Nationals center fielder Adam Eaton underwent arthroscopic surgery on his injured left ankle today, reports Jack Magruder of FanRag Sports (Twitter link). Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post had reported yesterday that Eaton was visiting a specialist in Wisconsin, and that evaluation revealed a “cartilage problem” that necessitated the operation, per Magruder. Eaton remains in a walking boot, and there is not presently a timetable for his return, per Magruder.
More specifically, Janes adds (via Twitter) that three different doctors were unable to see the source of pain in Eaton’s ankle on either MRIs or bone scans, but the scope revealed a tear in his chondral flap, explaining the pain he’d been experiencing. MASNsports.com’s Dan Kolko tweets that Eaton’s ankle will be immobilized for a week, but a return this season is still “in play.”
The ankle procedure is yet another roadblock in Eaton’s short career with the Nationals since being traded over from the White Sox during the 2016 Winter Meetings. The fleet-footed outfielder missed the majority of the 2017 campaign when he tore the ACL in his left knee early last year, and he played in just eight games with the Nats in 2018 before injuring his ankle on a foot-first slide.
When healthy, Eaton has been nothing short of brilliant for the Nats, hitting .308/.400/.508 in 140 trips to the plate, but he’s unfortunately been able to suit up only 31 times for the organization. Of course, the very reason that the Nationals were willing to part with three highly touted pitching prospects — Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning — in order to acquire Eaton was that he was controlled so affordably and for such a long time. They’ll still have plenty of time to reap value from their investment in the 29-year-old, as he’s locked up through the 2021 season at a total of $34.4MM (with the final $20MM of that sum coming in the form of two club options for 2020-21).
[Related: Washington Nationals depth chart]
With Eaton now sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Nats will continue to utilize Michael A. Taylor in center field, with Bryce Harper in his customary right field. Left field has been manned by a platoon of hot-hitting Matt Adams and Howie Kendrick of late, though the Nats also have Andrew Stevenson and Moises Sierra on the big league roster as outfield options at present, with Rafael Bautista in Triple-A as another 40-man option. Top prospect Victor Robles is also on the 40-man roster, but he’s nursing an elbow injury at the moment, and the Nats don’t want to recall him unless he’s able to receive everyday at-bats.
Eaton was an accident waiting to happen in Chicago. Didn’t play smart. Good job selling high, Rick Hahn.
Looks like Eaton is gonna miss most of the season for the 2nd year in a row. The guy is amazing when he’s healthy, but……
This Eaton trade is looking worse and worse for the Nationals. No doubt a talented player, but the price paid for an oft-injured player over 30 seems to have been a lot
“ . . . but the price paid for an oft-injured player over 30 . . . “
Not only wasn’t Eaton over thirty at the time of the trade a year ago, he has yet to pass that milestone as of today.
for the trade to be bad, the prospects given up have to be great. so far that hasn’t been the case, not by a longshot. only time will tell who won this trade. maybe those prospects become good, and maybe eaton stays healthy and performs well too
Eaton still has 3 very cheap years left on his deal after this season, that trade was a good one for the Nats, who have enough pitching to cover the losses of Dunning, Lopez and Giolito.
Injury or not, anyone who would say no to signing Eaton to a 3/28 deal this November is a fool.
That is a really good way to look at it… It isn’t like he had a problem with injuries prior to the trade either, these seem to be two kind of freakish injuries. On top of it, he seemed to recover well from the previous year off and was looking pretty good prior to the latest injury. So in all likelihood, he will rebound and with any luck, produce for 3 seasons at way below market rate.
Love Eaton when he’s healthy but you cannot try to spin this as a positive for Nats. The cost of starting pitching is through the roof. His remaining 3 yrs/28.4 mil (last two option yrs) looks like good value but his injury history does not look good for Nats.
White Sox may get 3 guys (Giolito, Lopez and/or Dunning) to turn into middle of rotation or possible better starters for the next 5-7 years. That’s a steal!
