The Washington Nationals have been looking for a center fielder for a while now. Jim Bowden tweeted that during that search they inquired on Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Starling Marte. Bowden says the Nationals were told that Marte is unavailable.
The two teams really don’t match up. They both have the same focus right now of wanting to build through their farm system. The only way a trade would work out is a prospect-for-prospect swap, or the Pirates taking on a major league player. The latter seems unlikely, since it wouldn’t make sense for the Nationals to trade a major league player to try to fill their center field hole. It also doesn’t make sense for the Pirates to deal an outfielder when they’ve got long-term question marks at two of their three outfield positions.
