After a week of ramp up, rumors, and tensions, the Nationals stayed put on deadline day, leaving their trade season work done with Saturday being their big business day.  No huge moves, and nothing that will likely be too consequential (at least this season) but the Nats continued their plan of getting young talent to prepare for the future.

First, the Nats traded a couple of low-priority minor-leaguers for Jonny Gomes.  This deal took a lot of people by surprise for several reasons, the first of which being that no one knew Gomes was available.  Know one knew he was available and no one knew the Nats were interested.

It also didn’t match up with the ‘sellers’ trade mentality the Nats usually have at the trade deadline.  Gomes is a 30 year old outfielder with solid stats, but he isn’t a long-term solution to any of the Nats’ holes.  He had two hits yesterday (his first two as a Nat) and he was brought it to be a steadying offensive force on a team that yo-yos at the plate more than Charlie Sheen’s mood on crack.

Then Saturday came, and the Nats dealt two roster players for more prospects.  First, they dealt Jerry Hairston Jr. to the Brewers for Erik Komatsu, a minor-league center fielder with supposedly a lot of upside.  Scouts say that he could be an every day center-fielder in the league.

Hairston didn’t really do much for the Nats.  He did a fantastic job filling Ryan Zimmerman’s hole when he went dow with injury, but other than that he was more than expendable.  He was a good utility player, but the Nats did a good job of turning his ho-hum presence into a potential future piece.

Saturday afternoon Jason Marquis was traded to Arizona for shortstop prospect Zach Walters.  Walters is a 22 year old who is a good hitter, but still has something to learn defensively (he has 23 errors in 2010).  However, he is still so young that he can be developed into a solid player.  Even if not, Marquis wasn’t going to be with the Nats much longer with their young arms coming up, so it was good to get some return for him instead of just letting him walk away.

With the lack of big moves and buys, it was clear (if it wasn’t already) that the organization has given up on this year and have began to focus on 2012-2013.  The Span deal fell through, to the happiness of many fans who didn’t want to see Drew Storen leave.  As we said earlier, he is one of the franchise cornerstones, and it would take a lot more than Span for the Nats to move him.

Overall it was a fairly inconsequential trade season for the Nats.  Expect another active off-season, and the Nats might even try a waiver trade or two.  This team will look very different next season, and not just because Strasburg will be back and Harper will be called up.