The Nationals are among the teams with interest in free-agent outfielder Angel Pagan, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports in his latest notes column. However, the Nationals and other interested parties are hoping to land Pagan on a minor league pact, Rosenthal notes.
That Pagan would potentially have to settle for a minors deal is somewhat of a surprise. Though age isn’t on his side, as he’ll turn 36 this July, Pagan is coming off a quite-productive season at the plate and remains a very viable option in left field — if not in center. Last season, the switch-hitter batted .277/.331/.418 with a career-high 12 home runs in 543 trips to the plate. He also provided above-average value on the bases (15-for-19 in stolen bases and, per Fangraphs, +1.9 runs overall) and was one of the game’s most difficult batters to strike out. Only 16 players whiffed at a rate lower than Pagan’s 12.2 percent in 2016.
Certainly, Pagan comes with some durability concerns. He’s been on the disabled list in each of the past four seasons and missed just under a month with a hamstring injury in 2016. However, after being limited to just 167 games between the 2013-14 seasons, he’s averaged 131 games and 547 plate appearances across the past two seasons.
The Nationals have a mostly full outfield, with Jayson Werth slated to roam left field, newly acquired Adam Eaton in center field and 2015 NL MVP Bryce Harper in right field. Pagan could serve as a solid fourth outfielder that could spell Eaton from time to time and provide somewhat of a safety net for the oft-injured Jayson Werth. Chris Heisey is the team’s primary backup, and Adam Lind could see some occasional time in left field as well. Michael Taylor, too, is on hand as a potential option in the outfield, though the promise he once showed has yet to manifest in the Majors, and he’s coming off a dreadful 2016 season.
Per Rosenthal, Pagan also drew interest from the Blue Jays and the Royals earlier this winter, but those two teams have since inked Jose Bautista and Brandon Moss to respective contracts. Bautista’s deal with the Jays, though, hardly seems like it should entirely preclude Toronto from harboring continued interest in Pagan. The Blue Jays currently look poised to deploy a platoon of Ezequiel Carrera and Melvin Upton Jr. in left field, and it’s not difficult to argue that Pagan would be an upgrade over that pairing. Speculatively speaking, the Tigers and White Sox could each offer Pagan a fairly significant role in 2017, and a number of teams could consider Pagan an improvement over their current fourth outfielder.
Rizzo needs to sign Pagan and Blanton. Let’s get this done. Why risk another year of starting the worst LF in the league on most days? Let Werth platoon and he can be productive this year. And if one of the other two Ops goes down you have a productive bat. Chris Heisey just isn’t a fourth outfielder now. At least not on a team with hopes of a championship.
I agree on the ‘need to sign’ Blanton part.
I’m surprised we have only offered minor league deals to pitchers now that we have signed wieters. Bench is already looking good with Lind, Drew, Lobi (assuming Norris is flipped for an A-ball prospect) and Taylor/Goodwin. Now ‘oh, Pagans price has dropped, we like to seek value, this will be great!’ meanwhile… Rizzo and baker exclaim that Joe Nathan looks really good out there every time he throws…. I don’t think he can last a full season.
So yeah pagan would be great but id much prefer a setupman in Blanton or a closer trade before we sign 4 bench pieces this offseason, js.
I wouldn’t mind Pagan (on a minors deal). If he works out, he can give Werth a day off when needed and allow Taylor and Goodwin to return to Syracuse.
In a similar vein, I would like Blanton as well. His presence (along with Nathan) will allow Glover and Gott to go to Syracuse, for call-up in case of injury and/or when Nathan runs out of steam.
Norris isn’t going anywhere
No one will trade for him lol
Wheat is trash
Too many chiefs not enough Indians and weiters
Be careful @westcoastryan will put your head to the guillotine for talking about Derek Norris like that. Lol and don’t even begin to bad mouth Adam Rosales, he will really crucify you.
I’m still convince Blanton is staying on the West Coast. He’s made it clear he doesn’t want to leave. I think he’s back with the Dodgers especially if Hatch and Morrow continue to be ineffective.
Seattle didn’t want to pay Nori Aoki 5m last year so they gave him away to Houston in a salary dump. Pagan may have badly misread the market if he was thinking his market was any better, being no better than Aoki offensively, a year older and neither worth much as a corner OF any longer.
Pagan is a solid team player with a winning attitude, but 36yo defensively limited guys with limited power to boot only have so much worth.
huh? Pagan misread his market? He hasn’t yet been offered a contract. Seattle didn’t want to pay Aoki because they traded for Haniger and Dyson. They both hit for a solid BA, don’t strike out often. draw walks, and provide value on the bath paths. It’s just that most teams are already set in the OF and don’t want to guarantee a roster spot.
Haniger and Dyson have nothing to do regarding aoki last season.. Why do u thing the M’s sent him to AAA with that phantom injury? it was a phantom attempt to keep his PA option from kicking in, but they chucked it into the wind anyway when they needed him eventually, then finally waived him and (to them) got lucky with Houston taking the option contract off of their hands that was going to kick in.
