FRIDAY: MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez hears there's no more truth to the Bourjos-Nationals rumor now than there was this offseason (Twitter link).
THURSDAY: The Angels and Nationals have had preliminary discussions about a trade involving Peter Bourjos, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The Royals, Diamondbacks, and Blue Jays also checked in on the outfielder's availability.
It's unclear how far along the talks are, but Bourjos would give Washington the long-term center field solution they've been seeking. Anaheim could use their outfield surplus to shore up the bullpen, a priority according to Morosi. The Nationals are currently without Drew Storen (elbow) and Brad Lidge (hernia) but could be more open to a trade involving a reliever once one or both guys get healthy.
The Angels could also be in the market for a catcher following Chris Iannetta's injury, mentions Morosi. Iannetta will miss up to eight weeks following wrist surgery, the team announced today.
kinda saw this coming… even tho many people will start to say no dont trade him… but really… our future outfield cant have both bourjos and trout…defensively that would be good, but offensively horrible.. u need power from the OF positions
What? You can’t have two plus-WAR guys in the same outfield? Why not?
Because then a third WAR might emerge.
I see what you did there.
and obviously Scioscia sees it the same way.. have u seen trout and bourjos play in the same game? No… hes been on the bench 9 of last 11 games i think
You don’t need power from any positions…just wins.
yea and we would have more wins if our team could actually score runs.. aka offense
(along with the bullpen not blowing the small leads we do get)
You’re doing it wrong
Mike Trout has plenty of power, did you see the Vladdy-esque double he drove to the deepest part of Target Field? He’s only 20 so it’s gonna take him a little bit to harness it. This is really stupid though, move Trout to a corner and keep Bourjos at center. His defense is so valuable there, and while his offense is really streaky, he can save so many runs in center that it offsets a lot of the bad at the plate.
The Wells trade is haunting this team hardcore. Trout/Bourjos/Trumbo is the outfield of the future but it can’t happen because of dude’s anchor of a contract.
thats the funny thing about the American League they have an extra spot that allows for power, DH. Yes they easily could be in the same line up with one shifting to either right or left.
The Nats are going all in this year. Getting Michael Morse back is like making a huge trade to begin with but adding Span or Bourjos would push them over the top
The Nats arent going all in, every piece except Edwin Jackson will be in place to contend for years to come.
i would agree if it weren’t for the strasburg innings limit
Maybe thats why they signed Mike Gonzalez.
Curious as to what Angels fans think they should target from the Nats in a trade (BRYCE HARPER!!!1!). As a Nats fan, I would be ecstatic if they used a reliever as a major piece in a deal to get Bourjos but don’t have my hopes up.
I’d love Rendon, but I don’t think that’s very realistic. Although, Zimmerman is locked up for a long time, so who knows?
Maybe P-Bo and a minor leaguer for Rendon and a bullpen arm?
Seriously? Do you know anything about Rendon?
He’s blocked like the Angels seem to think Bourjos is for some reason?
Notice how I said I don’t think it’s very realistic?
You’re right, it’s not realistic. So what do you realistically want?
Peace on earth.
can’t argue that
A robot programmed to get me beer when procrastination sets in would be nice too.
Yeah, a college bat who has been injured three times in the past two years, was largely used as a DH last year, and who has exactly 4 ABs in A ball. And nothing else.
The guy is all hype at this point. People are blowing the kid up like a Macy’s parade balloon, and it’s not even clear he can play the field without stumbling over some wrinkle in the soil.
He would’ve gone #1 overall if the injury didn’t happen and he also plays a position that’s thin in terms of prospects as a whole.
He hasn’t even been in professional ball for long enough to be traded as not-a-PTBNL. I agree with you that there’s a lot of hype, but Rendon for Bourjos is still a terrible idea on the Nats’ side, about as bad as Bourjos for any reliever is on the Angels side.
If the Angels want arms for Bourjos, we got em.
The Indians should look into a trade of a RP for a right handed OF bat or better yet, try for Trumbo
I’ll give you Jesus Flores, Ryan perry and brad lidge for mark trumbo and Peter bourjos
Trumbo aint going anywhere. P-Bo is on the out, no doubt.
No thank you!!!
Relying on defense to accumulate WAR for you is a great idea. Franklin Guiterrez is such a valuable outfielder, teams would be beating down the door to acquire his services. And the incredible skills Clint Barmes and Carlos Lee shown last year, franchise cornerstone type players. I hope you can see the sarcasm here…
I started to feel it but the sensation abruptly stopped. Lay it on thicker please.
Is Trout’s arm that bad that he can’t play right? Ride it out and put him there next year. I love the guy, but we all know Torii is on his way out. Petey’s best years are ahead of him, somebody other than Mickey Hacker needs to teach him how to hit a breaking ball. He’s not a perennial power bat, but there is no doubt in my mind he has a few 20+ HR seasons in him(over the wall kind, not inside the park).
That’s not the issue, Trout’s arm is way above average. The issue is Torii Hunter has been our best hitter and can no longer play center, the other issue is Vernon Wells is still owed 60 million dollars and is playing Left.
