The Washington Nationals needed a permanent solution to fill the roster spot vacated by Trevor Williams who went on the 60-day IL with an elbow injury. The team named Brad Lord as the new starter to go back into the role he had held before they moved him to the bullpen. While Lord works back to get his starter’s stamina back, he should pitch around 50-pitches today.
Did you know that the Nats are now 26-14 when James Wood has an RBI? The team is 14-46 with no RBI from Wood. He looked like he got his timing back and was a key in last night’s win.
We are now just 9-days away from the trade deadline. Rumors are flying all over the internet on who will be traded. It is that time of year to be on “hug watch” in case any player gets traded mid-game.
The made a roster move to add LHP reliever Konnor Pilkington from Triple-A Rochester and optioned Mason Thompson to Rochester. To make room on the 40-man roster Washington transferred Dylan Crews to the 60-day IL. He has already been on the IL for 60-days. More of a procedural move ahead of opening up spots in the trade deadline when Crews is ready to return. Crews was at Nationals Park today taking BP in the cage.
Miguel Sime Jr. was officially signed today and at the ballpark. He was the Nats 4th round draft pick. Juan Cruz also signed and won’t go to University of Georgia. So far, only one draftee of the Nats, 17th rounder Bryce Molinaro, announced that he will return to college at Penn State. That leaves just four of 19 draft picks unsigned with second rounder Ethan Petry (University of South Carolina), third rounder Landon Harmon ( high school commitment to Mississippi State), fifth rounder Coy James (high school commitment to Mississippi), and 19th rounder Mason Pike (commitment to Oregon State) as the remaining four to sign.
“I just worry about today. Tomorrow, they bring their own worries. I want to enjoy this one today.”
— Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.8, MacKenzie Gore at +2.8 CJ Abrams at +2.9, and . Add those up, and you get a total of +9.5 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier. Brady House in his 25-games jumps to a +0.4, and that extrapolates to +2.8 for a full season.
On defense, the stats are clear as to what his defense is all about. Jacob Young is the team’s OAA leader at +7.0 and Brady House is 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 newer Nats, Daylen Lile, is already at a -5.0 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. is at -5.0 — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -12.0 OAA.
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 64 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.
“You see when it’s coming. Those were good at-bats today. We didn’t score and just stop. We kept going, and we put good at-bats together. It was beautiful to get 10 runs today.”
— Cairo said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.89 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 5.79 and now the worst in baseball in ERA. The bullpen keeps teetering so close once again to the 6.00 ERA mark that seems impossible at this part of the season.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 6.21
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.35
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 5.00
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.81
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.59
Cincinnati Reds vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 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):