I would love to see the Jays sign Pagan, but they need a top of the rotation starter in trade. There are none left on the market. This rotation will not hold up like the anomoly that was last year. Biagini might be able to fit the bill, but he scouts like a MLB 4-5 inning guy to me. As far as the reclamation projects that they have signed, none of the starter potential types scouts to me as anything but a depth piece that fills a role but won’t help them win a division. This is still a RedSox/Orioles division.
How would their need for a starter preclude signing Angel Pagan to play LF? I disagree anyway — Stroman and Sanchez are a legit 1-2 punch and obviously Happ and Estrada have been excellent late in their careers. What top-of-rotation pitcher would you have traded for this offseason, and who would you have given up in trade? Jays aren’t exactly loaded up with top prospects.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. Sanchez is a true ace. Stroman can be a 2 but he blows up occasionally and I believe will continue to blow up for months at a time, making him a 3. I hope he has a good year this year. Like Zaun, I think Stroman can be an elite, elite closer. Happ is going to take a step back and I hear that Estrada’s back though not paining him now, it is basically done wrt to starting pitching mechanics and can go at anytime. Jays have some prospects that teams like. They would have to bundle up a haul of them for a starter. Let’s play the wait and see game on my observations, Time will bare out what I am saying.. I am a devoted Jays fan, but I see what I see, and barring acquisitions, I think this jay’s team will be 10-11 games out by trade deadline.
I don’t think they’ll be that far out but they’ll be out of it I think, for sure. As for Stroman, I like his confidence at times, but at other times it teeters on borderline arrogance, which would be fine if he could back it up but he’s shown an inability to do that consistently, and really, more often than not.
He’s got a high ceiling so I agree with them keeping him as a starter for now. Eventually though this experiment has to be deemed a failure or a success and action will need to be taken.
Sanchez is not a true ace. Lol
Why not? Had an amazing first full year and will continue to build off of it.
Barring injury Sanchez is an ace right now and he is still growing into his body. If you listen to opposing players/coaches, no one wants to face him. When they complain to umpires about the strike zone with sanchez pitching they have said things like, “Hey Ump, he[Sanchez] doesn’t need any help!”, lol. I would be very surprised if this guy doesn’t do a sub 3 era with 17 wins. How is he not an ace? 2016: 15-2, Era 3.00, 192 IP, All_star, 7th is cy young voting etc etc.
Is there a top-line starting pitcher you wish the Jays had traded for? I just don’t see any good options that line up with the Jays’ assets.
Norris/Lobaton, Lind, Pagan, Drew (defensively) would make for a strong bench.
It’s kind of an old bench, though, so you’d have to weight the experience value vs the injury/breakdown risk.
Any Giants fan can tell you that Pagan isn’t a viable option in center and hasn’t been for years, but Span isn’t a whole lot better. Pagan just seems to get bad reads and takes terrible routes which is surprising for someone with his athletic abilities.
Athletic abilities + terrible routes/bad reads = either aging eyesight/depth perception or focus issues to every pitch or both..
I too find it really odd that Pagan still isn’t signed. SF said that they had interest in him on a one year deal but felt he would command a multi year deal elsewhere. This could have been rhetoric.
Personally I’d like to see him back at SF but I think SF are looking for some more power off the bench and he doesn’t fit that role. The thing is with Pagan is that he does have injury history so you have to realize that he’s not going to give you 150 games a year, maybe 100. So if you if a team has depth to replace him (someone with minor league options), I think he’s a good option.
If the Nationals do sign Angel Pagan that would make eminently available outfielder Michael Taylor even more expendable. Perhaps this would be a precursor to a David Robertson trade that might have both Taylor and C Pedro Severino going back to the White Sox.
Taylor + Severino would be an overpay for Robertson…even if CWS ate a portion of his salary. As a Met fan I’d love for them to make that trade because Robertson doesn’t scare me that much. I’d be much more wary of Rizzo swinging a deal mid-season for a shutdown guy bc he has an eye for talent and he has been pretty good when ownership hasn’t inserted themselves into deals.
Jays need to sign pagan, he hits righties well and would be a perfect platoon partner for carrera and upton!!
Ok am I missing something? Folks the Blue Jays need a real left fielder and explain why we haven’t signed Pagan already. I probably paid the 1 million and a half in cable fees myself. If he wants to sign a minor league deal for a million and a half do it. A season with Carrera and Upton does not excite me.
Pagan war 1.0 just another spare part, a minor improvement over carrera war0.7, vast improvement over Upton Tor war -.0.4. Pagan won’t be a difference maker.
True but War stats don’t mean alot when you’re comparing 220 at bats to 530 at bats .Carrera hits left handed pitchers better than right handed pitchers. Pagan is a major step up!!
I wonder if Baltimore has interest? Bourn will miss some time.
Can he close?
Minor league deal? Please come back to the Mets. We miss you Angel.
Why aren’t the Mets grabbing him? I know they have a log jam of corner outfielders but no true center fielder. He also hits way better than Juan Laugares. And you can get him on a 1 year with option. They will look to move Bruce so that will free salary