Josh Willingham Traded For Henry Rodriguez, Corey Brown

Earlier on Thursday, we heard that a Josh Willingham trade was on the verge of going down between the Nationals and the A’s. Now, according to Ken Rosenthal, everything’s all done.

Willingham is being dealt in exchange for young pitcher Henry Rodriguez and young outfielder Corey Brown. Rodriguez is a 23-year-old righty reliever capable of touching 100 with his fastball. He also throws a mid-80s slider and an occasional changeup, and last year struck out 33 batters over 27.2 Major League innings. He’s a big arm who, like all big arms, has future closing potential, although he struggles with wildness. Brown, meanwhile, is a 25-year-old left-handed outfielder who was selected 59th overall in 2007. He’s a toolsy guy who struggled in his first exposure to AAA last year, but he has performed well in AA. He’s a long shot to make an impact.

So the Nationals didn’t end up with any top prospects, but they did get a late-innings reliever and an outfielder with a chance. You can only ask so much for a veteran outfielder with limited defensive ability in his last year of team control.

The A’s will be happy to plug Willingham’s bat into the middle of a restructured lineup that now features Willingham, David DeJesus, and Hideki Matsui. Willingham is expected to play left field and push Ryan Sweeney to the bench. He is only a minor upgrade on Sweeney when defense is considered, but the A’s now have something resembling a Major League lineup.