I'm on vacation again. Yes vacation, sick, vacation is not ideal for posting.
Have the Nats gotten good? Not really.
Have the Nats been bad? Not really
They've basically been the team we've thought they'd be since May 10 but as I say continuously - you don't have to give those games back! Trevor Williams' Cy Youngish start to the year is enshrined in history.
Garcia is holding up. Abrams is still going. Wood has seen his "I hit the ball really hard. Where are my hits?" luck turn around. Mackenzie Gore... well you can't have everything.
Is this it? Maybe. Every kid is hitting like .750-.800 OPS which is like fine but not pushing to move up. So maybe we see Crews and others later, maybe we see them next year.
Everybody basically happy? Seems like right now that's kind of where you should be. Satisfied, waiting to get happy or angry depending on what happens in the off-season.
14 comments:
Looks like James Wood did something not done since 1901: multiple XBH, multiple walks, and multiple stolen bases in one game while under age 22.
You have a reference for that?
It is what it is. Where it should be? After 2011, ownership aggressively pursued the idea of winning a World Series and gave Rizzo funds to put pieces around a homegrown core of Strasburg, Harper, Zimmerman, Zimmermann with Rendon about to be brought up. Rizzo made some good trades and picked key free agents that built the WS winners.
2024 Nats arguably can't match that core group. Wood and Abrams, maybe. Ownership is tired of the new toy and is now more concerned about making money than winning.
Let's see how this off-season turns out. Certainly the starting pitching lineup has not shown any signs of being what the Nats had when they signed Max. Gore is no Strasburg -- and none of the others match the strong pitching core that turned things around. So even one FA ace signing would not be enough...
@ND. There is a story (true, I think) about Branch Rickey when he ran the Pittsburgh Pirates (pre-Brooklyn). Ralph Kiner was their power-hitting superstar and had the most HR’s one year despite being on a last place team. He asked Rickey for a raise to which Rickey quipped, "Son, we could have finished last without you!"
If we had signed a big free agent (pitcher, position player) over the last few years ago....we would be sitting with a big contract, a crap shot as to whether they sustain their value over time, and we would still have finished last.
Over the last couple of years we have drafted and traded for a set of youngsters with the potential to be a really good team.....and we have invested in improved development programs. Hopefully, that has hastened their arrival, but it still takes time. And, there are surprises: Kieboom and Robles don't make it; Garcia is good, then bad, then good again; unexpected talent emerges in Irvin, Parker, and Herz, while our expected future pitching stars, Cavelli and Rutledge never seem to make it into actual games. And so it goes.
I can easily imagine Mike telling the Lerners: we are making good progress; save the money until we are certain 1/ where on the field we need help, and b/ on whom we should spend it. If he needs a cautionary tale to reinforce his view, he can point at the NY Mets and and they can all get a good laugh at Steven Cohen's hubris.
We are all impatient, but the right timing is what distinguishes good from bad investments.
I'm always amazed how many fans know the Lerners personally.
But even if that's what they told you the last time you hung out with them, I'll hold out hope that they change their minds and get interested in baseball again.
Is there some sort of record for worst 10th inning team of all time? I think the Nats have that one locked up.
Concur. Can’t believe they kept that stupid ghost runner rule.
SMS, thank you for calling out the many people who profess to know what the Lerner's think. As I explain in my comment below, there is baseball sense to what they are doing--good enough that they may be doing nothing more than what Rizzo is telling them to do. We can argue about whether it is the right strategy for a rebuild (maybe Rizzo doesn't know best) and we can express frustration and impatience that things aren't progressing faster. But there is no evidence (one way or the other) that the Lerners have lost interest or are unwilling to spend when it makes sense to do so.
Steven, the fact that the Lerners have lost interest and are unwilling to spend is clearly established by the fact that they aren't doing what I think is best while posting from my recliner!
Not sure about 10th inning, but the Padres last year were atrocious in 1 run games despite being a positive run differential team https://i.redd.it/r90wxl8pzmqb1.jpg
Why yes I do:
https://x.com/zach_pereles/status/1821009834759876905
John---thank you for the light-hearted reminder that we are all fans....which comes with the right to imagine anything (usually awful) about the owners, the general and other managers, the starting pitcher, the bat boy/girl, and definitely the umpires. It is part of the universal fan experience. How dare I apply logic!
Travis Sykora looks good. FredNats threw a combined no hitter today. 11 straight innings without giving up a hit for our 2023 third round pick. Way to go kid!
I continue to be worried about McKenzie Gore. 6 walks with only 2 Ks in 4 innings is not encouraging.
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