NL East - Where it stands

This is going to be a weird year. In part because COVID is going to impact at least the first half BUT also because we don't have a great idea on the quality of the teams, last year was only 60 games AND also because we don't know what the decreased (or completly missed) seasons will do for players.  Will they be rusty? Will they be rested? Will the old guys be too old to get back into the swing? Will the young guys feel the effect of missing necessary playing time? 

But we do what we can and what we can do it step back and look at the teams in the NL East, how they were the last two years and what they've done leading up to this year

Atlanta

2019: 97-65, 2020 : 35-25

Lost : Hamels, Melancon, Markakis, Ozuna, Greene, Flowers, Duvall, O'Day, Foltynewicz

Re-Signed : Tomlin

Signed : Smyly, Morton 

The Braves had a stupid deep pen last year so even though they lost three very good arms they still are probably ok there. The worst you can say is they introduced some chance of failure that wasn't there before. The rotation should be stronger (Hamels was just a one start rental, Folty a hit or miss 3-4-5 guy). Is the offense going to be an issue? Maybe. Ozuna was a beast last year and while Flowers wasn't great, he had a decent 2019 and you didn't feel too bad with him sneaking a game in there in relief for d'Arnaud. These losses could be made up by young guys stepping up : Riley, Albies, Pache but that's no guarantee. 

Better, Worse or Push : I'll say push, and I like worse more than better. 

 

Washington

2019: 93-69, 2020 : 26-34

Lost : MAT, As Cab, Doolittle, Eaton, Kendrick, Suzuki, Sanchez, Thames

Re-Signed :  Zimmerman

Signed/Traded for : Bell, Schwarber, Wellington Castillo, Lester, Hand

The prevailing thought is that Nats rotation gets a little better with Lester eating up innings and their relief group gets a lot better with Hand replacing Doolittle (sorry Doo - you weren't bad but he's very very good). I'm not sure I agree or at least there's still a lot of variability here - Stras' injury being number one, but also Max and Corbin's steps back and relying on Finnegan and Rainey who looked pretty good but also don't have a long record and aren't young guns (29 and 28 next year respectively) so they aren't likely to blossom into something special. That's a long sentence to say the pen has some of it's usual "who knows" and now that's spread to the rotation, which is not good.

The offense however should be better than last year, where 1B and the OF other than Soto were dead zones. Bell and Schwarber are guaranteed to be better, maybe good, maybe not good but definitely better. If Kieboom and Garcia aren't terrible and if Trea is 80% of what he was last year which is a good bet... well that's not a great seven man offense but guess what? Juan Soto is GREAT and can carry that to a Top 5 offense*

Better, Worse or Push : Hmmm ok I think it's better but in part that's because I think last year broke much worse for the Nats than it should have. Can they be a 90+ win team again is what people want to know and the answer is yes BUT I don't think they are better than 2019 because there's just too many question marks in that rotation. Could be? Yes. Should be? Probably one of the Top 3 is going to disappoint a little and stop that from happening

Mets

2019: 86-76, 2020 : 26-34

Lost : Strickland, Cespedes, Chrinos, Frazier, Lowrie, Porcello, Ramos, Stroman, Wacha, Justin Wilson, Cano (suspend), Shreve

Re-Signed : Stroman

Signed/Traded :Aroldys Vizcaino, James McCann, Lindor, Carrasco, Trevor May, 

The Mets are better on paper, but they always are. Then something happens. Injuries, crashes, whatever. They are better because Carrasco fills the Porcello hole (crash), Stroman the Wacha role (crash). McCann picks up from Ramos and should be no worse. Lindor immediately makes the infield better and fills a lineup hole. If Guillorme can be just average, and he was surprisingly good last year, it's a lineup with no holes. The pen is a mess but it was a mess last year. May helps but Lugo and Betances need to get their heads on straight like Diaz did for the Mets to be complete

Better, Worse or Push : sigh... better but that's somehow not going to matter. If it does - they still sit at 3rd best in the East a half step behind the Nats.

 

Phillies

2019: 81-81, 2020 : 28-32

Lost : Arrieta, Gregorius, Bruce, Tommy Hunter, Adam Morgan, Blake Parker, David Phelps, David Robertson

Re-Signed :  Realmuto

Signed/Traded : Jose Alvarado, Coonrod, Bradley

The Phillies remade their pen which given last year is understandable. Not all the guys they let go were bad but most were and the three arms they brought in and the general back and forthness of pens should help that area improve. But the pitching staff and line-up are both spinning wheels. For the line-up that's not too bad. They'll miss Didi, but Kingery shouldn't be mind-numbingly bad again and JT, Bryce, Rhys, Segura and McCutchen is a core that can put up some runs, especially if Bohm can hit again (or if he can't if Kingery or Haseley hit). But for the rotation.. the Top 3 aren't bad but Howard is a question mark and the 5 spot is a prayer.

Better, Worse or Push : Talent wise it's a push. This is still a .500ish team, more leaning toward 82/83 wins than 79/80. This is a team that needs another big move to compete in a hard division, not some tinkering. Another starter or big bat would be that (preferably the starter). It's kind of like the whole season hinges on Spencer Howard emerging as a ROY candidate in the 4th spot. That's a bit much to say but just a bit.

 

Marlins

2019: 57-105, 2020 : 31-29

Lost :Villar, Cervelli, Joyce,  Boxberger, Vincent, Kintzler, Urena

Re-Signed : 

Signed : Detwiler, Sandy Leon

This is pretty easy. The Marlins let a lot of chaff go, veteran guys in there to eat up innings and at bats if necessary but also some useful relief pieces. They didn't do much of anything to replace them.  When your pick-up are guys not good enough for the Nats to keep 8 seasons ago, the talent on the team is not getting better through moves

Better, Worse or Push : They should be worse than last year in my opinion. They got lucky in performances Rojas isn't going to put up that line again. Neither probably is Berti. The offense will be terrible. They got lucky in how the wins broke.  How not bad they may be is up to the young starting pitching. This is a team way closer to 57-105 than 31-29. Don't worry about the Marlins.

 

 

*Don't think so? Look at 2015.  Bryce dragged that squad to #3. What an awful lineup. 

Yes yes yes

 Lester and now Hand.  Very quickly in lieu of the larger posts

Lester - meh.  1 year, 5 mill basically tells you what it is. He's here to fill in the 4-5 spot with innings and not terrible pitching. The former is very likely. they guy is a horse who hasn't missed time... well ever. You want 170+ innings you'll probably not have a better bet from someone who turned 37 a few weeks ago.the latter is less so. The guys stuff is on an inexorable slide last year striking out the fewest men of his career (6.2 per 9 last year) and by far the fewest since he was a pup of 24 (6.5 per 9).  Granted 2019 was more normal so who's to say? Still if you are worried he's improved his control to counter this decline. His numbers in the past couple years better than the couple before that, BUT he's getting hit like crazy Worst and 4th worst H/9 of his career and giving up homers too (worst and 2nd worst).  

