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Nationals Acquire Adam Eaton

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The White Sox have announced that they’ve traded outfielder Adam Eaton to the Nationals in a deal centered on right-hander Lucas Giolito, as FanRag’s Jon Heyman previously reported. Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago reported that right-handers Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning are also in the deal.

"<strongThe price to acquire Eaton, 28, proved extremely costly for the Nationals, who will send two of the game’s top 10 right-handed pitching prospects, Giolito and Lopez, to Chicago in order to acquire him (rankings via MLB.com). Beyond that, Dunning was Washington’s first-round pick (No. 29 overall) this past summer.

The exceptionally steep cost to acquire Eaton is understandable, though, as he’s fresh off a season in which he batted .284/.362/.428 with 14 homers, 14 steals and perhaps the best right-field defense of anyone in baseball. Of course, the Nationals figure to put Eaton back in center field, where his glove isn’t as strong, but doing so will allow the team to put Trea Turner back at shortstop. And, with Jayson Werth hitting the open market next winter, the Nats could put Eaton back in a corner spot as soon as 2018 if GM Mike Rizzo adds a more premium defender next winter.

Not only was Eaton worth six wins above replacement in the estimation of both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference last season, he’s also on a wildly affordable contract that guarantees him just $19.9MM over the next three seasons and comes with two affordable club options. All told, his earnings can top out at $38.4MM if both options are picked up. For five eminently affordable years of a player of that ilk, it’s not surprising that multiple top 50 overall prospects and a 2016 first-round pick were required to pry Eaton away from the White Sox, who very clearly appear to be in the midst of an aggressive rebuilding process.

The Nationals had previously been in talks with the Pirates for Andrew McCutchen, with Lopez among the names connected to those talks. Their acquisition of Eaton would appear to shut the door on those negotiations. In Eaton, they’ve acquired a player who doesn’t have McCutchen’s power but who has superior secondary skills and is controllable for a longer period of time.

"<strongAs for Chicago GM Rick Hahn, he’s bolstered his farm system by a staggering amount in a span of roughly 26 hours, as he added Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz in yesterday’s Chris Sale blockbuster with the Red Sox. Remarkably, the Nationals were reported to have offered both Giolito and Lopez in their offer for Sale, and despite making the decision to rebuff that offer, he acquired both ballyhooed righties just one day later.

Giolito ranks as the third-best prospect in baseball, via MLB.com, which rates Giolito’s mid- to upper-90s fastball an 80 on the 20-to-80 scouting scale and regards his curveball almost as highly. Giolito raced from Double-A Harrisburg to the Majors in 2016, posting a 2.97 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 115 1/3 minor league innings and tacking on 21 1/3 more in the Majors. The White Sox’ plans for the towering 6’6″ righty aren’t yet clear, but he could easily become a regular big-league rotation option in 2017. Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets that the Nationals were “down” on Giolito, and some in the industry believe the Nats would have been willing to trade him in a one-for-one deal for Andrew Miller last summer, as Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweeted. Still, Giolito retains enormous upside.

"<strongLopez is lesser known than Giolito, but brings a big arms of his own and rates 38th in MLB.com’s list. Like Giolito, he pitched in Harrisburg, Triple-A Syracuse and Washington in 2016, and he fared well in the minors before struggling a bit in the big leagues — he posted a 3.21 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 109 1/3 minor league innings. He’s smaller than Giolito, at 6’0″, but like Giolito and Kopech, he’s got an electric arm — he can dial his fastball into the mid-90s and touch higher. He figures to pitch in the big leagues for at least a good portion of the 2017 season.

Dunning was the 29th overall pick in the June draft, and the 21-year-old rated as the Nats’ sixth-best prospect. Hayes tweets that the White Sox liked Dunning very much when they were scouting for the draft (when he was otherwise somewhat overlooked on a loaded Florida Gators team). MLB.com praises his fastball, which sits in the low- to mid-90s with good movement, and strong changeup. He made seven starts for the Nats’ short-season team in Auburn, posting a 2.14 ERA, 7.8 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9. He seems likely to begin the 2017 season at the Class A or A+ level, and he’s likely to be at least a year or two from contributing in the big leagues.

