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Nationals Sign Jacob Turner, Three Others To Minors Deals

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The Nationals have announced four minor-league signings, most prominently including righty Jacob Turner. Also joining the organization on minors deals with spring invites are lefty Tim Collins, infielder Emmanuel Burriss, and righty Mike Broadway. (The latter two signings were previously reported by Jon Heyman of Fan Rag; Twitter links.)

Turner, who’s still just 25, was once a prized prospect. But he never quite stuck in a big league rotation, and has bounced around in recent years. Most recently, he pitched for the White Sox. Returning to the majors in 2016, mostly as a reliever, Turner threw 24 2/3 innings of 6.57 ERA ball with 6.6 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9.

The 27-year-old Collins has been a successful reliever in the past, racking up 211 frames with a 3.54 ERA and 9.4 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9 between 2011 and 2014. Since then, however, he has undergone a series of Tommy John surgeries.

We covered Burriss already right here. Broadway, 29, has spent less time in the majors than the other two hurlers. Since the start of 2015, he has thrown 22 2/3 frames with the Giants, compiling a 6.75 ERA and 6.8 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. Broadway also appeared briefly for Japan’s Yakult Swallows in 2016. He was rather good at Triple-A in 2015, it’s worth noting, racking up 48 1/3 innings with just five earned runs on 25 hits and an excellent 64:8 K/BB ratio.

Nationals Inquired On Jurickson Profar

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  • Before landing Adam Eaton, the Nationals approached the Rangers about a deal to acquire infielder Jurickson Profar, Rosenthal reports (Twitter links). Washington was reputedly interested in utilizing Profar at shortstop, which would have meant keeping Trea Turner in center field, but moved on when Texas requested righty Joe Ross in return. It’s certainly not clear whether the Nats would have preferred to work something out on Profar rather than acquiring Eaton, but it’s nevertheless interesting to learn of the discussions. If nothing else, it represents one of the first suggestions we’ve heard of a team approaching the Rangers about the 23-year-old, a former top prospect who is now one of the more hard-to-peg potential trade chips in baseball. He has been thrust into a utility role after dealing with significant shoulder issues, and hit just .239/.321/.338 in 307 plate appearances last year. Further, despite his relatively scant MLB experience (184 total games), Profar has already racked up over three years of service time. But the prospect pedigree is second to none, and he has shown flashes of his talent in the upper minors and (in stretches) in the majors.

Phillies Sign Pedro Florimon, Acquire Mario Sanchez From Nationals

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The Phillies announced that today that they’ve acquired minor league right-hander Mario Sanchez from the Nationals as the player to be named later in last month’s Jimmy Cordero swap. They also announced minor league deals for Pedro Florimon, Sean Burnett, Daniel Nava and Hector Gomez, each of whom will be invited to Major League Spring Training. (The signings of Nava and Burnett were reported last week by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Gelb and SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo, respectively.)

Sanchez, 22, spent the 2016 season with Washington’s Class-A Advanced affiliate, where he pitched to a 3.46 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 43.1 percent ground-ball rate in 78 innings of work. The Venezuelan-born righty didn’t make any starts but made 12 relief appearances of at least three innings, including one six-inning relief performance to close out the season. He didn’t rank among the Nationals’ top 30 prospects, though given the rather low-profile nature of the trade that is sending him to the Phillies, that shouldn’t be a big surprise.

Florimon, who turned 30 two days ago, spent the 2015-16 seasons as a member of the Pirates and saw sparse time with the big league club, hitting .149/.200/.255 in just 50 plate appearances. Prior to that stretch, the entirety of Florimon’s big league time had come with the Twins, for whom he served as the primary shortstop in 2013, hitting .222/.281/.330 with nine homers and 15 steals. Florimon has never hit much in the Majors or minors, but he’s a terrific defender at shortstop and could function as a Triple-A depth option for the Phillies. He’s a career .253/.320/.368 hitter in 1222 Triple-A PAs, so his bat certainly has played a bit better at that level than in the Majors.

Gomez, 28, spent the 2016 season playing with Korea’s SK Wyverns, where he hit .283/.326/.493 with 21 homers, 31 doubles and 16 stolen bases in 484 trips to the plate. The versatile infielder spent the 2014-15 seasons with the Brewers, batting a combined .177/.209/.306 in 155 PAs. He comes with a very solid Triple-A background, having batted .298/.341/.512 in 150 games (although those numbers have likely been aided by the hitter-friendly nature of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League), and he also brings experience at shortstop, second base and third base to the Phillies organization.

