Yes another perusal post because they didn't play! And they aren't interesting right now! Look Stras will be back on Friday and Garcia will get enough ABs that we can look at how he's doing and probably something else will happen. There's stuff coming. Join me on the Dondrei Hubbard bandwagon while it's still nice and empty for a nice story.
But there's reasons for all these. We peruse early because there isn't anything much to talk about. We peruse around Memorial Day because that's when we have enough data and games to really start saying things. We peruse around the ASB because the trade deadline and the pennant stretch comes after that. We peruse around Labor Day because the season is about to end and we can mostly put a cap on it. So peruse we will. Peruse we must.
AL East - the Yankees haven't slowed down (on a current 6-0, 10-2 stretch) with the best offense and by far the best pitching in the AL. Every SP move is best case and Judge is still MVP. But the Blue Jays, Rays, and Red Sox are all above average in both hitting and pitching with Toronto and Tampa being the 6th and 9th best teams in baseball by record. A slow start for Boston has them at 13 but they've been on a roll to get over .500. Even the Orioles... well they aren't a sneaky .500 team or anything but they aren't the worst.
Story into ASB - where will Boston's surge put itself in regards to Toronto and Tampa?
AL Central - Minnesota has held it's position while unlucky Cleveland and lucky Chicago battle (12-3 in their last 15 games decided by 2 runs or fewer) for second. Detroit has found a .500 ish rhythm but likely too late to surprise challenge for a playoff spot like some had though. KC is playing out the string.
Story into ASB - the White Sox were built for now. Are they going to be able to get into position and will they do anything once there?
AL West - Dusty quietly keeps winning. The Astros are the 4th best team in baseball and has a 27-9 stretch that somehow no one talked about. After looking like they might be good the Angels are collapsing, losers of 12 straight while the Rangers and Mariners trade off who might be ok at the moment (currently the Mariners). The A's just can't compete after the latest gutting.
Story into ASB - can the Angels hang on to relevance? Everyone wants to see Ohtani and Trout in the playoffs.
NL East - The Mets are still dominant. The Braves might finally be waking up after spending the season as the definition of middling. They are on a 5-0 run after going from Opening Day until last week without winning or losing three in a row. The Phillies fired Girardi to wake up the team in lieu of getting that ace pitcher and closer they've needed since 2018 and well they have won 4 in a row (and Bryce is putting together another MVP effort - while hurt). The Marlins pitching has not been good enough to counter what was going to be a weak offense.
Story into ASB - Do either the Braves or Phillies secure 2nd?
NL Central - While the Brewers sprinted out ahead, the Cardinals have two steps forward, one step back ed their way to the same spot. Both are solid but the Cardinals look a bit more complete. The Pirates have been the lucky team so sit in third but the Cubs (basically a .500 team) and the Reds (.500 since April) are better so expect it to even out and Pittsburgh to find it's way to the bottom with a long losing streak at some point.
Story into ASB - Brewers Cardinals battle like it's 1982. Who gets what to put them over the other.
NL West - Dodgers are the Yankees though they tend to go on long streaks and little slumps instead of spreading out losses. Best offense and pitching in National League. The Padres have used their arms to secure 2nd (remember Tatis hasn't played all year), while after looking like they might repeat 2021's magic the Giants have scuffled and fallen to third behind some less than magical pitching and luck. The D-backs and Rockies are both bad and can be ignored
Story into ASB - Probably will the Giants stay relevant in the West. They probably will for the Wild Card but they may not push if that's where they fall.
17 comments:
Well perused, Harper.
The Angels are the ones that make me sad. It's criminal that the best player of this generation has exactly one playoff appearance, and arguably the face of MLB right now is on the same team. MLB needs this team to be competitive, therefore they should retroactively punish all Astros players. Sorry Minnesota, that includes Correa. You too Gerrit Cole (no offense Harper).
Bye bye Maddon. Wouldn't have thought two managers would be fired this early.
Time for the Nats to get their Maddon!
...and release Adon
Honestly, Dusty never seems to get the credit he deserves for managing winning teams. Astros defense has been incredible and pitching is good. Oddly one of the best offenses over the past few years continues to scuffle and last year's AL batting champ may be done.
Off-topic, but hoping that Harper will address Joan Adon in a future post. This guy is not at present a major league pitcher. Why are the Nats trotting him out there every 5 days? If this guy has any talent, he needs more time at AAA or AA to develop it. Getting bombed in every game has got to be sole crushing to the kid.
