Adam Eaton Breakdown

On Saturday the Nationals suffered a big injury to their center fielder Adam Eaton. While Eaton was running to first base to beat out an infield hit, he landed on the base weirdly, causing him to be removed from the game. After the game, tests showed that Eaton had tore his ACL running into the bag.This injury will most likely end Eaton’s season and if it does it will be devastating for the Nationals, as his solid defense, and good left handed bat were needed for the Nationals heading into the 2017 season. Eaton was acquired in the off season from the White Sox for pitchers Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dane Dunning. Giolito was the headliner of the deal because at the time he was the 3rd highest rated prospect on MLB Pipeline’s 2016 top 100 prospects list, and he was a very highly rated pitcher in the Nationals organization. The deal was a blockbuster at the time sending a few highly rated prospects for a solid outfielder, but it’s now proving to be more in the White Sox favor. The White Sox had a great off season, which included the trading of ace Chris Sale to the Red Sox from MLB pipeline’s number 2 overall prospect Yoan Moncada, and the deal for Eaton. The White Sox revitalized their farm system over the winter, and this Giolito deal was definitely a big reason why they had so much success. The White Sox will have an almost MLB ready pitcher, who’s projected to be an ace in the future, for 6 years at the minimum, and although Eaton is a very good player who the Nationals needed, he most likely will not be able to play for the remainder of the season, and possibly some of next season. In the time being the Nationals will start Michael A. Taylor in center, a young player who’s had a fair amount of major league experience. This deal overall was more like a trade deadline deal, a package of prospects for a player that will fill a big hole for a team, and it’s arguable that the Nationals would have been better off pulling a deal like this at the deadline. I don’t agree with that however, and I feel that the Nationals did the right thing with this deal, but are still losing out as of now.