Washington Nationals GM met with reporters before tonight's Washington Nationals game against the New York Mets. There were some interesting quotes from the press conference, and here is a couple of them:

• When talking about why the Nationals ended up trading Juan Soto and the prospects of extending Soto: "We did feel that we would not be able to extend him.” which is why

• GM Mike Rizzo called Soto “a generational player” and said they both had tears in their eyes as they said goodbye today. But “this was a prudent baseball move. … I call this a good deal for the Padres and the Nationals, at this point for both franchises.”
• Wearing the 2019 World Series ring and a Nationals polo, he discusses the Juan Soto trade: “It shows what we’ve done in the past. We’re on a bumpy road right now, but coming out of it, we think it will lead to a beautiful place.”
• Talking about C. J. Abrams, "is a tooled up, twitchy type of guy that can play shortstop very acrobatic and light on his feet and he's got twitch hands and a quick bat, we see him as a five-tool talent where he can steal you a base, good arm and good at the top of any order."
• Rizzo said they reviewed MacKenzie Gore’s elbow MRI and doctors gave the thumbs up to acquire him. They will “go easy with him,” given his heavy workload this season. MacKenzie Gore was placed on the 15-day injured list last week due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. As a result, he “won’t throw…for a couple of weeks,” manager Bob Melvin told Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune and other reporters.  “Structurally, everything looked pretty good in there compared to the past.  Low-grade strain, and I think we caught a break as far as that goes.”