Nationals Baseball: New Year, New You, Same Nats

Tuesday, January 03, 2023

New Year, New You, Same Nats

 The Nats did nothing over the holidays.  Most teams did very little but the Nats did extra little, or at least they did very little of impact.They did

Avoided arbitration with Tanner Rainey - the pen was ok.  Rainey was an ok part of it.  He may even be good - though if he is he should show that for a full season soon. Good results and good stats. 

Claimed Jeter Downs - he was a big prospect in a kind of weak Boston system, basically the only one people really liked. If he could manage to rein in a swing that had a tendency to get kind of wild he should hit for power and average. But he didn't and failed spectacularly at trying to do so in fact. That's how he ended up here.  A not a SS SS he's definitely worth a look but also very likely nothing. It's dumpster diving in the dumpsters of fine establishments.

DFA's Reed Garrett to make room for Downs - who's Reed Garrett? An arm. 

Signed Michael Chavis - he's a middle infielder with some power who WILL NOT WALK and thus has to have more power to be worth player. But a former Red Sox first round draft pick <looks at Red Sox> Hmmmm maybe these aren't the guys to emulate.

Anyone want to talk about any of these guys? No? Didn't think so.

8 comments:

EdDC said...

I get that the Nats will be lousy for a pretty long while. They need top picks in the draft and need to lose some awful contracts that weigh heavily on the salary cap. Nonetheless, the Nats could still do the bare minimum to make the 2023 season almost interesting. For example, the Nats' outfield it's not only the worst in baseball, but by far the worst. I noticed that Wil Myers signed for one year with the Reds, for under 10 million a year. The Nats could do that much for their fans. Will could not start for a contender but would be a great upgrade here. Just sign a veteran who is miles better than the ones we have, without burdening the team long-term.

ocw5000 said...

Asked and answered! (They signed Dominic Smith and his -0.2 career fWAR)

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/once-productive-smith-is-worth-the-gamble-for-nats

Cautiously Pessimistic said...

i dunno, i don't want anymore crappy vets. let the kids play and flail as they show their AAAA status. lose 120 games. i don't care as long as the young guys get a chance to play and develop. lord knows they aren't developing in the minors, so at least give them major league facilities and coaches to work. and the lerners need to sell the damn team so we can start investing significantly in player development/analytics

Expos 1983 Blog said...

Dominic Smith is a hopeless acquisition

Anonymous said...

*shrugs* The pros at FG don’t see it that way. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/dominic-smith-secures-a-position-with-the-nationals/

Nattydread said...

Liking 2023 more than 2022 already. Sure, at least three of the new acquisitions are reclamation projects probably bound to fail. But D Smith has a hell of a lot more upside potential than did Cruz, as do the others. This time around we not faced with a group of tired washed up AAAA players who couldn't get contracts anywhere else. Instead, we have 3 or 4 solid young position players that may (or may not) have futures and 3 relatively young (failed) position players that once looked good and are now crap shoots.

Hey. We're gonna lose a lot of games. Given that there's no new investment from ownership, I'd rather see a scrappy young team of lovable losers than what we had last year in Feb. Maybe a one or two of these gambles pays off.

ocw5000 said...

Tired: Former-Phillie flotsam
Wired: Ex-Met jetsam

Expos 1983 Blog said...

Will any player on this team draw a walk next year?