Yeah, I have a complete understanding of the contractual issues of the current OF, that’s why I said ride it out and play Trout in RF next year. I have heard in the past scouts were weary of Trout’s arm in RF, making me think he’s not an option out there if Bourjos were to stay put…after Torii is gone next year. I’ve never heard Trout has an above average arm, so that’s new.
If Toronto acquired Bourjos, where the heck would they play him? Move Rasmus to left? Send down Thames? Or do you Leave Thames in LF, Bourjos in CF and Rasmus in RF with Bautista taking over at 1B?
AA inquires about everyone’s availability so there’s probably no point reading into this too much
bingo
You send Thames back to the Minors because he is terrible.
Yeah, his OPS of .751 through the first 125 games of his career just stinks. Or his 162 game average of 36 doubles, 18 HR and 54 RBI’s with 90 runs scored. Man that is just brutal!
it’s league average. but he can’t play defense very well, so overall it’s a well below average package (TWSS)
Yeah League average for a guy that hasnt eeven played 1 full seasons worth of games yet. Just terrible. Might as well send him to the glue factory
Not the glue factory, that would be inhumane, just send him to the minors.
Thames can stay if you send his glove to the glue factory.
LOL as if the angels would make another trade with AA . Poor angels.
Lombardozzi could be a target if the Angels have lost a bit of faith in/feel like they need more corner production than they get in Callaspo or wanna let Izturis go back to being a utility guy.
The Blue Jays and Angels defensive alignments look like trigonometry questions from day-to-day.
I’m not sure the Nats could trade Lombo until Espinosa clearly pulls out of his funk.
As a Nats fan I’m not opposed to the idea of a trade if Bourjos can show his OBP can consistently stay around .330 in the majors. But with Harper showing the ability to play center (even if its only for a few years) Bourjos doesn’t warrant trading a bat with potential of Rendon.
I’m not so sure Harper has shown he can play CF. He has a cannon for an arm, but takes brutal routes. Harper belongs in RF with that arm. Trading Bourjos would be a mistake, but I would absolutely want a couple of live arms to work out of the pen or Rendon. Personally, I believe Bourjos is more valuable than Trumbo long-term. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Angels trade Trumbo to a team like the Pirates for a couple of big arms to work out of the pen.
He’s still relatively new to the outfield. He takes some bad routes, but he’s only been playing there for 138 games. I don’t disagree with him belonging in RF, but he can be a decent CF while he’s young and still has his speed.
My main point was I don’t think the Nats should trade Rendon for Bourjos.
Angels finally have the perfect outfield for their pitching staff sitting right in their laps and they refuse to use it and are trying to break it up. Standard.
Agreed. It will be really sad if they let that horrible Wells trade cost them Napoli and Bourjos, as well as the $63MM it costs to pay Wells.
If the Angels trade a top prospect like Burjous for a reliever it will be a massive tragedy. Give the kid a dang chance this year and bench Wells once and for all. It was a mistake, but it was the last guys mistake.
The Twins did it HAHA. Although Ramos hasn’t been nearly as good this year as he was last year.
I will honestly lose the little faith I have in the Angels organization if they trade Bourjos for a reliever. The insane hype surrounding players like Harper and Trout has for some reason made them think that if Bourjos is slumping he has to do. Bourjos isn’t THAT much older than these guys and had a great season last year. He’s a perfect player for the Angels, who can contribute with speed and the bat but most importantly his incredible defense. As stated earlier in the thread, when Torii walks next season, there’s no reason there shouldn’t be an outfield of Trumbo, Bourjos and Trout next season, with Wells taking AB’s at DH or simply released.
I’m neither an Angels or a Nats fan, so I’m not going to propose any crazy, lopsided trades for either side. Yet the problem is I can’t find what the Nationals could trade the Angels that makes sense. Bourjos is a talented, young and cheap OFer who could man CF in Washington for years to come. At the same time, the Angels are playing the corpse of Vernon Wells simply because of the unmovable contract, and they’re faced with the loss of Torri Hunter as a free agent. In other words, they may not need Bourjos right now, but they will very soon, and his cheap cost will be important with the Pujols contract.
Bourjos is worth quite a bit more than a reliever, yet he’s not worth the major front-end talent from the Nats. It’s the similar problem the Nationals had over the winter when they were trying to work out a deal for Brett Gardner.
I don’t see anything happening here with Bourjos. They would be better served trying to move Torri Hunter.
I’m in favor of the halos making a move, but I don’t agree with trading bourjos who has a ton of talent for middle-relief. The angels have izturis or callaspo who are nice utility players which make more sense to trade. Bourjos is cheap and maybe send him down to get his confidence back, but he’s worth keeping around at least to see how the OF shapes up this year. Wells and hunter are declining and if you’re gonna use bourjos i’d move wells too (eat most of contract, but at least find a desperate taker to shave $$$). The Angels do not have immediate young OF help besides Trout and Bourjos and experimenting with Trumbo. Trading bourjos weakens the OF depth which is one of the angels strong suits besides starting pitching. What dipoto does with bourjos says a lot for short term vs long term.