The take away is the guy is getting worse. Far more hittable.  Even if he can K more and keep his walks down it's not like he's elite in either case. When you aren't doing those two great you need to keep the hits and homers in check and he's doing the opposite of that. Best case is he struggles along with a 4.50 ERA and does the job.  Worst case is he flames out and doesn't help the Nats at all. I can't see anything much better, sorry

 

Hand on the other... hand is great!  He's not old. He's been very good to fantastic for 5 seasons. Healthy too! Last years numbers were probably an aberration BABIP low, BB/9 way low for his career, LOB% low. But even if they all regress to his normal he's still going to be very good. This is a no downside move.  With Harris, who was good last year and historically is very good in recent years. The Nats should have a very good back end of the pen.  After that they only need one of the other guys to hit to have a real formidable back end and if two do - that's a deep pen.  

Hudson probably isn't as bad as last year's gopher ball pitcher but he's probably merely ok. 2019 is a fluke year. Tanner Rainey definitely has swing and miss stuff but a .129 BABIP last year is not going to be repeated. The question is how real the decrease in his walk rate is. If so I'd bet on him.  Finnegan I'm probably rank last just because he's a guy that relies on keeping the ball in the pack and little else. Decent Ks, bad walks, normal hits... yeah if he gives up just a couple more homers he's a guy that could see his ERA jump easy. But again - only one has to hit here. Or someone out of the blue! An Albers like FA signing. Some random rookie. Whatever. 

One thing to note here - even though these guys are new to the Nats they aren't young. Rainey is 28, Finnegan 29, Suero around that. So they've got a couple years left but not like a half-decade plus

Schwarber

Just 4+ years after he was one of the hottest commodities in baseball, the Nats land Kyle Schwarber.  The contract itself isn't too important (7 million in 2021, 3 million in 2022 + a mutual option in 2022 for 11 million) as what it means. This is it. This is the decision for the OF next year.  No Springer. No Brantley. No Ozuna.  It's Schwarber. 

So what is Schwarber? He's a "three true outcome"ish player, who homers, strikes out and walks. His HR/FB is insanely consistent, not quite elite but close. His walk rate is a bit better but still not tops. What is? Well, his strikeout rate can get to "worst" levels. But still as a combo you'll take it if he's knocking enough balls over the fence and having enough other hits here and there.

That was the case in 2018 and 2019 but not the case in 2020.  What happened? Well as always with the "COVID year" caveat, he hit a bunch of balls into the ground and pulled them. There was also a little more chasing.  All these could be connected in either direction. He's not getting the hits he wants, gets frustrated and starts swinging at more pitches or he starts swinging at more pitches and his bad contact leads to bad hits.  Either way - that's what's needs to be fixed because a repeat of 2020, where he hit .188, would be disastrous, regardless of how many of those are going over the fence and how many walks he's taking. 

I kind of downplay 2020 in a way that I wouldn't normally do with recent years - especially if there are no trends leading into it (which there are none that I see here), so I'm fairly confident that he can get back to 2019 levels, at least for a year. 

Of course there's the other thing baseball players do - field, and Kyle is... ok look, he's not good. You can squint and cut his fielding data and manage to make him seem ok, but size, age, total history, recent history, eyeball test; he fails all those. He came in and was god awful, he tried really hard and got to average but time catches up to everyone and when you are roly poly it catches up with you a little earlier a lot of the time. I am very pessimistic he'll be any good in the field, playing in his first new stadium, with a CF that has to also help out on the other side*

What do I see in 2021? I see a bad fielder that's going to drive us, and especially Victor LF2/CF/RF2 Robles, crazy. This makes making sure he corrects his batting this year incredibly crucial. 

Anything else?

• Is he a righty crusher?  Ehhhh, nah. He hits them better but he also sees them more. It's probably more honest to say he shouldn't see lefties. But it's probably MOST honest to say - look he's going to hit lefties worse but he'll still walk and hit homers so just keep sending him out because that's why you have him in the line-up. 
• Last year he didn't hit FBs as well and he always could hit FBs so that's not a great sign.
• He generally hits better in Wrigley but last year that didn't hold, so that's a good sign. Though H/A splits usually aren't super indicative unless the home park is wacky like Coors
• For whatever reason Schwarber has had the fewest ABs in Nats Park than any other NL park that's been still open. Just 20. Hell he's had more PAs in Cleveland than Washington (he's been fine in DC but with 20 PAs- who knows)

I think the Nats got a bad fielder that will give the team fits. However, I think there's still a decent hitter in there. I think it will come out next year.  If he's GOOD at the plate - for one season it'll be fine and it'll be fun to watch him launch some bombs. If he's not good - even if he's ok - it probably won't be enough. He probably won't be as good as Ozuna, or Springer, or Brantley so if you are the type to dwell over that stuff (even though all of them will get multi year more expensive deals)...prepare now. 

Oh - another thing though is what is Kyle replacing? The Nats were terrible in the 3rd OF position last year. I have to believe unless it blows up Schwarber will make it better. Probably not good, but maybe average (which it was in 2019). 

The bar is kind of low for "better"  Schwarber makes the Nats better. He doesn't make them good (and neither does Bell) but they set up a situation where they could be... if the aces comes through.

*remember Juan Soto is not a good fielder. Despite how badly you want to believe it. He is good enough now to stick out there, but not good. Moving from LF to RF will be another issue

Josh Bell - Middle of the Order Bat?

Welcome back from my Holiday break. Yes all December is a holiday.  How does one expect to watch Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies if I'm bothering typing out posts?

The positional review will continue but first the Nats made a big move. Well maybe not a big move but a move that will be important for the 2021 season.  The Nats traded for Josh Bell to play first base.

The Nats have not had a great first base situation in a long while working around the perennially injured and rapidly petrifying Ryan Zimmerman.  Last year they had the possibly the worst situation in baseball with Zimm out, Eric Thames playing his way out of the league, and As Cab out of position having an off year. This year offered little hope of improvement from what was on the roster currently, especially after Kendrick decided to retire. Maybe you can work around a subpar 1B situation when you have an All-Star 3B but with Rendon now on the West Coast letting 1B stay fallow seemed like a luxury that the team could no longer afford.

Josh Bell is an interesting pick-up. Going though the general thoughts about him, the first thing is that he's cheap. He's still under team control for the next couple of years meaning a couple of team friendly contracts await in 2021 and 2022. That gives the Nats flexibility if they want to make a big money move. He's neither old nor young, He'll be 28 going on 29 next season. That's past the time you expect to find something new about a player but before the time you expect significant drop off. So most likely he is who he is. 

What exactly is that? 

Well if you look at 2016-2018 he's a guy who hits ok, has a good eye and doesn't strike out too much, but could use a little more pop. He doesn't offer much in the way of speed or defense. Overall, not a liability but not much of a help either. At another position this would be a plus, but he's a stop gap first baseman to cover the position for a couple years until you come up with a better plan. 

