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Eaton trade leads to ripple effect in Nationals defense
- Updated: December 8, 2016
The Nationals made an enormous Winter Meetings splash by acquiring Adam Eaton from the White Sox for highly-regarded pitching prospects Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and 2016 first-round pick Dane Dunning, and the ripple effects Wednesday’s deal will have in Washington will be huge. Eaton is likely to take over center field, pushing Trea Turner back to shortstop, and turning incumbent shortstop Danny Espinosa into a reserve or a possible trade option.
There’s little doubt that the offense will be far better off for this change, because Eaton (.284/.362/.428, 115 wRC+) is a huge improvement on both non-Turner outfielders Michael Taylor (.231/.278/.376, 72 wRC+) and Ben Revere (.217/.260/.300, 47 wRC+, non-tendered after the season) as well as Espinosa (.209/.306/.378, 79 wRC+), the three hitters who you’ll see far less of next season. So in that sense, it’s a win.
But what about on defense? Following the trade, manager Dusty Baker and GM Mike Rizzo were asked how this all makes the team better defensively. Rizzo, perhaps notably, chose not to answer. Baker said that “it’s a possibility that we could have Golden Gloves everywhere.” So what does this all do to Washington’s fielding? Let’s find out.
Center field: More Eaton, less Turner Eaton’s defensive value has been notoriously difficult to pin down, because he’s switched positions, played through a shoulder injury, and basically had wildly differing yearly scores per the advanced defensive metrics. Looking at Defensive Runs Saved, Eaton was +11 in center field in 2014, -14 in center field in 2015, and +22 in right field in 2016. Given all that, it’s tough to know what to really expect from him back in center in 2017, because single-year defensive metrics aren’t always reliable even when they aren’t fluctuating like this.
Rizzo pointed out that it was “one of the few times the analytical information matched up with scouting eye,” so perhaps that helps somewhat, given that 2015 was the season Eaton was dealing with injury, and that “he comes from a high WAR as a corner outfielder, so we feel he’s going to be a solid performer in center field.”
One part of Eaton’s fantastic 2016 that probably won’t be affected by a …
