Doug Fister Is Steal For Washington Nationals

Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

We have been updating you all night on the Doug Fister to Washington Nationals deal. It is now official and the players have been named in the trade. The Nationals sent Steve Lombardozzi, Ian Krol and Robbie Ray to the Tigers for Doug Fister.

First off, let’s just say the Nationals got a steal in this trade. Anthony Rendon is still a National and so is Lucas Giolito. The bad news is the Nationals lost home-town kid Steve Lombardozzi and the fifth best prospect Robbie Ray. But if you really think about it, Ray is about two years away from the big leagues and Lombardozzi isn’t going to make a huge impact on the club in the near future.

The Nationals get Doug Fister who is a ground ball pitcher with great a great infield defense behind him. He doesn’t walk many guys and doesn’t give up homers either. He is a huge pickup for the fourth spot in the rotation. He solidifies the rotation and you could argue that the Nationals have one of the best rotations in the National League.

The Tigers are in win now formation and apparently Doug Fister didn’t fit that script. Here is a tweet from Jon Morosi…

Fister is arbitration eligible and won’t be a free agent until 2016. He is estimated to make $6.9 Million through arbitration according to FanGraphs. The Nats should be willing to pay that and more for the amount of innings and consistency Fister brings to the rotation.

Lastly, Fister will bring a plentiful of playoff experience. He has pitched well in his appearances just sometimes the ball didn’t bounce his way. Either way he can bring that to the Nationals clubhouse that has only seen five games of the postseason.

The Nationals stole Fister right out of the grabs of the Tigers and very cheaply. I applaud you Mike Rizzo for keeping this under wraps until you knew it was going to happen. Way to get the job done before the Winter Meetings hit.