Florida and Washington Two Step: Trade of Bonifacio

Posted by Jeff Bergin on Nov. 11, 2008 at 9:00 AM
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There is a little bit of Spring in November; well, not if you are outside, but if you are inside reading your Nats news, the news of the Marlins and Nationals trade has some of us thinking about spring training.  On Monday night, the Nationals traded newly acquired second basemen Emilio Bonifacio and minor leaguers P.J. Dean and Jake Smolinski to the Florida Marlins for left fielder Josh Willingham and starting pitcher Scott Olsen.  Confused? Yeah me to, here are my concerns about the trade that APPEARS to be very one sided to the Nationals favor .

1. Why would any team, especially one in their own division, trade a starting pitcher who has topped 30 starts and 175 innings in their first three seasons and is only 24 years old?
2. Why would a team jettison two power hitters in a span of two weeks as the Marlins did in Mike Jacobs (32 HR in 2008) and Josh Willingham (21 in 2007) unless they had stud in the minors (they might, not sure) or they were flawed?
3. Why would a team who hailed Bonifacio as their next great leadoff hitter turn around and jettison a couple of months later?

Okay, here are my answers to all those questions:

1. The Marlins are shedding anyone who is marginal and arbitration eligible, as they do not want to pay more money for middle level players.  
2. With the addition of Bonifacio, they can move Hanley down to the #3 spot and out of the leadoff spot and move Cameron Maybin to the #2, giving the Marlins the fastest 3 players to start a lineup than any team in baseball to start the game
3. The Nationals made some deadline deals last year and added 3 middle infielders in Bonifacio, Anderson Hernandez, and Gonzalez from the Yankees, with the latter acquitting themselves better than Bonifacio in tryout duty.  This made Bonifacio, even with his speed and upside, expendable to the Nationals.  Plus, he cant hit a curveball, think Pedro Cerrano with speed and no power.
4. Scott Olsen is maddingly inconsistent which is one of the worst things that can plague a young team and a young pitcher.  The 30 starts and 175 innings that he logged were innings of the Matt Chico variety--meaning, "lets see what we have in this guy as we struggle".  So, for the Marlins, losing this type of pitcher helps, and not hurts any serious run they feel they can make.
5. The Nationals are adding players who can add stability to their team, and end some experiments that marred the past three years.  This means you Austin Kearns and Nick Johnson.  With Willingham pulling duty in the past as a LF and 1B, he can step in and play both on a regular basis.  This gives the Nats an OF of Willingham, Milledge, Dukes on most days, or Harris, Milledge, Willingham (if Dukes is off the reservation) or Harris, Milledge, Dukes in the OF with Willingham at 1B if necessary.
6. And the biggest reason for this trade for the Marlins and Nationals is: moving parts to clear payroll and make a splash in free agency.  The Nationals will clear Kearns off the payroll this year, and the Marlins just cleared players who would have cost them some money in arbitration.

To me, this move signals the Nationals know they will not land any of the big free agents, but will still make a push for a Lowe, Burnett or Sheets, the same players the Marlins covet. This trade only make sense to me in a first move of many for both teams.  This could be the start of some interesting moves for these clubs, but if they fail to capitalize, both of these trades will be footnotes for two struggling clubs.