The Washington Nationals got an ace start from MacKenzie Gore last night. Tonight, the series win will be decided in this game. Let’s see what Michael Soroka is doing in his final auditions to be traded. Prior to this, Soroka was not showcased well. His ERA of 5.40, on the surface, won’t excite people But as you drill down, he has an ERA of 3.00 in the first 3.0 innings versus 8.56 for the following 3.0 innings. There has to be value there as a long reliever, a short starter, or a hybrid reliever.
As was discussed earlier, having new GM in Mike DeBartolo should only help at the trade deadline to pass off to a prospective GM in a trade discussion that Player X was not used well analytically, and here is the data we have.
“Simply stepping up our game is not enough. We need real change.”
— Interim GM Mike DeBartolo said before yesterday’s game
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.9, MacKenzie Gore at +3.1 CJ Abrams at +2.9, and . Add those up, and you get a total of +9.9 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier.
On defense, the stats are clear as to what his defense is all about. Jacob Young is the team’s OAA leader at +6.0 and Brady House is now on the list at +1.0. James Wood is at +0.0 on his OAA, and that is a good sign from where he had been early in the season.
One of the newest Nats, Daylen Lile, is already at a -4.0 OAA and that is unsustainable as that is one of the worst marks in baseball if you extrapolated it for a full-season. Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped this season defensively to a -7.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -13.0 OAA. That is the worst middle infield in baseball and entirely unacceptable.
Another defensive 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 65 percent which must improve. His OAA is at -0.4 now, and that just makes the situation even worse. With as little as Amed Rosario has played on defense, he is at -8.0 OAA this season and the worst on the team. Per Statcast, his defense has cost the Nationals 5-runs. Is his offense good enough to make up that deficit if he plays the field or should he only DH and PH? Keibert Ruiz, per Statcast, has a -8.0 OAA also. The Nationals were supposed to be better on defense. That clearly isn’t the case.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good.
“It was good [to get the first win]. It was good for my friend Davey. This one was for him, because he’s the one that put this team together and believed in these players and put the coaching staff together. So this goes to him.”
— Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.72 and 26th best in MLB. You might be surprised at the team just ahead of the Nationals in the rankings. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.73 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 6.21
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.40
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.72
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.78
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.02
Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Stadium: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
1st Pitch: 7:45 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 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
- CJ Abrams SS LH
- James Wood LF LH
- Luis Garcia Jr. 2B LH
- Josh Bell DH SH
- Nathaniel Lowe 1B LH
- Paul DeJong 3B RH
- Daylen Lile RF LH
- Drew Millas C SH
- Jacob Young CF RH
