MLB Trade Deadline 2017: 5 best spots for Zack Cozart

1. Washington Nationals

Washington’s possible interest in Cozart would not be entirely new, but now it seems like a very urgent matter to be re-visited. Trea Turner is having an excellent season, with a .279/.324/.422 slash-line, 32 RBI, 53 runs scored and 35 stolen bases hitting mostly leadoff for the Nationals. But he was hit by a pitch on June 29, and without a clear timetable to return due to a broken right wrist.

Stephen Drew and Wilmer Difo are expected to take over most of the playing time at shortstop for Washington while Turner is out. Drew has actually been pretty good this season, hitting .311 over 61 at-bats entering the holiday week. But it’s safe to say the 34-year old would be exposed with anything close to every day duty, and Difo does not have enough of a big league track record (95 games over two-plus seasons at this point) to inspire confidence.

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With a 7.5 game lead in the NL East entering this week, the Nationals practically have a playoff spot locked up as July gets going. Bullpen reinforcements have to be the top trade deadline priority for general manager Mike Rizzo, but finding a suitable fill-in for Turner is now on that list of needs. Cozart looks like the best available option to accomplish that, and upon Turner’s return having “too many” capable players will be a good problem to have.