The Washington Nationals welcome back Michael Soroka to the rotation today from the IL in a stint that began after his only start of the season on March 31. Soroka’s only start for the Nationals was against the Blue Jays, and did not go well. He gave up four runs over 5.0 innings. Afterwards, Soroka felt bicep tightness and was placed on the IL.
The corresponding move to add Soroka was to send Eduardo Salazar back to Triple-A. There might not be anymore bullpen moves until Cade Cavalli is ready to join the Nats’ roster. After yesterday’s games, the Nats bullpen retook the crown as the worst bullpen as they leapfrogged the Angels to take over last place with a 7.16 ERA.
By having an incompetent bullpen, you have to wonder if manager Dave Martinez pushed Brad Lord too far yesterday as he set career marks of 93-pitches and 6.0 innings completed while his shutout was wiped away with two-outs when he looked beyond exhausted and served up one bad pitch that turned into a 3-run homer. Martinez said that Lord will be moved into the bullpen. Why? Lord has pitched better than Trevor Williams, and we will see what Soroka can do.
“I think at this particular moment, we’ll probably push [Brad Lord] back to the bullpen. Kind of give him a breather, and then we’ll see what happens in the next couple weeks.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with MacKenzie Gore and James Wood at +1.3 followed by CJ Abrams and Mitchell Parker. On the negative side, Josh Bell has fallen to a -0.8 at this point and the worst on the team. The team is 4-2 when Bell doesn’t start a game.
On defense, the stats are starting to give you an idea of what this defense is all about. Paul DeJong is your OAA leader , and Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped to a -4.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -7.0 OAA. Another issue that we have discussed is the positioning of Nathaniel Lowe at first base as he is too often out of position to make a play — and OAA has his chance at success at only 59 percent which must improve.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good — but the gap is widening.
“After the first inning, I felt like we got flat,” Martinez said. “We started chasing again. We took some pitches we should’ve hit, and then we started chasing. We’ve got to be aggressive in the zone.”
— said Martinez after last night’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.19 and 10th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 7.16 and is the worst in MLB.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.86
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 7.20
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.48
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.94
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.33
Cleveland Guardians vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 12:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 175 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
