Nationals Trade Willingham to A's

[kiluckzle]

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/stor...osh-willingham

Don't think the names of the minor leaguers have been released yet. After wasting all that money on Werth, I thought the Nationals were going to try to compete next year, but I guess not. Maybe they are just waiting for 2012 or 2013 for Harper, Stras, Werth, Ryan/Jordan Zimmerman to play together?

This isn't making too much sense to me right now. Willingham is a solid, cheap player, good move for the A's.

[Cod]

The players received from Oakland were Henry Rodriguez and Corey Brown. Rodriguez is a long reliver type who pitched decently in 29 games last season; not great numbers from a sabermetrics standpoint, but a lot of potential since he's only 23 (turns 24 in 2011). I don't know much about Brown other than he's an outfielder from the minors. The Nats faithful knew the day was coming when the team would part ways with The Hammer, especially after the Dunn fiasco. Willingham was another fan favorite and headed into the last year of his contract. Rather than letting him walk, the Nats were able to get some depth in the bullpen in the form of a middle reliever. Also, the Nats are becoming "loaded" in the outfield. Roger Bernadina has come along nicely and will likely be headed to center or left in 2012 with Werth and Harper holding down the other spots. Those three in the outfield give the Nats a Tampa Bay like outfield in the sense of great speed and above average defense...something the Nationals have lacked throughout their short history. Last, the move freed up money for the Nats to pursue Derrick Lee harder, whom would be a fantastic addition to the lineup; however, adding Lee makes our lineup right-side heavy, which concerns me....but that's another topic in itself.

[dominik]

I heard that rodriguez sometimes hit 100 with his fastball. he should have potential even though his stats indicate some controll problems.

[Cod]

Dominik...Adam Kilgore (Washington Post sports writer) mentioned something to that effect on the radio a few days ago.

The trade of Willingham is looking even better now that Ankiel is in town. Like I stated earlier, there was a logjam developing in the outfield and the Nats needed to free up money. Willingham was the oldest not named Jayson Werth...so he was the prime target. Willingham was also a highly sought right-handed power back many teams were looking for. On a side note, I hope the Nats give Ankiel a chance to crack the starting lineup in CF. I'm not a Nyjer Morgan fan at all and Rick Ankiel plays stellar defense while providing some pop in the six hole.

[BaseballinDC]

I have no trouble trading Willingham, but did they really get full value? I'd be surprised if either of those guys spends much time on the 25 man roster. I'd have thought they could have done better at the trade deadline.