there was no ambiguity about what the player was. The teams knew exactly what they had to do. If they give us this player, we make the trade. Without this player, there was no trade to be made. And giving us three or four names instead of the name we want wasn't going to work. We weren't going to make a quantity deal. We were going to make the deal we felt we had to make to get equal or greater value back.

BG: You kind of stressed that point (with the media on Saturday), too, about not just making quantity deals and getting prospects for the future. How important was it, if you were going to trade these guys, to make a deal that helps this team now, versus three or four years down the road?


Mike Rizzo: The deal didn't have to help us in 2010. It didn't have to help us the day after we traded for him. It wasn't like we were acquiring a Lance Berkman, where he comes in and goes right into the middle of the lineup. If there was a good deal to be made that would have helped us in September, 2011, or beyond, we would have considered it. It didn't have to be immediate, immediate impact, but it had to be an impactful player. Because these players we're talking about, Capps, Dunn, WIllingham, they impact our club greatly, and we weren't going to take a step backwards in that. We had to get equal, or even greater, value.

BG: As a GM, is July fun for you? I know your background is in scouting and development, but where does this one rank in terms of enjoyment?

Mike Rizzo: It's fun. Whenever you sit in a war room or a draft room with all your scouts around you, and you're grinding out players, and you're evaluating and breaking down tools - 'How does this player fit in our future? What's the best fit in 2010, '11, '12,' - those strategic moments, those long-term looks, making trades is a fun thing. This is kind of fantasy baseball in the real world. It's the real people and the real names and the real results from the trades. It ranks right up there with the other evaluation deadline type of things - the Amateur Draft, the trade deadline and the signing deadline. There are different mileposts throughout the year, and I enjoy all of them.

The international signing period opened on July 2, and since Mike Rizzo assumed general manager duties in March 2009, he's been tasked with improving the Nationals' image in Latin America and building a better international scouting presence.

Rizzo recently sat down with MASNSports.com Nationals beat writer Ben Goessling to discuss the team's international efforts this year:

Ben Goessling: You guys have signed a number of (international) players already at this point. Tell me a little bit about them and how the crop looks overall.

Mike Rizzo: Several of the players, we're really excited about. We've signed 31 international free agents this season at different price points and that type of thing. We're really excited about our six or seven top guys that we think have great ceilings and great developmental aspirations for them. We went hard after high-ceiling skill players. We signed several middle infielders and a lot of power arms. That's really what we focused on down there - skilled, athletic, middle-of-the-field players and power arms

BG: This has obviously been an area of focus for you guys for reasons we all know about. How are things in Latin America at this point, and how long of a process is it to get it to where you want it to be?

Mike Rizzo: I think it'll take several years to get it to where we want it to be, to get the inventory of players in the academy. But suffice it to say, this has been an exceptional year for us internationally. First and foremost, we put together a terrific staff down there. We hired a high-profile director of international scouting, Johnny DiPuglia. He came from the Boston Red Sox, where he signed the Hanley Ramirezes and the Miguel Cabreras of the world. We've allowed him to grow and put his stamp on the situation down there. Along with that, we've hired a full staff of scouts, not only in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, but throughout the world. We've got several scouts in Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Curacao, throughout Latin American and the Pacific Rim. Combine that with the fact that we have a brand-new academy in Boca Chica that is fully Washington Nationals, with two full fields, covered batting cages, a state-of-the-art academy that can house up to 75 players. Although this is just a starting point, we think we've got a good foundation of something that's going to be long-term and really allow us to get into that arena where we can really start churning out prospect after prospect that will help us in the major leagues.

BG: What still needs to happen to get you to where you want to be?

Mike Rizzo: I think we have to put in the time, find the elite players and start making inroads to get some of the more elite players. My philosophy has always been (down in Latin America), you go after - because they're so far away from the major leagues, and they're so young, that if you're true to your philosophies, and go out and beat the agents to the players and beat the buscones to the players, you can get there before the rest of them and sign them for a reasonable amount of money. Really, the basic for Latin American academies is to have a quantity of players you can put in there so that when you sift through everything at the end of the day, you come out with a few jewels.

BG: Is that the main point of the academy, to get them in your system before the buscones get involved?

Mike Rizzo: The academy is there once they're signed; they go there, and that's where they play, live and develop. Don't forget, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and many of the other countries we scout, they're not as affluent as we are. We get players that are malnourished, dehydrated, and just not taken care of by doctors and dentists. We more or less transfer their whole life. I've signed people from dirt floors; they come to the academy, and that's the nicest place they've ever lived. It really transfers their whole lifestyle. Even though a lot of the players don't make it to the major leagues, you can feel good about yourself saying you have improved their life. You're allowed to bring in potential guys you want to sign. There's specific rules for the length of stay and that type of thing. We utilize it for that, also. You bring guys in that you go out and beat the bushes for, and send them to our academy, where you can take an extended look at them. It's not like in the States; you can't see them play in area code games, or the high school season, or college season. These players are scattered all over, they're independent, and they very rarely play in a structured environment.

BG: For people who aren't familiar with the rules, can you explain a little more about how the system works? Say, for instance, there's a guy that you're interested in, and they're in the Rangers' academy. How do the rules of engagement work there, if they're not signed yet and they're in somebody else's academy?