Any reason why Paolo Espino can't take the 5th spot in the rotation? Sure, he's a placeholder, but at least he can get through 5 innings.
@PotomacFan
You certainly picked the right player.
Poor Joan Adon is leading the NL--yes, the entire league--in: Starts (12); Losses (10); Walks (35); and Wild Pitches (6).
It's a soul-stinging testament to what this organization has become.
Paolo Espino has the highest bWAR on the pitching staff (0.5). Adon and Corbin are -1.0 apiece.
Ton of promotions in milb last week, have to figure they're bulking up the roster for the trade deadlines to sweeting deals around Cru and Bell.
Seems like the pitching roster is lining up in 2023 to be:
- Stras
- Jojo
- Cade
- Cole if he can stay healthy (?)
- Can paolo be the second coming of Tanner Roark...?
- (throwing Cornin, Corbin in the pen)
Too bad Rutledge seems to be struggling, would've been a nice haul
Field I've got:
- Juan
- Garcia
- Ruiz
- Yadiel (?)
- Too early for House, but I assume they'll move him up fast
Feels like you could compete for the last playoff spot with either 1-2 good signings to put around Juan for bats or a marque pitcher signing. Kind of an all goes well approach tbh, but definitely doable.
Trouble is, no one can hit, especially for power, in the minors. Not A+, AA or AAA. AA Harrisburg still has an interesting pitcher (after Henry's promotion), named Alex Troop. Check him out, especially his K/BB ratio.
In low A Fredericksburg, House isn't even their best player. They have decent hitters in their lineup, with some power, but above all they have speed. They run like mad men, stealing everything but the umpire's wallet, with a great SB %.
In short, there are a number of intriguing players in the minors, but nothing to alter the perception that the big club is at least two years away from contending.
Interesting. My assumption is they’re actually trying to move someone like Troop with Bell for bats. Honestly I’m a little less worried about offense - we’ve never been a team that really thrived on mashing, I trust rizzo to pluck someone like Nimmo and aging Brandon Belt out and turn them into a borderline all stars. If we can pay up for someone like Musgrove, I think we go from a barren rotation to a competitor (assuming something very unsafe, which is Stras is healthy).
a 28-loss pace!
Interesting give and take between the two @Anonymous-es (@Anonymice?).
If you'll allow my nickel's worth (no pennies in Canada!) of observation, I think power is something the Nats have discounted too much in their recent drafting and trading. This is the season it's become graphically demonstrated.
The pitching stinks, of course, having allowed the 3rd most HRs (69) in the league. Only the Reds (75) and Cubs (72) have allowed more, and they both play in hitters' parks. On the other side of the HR spectrum, the Nats stink more: The Nats have hit 42 HRs, dead last in the league (over 30% of them by a scuffling Juan Soto).
I don't think that Nats can afford to be quite so cavalier about acquiring power if this current overhaul is to succeed.
Guess that always is weird when multiple anon's chyme in... but I never really wanted to link an account here so this is where I am. 1st and 3rd Anon.
If you're point SM is that we didn't plan for the universal DH, point taken. We have never, ever been good at building "solid" bats. Either our scouting or coaching at a junior level is actually just bad at it. In the last decade, it's Bryce, Rendon, Trea, Juan, Ramos, Desmond. Next best home grown is probably MAT. We are good at discount veterans though - Morse, Werth, Murphy, Span, Escobar, Howie, even laRoche and Kurt (and PARRA!!!) had their time. I'll count Eaton as talented veteran but we gave up a lot for him, so probably not fair to call him discount.
I fully expect we spend big on two players next off-season (new owner dependent) to get vets on board who want to win with at least one of them being a marquee bat. They've pretty much backed themselves into a corner to do so with Juan and we're already one of the lowest luxury tax big market teams, and will drop to a nominal level in projects in 2023. Assuming Angelos doesn't swoop in to extend the misery from Baltimore, I feel safe thinking the above.
Dream signings would be: Musgrove or Manaea, Belt, cheapest of the SS (Dansby overpay?), Nimmo or Kiermaier. Besidse pitching, I don't know if we'll pay for the top-top guys like Correa, but would be interesting.
Yes, the Nats have lacked power, but thankfully they now have Ehire Adrianza! What is the point of this guy?
play in hitters' parks. On the other side of the HR spectrum, the Nats stink more
i had been tring this info
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