Is Irvin something? Is it ok that Corbin is nothing?

Two games, two solid performances, but two wildly different circumstances. 

Jake Irvin, a guy who you weren't even sure would see the majors in 2023 shut down the Giants over 6+ in his second start ever while Patrick Corbin, a guy you have been kind of forced to see over the past few years because of a giant contract, kept the Nats in the game despite some untimely errors. Doing well matters, but where you are coming from matters too. 

For Jake the question is now raised - is he any good? Is he a piece to the puzzle? A Roark type? 

There isn't much in the minors to suggest that. His H/9 HR/9 are fine at 8.2 and 0.9 but don't suggest he's unhittable or a homer stopper.  His BB/9 at 2.8 is a little high and when paired with a K/9 of 8.4 which is a little low you'd guess he's a guy that will survive in the minors but lacks the stuff to stick in the majors. The most compelling counter arguments are "He was actually good High A to start last year with all these numbers ticking in the right direction", to which the response would be "I hope he would be he was 25" and "actually those numbers would play in the majors", to which the response would be "Sure, but you don't usually hold steady in the majors, especially as a 26 year old non-heralded rookie" 

He was a decent K guy in college, and survived a Tommy John, so maybe he's working back to something, but at 26 there's only so much time before you lose what it was you were working back to. The short of it is that there was a reason Jake Irvin wasn't a prospect (20th in Nats system on MLB, 11th by Keith Law) and that most had him pegged for a conversion to the pen to see what that did. 

The good news for Jake though, on a team like the Nats he doesn't have to be a good pitcher to stay in the rotation, merely a good enough one. With no prospects banging on the door, each ok start buys Jake more time to figure things out at the major league level, something guys in the minors don't always get. Chances are slim he is in the rotation in 2025 or even the end of 2023 for that matter but it's not going to be circumstance that keeps him from it. He's gotten his chance. 

For Patrick the question isn't can he keep this up - maybe he can.  His last two years were really rough but up through 2020 he pitched well enough to think that a 4.00 ERA was certainly doable for him. He's making it work by keeping the ball in the zone and letting the chips fall where they may.  With the better team defense it's working out as one would think. It's enough to throw 5-6 innings and give up 3-4 runs. Maybe you shut down a team with no power and get rocked by a team who hits homers. There isn't a reason to think, given everything, he will be an ace but this? He could do this. 

Of course there's a difference between expectations and standards and that takes me to a quote from Mark Zuckerman - the only man in the business covering the Nats as long as I have (note : I am not in the business). He said 

"That's 4 quality starts in Patrick Corbin's last 5 outings. Far from dominant, but he's giving them a chance, which at this point is all the Nats can ask from him."

No. That's all you can EXPECT from Corbin but it's not all you can ask from him. He's getting paid as a star pitcher would (11th in SP salary this season). He's not hurt. He's not old. What you can ask for him is to pitch up to what you are paying him.  Maybe guessing he was an ace was a bad one, but the Nats should want him to pitch like a 1-2 type. That's a fair ask. This above? That's moving the bar for him because he stunk so badly. You don't get to do that. You don't get to be so bad that your team says "All we can ask of you is that you don't stink anymore". No. That's silly. 

Corbin should be better than this. The fact he isn't is a mark on him and hurts the team. The fact that he's been usable is better than being the worst SP in baseball but it doesn't make it ok. Simple as that.