Washington Nationals: Five more players who could be traded in August
After the Washington Nationals decided to trade away Daniel Murphy and Matt Adams on Tuesday afternoon, who else could be on the move this month.
The Washington Nationals managed to stun parts of the baseball world on Tuesday. They struck a deal with the Chicago Cubs for Daniel Murphy and also traded Matt Adams to St. Louis Cardinals.
Murphy was shipped to the north side of Chicago, who he’d been a menace too throughout his career. In the Nationals acquired infield prospect Andruw Monasterio and a player to be named later, or cash considerations.
It was not a particularly grand haul for arguably one of the best hitters in the National League. However, with only a month and a half left of the season, that’s about as much as could be expected.
Adams, on the other hand, was dealt back to his former team in the Cardinals for cash considerations only. He had been a fantastic addition to the team, but again, with such little time left on his contract, that’s about as much as can be expected.
Now the front office has signaled its intent to focus on 2019 and beyond, who else could be moved before this month is out?
One name who definitely won’t be traded is Bryce Harper. He was claimed on waivers by the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend, but a trade couldn’t be worked out. Therefore the Nats pulled Harper back from waivers and can’t put him on again, so he’ll be playing this season out in D.C.
Aside from Harper, there are still several pending free agents who could be traded elsewhere. We take a look at some of those players here, and some potential fits on contenders.
Mark Reynolds – First Baseman
Potential Fits: Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees
The first player that we look at is Mark Reynolds. He’s had a Cinderella story with the Washington Nationals this season. But with the team selling, he would make a good bench bat for a contender.
He was one of the players put on waivers as reported by Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. It’s unclear whether he cleared waivers or not, but if he has, then he’s free to be traded to any team.
So far this season, Reynolds is hitting .257 and has posted an impressive 11 home runs in just 171 plate appearances. With those stats, he’ll at least peak the interest of some teams if the Nats cover most of the salary.
He’ll arguably hold the least value of the players in this list, given his track record of a powerful but strikeout-prone player. He can also only really play one position at this point in his career, that being first base.
An American League team would probably be a better fit for Reynolds so he can slide in at DH every now and again.
The Yankees seem like the best fit right now, as their first base depth appears pretty thin. While they have Greg Bird as a lefty option, Neil Walker and Luke Voit have been attempting to fill in on the right side of the platoon.
The A’s do have Matt Olson as their primary first baseman, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. But he has played the outfield before, so could shift there on occasion to get Reynolds a start, or bench him against a tough lefty.
The primary value of Mark Reynolds, however, will come as an experienced head off the bench. In the postseason, having someone who’s been there and done that and can change the game by launching a long ball is invaluable.
UPDATE 8/23: Jon Heyman of FanCred Sports reported that Reynolds was claimed on waivers by the Atlanta Braves. After no deal was agreed, the Nats pulled him back, and therefore can no longer trade him.
Gio Gonzalez – Starting Pitcher
Potential Fits: Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners
A rotation stalwart for the Washington Nationals, Gio Gonzalez has had his worst season with the team in 2018. It will be interesting to see whether any teams needing a spare rotation arm will take a look at the left-hander.
He was another name mentioned by Castillo among those who had been put on waivers by the Nats. Similarly to Reynolds, it’s unclear if he went through unclaimed, but it seems likely given his current contract compared to his 2018 performance.
The lefty has a 4.51 ERA this season, to go along with a 1.549 WHIP, 4.5 BB/9, and 7.9 K/9, all of which are among the some of the worst figures in his career. But his season has spiraled out of control lately with a 7.07 ERA and 39 walks to 46 strikeouts in his last 13 starts.
With those struggles, in order to trade Gonzalez, the Nationals would likely need to take on a fair chunk of salary. But there are contenders out there with rotation concerns who could gamble on a return to form. They only need to look at Cole Hamels for a success story in that regard.
Hamels’ recent success has largely come from no longer pitching in the pitcher-friendly Globe Life Field. Gonzalez’s struggles though are largely due to a sky-high walk rate and a ballooning home run rate.
The Mariners could do with Gio Gonzalez to help a very iffy rotation that’s suffering from injuries. Seattle has the worst starter’s ERA among AL teams in realistic contention so he could at least do a job as a fifth starter.
The Brewers have also been bitten by the injury bug, with Jimmy Nelson, Zach Davies, and Brent Suter all on the DL. If the Nats take on a fair amount of Gonzalez’s salary, then the Brewers may be interested in the cheap fix at the back-end of the rotation.
