Nationals Baseball: Tray Ternur Day!

Friday, June 03, 2016

Tray Ternur Day!

By now you know Trea Turner is going to be up with the team. Hooray! End of talking about when Trea Turner would be up with the team! Early indications have Zimm to Paternity Leave, Murphy to 1B and Trea to 2B. The other option would presumably be Clint at 1B, Trea at SS and Espinosa sitting, but given the Nats are facing a LHP I would give this about a 1% chance of actually happening tonight. Maybe another day though.

Is this good? Well it's a good decision. The Nats aren't losing much bringing him up now, and Trea seems ready for the majors, or probably more accurately phrased, ready to move on from AAA. His numbers for AAA stand at .310 / .376 / .472 with 22 BB and 43K in 50 games. You can parse the season so far several ways to make him look better or worse but given that in 48 games last year his AAA numbers were .314 / .353 /.431 with 13 and 41... things seems pretty stable. The questions would be about the walk rate and slugging, both up in 2016. It could be him getting better, but could it also just be a function of the short evaluation time? I can't really tell from the minor league numbers either way. Twist my arm and I'd bet these are a tiny bit high for 22/23 yo Trea in AAA but I don't feel strongly about that. For sure they'll dip in the majors though, so it's kind of moot to talk about these unless you feel they are crazy out of whack and I don't.

For those of you wondering when the service time counter kicked in and gave the Nats another year of Turner the answer is clearly "before today". So the Nats have another year of control. Unless Trea was going to stay down until 2017 they weren't going to get anymore from keeping him down except maybe save a year of arbitration. That's not nothing, but teams don't usually let that stop them from bringing up someone qualified at this point in the year.

While Turner's call up is all well and good, what I'm looking for is the Nats to really put some separation between them and the Mets before their next go around. The Mets have lost 4 of 5 and are at a decent Miami team while the Nats have won 4 in a row and travel to Cincinnati. Can the Nats get another game by the time these series are over? It'd be nice. Whatever Turner does, this is going to be how I judge the next couple weeks. If he's good that's a bonus. If he's bad that's a minor note.

OK let's keep it going 2 of 3 at the very least Nats. Make it happen.

33 comments:

Bryceroni said...

Beat the bad teams, play .500 ball against the good teams.

David said...

Once Zim's paternity leave is over, the Nats have 3 options, I guess. One is to just replace Drew with Turner on the bench. The second is to start Turner and replace Drew with Espi to the bench. The third is to send Turner back to Syracuse. I hope they already know which option they are going to take and aren't using the next few games to decide. That doesn't seem like a fair evaluation one way or the other.

What would you do?

Fries said...

I still think Rizzo is shopping Drew/Espy/Taylor. I would not be surprised at all if he ships one of them off to a team looking for bench depth. If nothing happens this weekend then Taylor goes down I have to think

Anonymous said...

My preference would be to leave the Murph at 1st, Trea Burner at 2nd, Espy at short, move ZN to left, bench washed-up old Werthless, and send MAT back down to Syracuse until the day when he learns how to hit an off speed pitch (which might well be never).

Dr Trea (formerly #werthquake) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dr Trea (formerly #werthquake) said...

Were officially past the point of it being beneficial arbitration years wise, or service time wise to keep him in the minors . So I can't complain much. I would've liked to have seen espi get a bit longer of a leash as the starter.. But I can live with this.

Harper said...

David - #2 If he's only going to be up for a few days you might as well keep him in Syracuse and not bounce him around. At the same time, you don't call him up not to play him.

John C. said...

It's unlikely, but not impossible, that the Nationals simply cut Drew. Rizzo has done it before during the season with marginal talents who got crowded out (Xavier Nady) even when the player was popular in the clubhouse (Rick Ankiel).

John C. said...

"You don't call him up not to play him."

I'm not sure that's true. Teams do that all the time. With MAT on the rocks and Zim unavailable the Nats need a RH bat, and Turner is the closest to ready RH bat in the system. He also offers value as SS depth, as a pinch runner and as a defensive replacement for Murphy at 2b even if they don't play him for these three days (i.e., use him as the 24th or 25th man on the roster).

Now, you don't want him sitting on the bench long term, you would prefer to have him playing regularly. But for three days? It's not going to affect his development to not play for three days. And if getting called up for three days and then going back to the minors scars his psyche, then he's not likely a major league player anyway.

To be clear, I would like to see him get a chance to start at least two of the three games this weekend. Heck, the Great American Smallpark is enough of a bandbox that he could even hit one out! But I don't think it is a tragic scarring experience or insult to Turner, the fans, or the sport of baseball if the Nats handle it their way and not my way.

Anonymous said...

@ Fries - I think Drew would be the one to be sent down/cut. Why would you send down Taylor and keep 4 middle infielders on your roster and only 4 outfielders?

Harper said...

JC - Ok "I don't call him up not to play him" Then again as you note their hand might have been forced if they wanted a RHB. OPSs of IF/OF RHBs who played in AAA this year .623, .608, .598, .493. Those are all basically unusable.

Donald said...

If the plan is for him to stay up and to start at SS replacing Danny, then I might be inclined to start him at SS right away. Move Danny to 2B and Murphy to 1b until Zim gets back.

