Apr 1, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson poses with general manager Mike Rizzo after receiving the manager of the year trophy before the game with the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park. The Nationals won 2 – 0. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Rizzo has been in control of the team since Jim Bowden’s resignation over a bonus-skimming scandal in 2009. He has played the largest role of anyone in the turnaround of the Nationals from being MLB-worst in 2008 and 2009 to being the league’s best in 2012, drafting stars like Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. Rizzo also signed Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche, in addition to using his drafting and free agent signing depth to trade for players like Wilson Ramos, Gio Gonzalez, Kurt Suzuki, and Denard Span. For his efforts, Rizzo was named the BBWAA Executive of the Year in 2012. Salaries for top MLB executives can run to or north of $3 million a year, like the Cubs’ Theo Epstein and the Yankees’ Brian Cashman, so Rizzo’s new deal could be for roughly four or five years in that price range.

Oct 01, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo on the field before the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Rizzo and Davey Johnson left the baseball winter meetings a day and a half before the scheduled end of the meet.

Having traded for Denard Span just before the beginning of the winter meetings, and signed starting pitcher Dan Haren at the meeting, filling the two biggest needs Nats management had identified for next year, Rizzo and Johnson saw no need to hang around. Left handed bullpen help will probably come through free agent signings, and the Nats first base situation was not going to sort itself out in the next a day and a half. Having nothing left to accomplish, Rizzo and Johnson departed Nashville before the official end of the meetings.

Their early departure means that the Nats are not going to participate in the Rule 5 draft this year, which occurs at the very end of the winter meeting. Rizzo apparently felt no need to try to get any sort of roster help for this year from the crop of Rule 5 draftees available. This move means that the Nats do not have to take players who may not be good enough to make the team, but have to remain on the 40 man roster this year. This hopefully will give the Nats more flexibility this year for roster moves without having to release someone on the 40 man or figure out who is going on the DL to make the necessary room.

How different this year’s winter meeting was from those in years past is in the relaxed atmosphere surrounding the Nats management in Nashville. For once, the Nats were not a bad team desperate to try to fill holes in their lineup, or try to contend for an ace pitcher who had no interest in signing with the Nats who were only going to dwell in the bottom of the division. Anyone remember how many times Nats management were chasing players, making offers, only to be outbid by other teams or shunned by players? That did not happen this year.

There is no way the Nats could have just skipped the Rule 5 draft before this year. The Nats needed to try to catch lightning in a bottle by scooping up an overlooked gem some other team had discarded or take on a player who needed more development. The problem with Rule 5 players is that they have to be kept on your 40 man roster or you lose them. The Nats non-participation in the Rule 5 draft says two things. One is that there is not a whole lot of available room on the 40 man roster to be filling up spots with guys who may not be ready to play now. The other is that this roster is going to be tough for anyone from the minor leagues to crack.

Rizzo went to the meetings, like any good shopper, with a list of needs in mind and finished buying early. He gets to get out of the mall parking lot before everyone else and beat the traffic home. Davey can squeeze in an extra day of golf. The Nats stove is cooling off.

The trade from a Washington perspective was to get a solid No. 2 starter behind Stephen Strasburg with hopes that they could be a dark horse candidate to win the division when everyone else was watching defending champion Philadelphia, heartbroken Atlanta and money-spending Miami. That’s exactly what happened.

Oct 7, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; Washington Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki (24) talks with starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez (47) during the second inning of the 2012 NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-US PRESSWIRE

For Oakland, it seemed like a firesale. Then, they got Yoenis Cespedes late in the offseason and people wondered why the team suddenly wanted to spend money. In the end, two of the prospects Oakland received from Washington made major impacts on the team – Derek Norris and A.J. Cole – plus Jarrod Parker who was received from Arizona in a package for Trevor Cahill.

Not since the three-way trade involving Max Scherzer, Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson between the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers has a trade worked out so well for all teams involved. All of those teams made the playoffs in 2010 following their Winter 2009 trade.

