Steve Mears: What moves does Rizzo have in mind for Nats?

The trade deadline is on Aug. 1 this year and that is 26 days away. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo seems poised to make some moves, and all teams in first place will make some moves. What we do not know is what Mike Rizzo has in mind for his top two prospects, Lucas Giolito and Trea Turner.

"(Giolito) threw 137 innings last year total," Rizzo said. "We will build off that. We have a protocol in place that we'll stick to and adhere to. We have had it mapped out since spring training, and we can plan on him going through September and beyond if need be."

Rizzo said the Nats will treat Giolito similar to all of their other post-Tommy John pitchers. Rizzo said Giolito could be used in the bullpen if the need arises, and if he was one of his best options, but does not see him as a closer. Rizzo said he won't take anything off the table or rule anything out. This is about the best 25-man roster is what Rizzo reiterated.

Since the time that Rizzo made those comments last week, starting pitcher Joe Ross was placed on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation, and for now, Giolito will stay in the starting rotation in Ross' spot. The good news appears that it is nothing serious with Ross, and this will also ration his innings, as he hit 152 2/3 innings last year, but appeared to hit the wall in late August, and Rizzo moved Ross to the bullpen to finish the season. Ross is currently at 95 1/3 innings at the halfway point of the season, and skipping three starts should keep Ross viable for the whole season and beyond we would hope.

Turner made his debut last week as a center fielder at Triple-A, which could give Rizzo a multi-dimensional talent who can play multiple positions now, which will make Turner extremely valuable to the Nationals. How has Turner been playing in center field? We asked that question to Kevin Brown of the Syracuse Chiefs. "So far, so good," Brown told me over the weekend. "(Turner) has looked confident chasing down balls as he's run down a few in the gap. Center field arm is solid - no mental mistakes in terms of hitting cutoff men or throwing to the wrong base."

The other player the Nationals have with positional flexibility is Daniel Murphy, who has played left field, third base, second base and first base in his major league career. According to the defensive metrics at FanGraphs, Murphy has played nearly 200 games at first base, which they rate as his best defensive position by their Ultimate Zone Rating metrics.

Rizzo and Dusty Baker can now keep the smoldering hot Danny Espinosa at shortstop, and improving leadoff man Ben Revere in center field while using Turner as the team's super-utility man, filling the greatest need. Most believe first base is the greatest need, where the Nationals rank third-to-last in the entire major leagues.

While some believe the Nationals must trade for a first baseman, the answer could simply be inserting Turner at second base and moving Murphy to first base. Defense instantly improves, and you are then trading Turner's offense for Ryan Zimmerman's. Given Zimmerman's slash line of .215/.279/.391/.669, it looks like a big upgrade offensively, and Turner also brings his speed game to the Nationals as his special weapon on both offense and defense.

With Giolito and Turner as special pieces for Rizzo and Baker, what does Rizzo really need for this Nationals team? The prudent move might be upgrading the bullpen with another proven veteran arm, and another big bat for overkill because with October aspirations, you have to add depth just in case - because you never know.

Steve Mears blogs about the Nationals for Talk Nats. Follow the blog on Twitter: @TalkNats2. His thoughts on the Nationals will appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.