The Washington Nationals have acquired infielder Asdrubal Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for rookie Zach Walters, according to reports.
Jordan Bastian, who covers the Indians for MLB.com, broke the trade news via Twitter:
Cabrera to the Nationals. More soon...
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 31, 2014
Paul Hoynes, an Indians beat writer for Northeast Ohio Media Group, then revealed what the Indians would be getting in return:
Indians receive Zach Walters from Washington. He's played 32 games in the big leagues. — paul hoynes (@hoynsie) July 31, 2014
Walters is a switch-hitter, who came up as a SS, but has a variety of positions. He's at Triple-A right now. He's 24. — paul hoynes (@hoynsie) July 31, 2014
Cabrera, 28, is due to become a free agent at the end of the year and is batting .246/.305/.692 with nine homers, 40 RBI and 54 runs scored this season.
Cabrera was signed by the Seattle Mariners as an amateur free agent in 2002, but never played for them. He made his MLB debut with the Indians on Aug. 8, 2007. Cabrera's average peaked at .308 in 2009, but he has steadily declined over the last five years, failing to reach .250 over the last two seasons.
Walters, 24, is a switch-hitter who mostly plays shortstop, but can be used at other infield spots. Walters was most recently in Triple-A, but in 40 career-games in the MLB, he has a .234 batting average with three homers and six RBI. Walters was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the ninth round of the 2010 MLB Draft.
The Nationals (58-47) currently hold a 1.5 game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the National League East and have made a move to bolster their infield for a long playoff race heading into August and September.
The Indians (53-54) sit in third place in the American League Central, 6.5 games behind the division-leading Detroit Tigers and five games out of a wild-card spot.
This trade is just a small part of a busy deadline day in Major League Baseball.
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