Alex Call was the last domino to fall - over to the Dodgers for a couple arms. As noted before Call was actually turning out to be good but if there was one place the Nats didn't have space for a player like Call it was OF where they want to play Wood and Crews and cycle through whoever else they want to look at. Keeping a 4th OF is a luxury on a team like that.
Sean Paul Liñan was a solid looking arm for High A that the Dodgers pushed to AAA to see if they had something really special. They didn't - he got hammered. Basically he has one GREAT pitch but everything else is lacking right now. That's enough to dominate lower level hitters and get punished by better ones. But still a 20 year old with promise and a nice get.
Eriq Swan is Elijah Green the pitcher. He seems super athletic and can easily throw the ball up near 100 MPH. Can he control it? Nope. Is his pitch super unhittable for being that fast? Not to the level you'd want to see at his level. You are just kind of hoping things come together. That wouldn't be bad if he were 19 but he'll be 24 as the post-season closes and is not quite getting it done in High A. Here's to miracles, I guess.
Pretty good haul for not having anything to give away, and by that I mean you got two guys in Ronny Cruz and Sean Paul Liñan that have an outside chance to turn into good major leaguers and a guy in Christian Franklin with a decent chance to have more than a cup of coffee. Is the likely outcome nothing of import? Of course. But I'll take this.
More importantly I'll take not trading Gore. Now spend in this off-season
16 comments:
What?! No comments on an excellent post. I guess we've all been beaten down by a terrible Nationals team with no chance for improvement. Disappointing to see Gore, Irvin and Mitchell pitching so poorly. And Wood is in a terrible slump that started before the home run derby and has gotten worse since then. Without his bat, the Nats really have no chance to consistently score runs. And the bullpen is a total mess.
Brewers set a franchise record with 56 hits in a three game span... 56!? Good golly miss molly. Nats "pitching" staff is playing a different sport out there. Any volunteers for breaking that record next series? We'll play for free!
As of Monday, 8/4 (before the As) game, Abrams now now passed Wood in fWAR (3.0 to 2.9)
I think we are all a bit discouraged, by the lack of competitiveness, by so many unknowns from Manager to GM, by the collective holding our breath to see if the owners will spend this off season for quality signings...rebuilds suck
Rebuilds do suck. But I’ve wondering if we’re actually rebuilding or just collecting legos to put in a pile.
Yeah the internet rumor mill is definitely indicating the Lerners really just don't want to spend and are a bit hamstrung with their real estate holdings. The moves of the last few years were basically "get young controllable talent and cross fingers" which, sometimes, works out. But usually doesn't without spending elsewhere. Add in the sorry state of analytics/tech in the org and the only very recent willingness to spend on player development and we're looking at a franchise in a major media market that's pretending it's in Topeka or something
I understand that it is your thing to be contrary to the general fan attitude. When the fans are excited, you throw some cold water on them. When the fans are down, you are optimistic. However, your contention that this team could compete for a wild card next year is beyond even that. Which pitcher is the ace? Gore? You call a pitcher with a 3.80 ERA (and rising tonight) an ace? Anything can happen, but the Nats are as far from a playoff contender as any team other than the Rockies.
A's with 24 more hits last night. Good grief
The Nats have given up 80 hits in the last 4 games. According to today's WaPo article, that's the most hits given up in a 4 game span since 1932. So, at least the Nats are making history. Last night: 24 hits + 5 walks = 29 baserunners.
The post-deadline Nats have definitely gotten that feel of "are we sure we care any more?" To the fans, it feels like the next two months are just them playing out the string, so it's easy for us to read that attitude into the players. Gore's had a few bad games lately (the last one a definitively ugly one) which makes it feel worse. And it's all too easy to make rumors turn into assumptions.
This offseason is going to be one of decisions. Ownership's top priority needs to be getting the front office set ASAP. A new POBO/GM needs to be put in place as fast as possible, so that regardless of what limits they operate under they can act. As shown by the Brewers and Rays, you absolutely can have an intelligently-run, successful MLB franchise on a budget. If the new front office comes in, hires a good manager, and does serious work on renovating the player development focus and pipeline (if you're going to be cheap, it really helps if you can actually, y'know, focus on having your prospects succeed as players), then I'm going to have a lot more confidence. I can live with the Nats being the Brewers East. Not so much with them being the Pirates or Reds or White Sox, where cheapness and incompetence are combined.
This team really feels like the 1991 Expos right now. Hopefully, the stadium won't collapse and force them onto a two-month road trip, but they've definitely experienced some kind of psychic collapse.
Dylan Crews. Still on a “rehab assignment” in Rochester.
Service time manipulation?
calling him up for the phils. i doubt it's service time related, it's just that obliques are tricky injuries, and he also hasn't exactly pressed the issue while on rehab (his OPS in rochester last year was 30 points higher, and we were all disappointed in those numbers then too)
Amidst all the calls to let the kids play and see what they have at the MLB level, I do think that Nats should take their evaluation seriously if this would hurt or help a prospects development. I know our elite metrics guys here on the blog have all of those metrics tabulated, but do we think the Nats rushed Dylan Crews to the Show? Who else suffered? RHIII? House? I think Lile has been serviceable in his debut, but expectations weren't high for him in the forst place, like they were for RHIII and Brady House...
I'm catching this post late, but I don't think Adams was in the selection set at all. You need 3 catchers and, even if Ruiz were healthy, Adams isn't getting cut. (Which is also I expect Millas will be heading back to AAA when Ruiz gets back no matter how well he plays.)
You could make the case that it should have been DeJong or Bell just to allow Lowe the chance, however small, of playing his way back into a tendered contract for next season. But I think that was pretty unlikely, and Bell seems to be a guy who brings serious intangibles to a team and a clubhouse, so I would totally buy in on him either being kept for those reasons strategically or just being respected enough to not get cut if there's any other plausible option. And DeJong's versatility means he's doesn't limit lineup construction like Lowe and Bell. He's also been quite a bit better than Lowe, which has to count for something even in a lost season.
So I think it was a perfectly defendable choice. I am worried that there could be penny pinching elements to it (like the team hoping for the tiny chance that he'll be claimed or implications of the certainty that, even with improved play from here, they wouldn't be willing to pay him $12M for next season). But I'd be pretty reluctant to tender him a contract after what we've seen too, so I can't get that worried about all that.
I'll admit that I'm also a little rueful about losing Robert Garcia, but he's been more serviceable than great for the Rangers anyway.
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