Morosi first said the two sides had talked earlier today, and MLB.com’s Scott Merkin said a trade was in the works. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that the deal was close to being finalized.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nationals Offered Victor Robles, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez In Chris Sale Bid

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The Nationals were outbid by the Red Sox in their attempt to acquire Chris Sale, but that wasn’t for lack of trying, as Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post (Twitter links). Remarkably, the Nationals were willing to deal outfielder Victor Robles and both their top young starting pitching prospects, Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, for Sale. But the White Sox instead opted for the Red Sox’ incredible offer, topped by Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech.

Robles, Giolito and Lopez are the Nationals’ top three prospects, according to MLB.com. All three of them rank among the top 40 in baseball and Robles and Giolito rank among the top ten. Robles has earned praise as a five-tool talent with good hitting ability and exceptional speed. Both Giolito and Lopez could make an immediate impact in a big-league rotation, and all three players have enormous upside once they reach the big leagues for good. That the White Sox were able to get one offer this good is incredible in its own right; that they had to leave it on the table because they found one they liked better is even more so.

Now that Sale is off the table, the Nationals are no longer willing to deal Robles, Chelsea Janes of the Post tweets. But the Nats could very well still pursue Andrew McCutchen, according to Svrluga. What that might take is unclear, as Robles is the name that has most frequently arisen as a possible Pirates acquisition in a potential McCutchen deal. The Pirates could perhaps continue to pursue the trade, hoping to land a package of young pitching headed by a player like Lopez or Joe Ross, whose names have both arisen in reporting about the potential swap.

Nationals, Pirates Accelerating Talks On Andrew McCutchen

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DEC. 2: Talks between the Nationals and Pirates have continued into the morning, tweets Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Pirates have been breaking down video footage of Nationals prospects this morning, he adds. The Nats remained “in the lead” for McCutchen as of late last night, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (on Twitter), though Morosi notes that the Rangers have been in contact with the Pirates about McCutchen as well.

DEC. 1: The Nationals and Pirates have “ramped up” their negotiations on a possible deal involving star center fielder Andrew McCutchen, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com reports. There are indications that the Nats would like to wrap up an agreement today; it seems the club may well non-tender shortstop Danny Espinosa if it adds McCutchen.

The connection between McCutchen and Espinosa involves Trea Turner, who could play either center or short. If Washington adds a new option in the outfield, Turner would surely move to his accustomed shortstop position, and the Nats would apparently not be interested in retaining Espinosa at a projected $5.3MM salary. (He could, of course, be traded.)

We’ve heard some chatter about possible pieces involved between these clubs, which reportedly explored a deal over the summer but couldn’t quite reach an agreement. The Bucs are said to be eyeing top outfield prospect Victor Robles, but it remains unclear whether the Nationals have any willingness to part with him. Stark notes that young, MLB-level pitchers such as Joe Ross and Reynaldo Lopez would hold appeal to Pittsburgh as well, and both (along with several other possibilities) certainly could be in play.

The Nationals would presumably utilize McCutchen in center, where he has long played in Pittsburgh. There were newfound questions about his ability to stick there after metrics panned his work in 2016, though perhaps Washington would only need to commit to him in center for a single season. Still, McCutchen isn’t quite as appealing an asset in a corner position, particularly given the risk that he doesn’t bounce back after a .256/.336/.430 year at the plate.

McCutchen also isn’t particularly cheap. With $14MM coming to him next season and a $14.5MM option for 2018, he’s hardly expensive. And that’s a pittance if he can return to his former superstar form. Having just turned 30, McCutchen represents a reasonable risk for a high-spending contender like the Nationals, though just how much willingness the team has to part with major young assets to take that chance remains to be seen.

Latest On Nationals’ Search For Late-Inning Reliever

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The Nationals were in the mix for Aroldis Chapman right up until the end of the Yankees’ negotiations with the Cubs, reports ESPN’s Jayson Stark, and general manager Mike Rizzo and his staff are still on the hunt for a relief ace that could anchor the back of the bullpen and provide an upgrade over Jonathan Papelbon. Citing rival clubs that have spoken with the Nationals, Stark reports that Andrew Miller, Wade Davis and David Robertson are all on the radar for the Nats.

