There will be a rundown of everyone at the end of the year so no particular reason to go over Nunez's power surge or Wood's power drop (before today) right now. Instead let's meet some newer guys since there are a lot of new faces around
Jorge Alfaro - in the "we gotta try something behind the plate" world that the Nats are in - here is Alfaro. If the name sounds familiar we was a big-time prospect about a decade ago for the Phillies, a key piece to the Rangers trade for Hamels in 205 and the Phillies trade for Realmuto in 2019. He had performed ok for Philadelphia with a powerful bat and one of the best behind the plate at gunning out runners. He looked like a long time catcher for someone given how bad that position can be.
But post trade Alfaro never really solved his biggest problem - inability to ID strikes - and his walk rate and K-rates were so poor they demanded a high .200s average, A real touch ask for a catcher who isn't going to leg out anything. Meanwhile the other aspects of his defense weren't as stellar as his arm and he has slowly become a back-up.
As far as back-ups go a guy that might swing into one and can keep runners honest is two more things than Ruiz is doing right now and one more than Adams. He wouldn't be the worst guy to keep around as a back-up but he can't be the starter for any teams that isn't tanking.
That's it at the plate
On the mound
Andrew Alvarez - Nats draftee who spent 4+ seasons proving himself to be a fringe major leaguer. When he's on he keeps the ball on the ground and the hits weak to counter the fact that he can be a little wild and doesn't miss bats. At 26 he's probably not going to suddenly become good. Instead he's in the Irvin/Parker range of maybe he can give you a decent year or two.
PJ Poulin - waiver claim several weeks ago. His stuff can be electric but as usual that also means he's wild. As far as it goes though that wild does not mean "can be prone to a long ball" so you can mostly take it. I'll never complain about a live-arm lefty for nothing.
Konnor Pilkington - a high draft pick for Chicago in 2018 there isn't much to recommend about him. His arm is ok but he's wild enough that even getting abnormally great results in 40 innings AAA for the Nats (5H/9 0.4HR/9) this year he still put up a 2.59 ERA. Granted this was in his first real full time commitment to relieving, something that's been toyed with him since 2022. They should keep trying that but it's hard to see it working out for the 27 year old.
Clayton Beeter - Dodgers high draft pick and Yankees reliever speaks pretty highly of the guy as the Dodgers draft well and the Yankees develop strong relievers. Maybe elite swing and miss stuff but can be ALL over the place. One of those guys if he ever "gets it" would be a top closer but you just don't know. Like PJ definitely worth throwing out there
Orlando Ribalta - In theory just an organizational arm who in 2024 had a year that made you think "wait do we have something here?" but 2021-2023, and 2025 all say "no not, really" Imagine he sticks around as a AAAA type.
Sauryn Lao - Waiver claim just after Labor Day. The Mariners were oddly stretching him out from a reliever to a starter before letting him go. He barely has a full season of stats on him for his entire three year career so I'm not sure what to make of him. But when two other major league teams have said "nah" you probably aren't finding something.
9 comments:
I am a bit heartened by the team moving Parker into a long relief role. I don't think he'll actually be good there, but it signals to me that they're giving up on him as a rotation piece and will be looking for new guys, hopefully through FA or trading someone in their crowded outfield.
Any thoughts on them bringing in Paul Toboni from the Red Sox to run the front office?
What type of approach will Paul Toboni bring to the Nats?
high draftees and farm arms...I've come to be a big believer in Harper's relief pitching fungibility comments.
Beeter is filthy, Poulin is solid, the others seem like they will be up and down for a year or two
Beeter is going to be another Treinen: shows all the stuff, can't quite figure it out here, gets shipped off as part of a package, and becomes a top-end closer. Putting that bet on polymarket now
Of course Treinen was acquired when the Nats dealt Mikey Morse, and then was dealt as part of the package that netted the Nats Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson. I’d say both were fine trades for the Nats. Since then he has moved firmly into the category of “former Nats who we only notice when they don’t well” camp. He’s been pretty brutal for the Dodgers this year.
Only notice when they do well. Curse the lack of an “edit” function.
Beeter and Poulin might be something, which makes me think, great, give 'em a try! It's not like there are actual good pitchers in the Nats' pen whose performance demands they get priority.
I'm cautiously optimistic about the Toboni hire. Young and presumably progressive, and has a history of good drafting and from an organization and position that's shown excellent results in player development, something that even the 2010s successful Nats teams had serious issues with. A rebuild can't succeed without a solid core of prospects developing into MLB regulars, especially on a budget.
A fitting end to an aggressively meaningless season, today. Let the offseason changes begin!!
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