Going Deep with The Nats

MLB Network

The Washington Nationals have been spending money by the tens of millions, and on Thursday the Nats hit the cash register again signing another big free agent with Brian Dozier. The Nationals actually spent over $10 million on Thursday by inking Dozier and Joe Ross to one-year deals. Ahead of the arbitration filing deadline, the Nationals are at $196 million based on the CBT calculation. The Nationals still need to come to terms with Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner, Michael Taylor, and Kyle Barraclough who are all arbitration eligible. With both Joe Ross and Sammy Solis already settling on their 2019 salararies, general manager Mike Rizzo needs to come in below $28 million combined on the remaining four players to have some room under the $206 million CBT cap. Remember, that $196 million figure does not include bonuses or incentives, and Rizzo gave out some big incentive-laden contracts to both Trevor Rosenthal and Anibal Sanchez. Continue reading →

If teams are looking for pitching in free agency, the remaining pickings are slim past Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel, and Adam Ottavino. There are some interesting bounceback candidates as well as some regression candidates, but there is usually one or two positive surprises every year. Finding those surprises can also be credited to analytics as well as some good fortune. Some would call it luck while others believe you make your own luck. Who will exceed expectations from the remaining free agents?  Continue reading →

With the free agent market at nearly a standstill except for relievers, some teams might head to their Spring Training destinations with the roster they currently have. Others will make a few changes, and some other teams will do as they did last season and add free agents after Spring Training camp opens in February. With just 35 days until camps open on February 12th for some teams, there is not much time left for a market that seems to be waiting for Manny Machado and Bryce Harper to choose their new destinations which will allow other teams to spend their cash on other targets.  Continue reading →

For the Cleveland Indians, they have been all about their pitching to take them to domination in the AL Central. They have boasted one of the best starting rotations in baseball, and their starters were rated the 3rd best in 2018 with Yan Gomes as their workhorse behind homeplate catching 948 2/3 innings which was nearly twice as much as his backup catcher. Gomes caught ace Corey Kluber to a 2.88 ERA and Trevor Bauer to a 2.25 as both of those ERAs were slightly better than backup Roberto Perez, and Gomes was much better in ERA for Carlos Carrasco (3.32 vs. 3.90). That is a good sign for these Washington Nationals starting pitchers who will get to pitch to Gomes and Kurt Suzuki. For the Nationals, it was a tough two years with Matt Wieters behind the plate during 2017-2018.  Continue reading →

From FanGraphs

We all know that the Los Angeles Dodgers are a real threat to acquire Bryce Harper. They have the cash to do it and a real need in the outfield. Their off-season has been one of negative growth so far, but based on Fangraphs projections they are still on top of the NL with a projected 93 wins.

The Dodgers not only lost their second World Series appearance the last two years, they also lost many key players and front office personnel. They lost their star shortstop Corey Seager to an elbow injury last season, All-Stars Yasmani Grandal and Manny Machado to free agency, and they traded Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, and Alex Wood. While Seager should return to form, the rest of their team has some big holes, and their analytics department is minus two key leaders as Director of R&D, Doug Fearing left the team and  Ehsan Bokhari took the Director’s job at Houston. Additionally, long-time Dodgers third base and infield coach Chris Woodward was named manager of the Texas Rangers, Turner Ward went to the Cincinnati Reds as hitting coach, the Philadelphia Phillies hired Minor League hitting coordinator Paco Figueroa, and general manager Farhan Zaidi with the rival San Francisco Giants. Continue reading →

It has been just over two weeks since Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo inked Anibal Sanchez to a deal and that might seem like months to some given the deal a week pace Rizzo and staff were on while acquiring a total of 8-players by the time free agency started on November 3rd. Was that five players in 47 days or eight players in 47 days since Kyle Barraclough and Trevor Rosenthal were actually acquired prior to the official start to free agency. Besides those two relievers, Rizzo also snagged Tanner Rainey for bullpen depth, and Sanchez and the biggest pitching prize, Patrick Corbin, along with Matt Adams as the big lefty bat plus two catchers in Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki.  Continue reading →