Nationals 2021 Trade Grades

The Washington Nationals made six trades before the deadline to revamp the farm. It is hard to look at these deals right now and really give them a complete grade, but we are going to do our best to do that right now.

A lot of these deals have a strong base simply based on the fact that the Nationals only had two months of control left on all but one of these players.

Brad Hand to Toronto for Riley Adams: Grade C

This was the trade that got the ball rolling and I won’t lie immediately I was a little disappointed. That feeling was based on the fact that not too long ago Brad Hand was traded for a top-catching prospect in baseball, Fransisco Mejia. After I took a moment to think about the trade based purely on this year I felt a little better. Hand was not having his best year even though he was still able to rack up a lot of saves. Riley Adams was the 17th ranked prospect in the Blue Jays system. He is more known for his ability to call a good game behind the plate but his power is a strong tool as well. He slugged .487 in AAA so far this year. The relief market was stacked with talent and bringing back a guy who could be a solid backup catcher was a good move for the Nationals. This trade likely would have been graded higher if only Adams had less swing and miss in his makeup.

Kyle Schwarber to Boston for Aldo Ramirez: Grade B

This was rough as Kyle Schwarber had become a fan favorite rather quickly. He also only had 2 months of control left along with a mutual option which is almost never picked up. The return for Schwarber is exciting. Aldo Ramirez was pitching in a professional Mexican League at the age of 16. He is only 20 years old but he has four solid pitches and could be in the Nationals rotation in the future. Worst case for Aldo is as a long man in the bullpen. He is a good get for the Nationals and will likely surprise many fans.

Daniel Hudson to San Diego for Mason Thompson and Jordy Barley: Grade B+

Huddy closed out our World Series in 2019 so a lot of Nationals fans will always have a special place for him in their hearts. Beyond the sentimental aspect of this trade bringing in Thompson could turn out to be a direct replacement for Huddy. Thompson is going to be in the Nationals bullpen right away and if he plays well and can control his top-notch fastball he will find himself in high leverage situations in 2022. The Nationals continue to bring in young high-end bullpen arms to hopefully eliminate any bullpen concerns for the future. Barley looks like a potential bench player that can be a great speed option.

His bat looks okay, but it would take a lot to go right for him to be an everyday contributor at the big league level. This grade is so high because we took an elite reliever with two months of control and got a reliever that has all the tools to do the same with 6+ years of control. The added lottery ticket does not hurt either.

Josh Harrison and Yan Gomes to the Athletics for Drew Millas, Seth Shuman, and Richard Guasch: Grade B+

Two more fan favorites left DC with this trade but this time the Nationals brought back three players with everyday upside. Shuman and Guasch are both pitchers. Shuman has had a wonderful 2021 in the minor leagues and Baseball America has him as one of the system's biggest risers this year.

Guasch has the chance to be a great bullpen piece with one of the best sliders in all of minor league baseball. Finally, Drew Millas is yet another catcher the Nationals added at this trade deadline. Millas is again described as a good catcher behind the plate that has a good approach at the plate. They look to be adding as much catching depth as possible to find a backup to another one of their additions this deadline.

Jon Lester to Cardinals for Lane Thomas: Grade A+

If you told me you could get any sort of return for two months of a struggling Jon Lester I would have laughed… Mike Rizzo went out and got a 25 year old with some pretty solid upside. Thomas will be with the big league club at some point as a bench piece but if he finds himself again he could be much more.

He was once a top ten prospect in the Cardinals system and even had a 34 game stint with the big league club in 2019 where he produced an OPS over 1.000. There is no other grade you can give this besides A+.

Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers for Keibert Ruiz, Josiah Gray, Donovan Casey, and Gerardo Carillo: Grade A-

In a vacuum trading a future Hall of Famer and possible a future MVP for four prospects you might think there is no way this is good for the Nationals. Then you look at the control of these players and the upside. Turner had only a year and two months left on his deal and Scherzer only had two months. Rizzo was able to get 12 years of elite prospects who are ready to be on the big league club today in Ruiz and Gray. Those two are now our top two prospects and move Cavalli down to 3. Ruiz will be the starting catcher and Gray may even be the starting pitcher on opening day in 2021.

Carillo has some amazing stuff and if he could control it a little more he may even factor in as a back of the rotation guy, if not he may take that stuff to the bullpen and be an elite reliever. Casey is a toolsy player that can do a little bit of everything. He has the makings of a pretty good 4th outfielder with upside for a bigger role.

This deadline was sad for many but it was the first step to opening a new championship window in DC.