Pittsburgh Pirates: Potential Trade Partners for Andrew McCutchen

Washington Nationals

Per FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, the Washington Nationals are pursuing a deal for McCutchen this offseason. According to Rosenthal, Pittsburgh is targeting the Nationals’ number two prospect, outfielder Victor Robles. Rosenthal also states that Pittsburgh may be looking for pitching prospects that are close to big league ready. Don’t worry Nationals fans, I doubt Washington would trade Lucas Giolito, but there are several arms that could be included in the deal.

Personally, I believe that Washington will even attempt to throw Danny Espinosa in the deal as well. The reason being that a McCutchen acquisition would allow young stud Trea Turner to move to his natural shortstop. Therefore, the Nationals would no longer need Espinosa to hold the reins at short. Along with Robles and Espinosa, the Nats have a few options to include in the deal. Young arms Austin Voth, Erick Ledde, and Reynaldo Lopez are all close to being big league ready. Obviously, Washington wouldn’t be wise to trade away all three arms, but with Lopez and Ledde in MLB.com’s top 100 prospect list, one may just be enough.

McCutchen, assuming he could return to form, would instantly make Washington one of the World Series favorites. In this case, he would be directly replacing Danny Espinosa. When you compare the two, McCutchen betters Espinosa in every offensive category besides their identical amount of home runs. That’s with McCutchen being in a down year. With two former MVPs in the outfield, one of the best young talents in the game at short, the best pure hitter in the National League at second base, and the reigning NL Cy Young, the Washington Nationals will be a scary team.