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The Washington Nationals have acquired left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins from the Oakland Athletics, according to a major league source. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, minor league outfielder Billy Burns is headed to Oakland in the trade.
The Nationals have been tied to almost every left-handed reliever on the free agent market, including Matt Thornton, Eric O'Flaherty, Scott Downs, Boone Logan and J.P. Howell, but ultimately decided to explore trades to fill the need. They have been talking to the Athletics about both Blevins and Sean Doolittle in recent days.
Blevins, 30, was 5-0 with a 3.15 ERA in 67 appearances for the Athletics in 2013, his seventh season with the team. For his career, he is 13-6 with a 3.30 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 267 innings of work.
Burns, 24, was the Nationals' minor league player of the year in 2013 after hitting .315 and stealing 74 bases in 121 games split between High-A Potomac and Double-A Harrisburg. He was originally a 32nd round pick in the 2011 draft,
