Nats welcome De Aza, Goodwin to DL

The Nationals this morning selected the contract of outfielder Alejandro De Aza from Triple-A Syracuse and placed outfielder Brian Goodwin on the 10-day disabled list with a left groin strain.

Further, the Nationals transferred shortstop Trea Turner (right wrist fracture) on the 60-day disabled list to open a 40-man roster spot for De Aza. Goodwin's DL stint is retroactive to Aug. 14.

The 33-year-old De Aza was signed June 14 and was hitting .280 with 11 doubles, four homers, 25 walks and 19 RBIs at Syracuse. He has played all three outfield spots, bats left-handed and has nine seasons of experience with Marlins, White Sox, Orioles, Giants and Mets.

Rehabbing center fielder Adam Eaton was a teammate of De Aza's with the White Sox in 2014.

"I walked in there (and) I'm like in 1,000 years, you just surprised the heck out of me coming in here," Eaton said. "Dude can play. Every day, he's going to come ready to play. Pretty solid defender. Can hit, really works the count. He'll surprise you. He'll take first pitch 10 days in a row and then he'll swing first pitch for next 10 days. He's definitely a gamer. He's a good teammate. That's really what we need in here. He's definitely going to come and add a little bit of character to the clubhouse. I'm excited to have him. I haven't seen him in a long time. I'm glad he's here."

Manager Dusty Baker said the way the Nats clubhouse reacted when De Aza walked in the door was all he needed to know.

"Not that familiar. I remember him from the Mets," Baker said. "He went to Baltimore, which I really didn't get a chance to see him. But I know he was a good outfielder, which is what we need right now. We're short. We needed some added defense. He used to be a very good runner. I don't know how he runs now. He seems to be a popular guy in the clubhouse. Because when he got there a number of people that were glad to see him. That's a pretty good sign when people are genuinely glad to see you. Because you can sort of tell when they are faking. It was very genuine so therefore he must be a very good teammate."

Baker said Goodwin got hurt on a slide.

"It's already been three or four days," Baker noted. "It's a 10-day DL. That just leaves another week. He will travel with us. Any time you do something in the groin, even if it is minor, you don't want it to be a deterrent for everybody by continually playing.

"Hopefully, Goodie's better. If not, September call-ups are right around the corner. Time to get sharp and not lose his sharpness because he just got it. You hate to have him lose his sharpness because I've never had a pulled groin, but I don't think you should hit.

"I was going to give him a day off last week. But then he got two or three hits and couple of homers and I said, 'Well ...' I don't know if fatigue had anything to do with it. We didn't have the personnel to give him off. When you're young, you don't really think of a day off."

Due to all the shuffling in the outfield, today Baker has had to make the unusual move of giving Howie Kendrick his first professional start in right field "out of necessity."

In other injury news:

Baker believes right fielder Bryce Harper (hyperextended left knee) will travel with the team to San Diego and Houston and get treatment.

Baker said injured outfielder Jayson Werth will travel to West Palm Beach to continue working on running. Baker said Werth would then hopefully go on a rehab assignment.

General manager Mike Rizzo told 106.7 The Fan this morning he wants Werth to play back-to-back nine-inning rehab games at 100 percent running effort before he can return.

Baker said reliever Ryan Madson does not have a blister. "It's not a blister," he said. "I thought it was a blister. It's his finger. We are getting it analyzed right now. I don't know what it is, but it's something in his finger."