You're Gonna Wanna Better Know Your Nationals

[Edgy MD]

Strange things all around the infield:

• Tyler Moore is playing first base, in place of Ryan Zimmerman.
  
• Danny Espinsosa is playing second base, in place of Yunel Escobar.
  
• Yunel Escobar is playing third base, in place of Anthony Rendon.
  
• Ian Desmond is playing shortstop, in place of Ian Desmond.

The outfield is a little pear-shaped also:

• Clint Robinson is playing left field, in place of Jason Werth.
  
• Michael Taylor is playing center field, in place of Denard Span.

[Ceetar]

If Ted Lerner weren't fucking broke, they'd have the depth to handle those types of injuries instead of desperately clinging to first place. But for a random case of Spinal Stinosis, the Mets would be leaving them embarrassingly in the dust.

[Lefty Specialist]

Ian Desmond is playing shortstop, in place of Ian Desmond.

Comedy gold.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Edgy MD wrote: Ian Desmond is playing shortstop, in place of Ian Desmond.

Quality substitution!

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, that worked out for them last night. As did the Taylor-for-Span thingie.

Terry starting Lucas Duda in place of Lucas Duda still remains a bust.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, that worked out for them last night. As did the Taylor-for-Span thingie. Terry starting Lucas Duda in place of Lucas Duda still remains a bust.

you mean Eric Campbell.

[Edgy MD]

Well, I'm referring more to the Lucas Duda of the last six or seven weeks, rather than the Eric Campbell of last evening, who was a more or less acceptable substitute for Shadow-Lucas.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: Well, I'm referring more to the Lucas Duda of the last six or seven weeks, rather than the Eric Campbell of last evening, who was a more or less acceptable substitute for Shadow-Lucas.

yes, much the way a leftover McDonalds hamburger is more or less an acceptable substitute for a prime steak.

[Edgy MD]

I'm a vegetarian.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm a vegetarian.

So the "play Goeddel everyday at first" gambit.

[Edgy MD]

I also don't drink.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I don't smoke crack, but Campbell still sucks.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: I also don't drink.

You must be awfully dehydrated.

[Edgy MD]

don't smoke crack, but Campbell still sucks.

Well, tell it to the guy pushing Goeddel at first.

[Frayed Knot]

I've mentioned Cliff Robinson before as one of those guys that's helping the Nats over their injuries this year, first to Werth and now mainly for Zimmerman
But before we give GM Rizzo too much credit, Robinson is a 30 y/o career minor leaguer (13 ML ABs prior to this season). He had some good minor league numbers but so did Val Pascucci.

Their other savior has been Danny Espinosa. Once their regular 2B-man and a guy I thought was destined to be better (offensively & defensively) than Desmond.
But he slumped badly over the past two years hitting .200 over 2013-14 combined, at one point talking about giving up switch-hitting, etc. Looked totally lost.

Point is, going into this season I would have bet on a combo of Kirk & JMJ being much better options off the bench (forget for a second that the positions don't match up exactly) than Robinson + Espinosa but not only hasn't it worked out that way but it hasn't even been close.
Bench players are a lot like middle relievers in that it's tough to predict from one year to the next how someone is going to perform. Rizzo can claim he believed in Espinosa all along (and I think he probably did) but he also picked up the Uggla-ness that is Dan Uggla over this past winter so that belief apparently only went so far.

And all of this points out the larger problem with this NYM season. It's not just that Wright & d'Arnaud and, to a lesser extent, Murphy have been missing, or that Cuddyer has underperformed so much at the same time Duda & Lagares seem to be regressing, it's that the guys slated to back them up have all failed so miserably: JMJ, Nieuwenhuis, Campbell, Recker, Muno, Monell, etc. You can overcome one or maybe one and a half of those conditions but we're currently running up against all three: missing starters, backsliding vets, miserable bench.

[Edgy MD]

Ceetar wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Well, I'm referring more to the Lucas Duda of the last six or seven weeks, rather than the Eric Campbell of last evening, who was a more or less acceptable substitute for Shadow-Lucas. yes, much the way a leftover McDonalds hamburger is more or less an acceptable substitute for a prime steak.

I'm really surprised by this sarcasm. Does anybody else think this is remotely controversial? The guy went 1-3 with a walk. Compared to the Lucas Duda of that we've gotten since the spring became the summer, this is a really good game.

Month	G	AB	G	PA	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SF	SH	GDP	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
June	25	91	25	109	17	12	4	0	1	6	8	14	3	26	3	1	0	3	0	0	.187	.312	.264	.576
Jul	15	55	15	61	7	3	2	0	2	6	5	5	0	24	1	0	0	2	0	0	.127	.213	.273	.486
Total	40	146	40	170	24	15	6	0	3	12	13	19	3	50	4	1	0	5	0	0	.164	.276	.267	.544

It was a passing observation made with regard to Desmond. That like Desmond, Duda hasn't been playing as well as one might have projected, almost like he's another guy.