The Nats brought in Drew Smith. He just went through his second Tommy John but says he's fully recovered. He's been a live-arm guy who has always outperformed his fancy stats. If one was to theorize it could be because his fastball is fantastic and when he needs to dial it up to get an out he can do it. But his other pitches aren't good and when all you can do to succeed is dial up the fastball well, that's how you get a guy with two Tommy Johns and under 200 IP over 6 seasons of pitching.
As a minor league deal it's fine and I guess the Nats have reached the time when they feel thy can pick up bargains. Will they make many more moves? I doubt it but expect a few more here and there. Maybe a veteran catcher. Maybe a DH. Another reliever. Not anyone that would excite you but gap fillers.
The signings aren't going to be the focus of the Spring though. Instead we should be focused on these questions
Will CJ Abrams be here on Opening Day? The Nats are in rebuild mode with an aim to have the #1 minor league organization in baseball. It seems pretty clear that trading Abrams, with limited control left, would be a way of getting there.
What is the plan at Catcher? Ruiz has the money but he's been literally unplayable in recent years. Do they start with Millas? Ford? Or is there a vet out there they will throw back behind the plate at first?
What's the DH/OF situation? Are the Nats having a set OF? If so who is in it? Do they go Lile/Wood and forgo D or do they give Young another shot. If the OF is not set then what's the rotation plan for DH?
What's up with the hurt arms? Josiah Gray should be pitching in the Spring and we'll get a sense there. Will we hear anything about Herz or Williams, who have been moved to the 60-Day DL? And how does this factor in the projection for the rotation?
Ok Spring is here. Well Spring is there in Florida. Let's get started.
And who’s in first
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ReplyDeleteI don't know - has there ever been a player like Abrams traded this time of year? I have to assume all the potential suitors have settled on and rostered their fallback plans and are perfectly willing to wait until the deadline to reassess their options. Maybe if a contender suffers a serious injury to a middle infielder, there'd be enough leverage for the Nats to get a deal they want, but that's the only scenario where I see a it happening.
ReplyDeleteAs for the catchers, I'm almost certain that the plan assuming health is Ruiz / Millas with Ford in AAA. And then in mid-May, after Ford's service year ticks over, they'll bring him up to replace Ruiz, if he's again terrible, or Millas, if Ruiz is playing OK. If Ford is good enough to be worth even a half win over those 6 weeks, he's good enough that the team will make sure they steal the 7th year.
I agree that the DH/OF situation is an open question, and one we'll be tracking. (Though if there aren't more signings, they pretty much have to doing a rotation with Wood/Lile covering most of DH, right? What else could they be planning?)
But really the main story of every spring training is simply injuries and the avoidance of injuries, and I think that is mostly what we'll be watching for, as grim as that sounds.
SMS - Well, there was that Mookie Betts trade in February. So I'd be happy to see CJ go, based on his previous versions of coping with adversity. I do believe he could significantly help our farm system in a trade. In the OF, my guess is they start with Wood/Crews/Lile and hope they don't run into each other.
ReplyDelete.....and Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees
FWIW, I don't think that the new regime is motivated at all by "an aim to have the #1 minor league organization in baseball." No one gives a monkey's about minor league rankings in and of themselves. Their stated goal is to be a "player development monster" to make the major league team better. If at some point that they are (likely briefly) ranked by some as the #1 system, that's not a bad thing. But it's not the goal.
ReplyDeleteWatching first spring training game and decided the way to keep excited and interested is to view this as an expansion team. Everybody is young and new, expectations are low, there are no established stars/just potential. There is no history to live up to ....and, oh yes, we get screwed a bit in the expansion draft.
ReplyDelete3-0 in exhibition games. Wooo-eeeee! Please make your annual post about how meaningless this is.
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