NL East Enemies: 2017 Washington Nationals

[Frayed Knot]

It makes sense for them to try it anyway. Rodriguez was released over the weekend by Detroit, partly on account of his 7.82 ERA coupled with a 1.66 WHiP and partly after complaining
that his role as a set-up man rather than full-time closer was the primary cause of those ugly numbers. Also his K numbers are falling despite this K-happy era, as is his hit rate, and his
HR rate is WAY up.

But the Nats pen has been so bad in EVERY role that the still only 35 y/o K-Rod is probably worth a flyer and may even get his chance to close seeing as how everyone else they've tried has either
sucked, been injured, or both.



P.S. -- imagine where the Nats would be had they won the rights to Kenley Jansen this past winter? They may have even been the highest bidder but KJ accepted less money to stay w/the Dodgers.
On a side note, Jansen gave up his first walk of the season on Sunday although he fixed that by hitting a run scoring double.
Another oddity in that (4 hour 19 minute) 12-6 Dodger win vs Colorado is that 6 of the 18 runs were scored via wild pitches, 5 for the Dodgers and 1 for the Rox

[Frayed Knot]

Meanwhile, the Cubs and Nats start a four game series tonight in DC

Mon: Butler vs Gonzalez
Tue: Arrieta v Scherzer
Wed: Lackey v Strasburg
Thu (4:05): Lester v Ross


P.S. I saw that the Nats offense went wild again in Joe Ross's last start (Saturday). 18 runs this time vs Cincy
That was his 4th win of the season and they've come in games where he's been given 14, 10, 6, and 18 runs to work with (not necessarily all with him still in the game)
And as if that wasn't enough, he was also the starter in games in which the Nats scored 15, 23 (you may remember that one) and 10 runs where he failed to pitch well enough or long
enough (or both) to qualify for a win.

[Ceetar]

Nats fall 5-4 to the Cubs. Their bullpen is bad, making the deficit increase from 2 to 5 before rallying for 4 runs to lose by 1.

If only there was another team in the division to challenge them, the Nats look very vulnerable.

[Edgy MD]

I see a little Mark Melancon in their future.

[Frayed Knot]

The Cubs tried really hard to blow that one last night.
They led 5-0 into bottom 9 until finally (and by 'finally' I mean like four hours after it started) Ryan Zimmerman K'd with the tying and winning runs on 2nd & 3rd to end it.
Part of what helped the Cubs open it up (was a 1-0 game until the 8th) was Murph making a bad decision in the field (seen that movie before). With the runner going he decided to try for the DP
anyway and wound up getting neither out. Both runners later scored.




The Nats are tops in the whole NL is scoring runs and, even with their bullpen, are 4th best at preventing them so calling them "vulnerable" is probably a bit of wishful thinking especially since they'll
shirley land a closer type before July is out whether it be re-acquiring Melancon, or the long-rumored David Robertson from the ChiSox, or maybe even .... Addison Reed.
The only chance I see them of slipping up is if their rotation gets somehow decimated. They've gone through the entire season to date with only four token starts from anyone other than their main
five and, while four & five (Roark & Ross) may be shaky at times, their big three are as good as anyone's so unless something happens to one or more of those guys ...

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: The only chance I see them of slipping up is if their rotation gets somehow decimated. They've gone through the entire season to date with only four token starts from anyone other than their main five and, while four & five (Roark & Ross) may be shaky at times, their big three are as good as anyone's so unless something happens to one or more of those guys ...

Strasburg hasn't had his regularly scheduled DL stint? He seems to have one every year.
Later

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: The only chance I see them of slipping up is if their rotation gets somehow decimated. They've gone through the entire season to date with only four token starts from anyone other than their main five and, while four & five (Roark & Ross) may be shaky at times, their big three are as good as anyone's so unless something happens to one or more of those guys ...

well yeah, but I feel like you always take the over on "how many pitchers will get hurt"

They're vulnerable in the sense that if YOU can pitch, you can hold them close and pounce on the bullpen. The Mets-Nats games two weeks ago turned very heavily on pitches, and defensive plays, not made. Sure, if the pitching holds up they'll be fine, but they're like one Max Scherzer shoulder twinge away from being the Mets. Since the start of 2013 no one has thrown more innings than Scherzer, and he's 50 ahead of Samardzija.

[HahnSolo]

The Nationals ongoing quest to blow as many late-inning leads as possible finds them bringing in a feller you're all familiar with:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19745212/francisco-rodriguez-agrees-deal-washington-nationals

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Yeah, he's been shit this year, with the HR rate and walk rate way up over last year. But more to the point, his swing-and-miss stuff has long since faded, to the point where he's a league-average guy-- and below-average reliever-- on that front now. His swing-and-hit-old-dudes-who-are-his-kids'-grandparents stuff, though, may still be pretty strong.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The thing with these guys are, you never know. Guys like Fernando Rodney or Jorge Julio or whomever can gas-can their way out of a city and be someone completely different in their next stop. Salas and Reed and two guys whom we couldn't have expected much of given their recent track records. This is why I'm in on the Jeanmar Gomez action, if there is Jeanmar Gomez Action.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Yabbut, Gomez has always pitched to contact, currently even more so. We... don't do so well with contact.

[nymr83]

Trea Turner stole 2nd and 3rd. then he stole 2nd and 3rd again. we're in the 4th inning. anyone know the record offhand?

[seawolf17]

Nymr83 wrote: Trea Turner stole 2nd and 3rd. then he stole 2nd and 3rd again. we're in the 4th inning. anyone know the record offhand?

