The Nats brought up Dylan Crews today, back from injury and ready to get some more at bats. To clear a roster spot they didn't cut 32 year old signed for a single year Josh Bell, who is hitting average from the DH spot. They didn't cut 31year old, well he can field if he can literally do NOTHING else, signed for a single year Paul DeJong. They didn't cut 29 year old, never was catcher Riley Adams who doesn't do anything well. Instead they cut 29 year old Nathaniel Lowe, who before this year was a solid bat and solid glove and the combination in a weak generation of first basemen, put him as a Top 10 player at that spot.
Lowe has had a terrible year taking tremendous steps backward in every facet of the game. Worse he's been worse recently. It's easy to see why the Nats cut him...yet
At a decent contract for next year and with a long track record of decent play and an age that questions whether this is really a fall from playable to out of the game or just a very bad very long stretch, and we three better choice I'm not sure it was the right move.
You hear a lot of cheering from Nats fans though, taking this as a bold move showing they aren't going to hold on to bad players but again, Bell is a DH barely hitting average, DeJong should be retired, Adams should be AAA organizational depth. They have other bad players they aren't cutting. This can't be what this is really about.
It's not about bad players but about space. They need a place to rotate all these young bats and it won't be backing up the infield where DeJong is and it won't be at C where Adams it. It will be at 1B/DH and if you have to choose between Bell and Lowe... well I can see choosing Bell. He's a well-loved teammate and maybe you bring him back next year to fill a LH bat and well maybe you just like him better. And you really can't cut Adams with Ruiz hurt...
But it's also about space for next year I guess. Lowe would be at 1B and maybe they are already thinking about where to put everyone, or moving Wood over to DH/1B or something or trying Yohandy out there. So if that's the case, if we see a kid at 1B next year, ok then I get it. But if it's just Bell shifted over in 2025 or another cast-off then I don't.
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This is all so depressing.
Lowe doesn't have a decent contract for 2026; the Nats have the ability to retain his services by tendering him a contract. Which they weren't going to do, because his season doesn't justify the contact that he would have gotten through the arbitration process. He was making $10.3M this year, and even though he's having a terrible season offensively and defensively he would have gotten a raise through the arbitration process because that's how the system works. Even a small raise puts him in the $13-15M range. For a 30yo 1b who is hitting to the tune of an 86 wRC+ with a -5 DRS and a -4 OAA?
His track record will get him some offers. But they're going to be closer to Bell's 1/$6M than to his projected arb salary.
I mean, I get that the default assumption on any organizational decision is that the Nats f'd up. But this doesn't hit my concern meter at all. There's a lot of OTHER stuff that does, but DFA'ing Lowe isn't on that list.
This is pretty much what I was gonna say. Say Harper is right and Lowe is likely to be above replacement next year. They would still have to cut him at the end of the season and maybe rehire him a la Finnegan. Why not cut him now? This way, Bell can slide to 1B, and all the kid OFs could get playing time.
The guy hits a grand slam, and then gets cut. The business of baseball is brutal.
I have no reason to believe it beyond speculation, but I have to think Lowe's woes this season are a result of the Nats coaching staff. Everyone's talking about how Bell has found his groove again, but conveniently have forgetten why: he admitted himself that he went back to his old approach and abandoned the tweaks the team had been coaching him into. Time and again we get anecdotal evidence that this coaching staff is really really bad at their jobs. Cutting Davey was the first step, I can't wait for them to fully clean house
CP has this right. Garbage coaching staff. Especially Coles. How many guys from AAA come down to DC and just never find their footing or reach their potential. Take Brady House, for example. Where is the power from AAA? Same with Wood last year. Mashed in the minors and lost it when he got called up. I have to think CP’s example of Bell doing his own thing is reason for Wood’s success this year. Ignoring the idiot with a clipboard, thank god.
But as much as I want to pin the “offensive” hitting performance on Coles, some of this has to be on the players. Speaking of House… now I know a couple at bats is not a fair sample size, but some of his ABs are just awful. Like he can’t even read the spin. Goes back to the dugout dejected and clueless.
Makes me chuckle though think about Wilson Ramos getting lasik eye surgery and then all of the sudden he starts hitting better lol. Like, what dude? You’re telling me all this time you couldn’t SEE?!