Bourjos would be a clear upgrade (offence/defence) to Thames but I don’t get AA’s logic in this matter if he is interested in a trade. Travis Snider is ready for primetime. Give Snider the chance to see what he can do.
He’s been given several chances. You’ll see him when his contact % goes up.
I disagree Snider has been given several chances. Cito prefered season vets and therefore Snider was never given the chance to work through issues involving hitting the soft stuff. The Jays promised the LF position to Snider last year and at the first sight of his struggles they sent him down again. The Jays never stuck with Snider like they have with Thames, JPA and Rasmas. Take a look at their numbers compared to Snider in the majors. Why do they get the benefit of the doubt and a chance. JPA at least hits when it counts and Rasmas is a great defender in CF. As for Thames, he a below average play on both ends of the game offence and defence.
Your reference to SO. Thames isn’t that much better than Snider.
Ok Cubs, why not swing a trade on this one. Young talent for a pretty cheap price.
As a Cubs fan I wouldn’t necessarily object to the idea, but it’s probably worth noting that two of our better prospects (Jackson and Szczur) are outfielders. I think a lot of us are hoping–at least I’m hoping–that we can transition LaHair to an outfield position too. I don’t think he’s Babe Ruth like he has been playing, but I do think he is a legitimate major leaguer. Obviously he can’t block Rizzo at first though, so he’s got to move. (Anybody think he has any chance to not be bad at 3B?)
In any event, picking up Bourjos in that scenario needs another trade. That’s not necessarily a horrible idea, but it’s harder to evaluate because we’d have to see it almost as a package deal; our total losses versus our total gains.
More practically, I’m not sure if we match up if they’re looking for catchers and middle relievers. Soto as a catcher and Russell as a middle reliever could be possible conversation starters. (Castillo is probably more interesting, which is precisely why I’d rather it be Soto!) I’d rather hang on to Russell though, it’s not like the Cubs are swimming in great relievers. Still, if he was a significant part of the trade I think I’d be up for it. Probably. I don’t know. I suck at inventing trade proposals, I’d have to see it in front of me.
Perhaps we can trade them Bourjos and Wells for
I’m calling it, JPA for Bourjos straight up.
now thats just funny
What portion of Wells’ salary would the Angels have to eat to make him viable for trade? 75%? 90%? He’s a pretty decent CF still.
I’m not even sure eating 90% would entice teams. Against my better judgement I reserved hope that he would bounce back this season but alas, all we’ve seen is more of the same.
In 2011 he had I believe one of the 5 worst .OBP %’s since 1920. Yes, he still has some pop in his bat but I don’t think it’s enough to get even a sliver of salary relief.
Honestly I think the best scenario is a bad contract swap, with the Angels sending some cash to match the presumably lower bad contract they’d be taking on in return. I don’t have any names in mind, but sometimes a change of scenery is all it takes.
Haven’t seen anyone hazard a reliever name the Angels would target … Clippard? Storen? Imagine it won’t be HRod. If they are confident he can thrive as a closer why not trade gimp armed Storen? Clippard tho is probably best bet as they may feel Hrod/Lidge can take over set up duties when Storen is back ,,,
I think it would be a great trade. However, we have had this song and dance for 2 years. The Nationals are not willing to pay what the Angels want and , in all honesty, deserve for a young player with his talent level.
This is horrible! Angels need to find a way to unload Wells. Outfield would be set for a long time with Trout, Bourjos, Trumbo. Angels can even bring back Hunter next year to platoon with Trumbo and keep his leadership in the clubhouse. Wells trade keeps looking worse and worse each day.
It always looked that bad
Can they stop getting our hopes up that we will be getting Bourjos/Upton/a good centerfielder already? It is becoming quite depressing.
I am an Angels fan but one of the few who wants Bourjos GONE. Sure he has good fielding skills but when it comes to the bat even Jeff Mathis was a better option and I booed Mathis continually. For those saying he needs a chance this is his third season in the bigs and second full. So far he has shown zero with the stick. If the Angels can swing a Clippard/HRod type from the Nats they get what they need so bad, a quality young arm in the bullpen. I am sure I will get ripped for this just as I was ripped for being against the Albert signing but oh well. I want to win both now and the future and the bullpen cost us close to 30 games last season and looks to be even worse this year. Work on what is needed most and it is not speed and a low obp that Bourjos provides.
I don’t see P-Bo as someone that Nats would have a long term interest in. They’re building a perennial contender in one of the two toughest divisions in baseball. In a year or two, as they upgrade a few other positions, he’d stand out as their weakest (or one of two weakest) starting position players.
Amazing the nonsensical trades proposed in this thread and others. The otherwise wonderful MLBTR should post a sign: “Must be at least 16 to ride.”
Better still, how about building a bank of 1000 or more baseball questions…..when you’ve typed your post, 5 questions are displayed for 10 seconds each….you’ve got to answer 3 of the 5 correctly for your current post to appear on the board.
Would keep a lot of the pablum and palaver off the board and introduce dimensions of fun as well…and be publicized, drawing new contributors of substance.