The Nationals are looking for potential upgrades in center field, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Though they have options in center, they are considering possible moves.
They recently traded Nyjer Morgan to the Brewers, making Rick Ankiel the everyday center fielder. Ankiel struggles to hit lefties (career .658 OPS against southpaws) and the versatile Jerry Hairston Jr. is hitting just .154/.267/.308 so far. Club officials have mixed opinions about Triple-A center fielder Roger Bernadina, according to Rosenthal.
Though the Rays will not consider trading B.J. Upton unless they fall out of contention, the Nationals would figure to have interest in acquiring him if he became available, Rosenthal writes. Upton, 26, earns $4.825MM this year and is set to hit free agency after 2012.
They can have Rowand!
The Braves will take him and you can even keep his salary.
Just a reminder Nate McLouth plays center field and shouldn’t be too hard to acquire.
playing centerfield and should be playing centerfield are two separate things haha
The Rangers will trade you their starting MLB CF for that guy whos out for the year with TJ surgery.
Upton not only “hails from the same part of Virginia” as Zimmerman, they played on the same AAU travel team, along with David Wright and Mark Reynolds.
Wow, quite the collection of 3rd baseman for a AAU team.
And Michael Cuddyer and Justin Upton are also from the same school.
Apparently the AAU infield was Wright at 3rd, BJ Upton at short, with Zimmerman and Reynolds splitting time between 1st and 2nd. Holy hell that would be a heck of a modern infield…..well, at with a little bit of switching the positions around. Now I’d say Zimmerman at short, Wright at 3B, Upton at 2B, with Reynolds at 1B.
Justin Upton was on that AAU team too. They bumped him up into that age bracket because he was a monster.
do the nationals really think they are going to contend this year?
No, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t address a pressing need and, believe me, it’s a pressing need.
not to mention come 2012, Strasburg will be back and it is conceivable that Harper could be ready by then as well.
Michael Bourn could become avaible if he is not already from the Astros they won’t be contending for anything for a couple of years or maybe even Cameron Maybin in San Diego.
the astros are not going to trade bourn they are trying to put a competitve team on the field at low cost so that they can sell the team and he is cheap for atleast 2 more years.
With the young outfielders coming through there system it would be wise for them to trade him. His value is one of the highest on the team could quite possible never be higher. He will be 30 by the time there even close to contending and eligible for free agency with Scott Boras at his agent. If Ed Wade gets smart or someone else replaces him it would be wise to trade him.
The Astros have been going with that model for several years now. Frankly the only thing they have accomplished is shedding some unwieldy contracts. The whole putting a competitive team on the field step is still missing.
The Astros have terribly current talent. They have an awful farm system. The best thing they can do is trade what talent they have an infuse their farm system with some high ceiling guys. Pence and Bourn should both be moved if you can get the right pieces in return.
I was thinking about that as well. Michael Bourn would solve two problems for the Nationals, as they haven’t had a good lead-off hitter in years.
-wtk
Padres won’t trade Maybin
Corey Patterson!
is afraid of walls!
They can have Tony Gwynn Jr!!
have Werth Paly Both he is Oscenely paid
I don’t understand why they don’t call up Roger. He had a pretty decent season last year.
Because he managed to lose both the LF job and the CF job this Spring Training.
He looked horrible defensively in CF. Not sure how he’s been doing in the minors.
Well, if you contrast the springs of Bernadina and Morse, and where we are now, Bernadina deserves that call.
I’d give Morse another series or two. His track record over his 600 career ABs is a good one.
Mike Cameron could probably be had for the right price.
The Sox have no reason to move him, and they’d have to eat a lot of his salary anyway. Nobody’s going to pick up that entire salary for an injury-prone 4th outfielder. To be fair, he probably could start on a handful of teams…..but again, he could prove to be valuable for the Sox considering Ellsbury and Drew’s injury issues.
The “right price” does not involve eating any salary. It does involve getting value for a valuable player. There is no reason for the Red Sox to “unload” him.
As a Sox fan, valuable as he is, I’d send him. We could bring up someone else if needed. We have McDonald as a backup and he did just fine last year. If we could shed some payroll, maybe pickup a minor league player in the deal too, think it’s an option. It’s not fair to Cameron to have him sitting all the time when he could be playing more. I know he’s making the money either way, but when you’re a ball player, you want to be on the field all the time, not only occasionally.
If I’m the Sox I hold on to Cameron, at least until the trade deadline. With three lefty outfielders starting for them having that experienced righty bat that can play all three outfield positions could be pretty big for them. Not to mention their DH is a lefty as well as Gonzo. McDonald is a good backup as well but who would the sox call up? Kalish, another lefty? Trading a guy just so he can get some more playing time is not a wise decision if he can help you club.
ryan sweeney! haha
dislike. i think sweeney will start again next year once willingham and dejesus are gone. there is a chance one of them resigns but i doubt it. i think i’ll be carter in left, sweeney in right and hopefully dejesus in center
Is anyone surprised that they’d need a center fielder when they decided to go with Rick Ankiel? Seriously?
I sure wasn’t. I was wondering how Ankiel fooled them into thinking he could handle the job.
I’ll take Ankiel defensively over any of their other options right now. He has a cannon, and he doesn’t miss the cutoff man completely or bounce the ball on the way to the infield (ala Nyjer). He just can’t hit.
If McLouth and Schafer disappoint again(very likely), the Nats are going to have some competition for Upton if he’s made available. I’m sure Wren is sick of having no production or even good defense in CF, and they’ve got a ton of trade chips.
Nationals already have their future Center Fielder in Werth once Harper comes out.. In the mean time Corey Brown and Roger Bernadina are decent options… B.J. Upton hasn’t put up an OPS over .800 since 2007.. No thanks
I don’t get why they traded nyjer morgan – all he’s done is hit 455 so far – with above average defense
I think they didn’t want a repeat of last year with all his antics
SSS.
Nyjer will cool off, obviously. He was dreadful and a distraction in 2010.
if they were smart, they’d ask the Reds about Chris Heisey.
Colby Rasmus, Some how the Rizz should try to get him
Please lord give me Ellsbury in washington
Wouldn’t Boston jump to give him up for Ramos/Norris and others and then call up Kalish or plug in Cameron? Ells is hitting last and Salty is imploding.