Bowden's Best Deals

Friday will mark Mike Rizzo's first trade deadline as the Washington Nationals' general manager. His predecessor, Jim Bowden, was a prolific dealer, pulling off, by our count, 39 trades between his hiring in November 2004 and his resignation in March. Here are Bowden's five best deals with the Nats:

5. Dec. 8, 2005: OF-1B Brad Wilkerson, OF Terrmel Sledge and RHP Armando Galarraga to the Texas Rangers for OF Alfonso Soriano. Wilkerson is out of baseball. Sledge is in Japan. Galarraga had a strong rookie season for the Tigers in 2008, but is fighting to hold on to his rotation spot this summer. It's true that Soriano spent only one year in Washington, but what a year it was.

4. Dec. 3, 2007: LHP Glenn Gibson to the Tampa Bay Rays for OF Elijah Dukes. Even though Dukes is stuck in Class AAA now, he was perhaps the Nats' most productive hitter in 2008 (when healthy) and has had few off-field issues. Strong production and good attitude in Syracuse suggest a promotion is coming soon. Gibson, meantime, still hasn't risen above Class A.

3. Nov. 10, 2008: 2B Emilio Bonifacio, 2B Jake Smolinski and RHP P.J. Dean to the Florida Marlins for OF Josh Willingham and LHP Scott Olsen. Though Olsen is out for the year with shoulder surgery, Willingham has been a middle-of-the-order standout whom the Nats control for two more years. Meantime, Bonifacio has a .619 OPS and has been relegated to utility duty, and neither prospect has risen above Class A.

2. Dec. 18, 2006: 2B Jose Vidro and cash to the Seattle Mariners for RHP Emiliano Fruto and OF Chris Snelling. No, Fruto and Snelling didn't amount to squat in Washington. What made this deal shine was the fact that the Nationals got out from under all but $4 million of the $16 million still owed at the time to Vidro, who was washed up at 32. By last August, the Mariners released him.

1. July 28, 2006: LHP Mike Stanton to the San Francisco Giants for RHP Shairon Martis. For two months of Stanton, who was 39 at the time, the Giants gave up a serviceable pitching prospect, Martis, who, though currently in Class AAA, remains the only Nats pitcher with an above-.500 record (5-3) this season. Even if Martis never surfaces in the majors again, that alone qualifies this as a steal.