Rizzo responds to reporter's criticism of Nationals: 'I'm still optimistic'

Washington Nationals president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo fired back at criticism of the organization, defending the team's progress through what's been a lengthy rebuild.

"I guess you could pick at certain draft choices and picks over the last years, you could find some faults there, but we've run some of the great players in the game though our system, drafted some of the greatest players ever," Rizzo said during an appearance on 106.7 The Fan.

The executive was responding to an article written by The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal on Tuesday. In the piece, Rosenthal called the Nationals "perennial bottom feeders" because the organization has failed to spend and develop like good teams are supposed to.

Rizzo, who has held the the Nationals head baseball position since 2009 and has been the architect of a lengthy rebuild dating back to the conclusion of their 2019 World Series championship season, disagreed with Rosenthal's opinion.

"The timing of the article was odd because we were playing good, and we really are seeing the fruits of this frustrating rebuild coming to fruition," Rizzo said.

"I'm still optimistic the needle of this team and organization is pointed north, and it's going to continue to do so until we start winning championships, which I think is in the very near future."

The Nationals haven't had a winning season since 2019 and have traded away stars such as Juan Soto, Trea Turner, and Max Scherzer since.

Outfielder Jacob Young and pitchers Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker are also the only players the Nationals have drafted since 2019 to produce more than 3.0 fWAR.