Yea. That 7.25 ERA Giolito is sporting just screams middle of the rotation or better. Not giving up on the guy, but lets not act like the guy is going to come close to the hype he had. He hasn’t had any success at the big league level outside some September starts again bad teams. It’s still possible that he completely flames out within the next two years. As for Dunning, we’ll see – but Lopez looks like a more mid to back end of the rotation guy. Nothing wrong with that, but this guy can’t be a number 2 on a team trying to contend. All that said, the Sox look like the obvious winner in this deal today, but that’s only because Eaton has been hurt. It isn’t because the guys acquired for him have been particularly good. In 10 years, this could just be seen as a nothing trade where both teams lost.
are the sox really winners if those pitchers don’t pan out?
I agree somewhat with what you’re saying. Giolito recently got rocked by an Astros lineup that pretty much pounds everyone. I agree that he may not live up to the hype he once had but you have to remember he’s pitching on a rebuilding team (so defense, run support, etc. is not great). I think a rotation of Kopech, Rodon, Lopez, Cease, Giolito/Dunning gives the White Sox a pretty nice future.
Just think about what Darvish & Arrieta got in free agent deals (shocking AAV) this past winter. Those guys don’t look like CY award contenders at this point too. Relievers got tons of coin recently too.
Let start me start saying, not even a fan of the nats. Yeah for FRONT LINE starters, and front line relievers, all others are not getting paid the big bucks, at least not last year, cobb sat out all off season to even get a job on a 4/50 million contract. That’s not exactly breaking the bank. If Eaton, even with the injury history, was in free agency he would get at least double that. So that isn’t spinning anything. The white so got 3 unproven lottery tickets ,the way pitching prospects work in the league these days. Giolito they didn’t even like and sold somewhat high on him, the outer two could contribute but from reports giolito seemed to wear out his welcome. Sox may hit on one of the three but the one that makes it may end up needing surgery or two, you never know. That said, it’s far too early to even measure who won that trade, but Eaton is a great baseball player, his injuries have not been his whole career, so It’s pretty fair to say he will bounce back, still under 30, with 3 years of control for an all start caliber outfielder, in this problem for less than 30m, that’s a pretty good value. I still think the nats made the trade knowing giolito was garbage and they wanted nothing to do with him. The Lefty in the deal, may end up being ok, a back end starter, which, judging from the most recent offseason really isn’t worth all that much. Darvish and Arrieta had a high AAV, but trust me, they wanted much more than they ended up getting, the bar for pitching is much lower than you think. Things change quick in this league, please try to keep up, Dave Stewart
Well this Dave Stewart sees that Eaton has only played like THIRTY, that’s 30 games for the Nats the last 2 years and you’re projecting tremendous value for a guy who (unfortunately due to injuries) has not displayed that.
3 unproven “lottery tickets” you wrote also. Let me remind you that those 3 were the #1, #3 and #6 top prospects in the Nats system at that time. Dunning was their 1st round pick the year before! That’s far from lottery tickets IMO.
You mentioned, “The Lefty in the deal, may end up being ok”? Breaking news- There was no lefty pitcher in the deal (all 3 are right handers). So come on, keep up son because things change quick. Call me Cashman and you’re the Dave Stewart here my man!
Darvish has a 6.00 era, no wins and he pitches for a tremendous team. Yu is gonna be owed 126 mil. Arrieta 75 mil, Cobb 57 mil, Davis 52 mil, Mike Minor 28 mil, even Lance Lynn with his 7.28 era is making 12 mil this year.
Main position player I can think of who is grossly overpaid is Jason Heyward. So I understand that the cost of pitching has come down to earth a bit but if I was a GM I’d want no part of those deals (maybe just maybe Arrieta on an up & coming Phil’s team).
So yeah I’ll take my chances with the 3 young & cost controlled pitchers the White Sox got everyday of the week & twice on Sunday!
Trade for Machado and put Turner back in CF.
Machado for who, Caseys? Anything is possible for the right price.
Some players are just made of glass…..
Yeah, like Mark McGwire….oops.
Guy is made of glass lately
The Nats must be desperate for outfielders if they’re willing to put Adams out there on a semi-regular basis. The guy can hit and plays a very good defensive 1B, but an outfielder he is not.