Nats Better Off If They'd Dealt Giolito For Miller?

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  • The Nationals explored acquiring Andrew Miller at last July’s trade deadline, though balked at the idea of moving Lucas Giolito and other prospects for the ace reliever, ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian recently noted (as cited by ESPN.com’s Buster Olney in his latest subscriber-only column).  Trading for Miller would’ve solved Washington’s search for a long-term closer, and the Nats ended up moving Giolito anyway at the Winter Meetings to obtain Adam Eaton “in a market saturated with outfield options.”  This decision presents an interesting what-if for Nats fans, though the answer could simply come down to the fact that the Nationals no longer valued Giolito as highly.  “Their view of Giolito obviously changed completely.  Whatever it was, they were working to move him,” an evaluator tells Olney.

Nationals Notes: Espinosa, Turner, Jansen, Strasburg

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Speaking to reporters Sunday, Nationals president/general manager Mike Rizzo acknowledged that now-traded middle infielder Danny Espinosa would have been “frustrated” as a bench player. The executive downplayed the notion that sending Espinosa to the Angels on Saturday had anything to do with the 29-year-old’s reported discontent with a diminished role, however. According to Rizzo, he didn’t speak with either Espinosa or his agent after the team acquired outfielder Adam Eaton on Wednesday, and he added that the Espinosa deal had been in the works for a while. “I have no beef or problem with Danny Espinosa. Never have,” said Rizzo. “And I still consider him a good player that gave everything he had” (all Twitter links via Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post, Chelsea Janes of the Post and Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com).

Here’s more on the reigning NL East champions:

  • Trea Turner’s emergence as a rookie last season was one of the factors that ultimately made Espinosa expendable, but the up-and-coming star didn’t expect the veteran to go anywhere. “Little surprised, he was a big part of us last year,” Turner told Zuckerman. “But I think that’s direction we’re heading after Eaton trade.” Turner’s a natural shortstop, though he saw action there in just two of 75 games in 2016 because of Espinosa’s presence. The 23-year-old is now set to move back to his typical position next season after mostly working in center field (45 games) and at second base (28 games) in 2016. “I think that’s where I’m most comfortable,” Turner said regarding shortstop. “I look forward to proving that I can play there at a high level” (Twitter links).
  • Washington is one of the teams in the race for the best pitcher remaining on the free agent market, closer Kenley Jansen, and Rizzo revealed Sunday that he and the longtime Dodger’s agent have stayed in touch throughout the offseason. Other options are under consideration, though, per Rizzo (Twitter link via Janes). Those options could perhaps include the White Sox’s David Robertson and the Rays’ Alex Colome – two closers whom the Nats have pursued via trade.
  • Right-hander Stephen Strasburg slider/cutter was his second-most-used pitch in 2016 (he threw it 17.1 percent of the time), tweets Jamal Collier of MLB.com. However, Strasburg will rely less on the pitch going forward because he believes it put too much stress on his arm during an injury-shortened campaign, he said Sunday. Strasburg inked a seven-year, $175MM extension in May, but he subsequently landed on the disabled list multiple times – once because of elbow soreness in late August. He then returned from his elbow ailment for one start, a Sept. 7 outing in which tossed 2 1/3 innings, before missing the rest of the season with a flexor mass strain. Fortunately, Strasburg expects to be fine for 2017 (Twitter links via Janes and Zuckerman).

Angels Acquire Danny Espinosa

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The Nationals have traded middle infielder Danny Espinosa to the Angels for minor league right-handers Austin Adams and Kyle McGowin, per an announcement from Washington.

[RELATED: Updated Nationals & Angels Depth Charts]

The Nats’ decision to move on from Espinosa came shortly after Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post reported the 29-year-old’s displeasure with the club’s acquisition of outfielder Adam Eaton. In trading a haul to the White Sox for Eaton, the Nationals picked up a player who should be their long-term answer in center field, thereby sending Trea Turner to shortstop. With Daniel Murphy entrenched at second base, Espinosa would have had to take on a bench role in 2017 had Washington kept him.

Danny Espinosa

Now on his way out of D.C., Espinosa will head back to his native California and join an Angels team that, prior to Saturday, was in dire need of a second baseman to pair with shortstop Andrelton Simmons. Before settling on Espinosa, the Angels made recent inquiries to the Padres, Cardinals and Phillies about their second base options. Espinosa will also reunite with a former teammate in third baseman Yunel Escobar, whom the Nationals traded to the Angels exactly one year ago.

