February 2, 2011

After the recent signings of Jerry Hairston and Todd Coffey, the Nationals needed to clean up their 40 man roster, which forced the Nationals to designate OF Justin Maxwell for assignment last week. By doing this, the Nationals had 10 days to either release him, pass him through waivers and send him to the minors or work out a trade with another club. Today, the Nationals chose Option C, trading Maxwell to the New York Yankees for RHP Adam Olbrychowski.

Justin Maxwell, 27, never quite got his career on track with the Nationals, batting .201/.319/.379 in 219 at bats over the course of three seasons. The Olney, MD native, who played high school baseball at Sherwood HS and collegiately at the University of Maryland, was originally drafted by the Nationals in the 4th round of the 2005 draft. Maxwell possesses four average to above average tools (batting power, arm, defense, and speed) but unfortunately, the final tool, hitting, just has never been able to develop the consistency needed to succeed at the major league level. If Justin could somehow hit .250 or so, his other skills would make him a successful big-leaguer, though likely a reserve. Maxwell is coming off Tommy John surgery this off-season and was likely going to struggle to make the roster in 2011.

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While I wish the club could have done more to keep him in the organization, I think they made the right decision to designate Maxwell for assignment last week and then to trade him today for a pitcher. I am not quite sure what GM Mike Rizzo and his staff sees in Olbrychowski, and have never seen him pitch myself, but I think they did well to bring another young pitcher into the organization to improve the pitching depth, especially after trading two pitchers recently for Tom Gorzelanny. I do worry that a change of scenery or the right hitting coach might bring out the untapped potential Maxwell has, but this was the right move for the organization going forward.

Overall Grade: Solid B