2:32pm: The Indians are paying the entirety of the $3.33MM remaining on Cabrera’s deal, tweets MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian, who says that Cleveland is very high on Walters.
2:21pm: The Nationals have officially announced the acquisition of shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera from the Indians in exchange for infielder Zach Walters and cash considerations.
The 28-year-old Cabrera is hitting .246/.305/.386 with nine homers and seven steals on the season. While defensive metrics have never liked his glovework at shortstop, his bat is above average for the position, and he could fill in for the Nationals at second base, with Anthony Rendon sliding back over to third base on a full-time basis in the wake of Ryan Zimmerman’s injury.
Cabrera grades out better in his career at second base than his career at shortstop, albeit in a much smaller sample size (1341 innings at second base). Cabrera has about $3.33MM of this season’s $10MM salary remaining, and he is a free agent at season’s end.
The 24-year-old Walters entered the season as Washington’s No. 14 prospect, per Baseball America. He received a brief promotion to the Majors but didn’t capitalize on his time there, hitting just .205/.279/.462 in 43 plate appearances. While he did belt three homers, he also whiffed 16 times in that small sample. BA praised his raw power but questioned his plate discipline and noted a high number of seemingly careless throwing errors. While he has a chance to stick at shortstop with some offensive upside, BA feels he likely profiles as a utility infielder that can fill in at various positions.
Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer first reported that Cabrera had been traded (Twitter link). MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian added that the Nats were his destination (Twitter link). Hoynes then tweeted Walters was going to Cleveland, and ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted details on the cash considerations.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Gotta love them mystery teams
Well that mystery lasted all of ninety seconds.
Yankees, Red Sox, A’s or Mets?
Definitely not the Mets. Cabrera’s contract expires at end of year
Must be the A’s
Jays
A’s for Hammel?
Nope, Nats
Things can’t ALL go well for the A’s this trade deadline
A’s again? LOL
Nah A’s need more pitching
Nats
It’s the Nationals, going to play second.
Report that he went to the Nationals
its the Nationals
The unknown and unclear teams are really scoring some deals today
Oakland
Can’t wait to see who the Nats gave up for Cabrera
Nat’s have an infield full of low average, toolsy players now. So much for Espinoza.
The Giants could use Espinosa. He’s no Dan Uggla.
i wonder if they gave up Ian Desmond
No way
the only reason why they should is because they have to many infielders
Ummmmm. LOL?
No Cole/Michael Taylor *crosses fingers*
It’s a rental. Hearing it’s Walters which I’m fine with. He is Espinosa Jr. who is weak defensively.
its for Walters
Rizzo does it again!
This move is somewhat confusing.
Nats needed a cheap rental 2B with Zimmerman out. Espinosa can’t hit RHP.
Ehh…when you take into account his bad defense (I think he has 14 errors this year already) I don’t think his offensive production is that much better then Espi’s. When you combined both Espi & Cabrera offense and defense I don’t think Cabs is that much better….if he’s even better at all. There’s not even that many redeeming qualities about him; sure he has postseason expierence….but he has 5 hits in 50 AB’s (.200 average). Like Espi he still strikes out a lot (79 in 378 Ab’s [once every 4.8 AB’s he strikes out]; Espi strikes out once every 2.7 AB’s), neither walk much (27 for Cabrera, 17 for Espi) but Espi is so much better on defense does Cabrera’s .246 .305 .386 .691 batting line really make up for his short-comings on defense, moving to a position he hasn’t played in 5 years?? I don’t.
He’s a significant upgrade over Espi so far as hitting rightys is concerned. I mean, I like the dudes glove as much as the next guy but he’s so, so bad against RHP.
Espinosa strikes out about 10 percent more, it’s not close. Cabrera has even shown more power, the real knock will be the defense, and they can still get Espinosa in there against LH starters and for late defense. Frandsen is the expendable guy who they should punt for an actual bench hitter, but that’s probably a waiver pickup
That bad defense came at SS, the hardest position on the diamond. Cabrera should be ok at 2B
Walters’walk rate is 7.7% this year to go along with 42 extra base hits in a total of 304 PA’s. Seems to me like he might be ready for a break out.
The Cabrera and Masterson trades were to save money and get something for guys with expiring contracts. But trading 2 starters for 2 guys with zero plate discipline , um we already have a team filled with guys like that. They could’ve gotten more for Masterson.
When was the last time Ramsey posted a walk rate below 11%?
Not to mention that the Indians team walk and strike out rates are 9th and 7th best in baseball.
As a Nats fan/STH, I wanted to see Walters get more of an opportunity. Less than 40 big league at-bats spread-out with only a few starts is no way to get adjusted to Major League pitching. It will be interesting to see how he does with an extended stretch of playing time with the Tribe. He’s got good power from both sides of the plate and had the best-rated infield arm in the Nats farm system last year.
Mr. Lindor, your table is ready.