Nats, Reds Make 8-Player Trade

With Eye on the Future, Washington Signals the Likelihood of More Deals

The Washington Nationals pulled off an eight-player trade with the Cincinnati Reds yesterday that exploded several of the most widespread assumptions about the franchise's direction under its new owners, subtracting young pitching while adding experienced position players and a modest amount of payroll.

However, despite the buyer nature of the trade -- which brings outfielder Austin Kearns and shortstop Felipe Lopez to Washington, while sending away promising relief pitchers Gary Majewski and Bill Bray -- Nationals officials insisted it is consistent with their goal of improving the long-term fortunes of the team. The deal positions the Nationals to trade away at least one of their high-priced corner outfielders in the coming days.

"Yes, we have a real focus on player development. Yes, we have a real focus on our payroll while we're rebuilding. Yes, we have a real focus on pitching," incoming Nationals president Stan Kasten said. "But more than anything else, our focus is on opportunity. And when we have a chance to add pieces -- even though they're not pitchers, even though they're not draft picks and even though it increases our payroll -- all of that is fine, because those pieces fit within our effort to improve the team for the future."

In addition to Kearns and Lopez, both 26 and not eligible for free agency until after the 2008 season, the Nationals acquired 23-year-old right-handed reliever Ryan Wagner. All three players are former first-round draft picks, and all were acquired in Cincinnati by then-general manager Jim Bowden, who holds the same position now for the Nationals.

"They are good, young everyday players," Bowden said of Kearns and Lopez. Citing current Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and catcher Brian Schneider, Bowden added, "It gives us a strong nucleus of players in their 20s."

In return, the Nationals sent away Majewski, a key part of their bullpen who had largely failed this season to replicate his 2005 production; Bray, a talented 23-year-old lefty who debuted in the majors last month; Royce Clayton, a 36-year-old shortstop who had no future with the Nationals beyond this season; Brendan Harris, a 25-year-old infielder whom the Nationals did not consider an everyday player; and 20-year-old right-handed pitcher Daryl Thompson, rated the 10th-best prospect in the Nationals' farm system by Baseball America.

"It was very, very difficult to trade Majewski and Bray," Bowden said. "I think they're two of the best relievers in the league. You have to give up something to get something. . . . Our pitching staff is going to take a major hit."

Unlike some of the veterans-for-prospects deals the Nationals were presumed to be seeking -- deals that likely would not benefit the Nationals until years down the road -- yesterday's trade gives the Nationals an immediate infusion of offense when they open the second half of their season tonight in Pittsburgh. But it also eases the way for the team to trade at least one of its veteran outfielders, Alfonso Soriano and/or Jose Guillen.

For now at least, Kearns, a high-strikeout, high-walk right-handed hitter, will play center field -- a position he has manned only three times in the past 2 1/2 seasons -- with Soriano in left and Guillen in right. However, the Nationals view Kearns primarily as a right fielder and a middle-of-the-order bat with 30-homer, 100-RBI potential if he stays healthy -- a constant concern for Kearns during his career.

Lopez, an all-star during a 23-homer season in 2005, likely will bat No. 2 in the Nationals' lineup, behind Soriano. He also gives the team an additional stolen-base threat, as he ranked tied for fourth in the National League with 23 steals in the first half of the season, three more than Soriano.

Wagner, a former phenom who was struggling with a 6.34 ERA in Class AAA this season, was optioned to the Nationals' Class AAA team in New Orleans. But Bowden, who drafted Wagner in 2003 then stunned the baseball world by calling him to the majors later that year, believes Wagner is still young enough to fulfill his vast potential.

The Reds "made a lot of mechanical changes to him," Bowden said of Wagner, who posted a 1.66 ERA in 17 games as a 20-year-old in 2003. "We hope to get him back to where he was."

The genesis of the trade came in February, soon after the Reds' new owners named Wayne Krivsky as their general manager. The previous regime in Cincinnati had barred its front office from dealing with Bowden, whose was fired as Reds GM in July 2003.

"We started talking about the players on his first day on the job," Bowden said. As the talks intensified in the past week, Bowden said the GMs exchanged messages on their BlackBerrys up to 11 times a day.

The Reds, trying desperately to make the playoffs for the first time since 1995, trailed the St. Louis Cardinals by four games in the NL Central entering the second half of the season, but were being dragged down by a bullpen that ranked 15th out of 16 teams in the league.

Still, Kearns, in a news conference in Cincinnati, expressed surprise that the Reds would trade two everyday players in the midst of a pennant race for two relievers.

"Things are going in the right direction here," Kearns said. "We've been here through the down times, and this thing was getting turned around, so it would've been nice to stay here and be a part of it. But we have to move on and look forward to a new opportunity."

Because Lopez ($2.7 million) and Kearns ($1.85 million) earn more this season than any of the players the Nationals sent away -- and the Reds would not add cash to the deal to make up the difference -- the Nationals added a little less than $1.5 million in payroll expenditure in the deal. And with the team in the process of being sold to a group led by local real estate magnate Theodore N. Lerner, Bowden said he received approval for the deal from both outgoing president Tony Tavares and incoming president Kasten.

"I don't think there is any question this [trade] was able to go forward because of the support of the new ownership and the direction this team is going," Bowden said.

Both Bowden and Kasten insisted the Nationals are not predisposed to trading Guillen or Soriano, and Kasten pointed to yesterday's trade as evidence the team is capable of defying the popular wisdom.

"Don't try to predict what we're going to do," Kasten said. "We might just surprise you."

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