The asking price on Miller and Davis is said to be otherworldly, of course, as evidenced by a recent report from Yahoo’s Jeff Passan which stated that the Royals kicked around Lucas Giolito’s name when internally discussing the notion of trading Davis. Beyond that, Stark reported yesterday that the package sent from the Cubs to the Yankees in exchange for Chapman — Gleyber Torres, Adam Warren, Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford — wouldn’t have pried Davis away from Kansas City. The price on Miller, as has been the case since discussions about potentially trading him surfaced back in May, is exceptionally high. The Yankees were said to be fixated on Kyle Schwarber in talks pertaining to Miller, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports again emphasizes that the Yankees would want MLB-ready talent from the Nationals in exchange for Miller, suggesting that names like Giolito and Joe Ross could surface in talks.

According to Stark, the Nationals aren’t willing to part with Giolito, Trea Turner or Reynaldo Lopez in their quest to upgrade the bullpen, which makes the addition of either Miller or Davis seem decidedly unlikely. Robertson, on the other hand, would perhaps be another story given the facts that he’s owed roughly $29.15MM through the end of his contract and hasn’t seen his results with the White Sox match up with his otherwise pristine track record.

Robertson has managed an excellent strikeout rate both this year and last, and his 2016 ground-ball rate of 46.7 percent is the second-best of his career. However, he’s sporting a troublesome 4.46 ERA with the Sox this season and has a 3.82 mark since signing with the team. Robertson has struggled with location, leading to an increase in walks (4.7 BB/9) and home runs (1.3 HR/9, 14.3 percent homer-to-flyball ratio) in 40 1/3 innings this year. Optimists can point to the fact that 16 of the 20 runs yielded by Robertson since Opening Day have come across just four disastrous outings and he’s been otherwise excellent, but the bottom-line results haven’t been as consistent as the ChiSox would hope.

Beyond the prospects the Nationals would have to surrender, finances also have to factor into the equation. Washington reportedly struggled to attract free agents this offseason because the club had to factor deferred money into nearly all of its offers, in part due to the longstanding dispute with the Orioles over the shared MASN television network rights fees. (The Nats also convinced Papelbon to take a slightly lesser 2016 salary than his club option called for in exchange for exercising it immediately upon completion of last summer’s trade.) Robertson’s salary is the most prohibitive, but Davis is slated to earn $10MM next season via a club option, and Miller is owed $9MM in each of the next two seasons. None of the three is an insurmountable sum, but the finances involved with each reliever in question add another layer to the calculus of negotiating a trade.

Nationals To Promote Reynaldo Lopez

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The Nationals are promoting right-handed pitching prospect Reynaldo Lopez to the majors, reports Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (on Twitter). The 22-year-old could take the mound Tuesday for the Nats, who haven’t announced a starter for that evening’s matchup against the Dodgers.

Lopez, a native of the Dominican Republic, has experienced a meteoric rise since signing with the Nationals for a paltry $17K in 2012. Thanks to his work this year, Lopez climbed to a personal-best 48th in Baseball America’s newly updated Top 100 Prospects list. BA ranked him 92nd after last season, a steep drop from his place (49th) following the 2014 campaign, but Lopez has since tossed 87 1/3 effective innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. The bulk of Lopez’s 2016 experience (76 1/3 frames) has come as a member of Double-A Harrisburg, with which he has posted a 3.18 ERA, 11.79 K/9 and 2.95 BB/9.

Lopez complements a mid-90s fastball that can touch triple digits with a powerful, whiff-inducing curveball and a still-developing changeup, per BA (subscription required), which notes that he has dealt with inconsistencies in his delivery and must throw more quality strikes. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, meanwhile, don’t consider Lopez one of the sport’s 100 best prospects. The two rank Lopez fifth in the Nationals’ system and laud his three-pitch repertoire, though they also cite concerns with his delivery and strike-throwing abilities. However, while some scouts view Lopez as a long-term major league reliever, Callis and Mayo believe he’s on track to serve as a starter.

In the near term, it seems the flame-throwing Lopez’s best chance to stick in Washington will be out of the bullpen, as MLBTR’s Jason Martinez alluded to Monday in the latest version of his weekly “Knocking Down The Door” feature. The Nats have been on the hunt for relief help, for one, and they have a more-than-capable group of starters with Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, Tanner Roark, Gio Gonzalez and the soon-to-return Joe Ross, who has been on the disabled list since July 3 with shoulder inflammation.

In terms of team control, Lopez will fall short of Super Two status if he remains in the majors for the rest of the season. The most service time he could accumulate in 2016 would be 77 days. Lopez will be eligible for arbitration after the 2019 season and under control through 2022 if he does not return to the minor leagues this year.

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