If you look at 2019 - he's got that pop and he's a good addition to the team. 

If you look at 2020 -  he's lost a lot of his eye at the plate, leaving him with far fewer walks, far more strikeouts, and not the guy you want to have at first. 

Which is the most real?  You hate to judge anything based on last years weird season, but the past two years have been a wild ride. In 2019 he suddenly started hitting everything in the air, very hard, and getting around on the ball. In 2020 the angle was suddenly reversed and he was pounding everything into the ground. It was still kind of hard and he was kind of getting around on it but the extreme change was enough to kill his offense completely. 

When you see such a change you look first to see if the pitches he's seen has changed. They have! He's gotten a few more off-speed pitches and a few fewer fastballs but that doesn't look to simply be it because the FB% dropped and off-speed% went up in 2019 when he hit much better. But that begs the question - maybe 2019 was split? A fast start followed by an adjustment by the league? 

And yep that's what you see.

First 61 games : .338 / .398 / .692

Last  games : .229 / .344 / .471

Certainly seems like the league either figured something out or something went wrong here, and whatever they figured out or went wrong continued into 2020.  

We could take this further and look at monthly pitch  percentages to be more sure that the pitches changed and yep they did, steadily fewer fastballs and more junk. But we see something similar in 2020, the league starting back up with a lot more hard stuff*

To put the nail in the coffin here we'd see a faster start for Josh in 2020 and we DON'T see that - but July was only 7 games so we kind of have to throw that out. What's more interesting is despite the decrease in fastballs and increase in breaking stuff September October was better than August. Of course those final stats were a lot more like his 2016-2018 stats, than anything else. The Ks were back down, the walks back up.

If you want to tell yourself a narrative, Josh Bell was what I described - a usable but unimpressive stop gap first baseman with not enough going for him to get that big contract when getting to FA. He tried to adjust his batting to create more power and more value and it worked great, but the league quickly figured him out making things worse than before. Before the season after the change was through Josh had resigned to hitting as he had before.

What this means for the Nats is someone not likely to be the big bat or much or a protector for Juan Soto behind him in the lineup.  However, if the Nats employ him AHEAD of Soto they might see something. They could try pitching to Bell giving him pitches to hit and he might be able to get back some of the 2019 power increase, or maybe they pitch around him and he can work a walk getting on base for Soto. This is a move that can make the Nats better than last year with some proper thought (and some luck of course). However it's not a guarantee of a better offense and in a division that's been tough and looks to stay that way the Nats need more. 

 What did the Nats give up? Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean.  Eddy is a lottery ticket. A 19 year old who keeps the ball in the park with a solid 2019 but lacking swing and miss stuff.  Wil Crowe is the key piece but that's sad because all Wil Crowe likely is is a 5th starter if the Pirates are lucky.  He's a guy with four pitches but no killer pitch. He likes his slider and his fastball has some speed but he doesn't do anything particularly well (control, Ks, GB rate) so he will put people on base and some of them will score. The hope the Pirates have is he develops that one great pitch allowing him to use everything else as a set up for that but it's getting close to the end of the time where that might happen. The Nats didn't lose anything they need here.

*Why do they do this? Throwing fastballs is easier. We've talked about this before but you try to beat players with the easiest stuff for you to throw. Can they hit major league fastballs in the zone? If they can't you've expended no effort and gotten the outcome you wanted. Most players can so you move on to different pitches and moving the ball around. 

Offseason Position Discussion : Shortstop

 Last Year's Discussion

Trea Turner is the Nats shortstop until he gets hurt, traded, or leaves in free agency.  He's good. He's cheap. After a perfectly decent 2019 there were no questions other than could he stay healthy as he missed another 40 games in 2019 keeping 2018 as his only full season. 

In 2020 Turner was healthy the whole way and had his best season ever.  Some of that is a high BABIP but it's certainly not too high. Walk rate is good. K-rate is down. Most importantly he showed a lot more power than he had in the past.  There was a little glimpse of that last year as he went from 27 2B, 6 3B and 19 HR in 162 games in 2018 to 37 2B, 5 3B, and 19 HR in 122 games.  He kept improving hitting 15 2B, 4 3B, and 12 HR in last years limited season which would translate to like 40 doubles, 10 triples, and 31 homers in a full season.  31! That's big boy numbers!

Trea's defense was about how it always has been. So the loss of Rendon didn't particularly do anything.

Presumed Plan : Turner starts at SS.  His back-up is any number of guys but Kieboom is probably most likely unless they sign a FA.

Reasoning on Presumed Plan : Turner last year was one of the best offensive shortstops in baseball.  Even if that's a fluke of the short season he's been improving and you'd expect him to be at least better than average. And really you are hoping it's not a fluke because Soto could really use another star bat in the line-up to help him out. Seeing that power go up while the peripherals go down is very encouraging. It means it's not an swing for the fences approach that's giving him his power.

His defense has been passable for the Nats and the fans think he's pretty good. 

Money wise he's still underpaid

Good, cheap, and can play the spot? This is an easy call. 

Problems with Presumed Plan : Nats fans have always overrated Trea's defense. From the early years when he was good and fans believed he was great, to now where he's not good and fans believe he is. He's aging out of the role. 

Hitting wise we might get be getting a little ahead of ourselves if we're thinking Trea's a star.  He could be - the trends are good, he's shown flashes before - but it could also be that fluke and he could merely be a decent bat. That's a problem not for him starting but for building around him in a cornerstone of the line-up sort of way. 

He does get injured pretty frequently with only ~1.5 (counting 2020) full seasons. 

My take :  There's no surprise here. You start Trea, but you don't quite plan around him being anything beyond a good player who can hold down SS for 140 games.  You hope he's great at the plate and good in the field. Worst case he's good at the plate and below average in the field. Likely he's somewhere inbetween but even if he hits the worst case, it's not enough to make him not worth his money or not a good player.  

Back-up doesn't particularly matter because since Trea is good he's going to play as much as possible. Yes, we do have to worry about injury but for the most part he's been healthy enough across the past three years so I don't think you have to take that into account. If he misses a month - oh well.  If he misses more - that's not a surprise but it's also one of those things that you just have to accept. Like Max going down at anytime given his age.  You can't bring in a full-time good SS to sit behind Trea.  Better is making that re-sign of AsCab and then if things happen to Trea and other guys hold their ground he fills in there. 

This is not a problem position. 

Offseason Position Discussion : Second Base

 Last Year's Discussion

My thinking was Kieboom was going to get his play - and probably at 2nd - with a solid back-up while Asdrubal manned 3rd.  But they signed probably the best "back-up" in Castro and flipped the script putting Castro as a full-time starter and Kieboom splitting time with AsCab.  Part of this might have been the Nats excitement over Luis Garcia. 

That excitement got to be tested early as Castro would go down in mid August. September was a glimpse of the future with Kieboom and Garcia both in the lineup.  How'd it go? Ehhhh...

