Bill Ladson of MLB.com had a Q&A session with Washington Nationals’ GM Mike Rizzo.  Here are a few questions of interest:

The way this team performs the next couple of weeks, is that going to affect what you end up doing at the end of the month at the deadline?

I wouldn’t say that. We have got a plan in place and we are trying to implement it. We are always trying to get better and to hit the spots that we have to hit. I think that’s our main goal — go into the second half and play better ball games and win as many games and let the chips fall where they may after that.

A lot of the speculation revolves around Adam Dunn. You said you have a plan. Is he part of that plan?

As I said in the past, Adam Dunn is a big part of this club — anchors the middle of the lineup, anchors the clubhouse. It would take an extraordinary deal to trade him, but we are going to keep our options open for anything that happens.

That’s my job, to impact the ball club positively. If it’s by extending him, that’s what we will do. But if there is something that has to be done as far as trade. We’ll have to explore those options also.

Do you feel like you have to either extend him or trade him? Or could you go to the end of the year like it is now? Would you prefer to do one or the other?

I would prefer to extend him first, but like I said, we have to keep our options open to trade him if it impacts the club. Our third option is to keep him throughout the season and have him perform admirably for us like he has in the first half.

Is another option the possibility of trading him and re-signing him next season?

Of course. That’s a long way down the road and a lot of things have to happen for that situation. There are endless possibilities at the end of the season if he is a free agent.

Even though you guys control [Josh] Willingham for 2011, would there be any interest or possible willingness on your behalf to try to work on something with him as far as an extension?

Josh is part of the family. We want him around long-term.