Mike Rizzo: If they're in somebody else's academy, there's time restrictions. Once they leave there, you can talk to them, you can bring them into your academy to work out, or you can sign them, if they're not under contract.

BG: What's the key to beating the buscones to the players and preventing some of the things we've heard about in the past (like Esmailyn Gonzalez) from happening?

Mike Rizzo: You do it by having a bigger scouting staff, where you can be in more places at once. You get them at an age where they're playing youth baseball, and that type of thing. You locate them first, you evaluate them and you build a relationship with them. When they're age-eligible to sign, you kind of have a jump start on the process.

BG: In the time you've been here, was there not enough of a scouting infrastructure to get things done?

Mike Rizzo: You're always looking to improve things. When I ran the international scouting with Arizona, we had upwards of 12 to 14 scouts, and here, we had probably half of that. And it all stems from the top. My Latin American guy was Junior Noboa at the time (in Arizona), and he's such a well-respected, fundamental baseball guy that it all flows from him. Now that we have Johnny DiPuglia (in Washington), he's the same thing. He's been doing it for a long, long time. He's got the reputation. He's signed a lot of really good players. All the rest of it will just flow from him. He's going to put his mark on it, his stamp on it, and we have to trust him enough to allow him to do what he does.

BG: You've talked a lot about what you've done in the Dominican, and mentioned what you've done in Latin America. How are you guys doing in the Pacific Rim and into Asia?

Mike Rizzo: As far as the Pacific Rim goes, we've made inroads there. We're scouting all of the professional leagues. Bill Singer is our coordinator of Pacific Rim scouting. Kasey McKeon has vast experience going over there. We're going to send them over there to scout the Japanese major leagues for major league free agent prospects. But they also see the amateur stuff over there and make recommendations there, too, which is a much more difficult signing process.

BG: How soon do you expect to be able to sign guys straight out of Asia - or are you there now?

Mike Rizzo: I think we're there now. I think we've got enough of a database on guys that we could use. I think to do that, to reach out there, the player you get has to really impact your team. It has to be a special type of player that you couldn't have acquired here. I really think that's an important part of it, because the culture's so different. It's such a difficult transition for them, culture-wise, that if they're not a difference-maker type of player, then I think we're a little better staying where we're more familiar.

Below is also a list of the Nats' top international signings from this year:

1. Rafael Martin (Mexico, RHP, playing AA-Harrisburg, AA All-Star team).
2. Jean Carlos Valdez (DR, age 16, SS, DSL All-Star team)
3. Miguel Angel Navarro (DR, RHS, 16)
4. Randolf Oduber (Aruba, LF, 21)
5. Wirkin Esteves (DR, RHS, 18, DSL All-Star)
6. Dennis Samuel Lellis (DR, RHS, 17)
7. Anthony Darleys Marcelino (Venez, RHS, 17)
8. Edgar Francisco Gonzalez (Venez, CF, 17)

Welcome to this week's edition of National Matters with Nationals GM Mike Rizzo.

This week, Rizzo took a few of your questions and weighed in with his thoughts on the international free agent signing period, Ian Desmond, Matt Capps and the team's biggest needs for 2011. Read on to see the GM's answers:

Wally: Mike, With the international free agent signing period opening on July 2, should we expect to see the Nats as active players? If not, at what point can we expect the Nats to become players in this important player acquisition segment of the market?

Mike Rizzo: Dear Wally, In 2010 we have been extremely active in our international marketing efforts and are not waiting for the July 2 deadline. The aggressive efforts we have undertaken internationally are best reflected by several examples. We established a new training academy in the Dominican Republic; hired a new and larger international staff, both in scouting and player development and expanding into countries such as Venezuela, Curacao, Columbia and Mexico; and, in 2010, we signed 31 international players. You can expect the Washington Nationals to be very active at the deadline on July 2.

Jim Gibson: Mike, Why are we not bringing up someone to replace Desmond, who can't field or hit. Too many errors. He is just not ready. There has to be someone in lower leagues who would love a chance.

Mike Rizzo: Dear Jim, I thoroughly disagree with your assessment that Ian cannot hit or field. Ian Desmond is one of the brightest young shortstop prospects in the major leagues today, as exemplified by his major league ranking of second in UZR (range factor). In addition, with the exception of Troy Tulowitzki, Ian has successfully gotten more ground balls on defense than any shortstop in the majors, and his 34 RBIs ranks fourth on the Nationals team. Ian is one of the highest ranked rookie players for 2010.

Bill M: Mike, What do you believe the biggest needs for 2011 are?

Mike Rizzo: Dear Bill, I believe the front of the rotation in starting pitching is always the priority acquisition anytime possible. We are no different than most other major league clubs when I say that we can never have enough good starting pitchers.

Maddy: Mike, With Matt Capps finishing up his initial one year deal, do you plan on trying to re-sign him? Also, what role do you see for Storen next year, and do you think we will see him further along in games this year?

Mike Rizzo: Dear Maddy, Matt Capps, who is currently major league baseball's saves leader, is having an All-Star type season. We control his rights through, at a minimum, 2011. Matt has been the key acquisition for anchoring one of the better bullpens in the major leagues. Regarding Drew Storen, I see Drew as one of the brightest young relief pitchers in the major leagues today. His role will be dictated by the make-up of the bullpen, but his talent is clearly his ticket to become our ninth inning closer in the near future.