Luis Garcia was not good. But that's ok! Luis Garcia wasn't terrible for a barely 20 year old having his first cup of coffee. In terms of getting base hits he was pretty decent. It's just everything else that failed him showing limited power and little patience. But he didn't strike out too much so the expectation is that he'll grow into the role. All last year showed is he's not Juan Soto (which did disappoint some hoping he was going to be like a 90% Soto) 

Kieboom on the other hand WAS terrible even considering he was barely 23. You lose a lot of leeway in those three years and hasn't shown anything at the major league level.  Ok that isn't true. Last year Kieboom was proficient at taking walks and got himself an OBP that was ok. But nothing else worked - he didn't hit, when he did hit it went nowhere (1 XBH), strike outs were better but still too high, and his fielding wasn't stellar though he was learning a new position.  It was so bad the Nats did "send him down" to get his head on straight. He was brought back (bye bye Difo!) and played until a bruised hand benched him for the last week.  Maaaaybe he was marginally better.

Presumed Plan: Luis Garcia keeps playing second.  Castro shifts to play a mix of first and third depending on who they sign and how they feel about Kieboom.

Reasoning on Presumed Plan: Garcia was better than Kieboom and while not good, he was good enough at 20, to see what he'd do at 20/21 in 2021 (HEY! LOOK AT THAT! THE 2000 BABIES ARE HERE!). You could probably make up some reason to keep him down at the start of next year that wouldn't be too crazy but the Nats have never been that type of team. Once guys are up they are up and get their chances (see: too many 5th starters that could have been cycled through faster). Castro is too good not to play and he obviously won't play SS, so that leaves 3B and 1B.  If the Nats want to give Kieboom a full year you stick Castro at 1B. If not, or if you want to be pragmatic about both Kieboom and Garcia's chances of sticking, you keep Castro at 3B at least splitting time.

Problems with Presumed Plan: Simply put - Garcia and Kieboom could both suck. They were bad and terrible at the plate last year respectively, and there's no reason to expect a huge turn around. It could happen, yes. But neither of these guys were undeniable minor league stars (and even those types sometimes don't click).  Most likely they improve slightly which makes Garcia a second Robles in 2021 and Kieboom barely hanging on to a spot. That isn't great.

If they both suck and you've committed to both of them (with Castro at 1B) the Nats are likely sunk.  A three batter hole (if not more) at the end of the line-up is hard to overcome.  If they both suck and you've kept Castro in a floating role then you can shift him in as needed but you'd still have one guy in the line-up that shouldn't be there. I know Harrison has signed but he's past his prime and isn't a full time guy

My take:  Committing to seeing what you have with two youngsters in sort of overlapping positions is hard for the reasons I state above.  A lot of building teams find themselves caught in these traps.  But what are the Nats going to do. These are the two hitting prospects the Nats are counting on to fill gaps. They have really nothing else in a minor league system that is both kind of weak and pitching heavy. The sooner they figure out what these guys are the sooner they can plan out the "Soto is Cheap" future of the next few years.  This is far from ideal but it's necessary.  

If the Nats really want to be sure they can sign a 1B (see those ideas a few posts ago). They have Castro here. They brought back Harrison. The back-ups are in place. Commit to a 1B solution that isn't Castro/Harrison and that's probably the best the Nats can do.

Off-Season Position Discussion : First Base

 Last year discussion

First base was going to be a mix of players. A good bye year for Zimm. Marcus Thames filling the Adam Lind Memorial role. Howie Kendrick when not playing another position. Some Asdrubal if you felt you needed some better fielding. Maybe a call-up like Yadiel Hernandez. There wasn't a specific plan as much as an idea. It would be a catch-all position that the Nats would probably go with the hot hand. 

However, COVID made Zimm delay his victory lap. Howie, who was already mostly DHing to limit injury potential, got hurt for the season. Thames was terrible. The Nats ended up with one of the worst first base situations in baseball. Plus - as Howie, AsCab, Thames, and Zimm are all FAs - no plan for the future!

Presumed Plan : A free agent signing is pretty much given. Whether it's all new FAs, a mix of someone old and someone new, or just returning people we don't know.

Reasoning on Presumed Plan : What's left here is Jake Noll and Hernandez.* The Nats were terribly thin in the minors to begin with and a year with no evaluation does not help. There is no possible way the Nats are going to go with what they currently have UNLESS they listen to me and move Soto to first and no one is going to listen to me. So they need to either sign or bring back someone.  There isn't a choice here really.

Both Howie and Zimm feel like they would come back if they want to play and if offered a reasonable deal so the Nats have the inside track on two guys. 

The FA class is pretty full with FA first baseman, FA guys who can play first, and guys who became FAs when their options weren't picked up in the past two weeks. That glut means value and the Nats being able to make a choice, not be backed into something.

Problems with Presumed Plan : Both Howie and Zimm could choose to retire rather than play next year. If you want them, the longer it takes them to decide the longer other teams have to sweep in and take the best of what's out there.

The free agent class is pretty weak currently CJ Cron, Jake Lamb...yuck.  It heated up with some options not picked up but it's a bunch of guys who hit previously who didn't hit last year and you'd be taking a gamble on them.  Mitch Moreland, Carlos Santana...There are some better bets than others but all in all you aren't dealing with great choices or even good ones. You have reasonable bets and unreasonable ones. 

The Nats already like going cheap at first base and now are looking at a position in a fire sale. How cheap can they go? Really cheap! So they might give in to their worst impulses and take whoever they can get at basically a minor league deal. 

My take : If Zimm wants to be back, let him come back.  Zimm has always hit when healthy and the possibility of a Zimm with a year off interests me greatly.  Besides I want Zimm to have that last year. Plus he came back for 2 million last year. Maybe he'd take a million for 2021? Either way there should be flexibility to sign him and someone else. 

Who else?  Ugh... If you want a bat I might take a flier on a Daniel Murphy reunion. The guy didn't hit in Coors but Coors can mess some guys up. He's old but so is everyone.  A quick rundown of guys available

Encarnacion - 38 and bad trends

Frazier - Nothing in past 5 years makes you think he's better than average. Not really worth the gamble

Gyorko - Might be best bet out there, age wise, hitting, fielding, which means someone will give him something which prices him out of the Nats' plan 

Moreland - an intersting choice, possibly the best fielder out there. Not anything special, mind you but Zimm will be terrible, also a lefty bat that compliments that.

Santana - One off year but didn't adapt to NL in short stint with Phillies. Maybe needs the occasional DH start? Walks a ton which might be of interest to a team that finished 11th in the NL despite teams pitching around Soto. 

AsCab - he's Asdrubal!  We like him! But he's probably too valuable with his ability to split positions to get back dirt cheap

Dietrich - Age is fine but now just a swing for the fences guy who will hit .200 if lucky.  Pass.  \

Brad Miller - SUPERSTAR.  Has decent all around plate skills but doesn't stand out in any.  Not at all a bad back-up choice for some team but I don't see him as a platoon or starter.

Logan Morrison - see Dietrich but worse. 

