The question now is - do they do something about it?
The Nats pen has been known to be bad. They currently have the second worst ERA in the majors at 5.05 and yes it was a little better before this series but it was still well ensconced in the bottom group of teams, ahead of the Twins. They've giving up the third most walks (172) and by FAR the most home runs (61). To be fair they've been asked to pitch way more than any other team. Their 392 innings is 10% more than the 3rd place Mets. That doesn't sound like much but trust me it is.
So it IS connected to the starting pitching. In order to save the arms of a perfectly average starting pitching staff they are throwing fewer innings. Which then go to a bad relief staff.
So one correction is right there in front of the Nats. Time to take the training wheels off and let the starters go 6+ innings if they can. But that still doesn't solve the problem that by the fancy stats they Nats have one good reliever (Alvarez) and two ok ones (Lord, Ribalta). Beyond that Beeter and Schultz are currently usable and the rest are trash. And the depth is worse. There is no real help expected to come from the minors.
It's unlikely the starters can be as good pitching longer but it's also known that the relievers aren't good pitching as much as they have. The Nats have let it go because they've won enough early to just accept it, but if they want to really win they need to fix the problem
Which then begs the question : do they really want to win in 2025?
My guess is no so while some relievers might be available out there, I don't think we'll see them here. These are your 2026 Nats. These are the results they will get. Buckle up.
Yeah, I agree there's a good chance that Toboni sees a silver lining in all this as far as it supports his (I believe, pre-existing) commitment to be sellers this season.
ReplyDeleteI just hope that he and the Lerners are also regretting his decision to cut payroll as low as they did. It really wouldn't have taken much for this team to be right in the thick of it come September.
That really is the infuriating part. You could have spent just a little bit of money and gotten a couple guys like Tyler Rogers or Sean Newcomb or Luke Weaver. Imagine the difference that could've had on this team. I get the offense is most definitely performing better than the FO could have expected, but come on did they really have to just sign castaways from other teams?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that the relief staff is worked as hard as it seems to be. The Rochester Express is mighty busy these days, constantly bringing fresh meat to the slaughter--to scramble a metaphor.
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