Nationals Baseball: Win, BUT AT WHAT COST

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

Win, BUT AT WHAT COST

The Nats offense busted out against Max Fried, et al last night. That was good to see. Especially the Soto homer. Anytime he can put something in the air and far you start to think maybe he's getting back to his normal. 

But the news of the Nats is not the win but the Strasburg injury.  Strasburg pitched only into the second, never seemed comfortable, and couldn't get the speed up on his pitches (Gameday has him topping out at 91.6).  They said he couldn't get loose - a tight trap muscle - was the cause but as we all remember it was just April when they said "Something wrong with Strasburg, what are you talking about? hahahha" and then he was gone for a month. 

It's very simple. If the Nats lose Stras for any long period of time they are not going anywhere. They were a rotation with potentially one extra 5th starter. With Stras out you have Max (ace!), Corbin (VERY shaky 2), Lester (4-5 masquerading as a 3), and Ross/Fedde (Sunsetting prospects who could be 3s or AAAA pitchers on a given night). That's not a rotation that can easily win anything.  It's a rotation that POSSIBLY could not drag you down - but the offense and bullpen would have to carry the team. The offense has shown no sign of being able to do this and the bullpen is getting worked heavily by the "Go 1-0 TODAY" mentality of Davey. 

Just yesterday I said Stras coming back as a star was essential. It is

3 comments:

Cautiously Pessimistic said...

Well season's pretty much done. On the bright side, I can now watch and just be happy when they win instead of angry when they lose

PotomacFan said...

Can someone please tell DM to use Zim in at least half of the games? Sure, Zim is better against lefties, but he can also hit righties better than Josh Bell. And Zim is a better fielder. And a better baserunner. And hits sacrifice flies. Simply put, Zim is a better baseball player than Josh Bell. So why is he sitting on the bench against every right handed starter?

And maybe put Voth in the starting rotation and move Joe Ross to the bullpen (or DH).

Colin Stuver said...

@PotomacFan - Because Josh Bell was "The Plan." You never deviate from "The Plan". Ever. Even when "The Plan" never works, you keep trying it over and over again. Everyone knows the definition of insanity is looking for alternatives when something doesn't work and expecting a different result. Besides, even if Zimmerman is better now, there isn't enough data out there to make a strong determination on Bell until after we're eliminated from the playoffs. Plenty of time for him to become amazing.

Yes. I wholeheartedly agree with you. "That's just baseball" - Matt Williams.