Sandoval - Big Panda is fun. He also was complete trash for the Red Sox which makes me like him even more. But at his age/shape when he goes he's going to go fast.  I wouldn't gamble

Neil Walker - An AsCab like who probably fields better but hasn't hit well since 2017.  No reason to gamble on. 

Cron -see Dietrich but better? The guy is going to hit homers.  An interesting bench piece for some team as you can see him come off it and mash some game tying shots but for regular play?  You need to be a pretty decent offensive team to let him just grip and rip and I don't quite know if the Nats are there.

Gurriel - Age and post cheating performance creates a lot of doubt. Who wants a cheater? Not me.

Lamb - Someone is going to look at his two weeks and Oakland and give him a shot. Hope it's not the Nats. As he hasn't been good for years

Smoak - Also like these guys - becoming a pure walk and homer guy. He's interesting to me because he's a switch hitter who's become a "really should only bat left" guy as he's gotten older.  I think he'd make a good platoon with a RHB like Zimm

I guess I've talked myself into trying to do a Zimm/Moreland platoon in 2021, or maybe even a Zimm/Smoak one Santana would also make an interesting choice if you are willing to put him ahead of Soto and see if he can get on base and get knocked in. 

*remember the week of "we should have kept Marmelejos!"  He finished his trial hitting .036 in his last two weeks. He isn't major league. 

Off-Season Position Discussion : Catcher

Last year discussion

By the time I got around to doing catcher last year, Gomes had been released and re-signed to break his contract and get him at a lower cost.  Anything in a 60 game season is going to be suspect but he was decent and Suzuki had an average year. Both were healthy all year too so no one else had to play the position. So catcher, for once, wasn't an issue at all.

Presumed Plan : Gomes and a back-up, unless.... they sign Realmuto.  I think they will give that a decent run.

Reasoning on Presumed Plan : Suzuki might have another year in him but at 37 and with a championship in hand, I'm not sure there's a point to have him here, even at one year.  Gomes was perfectly decent, has a deal for 2021, and was always the idea of a long-term (read 3-4 year) solution when he was brought here.Year one didn't work out but year two did so stick to the plan.  As for the back up, it'll probably be Raudy Read, a guy they liked a couple years ago but has mostly fallen off track. He'll have next year to show something while guys like Tres Barrera and Israel Pineda develop and hopefully one becomes a solid choice to start getting playing time in 2022.

JT Realmuto is really good and if you want the best long term solution he's the choice.  There's certainly an argument not to waste cheap Juan Soto years not trying 

Problems with Presumed Plan  : Gomes has gone from great to terrible to good to bad to good again. There isn't a strong reason to buy that he'll be good next year and there's a better chance he'll be terrible than very good. Raudy Read also should be pretty bad so the chances of a terrible Nats catcher situation is pretty decent. Any time you are waiting for minor leaguers that aren't the top prospects (and neither of these catcher guys are) you are probably waiting for nothing.

If you want Realmuto... that's going to cost you.  Catchers are hard to find and not EVERY team is tanking.  If you expect anyone to get money this offseason it's JT. 

My take : 

How strong the Nats are on Realmuto will show you right away how they are looking at next year.  Are they waiting out what might be a shortened season or otherwise atypical year looking to go back big in 2022 or even later? Or are they going to try to keep winning every year? That was the plan in 2020 and that didn't work and while it was a shortened year it makes you wonder if it makes more sense to sit a year, shake off some more contracts, and come back strong. 

I think it's worthwhile to use 2021 as an evaluation year.  It's rare that as a team you have leeway with fans to do so, but a championship and a pandemic year will give you that.  You are going to be "post-Max" soon (probably) and have a lot of potential holes to fill, - 1B, 3B, OF, RP, SP, maybe 2B if they get unlucky, probably C, so being able to take a year to see exactly what you have before planning the next run is a good idea. 

That being said - if you want to have a next run soon and don't like your catchers - and since I noted "probably C' as being a hole you can tell I don't like their catchers - Realmuto makes a lot of sense. And for the Nats I think it makes too much sense to pass up (as well as keeping him from the Phillies and Mets) 

I don't think the Nats will actually do this. I think their focus will be on signing/trading for the pitcher that starts now and covers the post-Max years, especially given Strasburg's arm issues. But i want to maximize my success when I can build around Soto both in the "best hitter in baseball" sense and in the "way underpaid" sense. The Nats got about 3 years of that (his last years of arb are going to either be very expensive or hopefully bought out in a long term deal). Make it happen.

 

Election Day !

Are you a Doolittle or a Suzuki (and Zimm and Corbin and...) 

Here's a quick guide on how to watch tonight's elections if you care to

Simple :

It can be argued you only need to care about Florida at first.  It's a big electoral state. It swings to both parties. It should call relatively quickly even if it's only a couple percentage points apart*. 

If it's called for Biden it's likely over. Florida is a bit of it's own thing but it's hard to see Trump winning the Midwest state given the polling and the closeness of those states in the 2016 election if he's losing ground in a state he won back then. 

If it's called for Trump then hang around and wait for the next likely battleground results in AZ and NC. Biden still has several paths to victory. If these go for Biden, it's over. If they are called for Trump, now we're in a dogfight. Essentially Trump has held his ground on his 2016 states outside the Midwest and we gotta wait out Wisconsin, who will try to call it tonight at some point even if "tonight" is after 6AM, Pennsylvania, who have resigned themselves to call it later in the week if it's close, and Michigan which is in between.  Trump barely won these so even a slight turn back toward the Democrats would give Biden the wins and winning all three still gives him the electoral count he needs. But unless something crazy happens (Biden wins Texas! Trump turns Nevada!) this means a hell week.  Let's not hope for this. 

 

Complex :  

When the polls close at 7:00 the speed on how fast they call states will give us an idea of how the night will go.  A lot of these states are so NOT close that they'll be called extremely quickly regardless, but Indiana and Virginia might give us ideas of how long this will take. Those are both pretty partisan states this election but not overwhelmingly so and would probably normally be called within... I'd say 60-90 minutes this time. (Typical for Indiana, faster for Virginia which is progressively getting very blue)

It does matter if the reasons these are not called are because it's "too close" or "too early". What's the difference? Think of "too early" as "everything going as we think it will but we don't have enough votes to get to the confidence to call" and "too close" as, well, too close. Both of these should fall into the "too early" category, and if that's the case and they are taking a long time that's bad news for an early night.  That means counting all these other votes, even in states with relatively low counts or good processes, will add significant time to the call times.  If they are "too close" that tells you something else. Indiana too close - good for Biden. Virginia too close - good for Trump.  But I don't expect either of these.

Assuming we don't have those delayed calls when the counts do start, Trump will take a very small early lead then Biden will blow past around 8:00 as the NorthEast comes in and those call. They'll trade some other states with Biden expanding his lead. 

 

Early bellweathers at this point will be Maine and South Carolina. Neither are expected to be close but are in a range where a few percentage points can change that. If one side is making an unexpectedly good or bad showing (I guess that goes hand in hand) we'll likely see it as these states make their counts. 