Robot said...

Why not move our statue of Werth to 1B and, I don't know...Murphy? Danny? anyone, really...to left?

mike k said...

I agree it's weird to have him play 2B instead of Espinosa if their plan was to have him replace Espinosa in the lineup. So this suggests they are not going to do that.

ZN doesn't go to left - Werth doesn't sit, and ZN can't throw.

I suppose it makes sense to send Taylor down to the minors if Turner stays up, but who then backs up center? Are you starting Revere everyday, even against tough lefties? Also means Espinosa is your only pinch runner.

Drew and Robles for Trout, Rizzo make it happen!

Chas R said...

Sorry, but I just don't see the need to make any long term changes right now. Let TT play 2B and Murph 1B while Zim is on leave. After that send him back to continue playing and staying sharp. Nats have won 33 games 1/3 through, 1st place in NL East, offense showing signs of life, and approaching a softer point in their schedule. No need for any long term changes.

Fries said...

Screw Turner, bring back Lombo!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/06/03/steve-lombardozzis-journey-from-the-washington-nationals-to-crustacean-nation/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_sports

PhthePhillies said...

Turner should replace Murphy at second. When Zimm gets back the Nats'll have the best infield in baseball.
Turner's mom picks him up at 1030 and she doesn't like to be kept waiting. They can therefore use Murphy in games that run late or go into extra innings. This will likely change after Trea gets his drivers' license.

Froggy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Froggy said...

If Trea DOES well. (damn thumbs!)

Froggy said...

...I couldn't leave that typo ridden comment on the internets.

I'm glad Turner is up and deoending on how he does with Zim on leave I bet he stays up. (Yay, Great American Smallpark!) But I don't think he squeezes Espinosa at SS though. I do hope Baker bats him leadoff and drops Revere to 7 or 8 and moves Ramos to fourth.

Murphy has been primarily a 2b / 1b since 2008 and hasn't started in the OF since 2009 I believe. That shoots down the likelihood that he moves to LF with Werth to R and Harper to CF.

I do agree that Drew/MAT would likely be shopped if Trea does well.

Anonymous said...

I expect Trea will start tonight against a LHP, but will sit Sat/Sun against RHPs, with possible pinch running appearances, and will be back in Syracuse on Monday. Not what I would do, but what I think the team will do.

Ben said...

Not sure why people think Drew has any trade value whatsoever, even if the nats ate all his money I'm not sure that brings back anything more than a homeless man's Clint Robinson (Tyler Moore!). This then begs the question: what was Rizzo's plan in regards to the Drew signing anyway, was he just here in case turner sucked the first two months of the year? Because the scenario playing out now was by far the most likely to occur ... My theory? It was all about making Harper stop writing about how cheap the nats might be if Drew gets DFA'd and it becomes clear the nats plan was to pay 3 million dollars for a two month backup plan.

DezoPenguin said...

Well, the lineup for tonight is out, and it's Murphy to 1B, Turner at 2B. I'm surprised they're not doing Turner-SS, Espinosa-2B (given that SS is where they presumably intend to play Turner long-term and Danny's 2B defense in the past was undeniably incredible). I wonder if that's sending a signal that they're not going to immediately slot Turner in in place of Espi when Zim comes back (otherwise, you just give him the SS job permanently and let the new utility infielder be a utility infielder)?

Donald said...

I agree, Dezo, seems like a signal. They have him batting second, which is fine with me. I guess if the moved Revere down to 7th and pushed Danny to 2b, it would have just pissed off the entire clubhouse. With Lobaton in there, it's pretty easy to fit Turner near the top without displacing too much. I'm sure Werth doesn't mind moving to 5th.

Ben -- My guess is Drew was here just in case of injury, more than Turner not doing well. He was just insurance, and would probably be the first to go if Turner stays up, which I'm not sure he does. If he doesn't start tomorrow, then it's probably going to be pretty clear this is a short gig.

BxJaycobb said...

Well, that was a rough game for Mr. Espinosa's future. Danny hasn't reached base all 4 times in a 9 inning game since 2013. But by all means, keep him as the shortstop. Madness.

Froggy said...

Coffin...meet nails...three of them.

Anonymous said...

This Tray Termor fellow...i like the cut of his jib.

Anonymous said...

How sad is it that Turner WAS the offense against a crap Reds team. I love Turner's potential, but in his first big league action in 8 months, come on guys. Even if Finnegan is arguably the best SP for Cincy, COME ON GUYS.

And the ump was calling inside pitches to lefties all night, how did both Clint and Harper in big situations strike out looking on inside pitches??? You have to defend there...

Anonymous said...

The table setters on this team are just about the biggest joke I've ever seen. Harper must lead off innings and bat with nobody on base more than any 3 hole hitter in the league by a mile.

Bjd1207 said...

Aaaaaaannd Trea sent back down. What a f*cking joke

Froggy said...

The Trea part I can deal with as I'm sure he'll be back up soon. It's the glaring lack of any kind of production from Revere, MAT,and Espinosa that are the problems that need be addressed. One of you smart guys needs to do the math and tell us at what clip do they have to hit at for the next month to be up to replacement level average / OBP?

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