It would be a shame to see Gonzalez’s Nationals career end in a trade, but given the unlikelihood of him re-signing with the team, it makes sense to see if they can get something for him.
UPDATE 8/23: Jorge Castillo reported Gio Gonzalez cleared waivers and is now free to be traded to any team this month.
Kelvin Herrera – Relief Pitcher
Potential Fits: St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies
Kelvin Herrera was the sole Washington Nationals major trade acquisition in 2018. Now they may look to move him on in a waiver trade as August draws to a close.
In acquiring Herrera, the Nationals parted with Blake Perkins, Kelvin Gutierrez, and Yohanse Morel. But since then, the relievers value has certainly decreased a lot.
Not only is there only about six weeks left on his contract compared to about 14, he’s pitched poorly for the Nats. He has a 4.50 ERA, most of which has come from being bugged by the home run ball. He’s given up four bombs in just 18 innings for his new team.
It’s fair to wonder whether part of this was down to injury, given that he’s only just come back from the DL and looked good on Tuesday after his DL stint. A buying team may also look at his lengthy track record for the Royals in which he carried a 2.86 ERA entering this season.
Playoff contenders can never have enough bullpen arms heading into October, so there could be a lot of interest. But we’ve picked out two teams in particular that look like they need a high-leverage arm.
As we saw on Tuesday night, the Phillies bullpen aside from Seranthony Dominguez has been incredibly unreliable. If they can get Herrera as a high-reward, low-risk move to fill in the eighth inning they will be very happy.
The Nats also managed to take advantage of a sketchy Cardinals bullpen when they were in St. Louis. Originally, the Cards had hoped Greg Holland would be a big piece in their bullpen, but he’s now a National.
Matt Wieters – Catcher
Potential Fits: Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks
Up until a few weeks ago, it would’ve been unlikely that Matt Wieters drew trade interest. But now with the catcher hitting well, the Washington Nationals could now flip him.
In August, Wieters is now hitting .327 with a couple of home runs, nine RBI, and a nice .873 OPS. It’s the first real time in his Nats career that he’s consistently looked like a threat with the bat, but better late than never.
Despite the turnaround, much like Gio Gonzalez, the Nats are going to have to eat some salary in order to deal Wieters. But there are definitely still plenty of playoff contenders out there who have question marks behind the plate.
The Red Sox currently have former Nat Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart behind the plate, while Christian Vazquez heals up. Wieters could certainly be an upgrade as a second catcher there.
The Diamondbacks have been solid defensively behind the plate, but the catcher position has been an offensive black hole at times. The Rockies were getting nice production from Chris Iannetta for a while, but he reverted back to his old self and now Wieters would certainly be an upgrade.
Before August, trading Matt Wieters may have been near-impossible given his abysmal batting performance. But now, he may be able to tempt teams as they look for a hot bat to ride into October.
UPDATE 8/23: Matt Wieters cleared waivers as Jorge Castillo reported, and can now be freely traded to any major league team in August.
Greg Holland – Relief Pitcher
Potential Fits: Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians
After a largely dominant career, the Washington Nationals may look to part with recent acquisition Greg Holland. He could still draw some interest from other teams as a solid reliever with postseason experience.
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On the season, he has an unsightly 6.53 ERA, but with the Nationals he’s seemingly reborn. In 5.1 innings he’s yet to give up an earned run, walking two and striking out six.
While he may not be his old dominant self just yet, he’s certainly making strides in the right direction. While it may take another couple of appearances for other teams to be convinced, there should be a fair amount of interest in Holland.
Given the fact that he’s only on the veteran minimum, he would almost certainly get claimed by a team rather than passing through waivers completely. The question will be which teams will put in a claim.
Once again, the Phillies could be in on another bullpen are to help bridge to gap to their closer. If he can continue his recent turnaround then he’d be an eighth-inning arm. Or he could even be a single inning reliever in the ninth, allowing Dominguez to go multiple innings before him.
To the shock of many, the Indians bullpen hasn’t lived up to its hype on the whole. With Brad Hand and Cody Allen now locking up the backend, Holland can come in just be a seventh inning, or tied game guy which will take the pressure of a little bit.
Next. Nats must develop more pitchers internally. dark
The Washington Nationals are having their first fire sale of pieces since moving D.C. in 2005. It’s an unprecedented situation, so we’ll have to see how this plays out.