Around now (9:00 ish) you can go back to the simple analysis above.  We see when Florida calls and to who Florida calls. It's big. Still, it's not enough to win the game for anyone. You can also look at some other close ones. Nebraska-2 could be telling. Same with New Hampshire.  (If you are wondering Maine-2 tends to take a while in any election) 

The midwest will be closed by now but because the closest ones, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, decided to barely (or not at all) process before election day it'll be hours for them to call unless it's a landslide, maybe even then. So that means the next "toss-up" will be Texas, who also counts quickly. Of course I only see this being notable in a very strong night for Biden and you probably will know by the time Texas is likely to call if that's a possibility. 

The West Coast will call next around closing (11PM) and if things have fallen as expected, Biden will have a strong lead over Trump but won't be at 270 outside of a crush and with most left in play being battlegrounds.  We start playing a waiting game looking at Arizona, North Carolina, maybe Minnesota, Ohio, maybe Iowa, Georgia, and the aforementioned Wisconsin and see if anything gets Biden over the top or if it's a string of Trump holds that keeps him in the game. If it's the latter then it'll be up to MI and PA to decide it, likely over the next couple days.

Outside of timing issues, anything outside of this above would be a surprisingly result. I'm not talking about a state or two flipping in a different direction (that's possible). I'm talking about the general flow

• Very small, early Trump lead
• Big Biden push over Trump
• Some back and forth with Biden's lead expanding
• The Texas call to close a lot of the gap for Trump
• The West Coast call to open it back up and get Biden within a couple states
• The wait and see what happens.

and in all that does Florida fall for Trump and make it tense, or does it go for Biden and make it a fait accompli? 

I set the over/under for Biden at 305, expecting a Biden win but with a lot of close losses that mitigate talk of a blue wave. Last time I said (in private) I thought Hillary would win but Trump had a chance. Now I'd say I think Biden wins but Trump has a prayer.

*Note here : A "close" election that delays calling a state is REALLY close. Like under a 2% win.  Even as low as a 0.50% win - these guys can call it right with limited delay - a couple hours.  (They've only missed one in all these years and that one was RIDICULOUSLY close). Of course absentee ballots will change things but in general a lot of these states can and will be called quicker than you may think**

 ** unless I'm wrong about these absentee things and in that case just go to sleep because we're likely looking at the middle of the night at the earliest.  

The Purge

The Nationals are moving on.  Yesterday they declined the options for five veterans of the World Series team; Eaton, Kendrick, Sanchez, and new acquisition Eric Thames. The Nats also didn't come to early deals with Zimm, Doolittle, or Suzuki, as well as Brock Holt and Asdrubal.  

Eaton and Sanchez were no-brainers as their performances didn't warrant their options of 10.5 million and 12.5 million respectively.  Thames also was not likely to deserve his raise to 4 million for 2021. Kendrick if healthy should be worth his number (6.5) but given his injuries this year and his age the Nats didn't feel like betting on it. 

What's the most likely scenarios here? 

Zimm -  If Zimm wants to come back at some super low rate (last year he was essentially paid 4 million - 2 million for a buyout and 2 million more in contract), I'd imagine the Nats would take him back. But we're likely looking at 1-2 million. My guess is he takes that or failing that - signs a minimum contract just to wave to fans for a few games in April. I can't see him going anywhere as an inability to play a full season more than one time since 2013 (2013!), a middling 2019 at the plate and no defense, and not playing in 2020 means no one is going to offer him anything. 

Kendrick - Howie likes it here by all accounts and the Nats like Howie. But I think Howie is going to get his money if it's out there and I think an AL team would be smart to give him 5 million a year to DH, something I can't see the Nats doing. I imagine the Nats are looking in the 3-4 million range in total so that'd be no more than a contract for 2 million given the 2.25 million dollar buy out. (or else you'd just keep him).  This depends on the market

Doolittle - Doolittle is another one that loves it here but how much the team wants him back is a question. They need reliable pen arms and Sean can't be considered that right now. Relievers are a little too highly valued now so I'm going to guess someone out there will give him something like 3+3 and that'll be enough to pull him away from the Nats who will be more like 1+4 with a lot of performance options on the 1. 

Suzuki - the Nats appear to be moving on and Suzuki is a place holder starter.  The Nats appear to want to go with Gomes and see what else they got (or maybe go for a Realmuto?) not have another year of sort of platoon.  Suzuki has become a vagabond in the second half of his career and catchers are always needed so someone is going to give him 6-8 for two years and there he will go. 

Sanchez - Anibal is a tough one. The Nats could really use him just to eat up innings given the lack of confidence in their 5th starter options and questionable health of Strasburg. I imagine they offer him something like 3 million for a year (with the 2 million buyout). The question is whether a better market is out there for him given the poor 2020 showing. My guess is not given that ATL got him for 1 million at three years younger. (Although it was after 3 subpar years - not one).  I think he comes back on the cheap

Thames - gone. The Nats don't linger on these types. He might not be in MLB next year at all. (and honestly with the virus likely to still be around would probably be better off heading back to Korea) 

Holt - I don't like Holt, the type of mediocre scrappy white player who has more fans than hits, which gives me an unreasonable fear he could be back. But given he likely signed for something around 100K and they didn't work hard to keep him, I do have hope.

Asdrubal - Asdrubal is extremely useful, and doesn't seem to overvalue himself but he, like Suzuki, goes where he can get paid and play and I think some other team will give him more than the Nats, who are likely to give long tryouts to Kieboom and Garcia.  Harrison is already back as their acceptable part-time back-up. AsCab would be overkill. 

Eaton : The Nats aren't going to go just with Stevenson full time. But I'm not sure if they go for a big upgrade, veteran presence with Stevenson getting some time, or Stevenson first as part of a bigger rebuild.  None of these plans though include Eaton.

In the end my projections 

Back : Sanchez

Back if he wants to come back : Zimm

Back if the market isn't too high (and I don't think it will be) : Kendrick 

Gone : Everyone else, though the should really think about keeping AsCab. 

Josh Harrison is back! Woo?

 Josh Harrison was re-signed by the Nats. One year, one-million, which is essentially the entry level "you are better than a minor league contract" contract.

Harrison was perfectly fine as a back-up 2B/3B/1B/Corner OF? wha? type.  His defense is decent enough that he can replace someone that is bad and be an upgrade (Zimm at first? I'd say Soto but why the hell would you ever be pulling Soto for defense. I don't care if he is a statue - like goes out into the outfield dressed in a Tanooki Suit, presses down and B and literally turns into one - he's too good at the plate. Are you insane?) And his bat was average (.278 / .352 / .418) which for a back-up 2B man is good! 

