Not you guys but Nats news. Anyone care?
Zuckerman is doing his thing over at Substack asking a good question - who's going to be the closer. I'd bet on Clayton Beeter, who I like in part because it's unlikely the Dodgers (a great minor league operation) and Yankees (a minor league that readily develops decent relievers) are both wrong about the guy having solid skills. Cole Henry could also be the choice as a long time org favorite. But given that closer doesn't matter as much as using the best guys in the best spot maybe you let a Drew Smith have it and use Beeter and Henry when you need them? This is more a contract question for these guys than what's best for the team because whoever gets the role can get more money.
If that race doesn't get you going, the "excitement" in Spring turns to the kids. Watching Eli Willitis a legit prospect get his first major league camp swings in is a real thing to be interested in, but it'll be at least late 2027 before we see him, one would think. So we're relying on Riley Cornelio (think budget Brad Lord) to be the breakout Spring player? Yikes.
This is one spring where I'd actually be happy about getting excited about a random guy doing real well. Why not?
2 comments:
In decreasing order of importance and predictive power, the encouraging details that I've noticed are:
1. House's first HR (the one off Alacantra).
2. Decent enough 1B defense from Ortiz.
3. 20 year old Jorgelys Mota hitting a ball 115 MPH
4. New pitches and initial effectiveness from Parker and Rutledge.
5. Shuman and Sinclair up a couple of ticks. They are still very fringy prospects, of course, but velo jumps are one of the few things that are quickly real.
6. That outfield assist from Pinckney was gorgeous. I don't even care about what it means. Best play so far this season.
The problem, though, is that even if I can make myself believe in and get excited about these signs of possible improvement, it's still double edged. Because a big part of my reaction, in futures where the team overperforms and lots of the core players take real steps forward, is to be pissed that they traded Gore and didn't sign Murakami etc. It's a double bind - if we suck as expected, I'll be miserable, and if we don't suck, I'll be even more furious at the penny pinching. I'm certainly still rooting for good play and good results, but I know I won't be able to fully enjoy it.
I wish that the save and win would go away. They're worthless stats, and the save is especially distortive. IIRC, there was once a "game winning RBI" stat, which was eventually abandoned.
A better fireman stat would be awarded to a reliever who comes in with men on base. It would have to be weighted by the number of men on which base, the number of outs, and the runs allowed.
I'm following Ortiz. As SMS pointed out, he does not seem to be a defensive liability, and certainly has power. And "Abimelec" is a great name--meaning something like "father king."
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