by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
Yan Gomes has got this. (Photo by Tom Cicotello for TalkNats)
Time for Part 2 of what we started to discuss in Are Platoon Splits Almost a Certainty for the #Nats – 1 of 2. So lets look at 2B (Starlin Castro and Luis Garcia), Catcher (Jason Castro and Yan Gomes) and CF (Victor Robles and Andrew Stevenson).
Don: Just like our previous discussion, let’s start by looking at their splits against lefty vs. right handed pitchers. Continue reading
Getty Images photo
It is pretty clear that the Nationals need a fourth starter. The issue is who! Trevor Bauer isn’t getting signed by general manager Mike Rizzo. And none of the rest are obvious choices. The priorities posted yesterday clearly shows the need for a 4th starter upgrade.
Don: When the Yankees signed Corey Kluber and the speculation started that they may not want to bring back Masahiro Tanaka who is a free agent. It is looking likely that Tanaka will not be going back to the Yankees I looked at his stats on Baseball Reference it looked like he was an innings eater. That got me to thinking that maybe getting a guy who goes deep into games would be a good idea.
I can query the 2018-2020 data and filtered the pitcher data to include only those that were in the list of MLBTR’s 2020-2021 Free Agent Tracker and that also had at least one game where they went thru the inning twice and look at the midpoint of how far into games they went. For example, if a pitcher started 50 games and I ordered them based on how deep they went, where does the 25th game fall (e.g., 5.2 innings).
Steve: Good idea. I’d think Rizzo wants a guy who can actually make it thru the 6th inning and probably will look to someone who Jim Hickey is comfortable with. There are quite a few of those on the free agent market like Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Jose Quintana, and Jon Lester. Of course of those 4 names, only Lester would qualify as an innings-eater. Continue reading
The Washington Nationals have clear priorities for this 2021 season. But the Nats won’t sniff the postseason if the starting rotation repeats their failures of 2020 when they had a Nationals’ franchise worst 5.38 ERA from a starting rotation that cost over $100 million in total for 2020. This year, FanGraphs is projecting a rather mundane 4.39 ERA for the starting staff. Sorry, that will not cut it. You might as well fold the tent if the Nats cannot pitch better than the ERAs in that graphic (above).
Let’s be clear, the Nationals are not paying Stephen Strasburg a salary of $35 million to pitch to a 4.08 ERA. The same could be said for Max Scherzer who will earn $30 million this year, and Patrick Corbin will collect $24.4 million. New pitching coach, Jim Hickey, will have his work cut out for him. You can do the math with Joe Ross‘ $1.5 million contract for 2021, the Nats already have $90.9 million invested in those four pitchers with one spot open in the rotation.
Down on the Farm; Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
The Josh Bell acquisition cost the Washington Nationals their seventh rated prospect when Eddy Yean went to the Pirates as the centerpiece of that trade. Subsequently, there have been rumors swirling about other potential trades involving Kris Bryant and Eugenio Suarez.
Nats have talked to the Reds about 3B Eugenio Suarez. Nothing imminent or believed anywhere close. Kieboom would make sense in a package. Prospects the Nats don’t want to deal: Rutledge, Cavalli, Garcia.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 18, 2020
Wisely, as Jon Heyman pointed out on December 18, the Nats do not want to deal their top prospects in Jackson Rutledge and Cade Cavalli as well as 20-year-old Luis Garcia who technically exceeded his rookie status and can no longer rate as a prospect. Heyman basically tweeted the same again yesterday about Eugenio Suarez, Rutledge and Cavalli sans Garcia. Currently, Rutledge and Cavalli hold the top-two spots in both Baseball America rankings as well as MLB Pipeline. Continue reading
With Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber, and Josh Harrison all signed, what moves will Washington Nationals’ general manager Mike Rizzo have up his winter sleeves? With a 40-man roster showing five vacancies, we can expect at least five moves and most likely more moves on the minor league side after the international signings become official on Friday and Riz adds more non-roster invitees to his spring training roster. The issue at-hand, if Fangraphs is your guide, is that they are projecting the Nats for only 84 wins today, and if there are only two Wild Card spots, the Nats would not make the postseason. Continue reading
Ryan Zimmerman in 2020; Photo by Katie Moran for TalkNats
Don: So that is the question of the day. Given the budget, who the available FAs are; and lack of tradeable assets, platoons seem like the best/only option for the Nats. TalkNats commenter DChamps asked us to do:
Here is what I would like to see if you can do it is take 2019/2020 combined and do a platoon split to see what a
Brantley[Substitute Schwarber] platoon would look like with Pillar or Duvall. Do the same for Bell and Zim and Luis Garcia and Harrison and at catcher Gomes for 100 games and Jason Castro for 62 games and in CF Robles for 110 games and Stevo for 52 games.
Steve: Wow, I would love to see platoon splits or what Rizzo likes to call matchups for 2 players at the same position. Riz has never liked the pure lefty/righty thing. I think we have to determine how many at-bats those players would get because Duval and Pillar would play more than the 30 starts a year against lefties. This is also much different to look at since Josh Bell is decent from both sides of the plate as a switch-hitter.
Andrew: I think that is smart. This could be the Nats reality. My fear is that if they go with Brantley Schwarber that they play him too much.
BREAKING: Deferred by a day because the Nats have signed Kyle Schwarber. So we will replace Brantley with Schwarber in DChamps list.
Wrigley Field, Photo by NavyYardNats for TalkNats
We had several scenarios for a Kyle Schwarber signing with the hopes he could play first base for the Washington Nationals. After the Josh Bell signing, the thoughts of adding Schwarber faded until rumors had surfaced from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal that the Nats were considering Schwarber in leftfield.
Today, that move came into focus as general manager Mike Rizzo has signed Schwarber to a one-year deal with a mutual option. He was recently non-tendered by the Cubs to become a free agent. A source told us that Nationals’ manager Dave Martinez was instrumental in his desire to add Schwarber to his lineup, and there was mutual interest for Schwarber to reunite with the Nats’ manager. Prior to 2018, Martinez was the bench coach for the Cubs and knew Schwarber well and was a key in converting him from a catcher to an outfielder. He also knows that Schwarber was defensively challenged in the outfield, but the need for big offense is greater. The Nats take a risk as Schwarber slumped with the bat in 2020 with regards to his .188 batting average — but he did manage a .308 OBP and a .701 OPS with his immense power. Continue reading
The Mets and Indians pulled off a blockbuster trade today that brought the team in Queens some royalty in the form of Francisco Lindor and his +5.6 WAR. If that was not enough, they also got starting pitching help in that same trade package as Carlos Carrasco joins a very good Mets rotation.
Welcome to New York! 🍎
We’ve acquired Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco. #LGMhttps://t.co/Bc0fICHUKn
— New York Mets (@Mets) January 7, 2021
The rest of the NL East are looking up at the Mets now. In fact, FanGraphs ranks the best teams in all of Major League baseball with the Dodgers, Padres and Mets as one, two, and three respectively. Keep in mind that the Mets probably could make one more splash in an outfield acquisition and could improve even more. George Springer is a +3.8 WAR player and a free agent signing like that would make the Mets the tops in the NL. Continue reading
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