On second thought, Mike Rizzo says Nats are in the market for starting pitching

NASHVILLE - Less than 24 hours remain at the Winter Meetings and the Nationals have yet to add any players to their roster over the past three days. General manager Mike Rizzo continues to say the Nationals are laying a lot of groundwork for the remainder of the offseason, with a lot of irons in the fire.

"If we were to leave here without making an impactful trade or free agent signing, it wouldn't shock me," Rizzo said during his afternoon media briefing at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. "But it also wouldn't shock me if we did something here."

One of those irons in the fire is free agent right-hander Mike Leake. Rizzo confirmed that the Nationals extended an offer to Leake, who posted an 11-10 record with a 3.70 ERA in 30 starts for the Reds and Giants last season. New Nationals manager Dusty Baker knows Leake well from his days as Reds skipper. Leake went 42-29 with a 3.99 ERA and 1.13 WHIP during his four years pitching in Baker's rotation.

"We're very familiar with him," Rizzo said. "He's a very athletic pitcher and does a lot of things right. Like I said, he's one of many things that we have in the fire right now."

How hot is that fire? Earlier this week, Rizzo said the Nationals weren't in the market for rotation help. When asked Wednesday about Nationals' interest level to add starting pitching depth, Rizzo tossed water on the flames.

"I would describe it as tepid," he said. "It's not a necessity for us right now, but we're always in the market to improve the ballclub anyway we can. And we have to strengthen a strength or try and refine a weakness, there's different levels and different strategies that are going on all the time."

Rizzo indicated the talks with Leake aren't more serious or further along than negotiations with other players or teams.

"We're checking in on a lot of fronts, both pitching and position player-wise," Rizzo said. "We've made several offers to a lot of people and we're kind of vetting the responses and seeing what we have at the end of it."

If the Nationals do end up signing Leake, the move could presumably bump right-hander Tanner Roark out of the rotation for a second straight winter. Last January's addition of ace Max Scherzer sent Roark to the bullpen, where he experienced an unsettling ride. With the Nationals non-tendering Craig Stammen, Roark could be the Nationals' best option for long relief situations.

"I think he's still valuable because he's flexible in that sense," Rizzo said. "But with that said, we consider him a part of the rotation at this juncture of the offseason."

Despite the losses of veterans Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister to free agency, Rizzo still likes the look of his rotation with imposing right-handers Stephen Strasburg and Scherzer leading the way.

"We think that we have five qualified and quality starters that we match up with anybody in the division," Rizzo said. "We have the secondary pitching depth that we have in the Taylor Jordans, the A.J. Coles, those prospect type of guys. And, of course, we have the second wave of prospects coming with (Lucas) Giolito, (Austin) Voth, (Reynaldo) Lopez and that group."