Washington Nationals: Top 10 MLB Trade Deadline moves of All-Time
By Blake Finney
2 – Washington Nationals bring in Michael Morse (2009)
This trade between the Washington Nationals and the Seattle Mariners didn’t make huge waves at the time. But looking back on it, Mike Rizzo managed to get himself a steal in Michael Morse.
At the time of the deal, Ryan Langerhans was in Syracuse batting .278, with nine homers and 40 RBIs in 64 games. The Mariners got some nice outfield depth with major league experience.
However, in Seattle, Morse just seemed like the odd man out. He had Adrian Beltre blocking him at third base, but even when Beltre went down injured, they turned to Jack Hannahan instead.
Morse played a combination of first base and corner outfield for the Nationals, and as they say, the rest is history. He became an instant fan favorite with his performance on the field and personality off the field.
During his four seasons in D.C., Morse hit .294, with 67 home runs, 208 RBI with a .857 OPS. The Nats revived his career, and he looked to have put the icing on the cake in game five of the NLDS in 2012. He hit a huge home run off of Adam Wainwright in the third inning to put the Nationals 6-0 up. But we don’t need to talk about how that game ended.
After that year, they reshuffled their outfield a little by acquiring Denard Span and moving Bryce Harper to corner outfield. That left no room for the slugging right-hander, and they dealt him back to Seattle in a three-team trade that netted Blake Treinen and A.J. Cole.
On the whole, Morse had a great Nationals career and has now been spotted in the MASN broadcast booth since. And given they essentially gave up outfield depth to get him, it deserves to be this high on our list.