Source: Nats bringing back AsdrÃºbal Cabrera

By Mark Zuckerman

Nationals

August 05, 2019, 2:16pm

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SAN FRANCISCO - After watching a pair of veteran infielders go on the injured list, the Nationals are signing another familiar veteran to help fill the void: AsdrÃºbal Cabrera.

The Nats have signed Cabrera to a major league minimum contract and hope to have him in uniform in time for Tuesday night's game against the Giants, a source familiar with the deal confirmed.

Cabrera, 33, was just released by the Rangers over the weekend after hitting .235 with 12 homers, 51 RBIs and a .711 OPS in 93 games. With Texas responsible for the vast majority of his $3.5 million salary, the Nationals will only be on the hook for a prorated portion of the league minimum, less than $200,000.

The Nationals found themselves with a thin bench over the weekend after Howie Kendrick landed on the IL with a left hamstring strain. They already were without Ryan Zimmerman, who went back on the IL two weeks ago with a recurrence of the plantar fasciitis that already sidelined him more than two months earlier in the season.

Cabrera has experience at second base, shortstop and third base and probably could be used at first base if the club needed it. He returns to Washington five years after he was acquired in a July 31 trade with the Indians. Cabrera wound up the Nationals' starting second baseman down the stretch in the 2014 season and throughout the National League Division Series that fall.

MLB Network's Jon Heyman was first to report the signing.