A lifetime .226/.302/.388 hitter in 2,972 plate appearances, Espinosa is fresh off a season in which he slashed .209/.306/.378 with a career-best 24 home runs in 601 PAs. The majority of the switch-hitting Espinosa’s offensive success has come versus left-handed pitchers, against whom he has posted a .257/.327/.454 career line in 736 trips to the plate. But he has provided most of his value via the field, having amassed 25 Defensive Runs Saved and an Ultimate Zone Rating of 27.0 in 4,400-plus innings as a second baseman. With Espinosa and Simmons, one of the majors’ foremost defenders, the Angels should have an enviable double-play combination for at least next season. Espinosa will make an estimated $5.3MM through arbitration in 2017, his final year under team control.

Of the two pitchers the Halos sent to the Nationals, McGowin is the more notable. The 25-year-old ranked as the Angels’ 20th-best prospect, per MLBpipeline.com, which credits the 2013 fifth-round pick for his three-pitch mix and suggests that he has back-end starter upside. The 25-year-old hasn’t generated great results during his minor league career, though, and just finished a season in which he recorded a 6.11 ERA, 7.58 K/9 and 3.58 BB/9 over 116 1/3 innings in his first taste of Triple-A action.

Adams, also 25 (and not to be confused with the Indians righty), was impressive in relief for the Angels’ Double-A affiliate in Arkansas in 2016. Although he issued too many walks (5.28 per nine), the 2012 eighth-round pick offset that somewhat with a sky-high K/9 (13.28). All told, he registered a 3.05 ERA across 41 1/3 frames. In assessing Adams in 2015, former FanGraphs prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel complimented his above-average fastball and plus slider, though he also noted Adams’ lack of control.

Josh Norris of Baseball America was the first to report the trade and the two-prospect return (Twitter links). Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Adam Eaton On Playing Center Field

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  • Outfielder Adam Eaton has been a well above-average offensive producer in each of his three full major league seasons, but the newest member of the Nationals hasn’t been as consistently productive in the grass. Eaton was among the majors’ best defenders as a right fielder last season, but that came after he logged mixed results in 2014 and 2015 in center – where he’s likely to line up as a Nat. Speaking Saturday to reporters, including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com, Eaton called his 2015 output in center “very poor,” though he expressed confidence about his general defensive ability. “I don’t like to harp on the negative, either. So I think that I’m definitely the ‘14 player,” he said. “If I’m in right, hopefully I’m the ‘16 player. And when I’m in center, hopefully I’m the ‘14 (player). I think I’m very capable of playing all three (outfield positions).” Eaton finished 2014 with 11 Defensive Runs Saved and plummeted to minus-14 the next season.

Danny Espinosa Unhappy With Nationals

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On the heels of the Nationals’ acquisition of center fielder Adam Eaton, shortstop Danny Espinosa skipped the team’s annual Winterfest this weekend because he’s unhappy with his likely relegation to a bench role, a source told Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. With Eaton in the field, 2016 center fielder Trea Turner is set to take over at short next year, leaving Espinosa without an everyday spot.

The Nats do value Espinosa, evidenced by their unwillingness to non-tender him, but general manager Mike Rizzo didn’t rule out trading the 29-year-old even before the club landed Eaton.

“I could see him as utility player. I could see him as a player you could utilize in a trade context to get another piece that you need,” Rizzo said last month.

If Washington does shop Espinosa, it shouldn’t have difficulty finding a taker, tweets Chelsea Janes of the Post. Espinosa is reasonably priced – he’s due an estimated $5.3MM in his final arbitration year – and has combined for 4.0 fWAR since 2015. The switch-hitter batted a modest .209/.306/.378 in 601 plate appearances last season, but he did club a career-high 24 home runs.

While right-handed pitchers have confounded Espinosa, who has slashed just .216/.294/.367 in 1,967 career PAs against them, he has been useful versus southpaws with a .257/.327/.454 line in 736 trips to the plate. Most of Espinosa’s value, though, has come in the middle infield, where he has totaled 35 Defensive Runs Saved and a 31.9 Ultimate Zone Rating.

