“I am now ready to admit that it was actually a very good burn" : 2018 Washington Nationals

Based on what has happened to the #Nationals this season, Dusty Baker should be the 2018 NL Manager of the Year.

— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) August 21, 2018

disarray, and i don't think it has anything to do with the failure to retain harper

second worst record in the NL!

hard to imagine how, for a team with trea turner, rendon, soto, eaton on the field and a rotation headlined by scherzer, strasburg, and corbin!

it is baffling for sure

i still expect them to play better than average the rest of the way, but with the games they've already lost, they're probably doomed to a lost season this year (especially with PHI/ATL/NYM to contend with)

jay jaffe saying on fangraphs chat right now that he has a piece on the nationals coming soon, but he blames their issues on defense and bullpen construction (and ultimately mike rizzo)

philly's doing okay, but the braves and mets aren't exactly tearing it up either

i wasn't expecting the four-way NL east battle to be for .500

xp yeah apart from doolittle and barraclough their bullpen has been brutal

Nationals and Gerardo Parra have agreed to a major league deal.

i kinda feel bad for rizzo (not following their situation too closely - maybe he deserves it?). they built a team that should have been a dynasty, but they never got past the divisional series. the teams were filled with fun players and national superstars, and yet their fans suck (sorry nats fans) and the stadium was always half-empty even at their peak

despite the harper saga, i can't really blame them for being cheap -- they've certainly proven willing to pay for starting pitching.

but while i tend to think that managers are overrated, maybe that's not the place to scrimp -- they've been an absolute mess ever since they moved to DC (barring the dusty years!) even last year the 'industry' (according to ken rosenthal) thought martinez was in over his head

and here's jaffe's article now: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/no-defense-for-underperforming-nationals/

Rendon, still amazing

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/anthony-rendon-keeps-getting-better/

i kinda feel bad for rizzo (not following their situation too closely - maybe he deserves it?). they built a team that should have been a dynasty, but they never got past the divisional series. the teams were filled with fun players and national superstars, and yet their fans suck (sorry nats fans) and the stadium was always half-empty even at their peak

― these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Thursday, May 9, 2019 12:17 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Rizzo made a bunch of clunkers, starting with management, Dusty Baker was already a dinosaur when he got hired and he's been better than Martinez and Williams. Beyond the obvious bullpen woes, there was always big holes in key positions for a team that wanted to contend: catching has been an absolute disaster, it still is. Since 2012, the player with the most PA in CF is Michael A. Taylor with a 76 wrc+ and LF has not been much better over the last few seasons prior to Juan Soto. More recently, letting Roark go was a big mistake in that it thinned both their rotation and bullpen. To trust Brian Dozier was going to be good again was a big stretch.

For each good young player or good trade there's been a glaring omission or a boner. Them winning divisions is a mix of having superhuman performances by some players and the NL East being just non-competitive. Harper was right to be mad when Rizzo didn't trade for Realmuto prior to the 2018 season.

Max Scherzer is my favorite player, Rendon ain't too far behind, so I kind of follow them quite a bunch.

Washington Nationals outfielder Adam Eaton believes he wouldn’t be where he is without the minor league system he calls a “very dog-eat-dog world.” The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Eaton in the 19th round of the 2010 MLB draft, and he’s spent about a third of his career in the minor leagues.

While he believes things can be improved and players should make a little more money so they’re “literally not eating crumbs,” he doesn’t want MLB to make minor league conditions more hospitable.

“If you do, complacency sets in,” Eaton says. “I think it’s difficult, yes, and it’s easy for me to say that because of where I am, but I wouldn’t be where I am without that … If I financially am supported down there and financially can make a living and not have to get to the big leagues, I think I’m a little more comfortable. I think that I might not work as hard because I know I’m getting a decent paycheck every two weeks, and may not push myself nearly as hard.”

“I don’t disagree with [the notion] that they’re being exploited, but I think it’s for the betterment of everybody,” he adds. “I know it sounds crazy … I think there’s a middle ground … There’s ground to be made up, but I think it still should be rough.”

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/sports/article/21074129/minor-league-baseball-players-live-below-minimum-wage-to-chase-their-dreams

as someone said on FB, future GOP congressman

Jim Bunning Bootstrapper Award 2019

second place

Rodney has not recorded more than three outs in a game since Sept. 4 of last season. He got four outs just twice last year. This is a situation he’s almost never in.

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) July 20, 2019

The bases are loaded with nobody out in the ninth and the Nats are going with a five-man infield. Juan Soto is grabbing a new glove

Rodney has thrown 30 pitches already and still is in the game

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) July 20, 2019

Donaldson launches a walkoff hit to the wall. Nats lose 4-3 and yikes that ninth inning was uh, questionable.

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) July 20, 2019

Dave Martinez said he liked the matchups for Rodney in the ninth inning and he wanted to save Doolittle: “We’re playing on the road and Doolittle comes in the game for a save”

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) July 20, 2019

<3

Niiiice

rather see them win the East than the barves now that Murphy is gone

Fernando Rodney is warming up to pitch the ninth. He appeared in both games of yesterday’s doubleheader

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) July 25, 2019

And Rodney gives up a leadoff homer to Ian Desmond to start the ninth. Tie game.

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) July 25, 2019

doolittle also pitched in both games yesterday, but idk maybe go to him before the 42-year-old guy

analytics are getting outta hand... pic.twitter.com/MRUtosR4RD

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) August 17, 2019

Scherzer returns tonight

so i expect the Bucs to pull this one out

God, these guys have been scoring a lot of runs lately. Last nine games:

-- seven of them 7+ runs
-- five of them double figures
-- four of them 13+ runs
-- overall average, 10.0/runs per game

Still 32 runs behind the Dodgers for the season.

playing the Pirates helped

Not a banner day for Nationals manager Dave Martinez, who asked HP ump Tim Timmon to check with the 1B ump as to whether Culberson, who was bleeding profusely and had to be taken to a hospital, went around on the pitch, making it a strike. Then he left Rodney in the whole inning.

— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 15, 2019

trying hard to blow WC1

The #Nationals have three pitchers with 5.5+ WAR this season. They're the 12th team in MLB history to have 3 pitchers do that pic.twitter.com/AgdwDuSnLE

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) September 18, 2019