The Washington Nationals have just reached the 25 percent completion mark in the season, and last night DFA’d another of general manager Mike Rizzo’s offseason free agent signings. This time it was Lucas Sims and his 13.86 ERA. Sims joins Colin Poche who was DFA’d last week. That is $4.4 million of wasted money just flushed away. Normally, Rizzo waits a lot longer to make these moves. Could Josh Bell be next? He currently has the lowest WAR value on the team per BBRef at -1.0. That is tough to do at the 1/4 pole of the season.
We expect the announcement shortly on Zach Brzykcy getting added back to the roster, because honestly, who else is there? Cade Cavalli isn’t ready yet, and other than shades of good and bad from Konnor Pilkington could be a possibility, or Rizzo would have to go outside of the organization like he did when he signed Andrew Chafin. On top of all of that, starting pitcher, Mitchell Parker, pitched his third dud in a row after his 8.0 inning gem on April 22nd when his ERA was 1.39.
“This one wasn’t good. I’m sitting here trying to figure out what went on. Mitchell Parker, early on, struggled. Walks. Fell behind. Our offense just couldn’t get it going. We came in after a day-off. We were playing well. I’m just going to try to really forget about this one.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +1.4 and MacKenzie Gore +1.3 and followed by CJ Abrams and Mitchell Parker. On the negative side, Josh Bell has fallen to a -0.9 at this point and the worst on the team. The team is 4-3 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 he hasn’t played in almost a month dating back to April 15. 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 60 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.
“He gets it. He understands. He didn’t throw strikes. It’s hard when you’ve got to release a guy. Unbelievable person. Hard worker. It just didn’t work out.”
— Martinez said
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.35 and 8th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 7.29 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 3.97
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.94
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.33
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN
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 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