Is any of this sustainable? He probably won't hit that well but the terrible 2019 year does look like an aberration.  Expect like an 85-95 OPS+ type year (that's like below average but not enough to drive you crazy if the player has a limited role. The fielding seems more likely to continue which is a nice thing to have given that the Nats are likely to press Luis Garcia into a larger role and he was shaky on defense this year* Also given he played a decent corner OF maybe that gives the Nats a little leeway to let Eaton go and replace him with a lummox who can hit (or to take out Eaton late in games) 

Fine move. Doesn't move any needles though.

The Nats are also cleaning the house in some ways with staff. The let Chip Hale and Paul Menhart go so Davey could add some handpicked guys. Seems like we was given that leeway when he got extended. We'll see how that works. More curious is Kevin Long being let go, then brought back.  It looks like he wanted another job that didn't come free for him.

*Overall Garcia's minor league evaluations read a little like "this guy should be good on defense" with no more discussion. Given that a struggle at the major league level isn't surprising. But I also wouldn't write him off as a good defender yet.

Wednesday Night World Series Post

 I'm for the Dodgers. Pretty simple

1) The Rays beat the Yankees and there fore deserve to get beaten into a bloody pulp. I don't buy into the "at least we lost to the guys that won" stuff. They beat me. They are bad. They should lose. 

2) I have a friend that's a Dodgers fan and it's been 32 years since they won.  That's a long time

3) Yes I know the Rays never have won. They've also been around 10 fewer years than the Dodgers have been without a title. 

4) Rays have that stupid giant logo hat

5) Rays efficiency baseball has made the game less fun for me to watch.  Not having starters? Shifting ruining the classic lefty bat as well as making me unable to know off the bat whether something is a hit or not when watching on TV? Not paying these guys any real money? No thank you.

Monday Quickie - Who ya got?

 OK, ok. I've been slack.  We're just going to have to deal with this as the new reality for a while because time is not kind. (not like I'm getting old, though I am - slower than you, but still - but in the not a lot of time when you are watching kids in school time). I'll try to figure out something that fits better - even if it' sjust one long post over the weekend or stream of conciousness stuff. 

Anyway, the Championship Series are here and it's hard for me to give a damn. I guess I'm rooting for the Dodgers because I don't really have anything against them unlike the still using a racist chant owned by a mega-corp Braves, destroying the game by trying to squeeze out every win regardless of the enjoyability of the method Rays, and the cheating cheaters Astros. 

Your mileage may vary. 

As far as former Nats out there pickings are slim

• The Dodgers have Blake Treinen (and unofficial Nat Joe "why am I still on the mound" Kelly) 
• The Braves have brief Nat Mark Melancon. They had Matt Adams but he sucked and was released. They had Tommy Milone and he sucked and was released
• The Rays have no one I don't think 
• The Astros have Dusty. Brad Peacock was also there but got hurt.
  

Former Defending Champs, but not yet former Champs

The Nats were eliminated last night - getting blown out by a desperate Phillies team and finished off by a Giants win.  The season, for what it was, is over.  What happened? 

Well in my opinion 2019 happened. The Nats went all-in at the end of 2019 to win and that meant committing to a basically a 6 man pitching staff, using Max, Stras, and Corbin heavily in relief. They all logged a ton of innings, along with their two man pen and the results were self-evident. Doolittle hurt. Strasburg hurt. Corbin wasn't good.  Hudson wasn't good. And even Max, the rock of Major League pitching, wasn't Max.

 The Nats put up an ERA that currently sits at 13th in the league, the typical chewing gum and bailing wire fixes elsewhere doing mostly as you would expect. Would things have been better with Joe Ross? Probably. But unless he was going to blossom into an ace the Nats would still likely have been on the outside looking in, just lasting a few more games. 

With this pitching the offense almost doesn't matter, but after years of bouncing around between great and very good the Nats were merely ok. Juan Soto lost time to an early false positive but otherwise was MVP worthy. Trea Turner might have blossomed, or might have just caught a hot streak*, but either way he was nearly as good as Juan. The rest of the team was disappointing. Robles regressed. Kieboom stunk and Garcia wasn't special (though fine for an intro season at this age). Eaton and Howie both didn't hit then got hurt. Thames didn't take up the "good for a year" 1B mantle. No one became a surprise savior like 40 game AsCab in 2019 (He was just ok in 2020).  Turns out you keep losing star level bats and eventually it'll matter.

This wasn't the vagaries of the short season. Those pitching woes were real and would have been even more difficult to overcome in 162. But that was the choice the Nats made and the rings on the fingers say it was worth it.

*Let's face it - in a 60 game season every statement here comes with the caveat it could be just an extended good/bad streak.

Monday - Just math now

The Nats are mere hours from elimination.  Maybe... 2 now.  Maybe 7. Maybe 24, hell  maybe 48, but eventually the numbers will turn against them.  

Then what? 

Well we can go over it then! We'll review the season stats, as they are when that's over. But here's a quick rundown of the contract situations for the Nats because we'll talk about that immediately.  Tomorrow even. 

Options -

Anibal 18 million

Eaton 10.5 million

Holt 5 million

Thames 3 million (mutual) 

Off the Top of my Head - I'm going to assume non get picked up 

Free Agents -

Doolittle, Suzuki, Kendrick, Zimmerman, Harrison, Castillo

Off the Top of my Head - Oooh I don't know. I'll think about it 

Freed $

Not all that much I don't think.  The numbers, especially for the Nats, get complicated, but they aren't losing anyone making a ton, are losing a bunch of guys that are relative bargains so to refill positions likely means spending all the money right up to the cap on guys that are just ok.  But...

Thinking ahead

In 2021 they lose more guys including Max who could bring them a bunch of free money. So if you don't plan to keep him you could double down on this year going over to go back just under next year. Of course by that time Turner is in the expensive arbitration area and Soto hits arbitration. So it's not all well and good. 

Look the good times weren't going to last forever. They had that 2012 young team advantage and parlayed that huge advantage into a second window from 2016-2019.  Now... now requires some really fancy footwork (or cash).

Monday Quickie - nope season over

Less than two weeks left to play and 5 games out of the WC with 4 teams in between?  That's too big a task for a team that's not 100%. At this point I suppose you "let the kids play" though in reality that means a lot of Kieboom and Garcia and most other guys you probably feel pretty good about knowing what you got there. It's a shame too because Soto would quite likely get a fair number of MVP votes on a good team. He's likely to finish the season on top of the SLG charts and could easily be on there for OBP as well.  But given that this team took a big step back and there are plenty of reasonable candidates out there (Betts, Tatis, Machado) he's going to be well out of it. And this means Trea Turner - who might deserve it just as much because he isn't a statue in the field, will probably get close to zero consideration.  Maybe if they let him run wild on the basepaths to end the year.

 This will also be the year Max breaks his streak of Top 5 Cy Young finishes. He may not even get a vote thanks to slow pull Davey who left him out to hang again yesterday.  Yes, I know he is intimidating but in THIS season you don't need to let him get his way. You need him to stay healthy. Take the ball. Manage the damn team. 

