The Nationals will send left fielder Jayson Werth to the disabled list, reports Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (on Twitter). Infielder/outfielder Ryan Raburn will take Werth’s place, Janes suggests, though adding him would put the Nationals over the 40-man limit.
Werth fouled a ball off his left foot during the Nationals’ loss to the Athletics on Saturday, and although he was on crutches Sunday, his injury doesn’t seem significant, tweets Janes. That’s a relief for a Washington club that’s already without its Opening Day center fielder, Adam Eaton, who’s unlikely to play again this season after he tore his left ACL at the end of April.
As Eaton was before landing on the shelf, the 34-year-old Werth has been a quality contributor for the Nationals’ elite offense this season. Playing the final season of the seven-year, $126MM contract he signed with the Nationals in December 2010, Werth has posted a .262/.367/.446 line with eight home runs in 196 plate appearances.
In Werth’s absence, the Nats have Raburn, Brian Goodwin and Adam Lind, primarily a first baseman, as candidates to play left field. Raburn, whom Washington acquired from the White Sox on May 26, has the most major league outfield experience of the three. The 36-year-old owns a respectable .253/.317/.436 line in 2,665 big league PAs and got off to a nice start this season with the White Sox’s Triple-A affiliate, hitting .277/.419/.434 in 105 trips to the plate. Raburn hasn’t been as successful at Triple-A with the Washington organization (.261/.269/.478), but he has only totaled 26 PAs since the trade.
Injuries starting to take a bite out of Nationals vaunted offense.
And still they win!
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On the plus side, Werth seems to have found the Fountain of Youth and rolled back the years (he is 38 and not 34, by the way). Even with the injuries, the Nats are still the prohibitive favorites to take this rather weak division. The need for a proven closer, even for a rental, is greater than for an OF at this point.
Yes they do keep winning!!!
The Nats have been lucky in that both Michael Taylor and Brian Goodwin have performed well in the place of injured OFs. The Nats are VERY weak in the bullpen. Over the long haul, this will be detrimental.
For anyone who’s been in denial of the Nats’ shaky at best 9th inning corps, yesterday’s near fatal 6-run meltdown in OAK should be the ultimate wake up call that they need to acquire a closer…..soon.
Raburn can pinch hit. If you put him anywhere in the field you get the rest of the Ryan Raburn experience.
“the 34-year-old Werth . . .”
Baseball-ref has him as having turned 38 in May.
Heck, Raburn almost as old as Werth. That’s a surprise. Is this the best we can do? Do Nats even need Ryan Raburn? But yes, they DO need relievers, and that is relievers plural. Maybe they can trade Raburn for Drew Storen.
The Reds had Raburn this spring and he almost made the roster, he had a great spring! He’ll do great great as a replacement for Werth!