A day after he skipped the the team’s annual Winterfest, citing he was unhappy with the trade for Adam Eaton, the Washington Nationals have traded infielder Danny Espinosa to the Los Angeles Angels according to a tweet by Josh Norris of Baseball America.
The Nats will be getting two right-handed pitching prospects back, Austin Adams and Kyle McGowin, the team later announced.
Espinosa believed that the trade for Eaton would likely shift super prospect Trea Turner to shortstop and likely cost him his job as the club’s starting shortstop.
Espinosa, 29, batted .209 last season for the Nats with a .684 OPS, but hit 24 home runs while amassing 174 strikeouts. He is eligible for arbitration and is a free agent after the 2017 season.
One of our readers pointed out something interesting:
Espinosa was worth 8 DRS at shortstop in 2016, and 10 DRS at second base in 2015. If he plays at 2B next to Andrelton Simmons, that’s one hell of a defensive middle infield.
By the way, Bryce Harper also missed the team event, citing a prior commitment.
