The Nats' surprising history of Christmas Eve transactions

Christmas Eve and baseball. They go together like, well, Christmas and hot dogs.

This just isn't historically the time of year to be thinking much about the national pastime. Especially when the national pastime is nearly one month into a work stoppage.

And yet for the Nationals, Christmas Eve has been the source of a surprising amount of news. Big news.

Go back through the annals and you'll find six significant transactions made by the Nats in the final 72 hours leading up to Christmas, including a blockbuster one year ago today.

What's the deal with that? Does general manager Mike Rizzo (and Jim Bowden before him) like to wait until the last second to complete his holiday shopping? Does he want the rest of the baseball world to know he's working round the clock, no matter the date? Does he just get a kick out of making unsuspecting reporters scramble when they assumed they had nothing to worry about? (Don't discount that last theory!)

Whatever the reason, the Nationals have made a lot of news on Christmas Eve over the years. So while crossing our fingers the phone isn't about start buzzing like crazy later today, let's take a trip down memory lane and remember these six transactions that all occurred from Dec. 22-24. ...

Dec. 24, 2020: Acquired Josh Bell from Pirates for Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean
The Nationals entered last offseason knowing they needed to add a big bat to their lineup and provide some sorely missing protection for Trea Turner and Juan Soto. And they found it in the form of Bell, the hulking Pittsburgh first baseman who was an All-Star in 2019, but was coming off a down year in 2020. That timing probably helped Rizzo's cause, because the price tag to acquire Bell on Christmas Eve 2020 wasn't nearly what it would've been on Christmas Eve 2019. Crowe made three starts for the Nats in 2020 but was no better than seventh or eighth on their rotation depth chart. And Yean, while promising, was only 19 and seen as a long-term project. How'd it work out? Bell, after opening the season on the COVID-19 injured list, got off to a dismal start at the plate, then proved to be exactly what he was supposed to be all along, finishing with a .261/.347/.476 slash line, 27 homers and 88 RBIs. Crowe made 25 starts for the Pirates, but was a disappointing 4-8 with a 5.48 ERA and 1.569 WHIP. And Yean produced an elevated 5.27 ERA and 1.425 WHIP in 66 2/3 innings at low Single-A Bradenton. In the end, no complaints from the Nats on this deal.

Dec. 24, 2015: Signed Daniel Murphy to three-year, $37.5 million contract
Despite a gargantuan October at the plate, Murphy didn't generate nearly as much interest as he wished he had after the season ended. The Mets made no serious attempt to re-sign him, so the Nationals swooped in and picked him up on a modest deal that paid huge dividends for them. Murphy proved his historic postseason was no fluke and developed into one of the best pure hitters in baseball. He led the National League with a .985 OPS in 2016 and finished runner-up to Kris Bryant for the MVP, then came back and had nearly as impressive a 2017 at the plate. Yes, he was a butcher at second base. And, yes, a knee injury ruined his 2018 (and ultimately his career). But his acquisition was a huge win for the Nats.

Dec. 22, 2011: Acquired Gio González and Robert Gilliam from Athletics for Derek Norris, Tommy Milone, Brad Peacock and A.J. Cole
Rizzo's top priority after the 2011 season was to acquire a frontline starter who could join Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann and give the Nationals a formidable pitching trio as they sought to become a contender for the first time. González perfectly fit the bill, but the price tag felt awfully steep at the time: a promising catching prospect in Norris and three young pitchers in Milone, Peacock and Cole. In the end, González was far more valuable to the Nats than any of the four prospects would've been. (Besides, Norris, Milone and Cole all wound up back in D.C. at some point years later.) The real key to the trade, though, was the Nationals' ability to sign Gonzalez to a five-year, $42 million extension that included a pair of club options on the back end. They wound up getting seven seasons, 213 starts, 86 wins, a 3.62 ERA and a lot of smiles (along with some occasional high blood pressure) out of the popular lefty.

Dec. 23, 2010: Re-signed Sean Burnett to two-year, $3.95 million extension
Burnett wasn't the key name in the June 2009 trade that also brought Nyjer Morgan to Washington in exchange for Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan. But the lefty reliever proved to have the best career of any of them and was a key part of the Nats bullpen as they ascended from a 103-loss team into a division winner. The modest extension he signed after the 2010 season was a real boon for the club and worked out far better than the two-year, $8 million deal he got from the Angels as a free agent after the 2012 season. (He pitched in only 16 games in Anaheim due to injuries.)

Dec. 24, 2009: Signed Matt Capps to one-year, $3.5 million contract
Speaking of low-key additions that paid off in the long run, how about Rizzo's Christmas Eve signing of Capps, who was non-tendered by the Pirates after a down year but re-established himself as a quality closer in D.C. Pitching the ninth inning for a Nationals club that wasn't ready to contend yet, Capps recorded 26 saves with a 2.74 ERA in 47 appearances. At which point Rizzo made one of the savviest moves of his career, flipping Capps to a desperate Twins team that was willing to give up top catching prospect Wilson Ramos for him. Capps did fine in Minnesota, but Ramos became a cornerstone behind the plate for the Nats for years.

Dec. 24, 2005: Re-signed Mike Stanton to one-year, $1 million contract
Bowden initially acquired Stanton during the 2005 All-Star break, hoping the veteran lefty could help an already strong bullpen and keep the surprising Nationals atop the National League East in their inaugural season. Stanton did fine during his 30 appearances after the break, but once the Nats' collapse was complete, Bowden actually dealt him to the Red Sox only for the final weekend of the regular season. A free agent after that, Stanton wound up returning to D.C. on a $1 million deal and proceeded to compile a 4.47 ERA in 56 games. Bowden once again traded him, this time to the Giants for a pitching prospect named Shairon Martis, who would make 20 mostly forgettable starts for the awful 2008-09 Nationals.