Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com reports that the Nationals have acquired outfielder David DeJesus from the Cubs for a player to be named later.
Washington is 60-63 and 9.5 games out of a playoff spot, so the pickup obviously isn’t for this season. DeJesus’ contract includes a $6.5 million team option (or $1.5 million buyout) for next year, which isn’t a crazy price to pay for a decent regular like DeJesus, but the Nationals already have Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth, and Denard Span seemingly locked in as their 2014 outfield.
DeJesus is a left-handed hitter, so he doesn’t really fit as a platoon partner for Span, and $6.5 million would be awfully expensive for a fourth outfielder. Since signing a two-year, $10 million deal with the Cubs last offseason the 33-year-old DeJesus has hit .258 with 15 homers and a .746 OPS in 232 games while seeing time in all three outfield spots.
To make room for DeJesus’ arrival the Nationals released Roger Bernadina, who had been serving as their left-handed-hitting fourth outfielder. He’s hit just .178 in 85 games this season, but came into the year as a career .252 hitter with a .692 OPS.