By moving Espinosa, the Nats would likely turn to the 24-year-old Wilmer Difo as their primary reserve behind Turner and second baseman Daniel Murphy. They also haven’t closed the door on re-signing free agent Stephen Drew, as FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweeted earlier this week.

Nationals Pursued Sale, Blackmon Before Landing Eaton

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  • On Wednesday, the White Sox shipped ace lefty Chris Sale to the Red Sox in exchange for a heralded foursome of prospects. That swap, and its build-up, dominated the headlines at the Winter Meetings. Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski discussed the process that led to the move in an excellent interview with Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. He not only provided an interesting account of the information gathering and processing that goes on at the Winter Meetings, as teams jockey for position and look to arrange fits on trades and signings, but went into the details on the pursuit of Sale. The sides built off of their prior “preliminary conversations,” and honed in on an agreement late Tuesday night as the sides began to line up on the complementary pieces that would go to Chicago along with the two headlining prospects (Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech). Momentum seemingly began to build as early as Friday, before the meetings kicked off, as Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com explains. It was at that point that White Sox GM Rick Hahn notified Dombrowski that he’d be willing to consider a different sort of return — presumably, top minor leaguers rather than young MLB assets — than had been discussed over the summer. The Nationals and Astros also dangled significant pieces; Hahn notes that “there were similar-type players being offered from other clubs,” leading to “a level of excitement in that room as we debated which was the best path for us.”
  • Before pulling the trigger on Eaton, the Nationals at least checked in with the Rockies on center fielder Charlie Blackmon, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). While that obviously won’t be a match at this point, and the Cardinals no longer appear to be a possible suitor after signing Dexter Fowler, it remains to be seen whether Colorado will look hard at a deal involving one of its best players. The team made a notable free-agent splash by adding Ian Desmond, with reports suggesting that he’ll spend time at first base, but it still seems to make sense for the organization to consider addressing other needs — most notably, in the pitching staff — by exploring deals for Blackmon or one of its other left-handed-hitting outfielders. (Last we heard, a trade remains a real possibility; while the team is said to be holding some extension talks with Carlos Gonzalez, those reportedly haven’t progressed, so he too remains a plausible candidate.)

Cardinals Notes: Encarnacion, Trumbo, Fowler, Prospects

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While the Cardinals have already made two significant additions via free agency, they could consider a third, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis is expected to consider free agents Edwin Encarnacion and Mark Trumbo, both of whom exited the Winter Meetings without a contract. Either of those players would presumably factor at first base for the Cards, if they are ultimately pursued. Though the team has said it intends to utilize Matt Carpenter there, he could theoretically shift back to third base if one of those big bats were to be added. (Matt Adams also remains on hand, though the organization already has signaled that it will not use him as a regular option at first with Carpenter’s position change.) Of course, both Encarnacion and Trumbo are somewhat questionable targets for a National League team, since both could well need to shift to a pure DH role at some point in the coming years. Unsurprisingly, then, it seems the Cardinals’ interest may be limited to a scenario where Encarnacion or Trumbo is forced to consider a shorter-term pact, ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon notes on Twitter.

  • The most recent Cardinals’ signing was a five-year arrangement with center fielder Dexter Fowler. It’s a sensible deal from the team’s perspective, Keith Law of ESPN.com opines (Insider link). Fowler’s high-OBP bat is a perfect fit for the lineup, Law writes, and he steps right in at a position of obvious need. While Law argues that Fowler came at a solid value, even with a $82.5MM guarantee, the Cards surely would’ve preferred to spend less. But that became nearly impossible when Ian Desmond signed with the Rockies and Adam Eaton went to the Nationals via trade, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag notes on Twitter. St. Louis had been pursuing Desmond along with Fowler, and its hand was forced somewhat by those other moves.
  • St. Louis seems inclined to continue focusing on the free-agent market rather than pursuing major trades, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes. GM John Mozeliak explains that the organization remains loath to part with talented young righty Alex Reyes. After him, he suggests, “maybe we just didn’t have that next tier [of prospects] that was good enough to compete with some of the names being bantered about.” This prospect “gap,” as Mozeliak terms it, would have forced the team either to sacrifice Reyes or a number of other youngsters to find significant upgrades via trade. “The problem you start to run into there is then quantity, and how much are you willing to part with if you’re not willing to move Reyes?” Mozeliak explained. “And that can be a pretty big hit from a volume standpoint. We finally got this system up to where we have some confidence in it. And to move four or five players from there, that would be hard to do.”
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