The Washington Nationals have acquired left-handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez and minor league righty Robert Gilliam for four of the Nationals top minor leaguers. The trade will include three of the Nationals top ten prospects including A.J. Cole, Brad Peacock, Tom Milone and Derek Norris.
Both teams are possible winners in this trade with the Nationals launching themselves into the mix in the National League race by improving their starting rotation. Gonzalez will round a rotation with Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmerman, Chien-Ming Wang and John Lannan for a team that has been doing some big things over the past couple of years to build a competitor. The Athletics are filling their system with top prospects across the board after moving Trevor Cahill to the Diamondbacks and now moving another one of their top starters for more future prospects.
The A’s will be receiving the Nationals #3, #4 and #9 tops prospects according to Baseball America. Cole was drafted in 2010 in the 4th round by the Nationals and posted a 4.04 ERA with 10.9 K/9 in Class A in 2011. He is only 19 years old and has a lot of potential. Peacock, who was drafted in the 2006 mlb draft in the 41st round, posted a 2.39 ERA with a 10.9 K/9 in the minors for Washington. He was called up by the Nationals in late 2011 and pitched in three games with a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings. Tom Milone was drafted in the 10th round of the 2008 mlb draft. He was 37-22 at the minor league level with a 3.05 ERA in 86 games started with an 8.1 SO/9 and 5.54 SO/BB. He was 1-o in 2011 at the major league level with a 3.81 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched. The final piece in this trade, Derek Norris, is a catcher who was drafted in the 4th round of the 2007 mlb draft by the Nationals. He has a minor league line of .249/.403/.458 with 69 home runs over 431 games played.
Gio Gonzalez still remains a question to some around major league baseball. The potential is obviously there with the Rangers, Marlins, Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Tigers and Mariners all rumored to have been in the mix for Gonzalez at one point over the winter. The only main issue is the walks. Gonzalez has the most walks out of any pitcher in the majors over the past two years. He did however have his best year in the majors in 2011 going 16-12 posting a 3.12 ERA and 8.6 SO/9 over 202 innings pitched, the most innings he has thrown since being at the this level in his career. He will be facing his third 200+ inning season in 2012 and the question with any young pitcher is, “How will they hold up with this workload?”. That question will certainly be answered when the Nationals try to make a run at he NL east in 2012.