Garbage.
The Nats "last stretch of winnable games" started as we kind of hoped it would, split vs Balt, 2 of 3 from Tex, 2of 3 from Pit. 5-3 run and a pretty decent feel that the Nats, while bad, weren't as terrible as they were showing. Then the wheels came off the they were swept by Miami. They've won one game since then putting them it the middle of a 1-10 streak.
Of course as I am always the devil's advocate (he pays well to keep me on retainer) I'll note this stretch includes 4 one-run losses, and 2 two-run losses. They should be more like 3-8 or 4-7.
I mean Davey should be fired. He won't be for the various reasons we've talked about (WS vibes, who cares who manages when they are bad, selling team means keeping people in place for new people to be fired) but... yeah. If Counsell doesn't think Hader is a two-inning pitcher, if Will Smith's fly ball travels 6 feet further, if the Cardinals...well if the Cardinals were a whole different team, if AJ Hinch and the bots that tell him what to do didn't beep-boop that they should pull Greinke or that they shouldn't use Gerrit Cole in relief, we'd have no Davey. But all those things did happen and Davey kept the spirits up and here the Nats are, a title and three terribly disappointing seasons later. How do you manage to win it all so fans can set the bar to be reasonable then go under the limbo bar like Ant-Man?
2020: Just make the playoffs again. No we'll be below average
2021: Just be watchable. No we'll be bad
2022: Just don't be the worst. No, we're the worst.
As a team in the last week the Nats have a .209 / .276 / .302 line. This is with Juan Soto hitting .500 with 2 homers. Guys hitting under a .530 OPS include Robles, Garcia, Bell, Thomas, Franco and Hernandez. That's 2/3rd of the lineup being TERRIBLE. Cruz and Ruiz are simply kind of bad. That makes the pitching 5.66 ERA in the past week seem almost decent. The main problem is only Gray is giving them good starts. The pen is up and down but when they have to enter games in the 5th already down 3 they need to be perfect. They are not close to that.
But at this rate they can definitely catch Oakland for the first pick!
In other news - Josh Bell didn't make the All-Star team. I wouldn't have said it was a longshot but it's always tough to make it not as a favorite or close-runner up. You have to be undeniably good, or very very good and in a position they don't fill with "lone representatives" CJ "Home Cooking" Cron got in from Colorado, so Bell gets pushed out. We'll see if someone begs out and he gets his deserved spot. But don't call it a snub please.
8 comments:
Of the many examples of bad play from this team this season it's the ground balls that kill me the most. And it's not like this is because "launch angle guru" Kevin Long left. They led the league in team GB% last year too! I don't get it. Of course the players want to hit more balls in the air but they just can't for whatever reason. It's to the point where if there's a man on 1st with 1 out the inning is almost certainly over because whoever is at the plate - be it Soto or Robles or any skill level in between - is gonna ground into a double play. And to make matters worse every time Nelson Cruz is the culprit it not only hurts them during the game but it lowers his already putrid trade value.
@Kirk. Checked to be sure. The Nats lead all 30 teams in ground-into-double-plays. In absolute numbers and in GiDP per game. By a wide margin. If there's a silver lining, its that you need to put people on base to GiDP. But this absolutely kills them.
The question now. How did the Nats manage to fall so quickly? How did they manage to completely deplete their minor league system?
And if depletion was necessary, how are the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Cardinals and others able to maintain good teams --- or at least not put absolute trash on the field?
Its not like they couldn't have picked up more entertaining players in this period of suckiness. This years model is an example of how not to sign one year rentals.
The Lerners got their trophy. They can now move on now to another billionaires hobby. We need an owner ready to invest. And, if they're not going to trade him NOW for the top several prospects of a contender, an owner willing to make a serious offer to Soto. Because his clock is ticking loudly.
ND - the minor leagues were good at times but were never deep. That was by design - Rizzo taking chances on players that could be "best in class" or bomb out. Basically this worked during the "luck into generational picks" era (along with Stras and Bryce Storen was useful if not for long - or well liked, Rendon worked) But it's harder to make work the lower your picks and so 2012-2018 they let two first-round picks go for signings, traded away two and the other four have all bombed for the most part. You might be more generous to Fedde.
The mid-tier which might have given them an ok player or two - that was decimated by trades. But to be honest it was probably a dozen out losing a couple Shelden Neuse types - there's a reason the Nats were ok dealing.
@Harper
I would also say that in retrospect, Giolito was a good pick, but the team didn't have quite enough patience to keep him around.
sidenote: I was at the O's-Angels game yesterday and who was on the mound to start? It was the one and only Austin Voth! He actually had a decent game, 5IP 2ER 6K (including striking out Ohtani twice and Trout once). Of course, I was there to see the Angels all-stars, so them having bad games was a bit of a letdown.
Giolito was a good pick, and it was also a good trade to get Adam Eaton for him. Eaton helped the Nats win the World Series, and would have been a multi-year starter but for the freak ankle injury that pretty much ended his career.
I was in Anaheim two weeks ago, and saw the Angels play the White Sox. Giolito started for the White Sox, and pitched okay. Reynaldo Lopez was the first pitcher out of the bullpen, and he was hit hard, and took the loss. Josh Harrison was the starting first baseman for the White Sox. Trout was 0 - 4 with 3 strikeouts.
FWIW: parking is $10 at Angels Stadium. The parking lot surrounds the stadium.
So it's finally come to this, a Simpsons-ish downward spiral of shame: the Nats duking it out with Oakland for the 1st pick in the 2023 draft.
Been a decade, the only thing that's stayed consistent is SM's pessimism.
FWIW, I think the "two generational talent" line is lazy. Bryce was on the cover of magazines at 16, Strasburg wasn't drafted out of high school and blossomed late (much higher risk). One was a generational talent, one was a slightly more sure bet than the guy drafted behind him who batted .400+ 3 years running and led his team CWS every year.
We talk a lot into lucking into generational talent, but Strasburg (2009)is closer to Cole - Bauer (2011) / Price (2007) than Harper (2010).
The MLB website says that the lottery is coming in 2023. Does that mean for the 2023 draft? Or does it mean after the 2023 season? Athleticsnation posted an article saying the lottery will be for next year's draft, and they're depressed that all their losing won't guarantee them the top pick.
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