Division Opponents for 2018: Washington Nationals

[Frayed Knot]

Hard to believe that we went through the entire winter and the only in-division team we didn't create a 2018 thread for was the Natinals (as they once spelled it on a couple of uniforms) but that's
probably because they didn't really change much over the off-season so most of the same cast of characters will try to see if THIS is the year they can not only win the NL East but also get past the
first round of the playoffs for the first time since moving to the nation's capital.


-- the infield is pretty much the same: Zimmerman at 1st, Howie Kendrick at 2nd, Trea Turner at SS, Anthony Rendon at 3rd, and Matt Weiters behind the plate. Although Weiters went on the DL after
just two games and, seeing as how we stole their longtime backup Jose Lobaton from them, former DBack/Cub Miguel Montero looks to get the bulk of the reps for now.

-- Gone from the OF is Jayson Werth who was the Nats' first big FA signing. The deal was considered a severe overpay at the time although they got reasonable use out of him until close to the end of
the deal which was 2017. Werth has yet to find a job anywhere else and, at this point, doubt he ever will; I'm not even sure if he was looking very hard. Last I heard he was involved in some sort of
organic farming project. No, really!
But back is Adam Eaton who they signed last year but who collapsed while crossing 1st base in a game vs the Mets in late April and missed the entire season. This year he moves to LF while manning CF
(where Eaton was signed to play) is a sort of a three-headed monster of young-ish OFs Michael Taylor, Brian Goodwin, Wilmer Difo. None are really all that young anymore (27, 27, 26) and, while all
have some ML time under their belts, only Taylor has ever been anything close to a full-timer getting 300+ ABs in a season twice before (2015, 2017).


So far this year the Nats are 4-2 (and, HEY, we're 4-1 !!!): 3-0 vs Cincy but then lost 2 of 3 to the Braves including Atlanta bats knocking Scherzer around a bit Wednesday afternoon: 5 IP, 5 runs (tho
just 2 earned) on 6 hits.
Mainly they've been scoring a lot early so far. Their 1st inning ABs have produced: 1, 3, 2, 2, 3 runs until getting blanked in the opening frame today.
Eaton has been hitting [.500 w/4 XBHs in his 9 knocks] as has Harper [.400 w/4 HRs] and Howie Kendrick



Thursday 1:00 (SNY, MASN, and maybe MLBN depending on your location) -- deGrom vs Steven Strasburg. One start for Strasburg: 6.1, 3 runs (1 ER) on 8 hits, 6 K
Weather expected to be decent

** Off Day Friday ** Our second consecutive, but final, blank Friday of the year.

Saturday 1:00 (SNY, MASN) -- Matz vs Gio Gonzalez [6.0 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 7 K]
Weather expected to suck

Sunday 8:00 (ESPN) -- Harvey vs Tanner Roark [7 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 6 K]
Weather (and announcers) expected to suck

[batmagadanleadoff]

-- the infield is pretty much the same: Zimmerman at 1st, [--->]Howie Kendrick at 2nd, [<---]Trea Turner at SS, Anthony Rendon at 3rd, and Matt Weiters behind the plate.

Ahem. [/clears throat]

[Frayed Knot]

Starting catcher Matt Weiters to be activated for Wednesday's day game vs Atlanta
But in the meantime, they liked enough of what they saw of 3rd stringer Pedro Severino -- and why not? [.368 BA / 520 OBA] -- that they've designated Miguel Montero
The now 34 y/o Montero had some good years in Arizona before things seemed to go south for him after being dealt north to Chicago
The Nats chose him during the winter over Jose Lobaton who had been there for parts of four seasons but can currently be seen catching for Las Vegas.
And now they've chosen someone else instead of Montero. Going 0-13 to start the season likely didn't help his case.

[A Boy Named Seo]

this guy blows

[tweet:jer3dz31]

[/tweet:jer3dz31]

[Frayed Knot]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: this guy blows

Twice as much as most people apparently.

[Frayed Knot]

Nats sign Mark Reynolds to a minor league deal.
One suspects this may have something to do with Ryan Zimmerman hitting .111 at the moment (4/36) which, especially absent Murphy, is affording Harper (16 walks in 12 games) little or nothing in the way of line-up protection.

