Photo by Steve Mears/TalkNats
The Washington Nationals are back in Chicago just like on Opening Day. This time they are on the southside as they call it to face the Chicago White Sox. Both teams tonight will start with an opener. The Nats will presumably go to Miles Mikolas, and the White Sox to Erick Fedde, the former Nats’ player.
The Nationals as I wrote about during the 9th inning (based on some advanced info that I had) that if Julian Fernandez pitched on Thursday that he would be sent back to Rochester Triple-A. When I asked for whom, the answer was in the details when I was told “for a starter” which was obviously Riley Cornelio. Yes, I called it a guess — but the answer was obvious since Andrew Alvarez wasn’t eligible to return — and there was nobody else.
Use and usage was once again an issue. Gus Varland isn’t a fireman. He is a good reliever with a clean inning, and Cionel Perez caused the fire — and once again proved that he lacks consistency. Perez should be the only reliever unavailable today. PJ Poulin will once again pitch as an opener on a day when Mikolas is due to pitch. Here is a chart of usage on manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen:
The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. This will start to give us a clearer picture in a few more weeks when the sample sizes get larger. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have. We will start adding more statistics as the sample sizes get larger.
Washington Nationals vs. Chicago White Sox
Stadium: Rate Field, Chicago, Illinois
1st Pitch: 7:40 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 181 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