Six in one game in the modern era, most recently by Carl Crawford in 2009, according to the internets.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Lee Mazzilli stole 7 bases in a single 7 inning game, as a minor Leaguer in Visalia. Stole 2nd 3 times, third base 4 times.

[Frayed Knot]

6-1 Nats after 5 (yes, it's taken them over 2 hours to get in 5 innings).
Another bad outing by Arrieta: 4 IP, 6 Runs (5 ER) on 6 Hits and 6 Walks

[bmfc1]

All those stolen bases: some trouble in Cubs paradise:
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19754861/cubs-c-miguel-montero-calls-jake-arrieta-nats-7-stolen-bases
[tweet:2nujg837]

[/tweet:2nujg837]
Life comes at you fast:
[tweet:2nujg837]

[/tweet:2nujg837]

[Frayed Knot]

Murphy fails to turn a game-ending DP ... then three straight hits follow and the Cubs take the lead with 3 in top 9 as the Nats blow a multi-run late game lead AGAIN!!

5-4 CHI, now in bottom 9

[bmfc1]

Darn shame:
[tweet:p02c4s1b]

[/tweet:p02c4s1b]

[Edgy MD]

Knock wood that Michael Conforto won't be joining him.

[Frayed Knot]

I was watching part of that game when Turner got HBP'd.
It didn't look as bad as Conforto's but, as I've said before, I don't understand how 90 mph pitches don't break bones Every. Single. Time., and mostly I think the fact that one pitch does while
another one doesn't is mostly just a matter of luck.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: I was watching part of that game when Turner got HBP'd. It didn't look as bad as Conforto's but, as I've said before, I don't understand how 90 mph pitches don't break bones Every. Single. Time., and mostly I think the fact that one pitch does while another one doesn't is mostly just a matter of luck.

yeah, it's probably just if it happens to hit between a bone or on a bone.

[Frayed Knot]

5th starter Joe Ross to have TJ surgery
Ross has a decent record this year but pretty bad peripherals so it's not like they have to replace a main cog here.
Jacob Turner (2) and AJ Cole (1) are the only starters other than the main five to have started games for the Nats this year.

[Frayed Knot]

As mentioned during the broadcast on Sunday, the Nats moved to shore up their bullpen by getting relievers Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson from Oakland in exchange
for relieverBlake Treinan plus two minor leaguers.

First of all: How many deals is that over the last five years or so between Washington and Oakland?!!? It's like Billy Beane's side job is filling whatever holes the Nats develop each year.

Doolittle, a lefty, was an All-Star when he was the Oakland closer in 2014 but has pitched only 73 innings over the 2-1/2 seasons since. He missed the month of May this year.
Madison you'll all remember from his days as the Phils' set-up man. But then he was out of baseball entirely from 2012-2014 only to return and pitch as well as ever beginning again in
2015 -- first with the Royals and then Oakland -- with ERAs around 2.50 and WHIPs near 1.00 while pitching 60-65 innings/season despite now being 36 y/o


Treinen was a guy the Nats were counting on to be good but he never got there and only got worse this season despite his vaunted "stuff".
The minor leaguers are the Washington 2nd and 3rd round picks from 2016, both HS picks who are still in the low minors.

[Edgy MD]

If this deal shores up the Nats bullpen but doesn't pan out for Oakland, it'll forever be known as The Doolittle Raid.

Besides that, I just thi ... nah, that's all I got.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm hopeful it will do little.

Madson, Werth and Blanton reuinted in Washington. Could Hamels be far behind?

[Guest d'Kong76]

Nats matinee today in Cincinnati, they put up a five spot in the first already.

[Frayed Knot]

They put up a five-spot in the 1st every game. OK maybe not quite that, but going back to the last game prior to the break they've had:
- a 3-0 lead in the 1st (vs ATL)
- 4-0 lead after 3 (vs CIN)
- 3-0 after 4 (then 10-0 by the 7th)
- 4-0 after 2
- and now 5-0 after 1

Why risk spending prospects on replacing the starting pitcher (Ross) they just lost? They could probably just toss the peanut vendor out there on the mound and still be able to get the 'W'



oe: today they started: 2B, 1B, HR (Harper), HR (Zimmerman), BB, 1B, Sac Fly
So it was 5-0 after just one out and Strasburg got an AB (he made the last out of the inning) and had the big lead before throwing his first pitch.

[Guest Herb Gardner]

The key is : lots of wins

[Frayed Knot]

Strasburg to the DL (his 9th time in 8 seasons) due to a "nerve impingement" in his right elbow but is expected to miss only the minimum amount of time.
I wonder what that's like, guys going on the DL and coming off at the earliest possible date?

They're expected to bring up their 1st round pick in 2014, Erick Fedde, from AA to take his place.



In the meantime they have Scherzer out there this afternoon vs Milwaukee but it could be just about anyone as it's 15-1 Nats at the end of 4!
The eight HRs might have something to do with that, including the back-to-back-to-back-to-back they hit in the 2nd (Goodwin, Difo, Harper, Zimmerman). Murphy then flew out before Rendon made it five HRs in six batters. Craig Counsell then decided that was the point when it was probably a good time to yank his starter (career reliever Michael Blazek). I mean, I don't want to say the guy was having a rough time of it but Scherzer himself got on base twice in the inning (walk + single).

HRs: Goodwin, Difo, Harper (2), Zimmerman (2), Rendon, Loboton. That's 22 for Zimmerman in 90 games. He once passed 26 for a whole season and that was back in 2009

[G-Fafif]

The rainout from early July will be day-nighted on Sunday, August 27, the latter an ESPN special. Alert the network stooge!