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With all the moves the Washington Nationals have made in the last week we’d be out of our article allotment for the year if we lived in California.
Last week the defending World Series champions signed reliever Will Harris to a three-year/$24M deal and over the weekend they added infielders Starlin Castro (2/$12M) and Asdrúbal Cabrera (1/$2.5M).
Just this afternoon the Nationals signed reliever Daniel Hudson to a 2-year/$12M deal, and they waited a whole hour before another signing was announced, with The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli writing on Twitter today that the club has signed first baseman Eric Thames to a 1-year/$4M deal.
Nats have agreed to terms with infielder Eric Thames, pending a physical.
— Brittany Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) January 6, 2020
Thames, 33, spent the last three seasons in Milwaukee, where he put up a combined .241/.343/.405 line with a 162-game average of 25 doubles and 31 home runs.
In 2019, the one-time Seattle Mariner, Toronto Blue Jay, and Brewer put up a .247/.346/.505 line with 23 doubles and 25 home runs in 149 games and 549 plate appearances, in which he was worth 1.9 fWAR.
Thames played 105 games at first base last season, and he’ll give the Nationals a platoon at first base assuming they eventually sign Ryan Zimmerman and bring the veteran back for a 16th season in the nation’s capital.
Thames put up a .254/.348/.529 line with 22 of 23 doubles and 23 of 25 home runs off right-handed pitches in 2019, and the left-handed hitting slugger has a .254/.337/.497 career line against righties (vs a .197/.272/.376 line vs lefties in the majors).
It’s been about 15 minutes since the Thames deal was first reported... what’s next for the Nats?
According to reports this afternoon, they’re still not out of the Josh Donaldson market, so we will stay close to a computer in case another deal is announced in the next hour or so.
Josh Donaldson remains in the picture for the #Nats, although the Atlanta #Braves certainly the clear-cut favorite to bring back the free-agent third baseman.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 6, 2020
This does not preclude the Nationals from bringing back Ryan Zimmerman. Thames fills the role — and the room on the payroll — that Matt Adams did in 2019. Adams's base salary was also $3 million.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) January 6, 2020