Trade Idea

Otherwise, not sure why the Nats would do this. I am a big BJax booster, but this seems to be more in favor of the Cubs to me - perhaps I am overvaluing Desmond.

“The Cubs have no impact 2nd base prospects in their system at the moment..”

After the acquisition of Ronald Torreyes, some people here would disagree with you.

“.. and 2 impact outfielders who project as centerfielders.”

Assuming you mean Matt Szuzur to be the second player, you would be incorrect. He will not be a CF in the majors.

“The Nationals need a player who could fit in centerfield and have another second baseman who is major league ready in Steve Lombardozzi.”

Why not trade Lombardozzi?

Marrero’s likely out until August and could miss the entire season with his injury, so you’d have to throw in someone else.

I would do Lombardozzi, Lannan, Meyer and a close to ML ready player for Dempster

I don’t like this trade from either side.

As a Cubs fan, I wouldn’t want this deal. While BJax is a potential above average to good defensive CF, and Szczur is potentially a better defensive option, Szczur’s bat is such a big concern and there is a glaring hole coming in CF soon that it is hard to anticipate Szczur making sufficient improvement to be ready soon. Lannan’s an end of the rotation arm, and while I like Espinosa a fair amount, the system has some raw MI pieces in the lower levels and you can typically find a passable-decent 2nd baseman in free agency. The value of BJax is more important to me than Espinosa, and I think Dempster can net a more useful return in a trade than a Lannan-esque arm.

As someone partial to the Nats, I don’t like this trade for them either. I think depending on Desmond to solidify shortstop for the forseeable future is a risky endeavor, and Espinosa, while not having the elite range, is a potentially capable replacement who could perhaps slide over. Jackson’s nice, but he’s not the table setter they would ideally like to add for CF, and he’s not likely be an elite defender. Dempster would be a nice addition, but the rotation, on paper, is fairly strong (Stras/Gonz/Zim/Wang/Detwiler or Lannan).