A look inside GM Mike Rizzo's trade history

Major league general managers are convening in Phoenix starting today to meet with officials from the commissioner's office, go over potential rules changes, discuss what worked (and didn't) with expanded replay and initiate the process of filling roster holes in anticipation of the 2015 season.

The reality is that few deals are made at the GM meetings. However, it's a venue where a lot of talks get started, with the hope of consummating deals a few weeks later at the Winter Meetings (which will be held from Dec. 8-11 in San Diego this year).

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo would appear to be in the catbird's seat as he prepares to confab with his fellow GMs. His team is coming off a 96-win season, its second National League East title (and second playoff ouster in the Division Series) in three years and he has few obvious holes to fill.

Yes, he'd like to add a second baseman, preferably someone who possesses a good glove and a decent bat. Sure, he'd be interested in another starting pitcher - you know the old adage about never having enough pitching, right? - because there's no guarantee the Nats can ink right-handers Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister to long-term extensions. There could be some tinkering with the bullpen, too; that seems to be an annual theme, and the Nationals may not want to pay reliever Tyler Clippard the estimated $9.3 million he could get through arbitration.

Rizzo is considered by his peers to be an approachable guy who's willing to listen and think outside the box when it comes to trade talk. And there's no truth to the rumor that he's sharing a suite with A's GM Billy Beane, by far his favorite trade partner since 2009, when Rizzo took over the GM duties after Jim Bowden resigned amid a bonus-skimming scandal involving Latin-American players.

How frequently do Rizzo and Beane huddle and hash out a deal? According to the GM trade tracker at MLBTradeRumors.com, the pair have combined to make eight of the 46 deals Rizzo has pulled off in his Nationals tenure, or 17 percent. And all have come since Dec. 11, 2011, when Rizzo sent four top prospects - pitchers Brad Peacock, A.J. Cole and Tommy Milone, and catcher Derek Norris - to Oakland in exchange for left-hander Gio Gonzalez and minor league righty Robert Gilliam.

Some have been minor deals. Cole has gone to the A's and back to the Nats, while catcher Kurt Suzuki went from the A's to the Nats and back to the A's. All told, Beane and Rizzo have moved 17 players (though some more than once) in those deals. They've pulled off major deals, a three-team trade that also involved Seattle (the Michael Morse swap) and pedestrian transactions for cash or future considerations.

But the A's aren't the only team Rizzo deals with, just the most frequent. Rizzo's other go-to swap meet partners are the Pirates (five deals), Cubs (four deals) and Rays (three deals). He's traded most frequently with teams in the American League West and NL Central (12 times each), and least frequently with the AL East (five times) and within the NL East (four times).

In fact, Rizzo's pretty much an equal opportunity trader. There are only eight teams he's never pulled the trigger with. Can you name them? We'll list the answer at the end of this entry.

Some trades, like the Nov. 29, 2012 deal that brought center fielder Denard Span for prospect pitcher Alex Meyer, pay big dividends. Some, like the April 29, 2009 deal that sent Kyle Gunderson to the Marlins for Logan Kensing in an exchange of right-handed relievers (Rizzo's first with the Nats) are infinitely forgettable. Nine times, Rizzo has made trades at or within a few weeks of the July 21 non-waiver trade deadline, but he hasn't done a lot of dealing at the Winter Meetings.

Eight times, Rizzo has made straight deals shipping players elsewhere for cash. Three times, the return has been for future considerations. Six times, a player to be named as factored in.

Rizzo seems as comfortable making major deals - his first came in June 2009, when he sent outfielder Lastings Milledge and reliever Joel Hanrahan to the Pirates for outfielder Nyjer Morgan and reliever Sean Burnett - as under-the-radar trades. His best in the latter category may have come two days before the four-player deal with Pittsburgh, when he sent outfielder Ryan Langerhans to the Mariners for Morse, a shortstop-turned-outfielder with a bat he felt would play in Nationals Park.

When he weighs a potential trade, Rizzo is equal parts pragmatist and prognosticator, capable of seeing both short-term and long-term results. In that way, he's like a chess master, able to play a game simultaneously in the moment and looking a handful of moves ahead. He's not afraid to trade from farm depth - critics wailed that he gutted the farm system for Gonzalez - because he's confident that his player development department is capable of quickly restocking the organization.

He'll go with his gut as much as anything, and is capable of waiting out an opposing GM to get what he wants (like catcher Wilson Ramos, then the Twins' top prospect, and pitcher Joe Testa for closer Matt Capps and cash on July 29, 2010). He'll trade for need (getting backup catcher Jose Lobaton and two minor leaguers from Tampa Bay for pitcher Nathan Karns on Feb. 13, 2014) or make curious deals, like acquiring outfielder David DeJesus from the Cubs on Aug. 19, 2013, then spinning him off to the Rays four days later.

Bottom line: You never quite know what Rizzo's thinking (well, except for when he locks eyes with Beane across the hotel bar or in the check-in line). And that's a good thing, since a good GM wants to play his cards close to his vest. Staying under wraps in trade talks is harder and harder to do in the days of Internet trolls hanging outside the suite doors at the Winter Meetings and news cycles that feel like they exceed the 24 hours in a day. But if there's a deal he thinks will improve his ballclub, Rizzo's probably going to give it strong consideration.

Trivia answer: Under Rizzo's leadership, the Nationals have never made a trade with the Orioles, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Angels, Astros, Braves, Cardinals or Giants.