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Nationals Reportedly Place David DeJesus On Waivers After Acquiring Him From Cubs

FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal reported tonight that the Washington Nationals placed outfielder David DeJesus on waivers after claiming him off waivers from Chicago and then acquiring him in a trade with the Cubs... So what's going on?

By Patrick Reddington
Brian Kersey

So... according to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, upon acquiring 33-year-old outfielder David DeJesus from the Chicago Cubs this afternoon, the Washington Nationals placed the 11-year veteran on waivers. The Nats claimed DeJesus, sent a PTBNL to the Cubs to acquire him, then placed DeJesus on waivers again. Maybe if Ken Rosenthal explains it, it will make sense. Apparently the bow-tied FOXSports.com reporter's sources tell him the Cubs declined to pull DeJesus back after the Nationals claimed him:

"The Washington Nationals might not want outfielder David DeJesus, after all.

"The Nats placed DeJesus on revocable trade waivers almost immediately after acquiring him from the Chicago Cubs on Monday, according to major league sources.

"The move by the Nationals could indicate that the team does not want to assume the remaining financial obligation to DeJesus, which amounts to about $2.5 million."

ESPN.com's Buster Olney speculated on what he thinks may have happened:

DeJesus got a pinch hit at bat and a nice ovation from the crowd in Wrigley Field tonight in the Nationals' 11-1 loss to the Cubs. DeJesus popped out to short in his first AB as a National. Before today's game, Nats' GM Mike Rizzo told reporters including the Washington Post's James Wagner that he liked what the veteran outfielder brought to the table:

"'(DeJesus) improves our left-handed side of the bench immediately,' Rizzo said. 'He’s also a guy that is capable of being an everyday player. He can step in there for extended periods of time if there are injuries. He helps us in a variety of ways.'"

DeJesus signed a 2-year/$10M contract with the Cubs in November 2011. The outfielder is reportedly owed $1M for this season and there's a club option for $6.5M for 2014 or a $1.5M buyout. FOXSports.com's Mr. Rosenthal wrote that, "... rival executives, after seeing that DeJesus was back on waivers, speculated that the Nats want to clear his money." So what's going on? We'll see...

We tried to figure out what was going on with the acquisition on tonight's edition of Nats Nightly before Mr. Rosenthal's story went up...

• AUDIO: Nats Nightly = District Sports Page + Federal Baseball + Doghouse with an epic Ray Knight rant:

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