To get an Oakland perspective on the trade, I went to speak with Sean Davis the editor of Fansided’s Oakland Athletics page, Swingin’ A’s.

He says that the fact that Oakland came from nowhere to win the division was a shock to even the most optimistic A’s fan. Of course, they were going against the two-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers and the high-spending Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

“I would have laughed in your face,” he said about if I had told him the A’s would win the division on the day of the trade. ” Even the most optimistic predictions for the A’s season had them winning 85-86 games.  I thought they would be much better than the 90-100 loss expectations many had, at 79-83 and in 3rd place in the division ahead of Seattle.  So the fact that they even were in contention, let alone taking the division was completely out of nowhere.”

It’s true. Even the Nationals had been the “sexy” pick among experts as a darkhorse to win. No one saw Oakland with that potential, especially after trading their top two pitchers. But, even though they had at one point five rookies in the rotation, they kept playing hard under manager Bob Melvin and got unexpected contributions.

“Tommy Milone and Jarrod Parker were expected to log some innings in Oakland, but neither were expected to have such an impact.  Most thought that if Derek Norris made it to Triple A it would be considered a successful season for him, and he might find himself in the mix for the A’s in 2013 at some point, so his ascension to the starting catcher job in Oakland was rather shocking,” he said.

Oct 10, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher Derek Norris (36) hits the ball against the Detroit Tigers during the fifth inning of game four of the 2012 ALDS at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

Norris’s ascension along with the acquisition of George Kottaras saw Kurt Suzuki as the odd man out in Oakland. Washington GM Mike Rizzo spoke to Oakland GM Billy Beane when the catcher’s position was a weakness for the Nationals. Suzuki came in on August 3, and was a stabilizing force behind the plate. Suzuki was a fan favourite in Oakland, and Davis says that Oakland fans kept an eye on their former backstop.

“Seeing Kurt Suzuki leave the A’s was really tough for a lot of fans.  He was the longest tenured Athletic, and was always a fan favorite in Oakland.  His character and attitude is second to none, and that was something many fans adored him for.  He struggled badly in Oakland this year, and it was tough to see such a good man have such a tough time.  So when he moved on to the Nationals, it was really great to see him get a fresh start and contribute to their playoff run.  Kurt is one of those players A’s fans will always root for no matter where he is.”

The prized prospect in the trade wasn’t Norris or Cole but Brad Peacock who saw time with the Nationals in 2011. He struggled in Triple A this year and never saw time in the big leagues despite the shuttle of rookie pitchers making the jump to the Majors.

“Tommy Milone seems to have become the new Trevor Cahill of the rotation, and Jarrod Parker is the new Gio Gonzalez.  If Peacock can get right in 2013, this trade will go from a fairly successful deal, to possibly a spectacular success,” Davis said.

Despite the three players given up, I doubt many Washington fans will look back at this trade badly as long as Gonzalez is pitching well. In fact, one could argue that all three of the trades made recently between the two teams have worked out well. The Suzuki trade, the Gonzalez trade and before that, a 2010 trade that saw Josh Willingham sent to Oakland for Corey Brown and Henry Rodriguez who both saw time with the Nationals last year. [Fun fact only I will enjoy: Willingham's most similar player according to Baseball Reference is Henry Rodriguez - the slugger, not the pitcher.]

“Billy Beane has a reputation for fleecing opposing GMs in deals like this, but this one seems to be mutually successful.  We can’t say the same for the other big trades of last offseason, as I’m sure the Red Sox wish they still had Josh Reddick, and Ryan Cook and Jarrod Parker are surely missed in Arizona.  The A’s and Nationals have made 3 fairly big trades in the last few years (Gio Gonzalez, Kurt Suzuki, Josh Willingham) and seem to have one another on speed dial when a deal needs to be made.  I expect more in the future, and maybe sometime the two teams will meet up in October as a result,” Davis said.