Martinez on trade deadline and his own trade history as a player

The Major League Baseball trade deadline is now three days away, and not many former players can speak to what it is like to be traded the way that Nationals manager Davey Martinez, who was traded several times in his 17-year major league career, can.

With a veteran clubhouse before him in D.C., he has told his troops to stay online with what the Nats are trying to do and not worry about outside rumors.

"The toughest thing at this point is to focus on what's at hand," Martinez said. "Don't worry about what's going to happen, what can happen. Just take care of today. That's kind of what we tell the guys. All these rumors flying around about guys going here, guys going there. I just have to reiterate, 'Hey, let's take care of ourselves. Focus on today. Because if you start worrying about things you can't control, you lose the focus on what we're trying to accomplish here right now.'"

The skipper said the players and coaches are aware of possibilities of trades.

"I'll just use (bench coach) Chip Hale as an example," he said. "All of a sudden his phone goes 'ding.' I know exactly what that is. That's ESPN alert. Here comes a rumor. You hear it. ESPN alert, MLB alert, something's going on."

Martinez talked about how his kids actually enjoyed getting traded four times in one summer one season because they got to see so many new cities. But Martinez was never traded on the actual deadline day.

"For me, I've never been traded at the (non-waiver trade) deadline" Martinez said. "How about that? As many times as I got traded, I never worried about it. I really didn't. I look at it after the first time I got traded, from the Cubs, which was kind of upsetting, because it was the team I got drafted by. After that, I always felt like, 'Hey, there's another team that wants me out there. I got a big league uniform on. Let's get after it.' That's kind of the approach I've always taken."

Martinez remembered a trade from the Texas Rangers to the Toronto Blue Jays one summer that occurred in Toronto.

"The best one for me was, I'm with Texas, we're playing in Toronto. It was after the deadline," the skipper recalled. "Before the deadline I was told they want me to come back. They've been talking to my agent about signing an extension with Texas. So I said 'Oh great.' Three days after the deadline, after the game I go down in the tunnel in the visiting clubhouse and Johnny Oates is sitting at the end of the tunnel. And he looks at me.

"I love Johnny Oates," the skipper continued. "I remember him looking at me like ... And I remember looking at him, and I go 'I'm getting traded, ain't I?' And he goes, 'Yeah'. And I said 'Where?' And he goes, 'Luckily you don't have to go too far.' I'm thinking 'What do you mean I don't have to go too far?' I said 'Where?' 'You are just going across the way.' I said 'Toronto?' He goes 'Yeah.' I said 'All right!' That was actually the fourth time that year.

"Went over there and next up I'm playing against my old team, batting third. Men first and second, first at-bat, hit a home run. Rafael Palmeiro, who I have been close to for a lot of years, he looks at me and says, 'How come you didn't do that for us?' I said 'What are you taking about? I did do that!'"

The only Major League Baseball trade deadline this year is July 31 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. The Nats are feverishly looking for bullpen help and possibly a fifth starter.