The 34 y/o Reynolds hit 30 HRs for Colorado last year and has been almost exclusively a 1B/DH over the last few years.

[Frayed Knot]

It's not so much that the Nats are now 6-8 (lost 2-1 to Rox tonight) but that they're 6-8 after starting 4-0 !!

[Frayed Knot]

Second Series Preview: April 16-18, CitiField

Nats at 7-9 (and, as noted above, that's after starting 4-0) with a -4 Run differential [67 RS / 71 RA] on the season to date.

Still missing Murphy. Also now have Adam Easton on the DL, and Anthony Rendon hasn't played in three games after fouling one off his toe.
Matt Weiters is back after missing the first series but we'll miss both Scherzer & Strasburg here.


Hitting: backup catcher Pedro Severino (though his playing time is now cut), 2B Howie Kendrick, Harper (MLB-leading 7 HRs) and Rendon
Not so much: Trea Turner, Ryan Zimmerman, CF Michael Taylor [382 OPS!], or Weiters (small sample)


Monday: Jeremy Hellickson vs deGrom
Hellickson was picked up by the Nats late in ST after being dropped by the Orioles at the end of last year. Doesn't look like he's even pitched in any minor league games yet.
Wasn't any good last year w/either the O's or Phils
deGrom went 6 vs Nats in the first series allowing 2 runs (1 earned)

Tuesday: Gio Gonzalez vs Wheeler
GG is career 14-5 / 2.88 ERA / 1.14 WHIP in 24 starts vs the Mets (as opposed to 3.62 / 1.30 overall). He'll still sometimes take a thousand pitches to get thru 4 innings though (like Wheeler doesn't!!)

Wednesday: Tanner Roark vs Matz
We got to Roark for 5 earned thru 5 in the first series. Matz went 5 allowing only 1 unearned in his Nats start.

[Benjamin Grimm]

This is a real chance to make some hay (whatever that means) against the Nationals.

[Centerfield]

They are seven back in the loss column. As long as we don’t get swept, 7 losses will can take some time to make up.

[Ceetar]

Centerfield wrote: They are seven back in the loss column. As long as we don’t get swept, 7 losses will can take some time to make up.

yeah, they're probably not going 19-0 against the Nats this year nor continuing the 12-2 pace. It'd be amazing if they continued it for three more games, but if they happened to lose a series, it'll happen. It's a long season. Even a sweep doesn't mean the Mets get to coast the rest of the way.

It's hard to believe these Mets could lose two games in a week though. they dont' really do that.

[bmfc1]

Remember Carlos Torres? WSH called him up today and DFA'd A.J. Cole (who might look good in a 51s uni).

[bmfc1]

After the Nationals lost Howie Kendrick for the season (so sad) they called up Juan Soto. He's one of the top prospects in the game. I saw him in April in Hagerstown (middle A). Since then, he's gone to Potomac (high A) and Harrisburg (AA) and now the majors in a month.

[bmfc1]

Washington was shut out twice in 48 hours by Tampa. Aww.
Kevin Cash (that's the Rays manager) started the top of the 9th with a LHP. After a walk, Cash brought in a RHP, moved the LHP to 1B, rearranged the OF, and the batter struck out. Then the LHP returned and gave up 2 singles so it was bases loaded. one out. Cash brought in Sergio Romo who got a pop up and struck out Taylor to end the game. Then Nationals got sad after Romo pumped his fist, yelled at Taylor and the bench emptied. (From what I could find on Twitter, Taylor stole 3d on Romo recently while WSH had a big lead [9 to 2] so Romo had a chance to express his opinion to Taylor).

Edited June 26, 2018 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Kewl.

My favorite part of it was that he moved the (ultimately failing) pitcher to first.

When a team is forced to put their pitcher at a defensive position, they've almost invariably sent him to a corner outfield spot, but pitchers field grounders and cover first regularly, so the mechanics of playing the cold corner are probably less foreign to them than the mechanics of left field.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, it was a gutsy L/R switcheroo which ultimately didn't work ... except that it did.