There is nothing much interesting.  No one is anywhere close to .400. Soto probably can't get enough HRs or RBIs to win the Triple Crown.

What needs to happen from here on out is someone needs to keep Davey from riding the young arms that have looked ok this year into the ground. He probably can't - it's only two more weeks, but who knows what this guy will do. Probably warm everyone up every night from the 5th on or something. Shut it down, reset and figure out what to do with that fact you are under the cap. A relief pitcher or a real bat is paramount. Given how Harris turned out in the pen, I think they go after a bat for 1B. Of course my thoughts have long been move Soto to first and next year even makes more sense with the dearth of 1B options in FA but no one ever listens to me.

It gets late immediately out here

The last games of the season are just over two weeks away.  The Nats have played 42 games meaning, if all goes well, they could manage 18 more games.  They have to make up 5.5 games on the last team in the playoffs so a 13-5 run to get to one game under .500 would mean that team, currently the Marlins or Giants, would have to go 9-12 and 6-9 respectively.  

Neither of these is crazy but the 13-5 for the Nats probably is. But the thing is, as you get into more reasonable territory, say 11-7, the other numbers get a little harder to imagine : 7-14, 4-11.  Along with the fact that the Rockies, Brewers, Mets and Reds all can't do equal or better than the 11-7 record.  

It's not over just yet but we're staring at it being beyond even the most optimistic scenario.  Lose all 3 this weekend and you'd have to finish 13-2 to have a shot? Yeah no.  

Really the Nats need to sweep the remaining games, but in this crazy season I'll take a 2-1 and look around to see if things have changed. The big thing sitting out there is a 5 game set against the Marlins followed by a 5 gamer against the Phillies. All we can ask for is they get to those series with a chance to catch either of those teams, however remote that chance may be (bc it's probably take a sweep). 

Someone is going to run off something like 14-4 to end the year. Someone is going to tank with a 4-14. More than likely that'll be an Indians and Tigers but why not the Nats and a team they are chasing?  The cards lined up last year. If we were 140 games in I'd say pack it in. But we want to squeeze all the enjoyment out of this tiny season as possible so hang in there. Let's not call it optimism about the Nats' chances, but realism that the minute the season is over you'll be ready for the next one, a real 162 one, to start.

Monday Quickie : Season not over?!

Nah over. Probably. 

Nice to win a few but as they were the rare interleague games they only help the Nats with wins and not with giving someone else losses. Same for tonight. This week the Nats take on the Braves which also isn't much help given that the Braves are 8.5 games ahead of the Nats.  They aren't going to catch them. 

But win your games and hope some other things go your way.  This week the Phillies are playing the Marlins so the Nats, if they win, will gain ground on someone they can catch.  

It was nice to see Max be Max AND not be pushed hard. Streaky Suzuki is having a hot streak now and Brock Holt is doing what he does (win the hearts of short white people who love "real" baseball and imagined scrappy gritty players with a lot of singles then suck but keep their hearts). Luis Garcia and Robles are also hitting better so that's a good sign for now and later.  Kieboom however... 

Ok quickie for real

I remember the season being not over

 The Phillies swept the Nationals and the season is over. 

OK that's obviously not technically true, there is a month or so left. And it's not true as it would be in a normal year.  This year with 8 teams in .500 will get you a spot and in the NL where the top teams are shaping up to be more dominant, a couple games under could also work. Currently the last playoff spot would be held by one game under Colorado at 18-19.  

But still it's 5 games out with a month to go - which would be bad with a team you like. The Nats don't just have a bad record, they have one of the worst records in baseball. With only 25 games to go to get to .500 the Nats would have to go 18-7.  That's equal to their best months from last year. 

 If you want to be a brightsider - it is still possible, even some mediocre teams pull off a month like this. And honestly the Nationals aren't 12-23 bad as a team.  Pythag has them at 16-19 which feels more right. So it's not AS crazy for them to pull off a great month. 

But while last year you had your top 3 and the health of a line-up to point to as changes, this year you have nothing. Strasburg is out. The line-up is as healthy as it's going to be. The trade deadline passed and the Nats did nothing. This team, roughly a 16-19 squad, is what you have going forward and something like 12-13 over the last 25 is probably the most likely scenario.  24-36?  Bleh

What is there to watch then? 

• Can Trea Turner stay hot? Is Trea finally going to break out? If not, say the homers fall, can he hold on to the batting average crown?
• Where will Juan Soto end up? MVP level so far with no reason to think that won't hold up.  
• Is Kieboom any good? He'll get a second chance pretty soon and the Nats are kind of depending on him
• How does the new bullpen hold up down the stretch? 2021 will look brighter if Rainey and Finnegan keep performing through the end of the year. 
• Can the Nats play spoiler to anyone else? 

That's what I got. 

Monday Quickie - SELL SELL SELL

The Nats lost 2 of 3 this weekend to the moribund Red Sox.  Yesterday was a particularly bad day as once again the Nats 5th (4th?) starter Austin Voth looked like he didn't belong starting at all but the Nats don't have much choice but to keep rolling him out. The offense was a little better but it was still heavily dependent on Turner, possibly the hottest hitter in baseball, and Soto. Most of the rest of the guys aren't hitting and while they should eventually start to here and there, there isn't like 2-3 great hitters that definitely should start raking.  Kendrick? He's old and gets hurt.  Suzuki? He's old and a catcher. It's kind of an old team. 

Who should be traded? 

Suzuki - catchers are always needed and Suzuki has had enough good years to make someone dealing for him think he could have a hot last month.  Gomes is ready to fill-in and not be terrible like last year (I think). Frankly that's the plan anyway so what's a month to you.

Harrison - He's hitting ok and you have Garcia (not to mention Castro). Why waste that set of circumstances? Plus Brock Holt becomes the next Harrison

Eaton - I know this may be tough for some. He's was a key last year and is a "spark plug" but his contract is sort of up next year - certainly in a way the Nats aren't going to pick up. And with his history you might get something not terrible for him

Maybe - 

Howie and Doolittle - both of these guys should be a lot better if healthy so you are selling really low. But their contracts are up after this year.  Sell for pennies on the dollar or keep and take a chance at getting nothing because you also might get a one-year budget deal for 2021? 

Thames - Trade if you can but I mean, who wants a guy who can't hit and field?

Not - 

Asdrubal - A deal that would fetch back something I'm sure, but the Nats kind of need him? He can play three... hell five if we count 1B and DH, positions, still hits above average, if slightly.  If the Nats are going to rotate between bad options at 1B 2B and 3B they are going to need someone ok so it doesn't feel like they are completely giving up.  There is a psychological component to the game and not 100% giving up on 2021 can carry into next year IMO.  Plus have you seen the "hauls" back teams are getting? Might as well keep AsCab if you are getting back an A-ball never was a prospect type. 

Sanchez - With Max in a questionable spot and Stras out the Nats need guys to eat innings to keep their pen arms from being ground to dust.  Sanchez might get you back something for a team looking for a third arm but I think he's more valuable eating up innings here.