Washington Nationals Mock Trade: Tanner Roark, Michael Taylor depart

After making several moves as buyers in the FanSided GM Simulation, it was time for the fake Washington Nationals to sell Tanner Roark and Michael Taylor.

Our Site Expert Blake Finney continues to make moves on behalf of the Fake Washington Nationals in FanSided’s General Manager Simulation. In his latest transaction, he was able to deal away Michael Taylor and Tanner Roark to the Texas Rangers.

As we do with every piece for the simulation, we reinforce the fact that this is not a real transaction. Even though this is the case, it’s entirely possible that the team tries to move on from these two long-time Nationals this offseason.

With about 24 hours to go in our simulation, we dropped the Rangers faux GM, a line to see if they were interested in either Roark or Taylor. It seemed that they were, and we agreed to the following trade between the two teams.

Taylor has been an obvious trade candidate this offseason, regardless of how the Bryce Harper situation played out. Roark is a difficult call, but in this simulation, there were several good free agent starting pitchers left, and we felt we could get an upgrade for less than Roark is earning.

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The Nationals half of the trade

In this deal, we were able to acquire four really good prospects, and a pair of them could be major league ready this season.

The first in Yohander Mendez, who has already spent time in the majors with the Rangers in the past two seasons. He had a breakout 2016 season when he sported a 2.19 ERA in the minor leagues as he rose from High-A all the way to the big leagues. The next two seasons weren’t as kind, but he still has the raw stuff to at the very least be a nice depth option in the rotation moving forward.

Jose Trevino is a catcher that has one of the best defensive reputations in the minor leagues among catchers and was solid again in Double-A in 2018. His bat still needs some work, as he slashed just .234/.284/.332 but he profiles as a perfect backup catcher who can shine on defense at the highest level.

Joe Palumbo is definitely the prized prospect in this trade from the Nats side. The left-handed starter only made 11 appearances in 2018 as he recovered from Tommy John surgery, but when he did pitch he was very impressive, with a 2.78 ERA and over a strikeout per inning. He has one of the best curveballs in the Rangers’ system and is yet another good pitching acquisition for the fake Nats.

Speaking of TJ Surgery recipients, rounding out the trade package is Kyle Cody, who underwent the procedure during the 2018 season. He has a towering six 6″7′ frame and throws a power fastball in the mid-90s that he pairs with a sharp slider and nice changeup. If the fake Nats can help him recover as they’ve done with so many pitchers, he would be a fantastic high upside get in this deal.

The Rangers half of the trade

In this faux deal, Tanner Roark will head back to the team that dealt him to acquire Cristian Guzman back in 2010. The Rangers may be in rebuild mode, but they could look to take a chance on Roark and see if he has a chance to be a long-term part of their rotation, a chance the Nats may not be able to give him.

Michael Taylor is probably the highlight of this deal for the Rangers and could lock down centerfield for them for years to come. Taylor has two more years of arbitration remaining, and after the faux Rangers dealt away Delino DeShields earlier in the sim, centerfield was still open for Taylor, who gets the full-time that he role he likely deserves.

Keep an eye out on District on Deck as Blake Finney tries to craft his Washington Nationals roster in the fake GM Simulation along with the rest of the MLB FanSided sites.