The lefty, Jose Alvarado, walked Harper to start the inning, then was moved to 1B while a righty came in to K Rendon.
Back came Alvarado w/o his 1st baseman's glove to face the LH-hitting Soto & Murphy, both of whom got (soft) singles to load the bases ... meaning Alvarado faced three LHHs and retired none of them.
So in came new RH Sergio Romo who got a fly-out too shallow to even attempt a tag by Harper at 3rd and finally a K of Michael Taylor to end the game.

It's like mgr Kevin Cash fell up the stairs with those moves.


The Rays, btw, are now just one game under .500 after starting the season 4-13.
That still leaves them miles behind the Yanx & Sawx but they have the best pitching in baseball over the last couple of months and could definitely be a pain in the ass to someone down the stretch.

[Frayed Knot]

Nats lose again to the Phils and are now 2.0 games behind them in the standings (try getting odds on THAT prior to the season) and are now 8-15 in June.

[bmfc1]

Interesting play in this morning's WSH game against Boston (11 AM start). No score, top 7, 1st and 3d for BOS, no out, the batter hits a foul pop-up to short left. Eaton (LF) runs in, slides and makes the catch (remember that it's a foul ball so he could have let it go but he caught it), the runner tagged, Eaton threw it home, FP (Mitchell Report) Santangelo, yelled "he left early" (he didn't), the throw was wild so the runner from 1st went to 3d which was key because he scored on a wild pitch. All that from a foul ball.

WSH is now below .500 which I would enjoy more if the Mets were capable of taking advantage and if the locals weren't still happy about the Stanley Cup (which came after they first learned that there was a hockey team in town).

[Edgy MD]

Let's catch these guys.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: Let's catch these guys.

Hey, we're as close to them as they are to the Phillies (7.0 games in each direction).

[bmfc1]

Frayed Knot wrote: Let's catch these guys. Hey, we're as close to them as they are to the Phillies (7.0 games in each direction).

A month later, this is still true (except it's ATL in first place).
For a look at a dysfunctional team, read this (it gets juicy when she talks about the 25-4 game): https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/the-nationals-had-the-bullpen-they-wanted-then-flaring-tempers-and-injuries-tore-it-apart/2018/08/20/e16445fe-a47d-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8d1b243467cc

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

bmfc1 wrote: Let's catch these guys. Hey, we're as close to them as they are to the Phillies (7.0 games in each direction). A month later, this is still true (except it's ATL in first place). For a look at a dysfunctional team, read this (it gets juicy when she talks about the 25-4 game): https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/the-nationals-had-the-bullpen-they-wanted-then-flaring-tempers-and-injuries-tore-it-apart/2018/08/20/e16445fe-a47d-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8d1b243467cc

If journalists are enemies of the American people, let us have more enemies like that. What a great article, well told and reported.

[Lefty Specialist]

I really thought they had a run in them, but damn, this Nats team just can't get out of its own way.

[Edgy MD]

He sat there alone, watching on the television as Max Scherzer clung to a one-run lead through seven gutsy innings. He watched as Koda Glover hung on through an adventurous eighth. He watched Ryan Zimmerman find redemption against Brandon Kintzler when he drove home insurance runs in the eighth. Then he watched Ryan Madson surrender a walk-off grand slam.

Welcome to deGrom's world, man.

Just exhibit #1,000 in the case of "Don't get too caught up in building your bullpen."

1. Get a bunch of good arms;
   
2. try not to get to committed to them financially, allowing yourself to swap guys in and out when necessary;
   
3. don't coddle the late inning guys and treat them as a class apart;
   
4. don't lift guys who are pitching well.

Bullpens for Dummies, man.

[Frayed Knot]

I thought they had a run in them too. And they did, but it lasted about a week.
The thing about this Nats season is that they've managed to stay right around .500 (currently one game under) despite [u:1f1ssavm]a +59 RS/RA[/u:1f1ssavm] edge.
And that's including their 11-run loss yesterday; prior to that they were AT .500 with a +70. Wasn't sure that was possible.

[bmfc1]

Ray Knight is out as a pre and post-game analyst for MASN TV:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/11/04/ray-knight-will-not-return-nationals-masn-broadcasts-next-season/?utm_term=.554af1f08bd5

[Frayed Knot]

Clearly the .500 season (82-80), on the heels of projections about them running away with the division, was his fault.