I had thought that Bell's efforts to increase his power was something that he was working on prior to the Nats' signing him (he didn't officially sign with the Nats until January). In the WaPO article about his signing noted that Bell had "shifted his mindset in the offseason." Bell was quoted as saying “The slug is the most important thing.” Bell said. “That’s where WAR is. That’s what wins games. I feel like you get docked more for a double play than you get docked for strikeout. So that’s something that I have to keep in mind.” The article then noted that Bell's new hitting philosophy and offseason drills were tailored toward sacrificing strikeouts in favor of slugging. He wants the ball on the ground less to avoid double plays.
TL;DR: I don't think that you can fairly hang Bell's struggles on the Nats coaches. He developed a new approach, it didn't work, he abandoned. it.
Bell might make sense on the roster next year as a player-coach. It's a young team and everybody seems to respect Bell. The fans like him. He could serve as a lefthanded PH or occasional DH, and spell the 1B in doubleheaders: 150 AB or so. The young fifth outfielder who would otherwise occupy the spot should probably be getting daily work in AAA.
I posted on Reddit speculating whether the Nats picked up Lowe just as he was starting to decline, or if the coaching staff had given him bad advice and made him a worse hitter. There were absolutely responses expressing disbelief that coaching could have that much of an impact on a longtime professional ballplayer. I don't feel like arguing, but I am kind of hoping Lowe gets picked up by another team. If he quickly gets better, I think we'll have a better idea of the cause of his lousy year thus far.
didn't think they'd do something like this, but Lowe was awful this year, much rather get playing time for all their outfielders
And if the Nats non-tender him, there's no guarantee that (whether you think he'll bounce back or not) he'll sign with the Nats next year.
So if the Nats don't think paying him that arb salary next year is the right move, better to just cut him now. If they get lucky, someone else can pick him up and at least save the Nats a few bucks, and they can give some other youngster a look at DH or 1B.
Good decision. Lowe was gone no matter how you cut it.
Nats will need to trade from strength in the off-season. There is no time like the last two months of a lost season to showcase what they have in the shop. One or two of the outfielders could be valuable trade pieces.
One other thing to consider is that losing is contagious in the clubhouse. I have to think that Lowe was too thrilled to be traded to a lousy team like the Nats and his play suffered. A “rising tide lifts all boats” idea, if you will. His play suffered in a loser environment. Wouldn’t be surprised if he improves elsewhere.
Look at Andrew Vaughn since he’s moved to to MIL.
It’s possible that Lowe was worn down by losing. Of course, he had good seasons in 2021-2, seasons where the Rangers lost 102 and 94 games respectively - so maybe he’s just having a bad season. Or something else is going on in his life. But those possibilities have nothing to do with the Nats, and so will get no traction here.
And he’s quite likely to improve next season no matter which explanation(s) are correct. Because this is an extreme outlier season and regression to the mean would raise his performance even if his true talent level has slipped.
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.
Mitchell Parker is not a major league starter. However, Brad Lord appears to be a real find. Anyone know if he was highly regarded in the organization? I don't remember any chatter about him. And Cade Cavalli appears to be a major league pitcher if he can stay healthy. That would give us Gore, Lord, Cavalli and Irvin for next year. We'll need a free agent pitcher to round out the rotation. Parker and Herz can be the back-ups.
Josiah Gray should also be back next year. I know he’s had his issues but a lot of that might have been health related. I think we still need a front line free agent, but there will at least be some depth.
They will make a run at Pete Alonso in free agency next year.
It's hard to imagine a world where the Nats stack money higher than the Mets to sign him. Depending on how high they have to stack the money and for how long, there's a point at which I wouldn't even want them to outstack the Mets.
No, we don’t need Pete Alonso. We have our 2nd round pick from this year’s draft in Ethan Petry who hit a home run in Single A this week. Between him and Yo-yo Morales, first base is taken care of for the next decade plus. Petry’s ceiling comp is Pete Alonso anyways, so who needs the real thing when you can save a buck or two? His floor comp is Seth Beer, so we can just go sign the real Seth Beer out of indy ball for a nickel if Petry isn’t ready.
The plan is already in place. It is written. An entirely homegrown starting nine! Youth movement! Veteran leaders! Young core! The time is now… and tomorrow! At the same time!
\sarcasm
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