Nationals acquire Ben Revere from Blue Jays for Drew Storen

The trade winds were blowing late on a Friday night as two east coast contenders beef up their rosters.

According to MLB Network insider Jon Heyman, the Washington Nationals have agreed to acquire outfielder Ben Revere from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for veteran reliever Drew Storen.

It's a one-for-one deal involving a pair of major league players. Those are rare these days, but both teams have designs on deep postseason runs in 2016 and have now solidified important spots on their roster. 

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For Washington, Revere steps right into the center field position vacated by Denard Span, who signed a three-year deal with the San Francisco Giants this week. Revere brings a similar skill set as a contact hitter from the left side of the plate who can hit atop the order. Revere can play all three outfield spots, and at 27 brings a little more youth, a lot more speed and a lower salary.

Revere is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $6.7 million in arbitration this year and would be under team control for 2017. Span, 31, signed for $31 million over three years. 

Revere is also coming off his most productive MLB season, having hit .306/.342/.377 over 634 plate appearances. His on-base percentage is low because he doesn't take many walks. Again though, Revere doesn't strikeout much either, so Washington's offense shouldn't skip a beat with him in there.

As for fans hoping Michael Taylor might get a crack at regular playing time in center. Well, that will have to wait. The Nationals obviously feel like a Span or Revere type player best fits that role, so that's the direction they're going.

To land Revere, Washington has parted with former closer Drew Storen. A change of scenery was needed after Storen struggled upon removal from his position to accommodate Jonathan Papelbon's arrival in July. Storen did a good job for Washington overall, saving 95 games over six seasons, but had rocky postseason appearances in 2012 and 2014 leading to his team not fully believing in him when the chips were down. The Blue Jays will have no such hesitation.

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Storen will join a talented bullpen that already features Brett Cecil, Roberto Osuna and Alex Sanchez. There's no guarantee they'll use Storen as a closer either, but he'll add some experience to John Gibbons' late-inning options. This group may not be as talented or dominent pound-for-pound as the Yankees reinforced trio of Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, but they're a little deeper. That should make for some interesting battles in the AL East.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813