Yesterday, I made the case for the Nats holding on to their stock of players, rather than trying to cash in this season. No major trade for another top line starter (if they even have the prospects to do that) and keep with Strasburg‘s innings limit. So that’s that, right? Well, not really, there are other options that people might be interested in going after.
What about other positions the team may need help with? Maybe you don’t like the idea of Danny Espinosa as a starter on a championship caliber team. Myself, I think his .262/.324/.442 since May 4 (when he hit his low water OPS mark), or 72% of his PAs this year, is plenty from him.
What about CF? Do you like Bryce Harper there? Because Jayson Werth is supposedly coming back in less than a month, and whether you like Werth or not, he’s probably going to RF. So CF is where Bryce would presumably go. Maybe you’d like to trade Adam LaRoche, move Mike Morse (or Werth) over to first, or play Tyler Moore full time, and not have Harper in a corner spot.
Or you might want to trade Edwin Jackson. Why trade a starter when Strasburg is going to get shut down? Well, maybe you think Jackson is pitching over his head, won’t be on the team next year anyway, and you think you can get something of value for him. I’m not recommending that, I’m just saying it isn’t so crazy to be outside of the realm of possibilities.
So what should they do? Pretend you’re Mike Rizzo and tell everyone below. You can click more than one option, so you’ll have an opportunity to do more than one thing as GM.
I’ve added trade for a catcher, after a comment by reader irishbmad. That’s something that is certainly on the table and maybe it’s what you think they should put as top priority.