The Washington Nationals are back home to face a very good Brewers team that wants to win the NL Central and go all the way. Did they do enough at the trade deadline? The Nats sure did, and you will see several new players who are taking the place of Alex Call, Mike Soroka, Kyle Finnegan, Luis Garcia (the reliever), and Andrew Chafin. Of course Zach Brzykcy was the only player added to the roster on Wednesday as the Nats played a man short. The previous week they added Jose Tena back to the roster to replace the traded Amed Rosario.
As the rumors were flying all over the internet on who would be traded and everyone was on“hug watch,” MacKenzie Gore, Josh Bell, Paul DeJong, and Nathaniel Lowe did not get traded. Do the Nats wait for roster expansion on September 1 to call-up first baseman Yohandy Morales, and whose place does Dylan Crews take next week when he returns from the IL that he has been on for well over two months?
Today, the Nationals called up OF Robert Hassell III, RHP Ryan Loutos , LHP Shinnosuke Ogasawara, and RHP Orlando Ribalta from Triple-A Rochester. They were all on the 40-man roster, and there are only 36-players currently on the 40-man roster. The team will need one spot for Crews once he is activated from the 60-day IL. That will leave three spots open for the near-future for promotions of non-40-man players and any waiver claims.
“The Nationals have done really well by me. It’s been fun, and whatever happens, happens, but it’s a good place — a lot of good guys. I’m ready for whatever comes next.”
— Michael Soroka said before he was traded
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.2, MacKenzie Gore at +2.6 CJ Abrams at +3.1, and . Add those up, and you get a total of +8.9 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier.
On defense, the OAA stats give you a good picture of the team’s overall defense which is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good news is that besides Nathaniel Lowe, the defense under interim-manager Miguel Cairo has drastically improved. All of a sudden, Luis Garcia Jr. looks Gold Glove in the month of July.
This is a Stacast defensive chart on runs saved Jacob Young is +9 and runs lost like Daylen Lile at -7. Those are the two extremes on the team and then you can extrapolate for a full season:
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good. The issue is the consistency on this team.
“Sometimes, like I’ve said before, I want to use everyone in the bullpen. I can’t be using the same guys every day. I don’t want to break their arms, either. Sometimes when they come into those situations, they’ve got a job to do.”
— Cairo said mid-week
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.79 and that places the starters at 4th from last in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.66 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Brad Lord 3.27 (starting/relieving)
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 4.87
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.91
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.69
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.80
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 pm EDT
TV: Apple TV+
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):
