The Nats don't have a lot of good pitchers. Gore yes. Brad Lord probably and... uhhh Cavalli likely, Beeter looks good... uhhh Henry? Anyway Ferrer was a young lefty (and MAN they do NOT have a lot of lefties) with good fancy stats that I also liked. But they sent him away to Seattle for a catcher, Harry Ford. So first what does this signal? Rebuild... probably Ferrer is only 25 with plenty of team control. Given the Nats lack of LH relief he's the type of guy you...
1 day ago
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It 2024 CJ Abrams flashed greatness, with a .295 7 homer April and hitting .373 / .464 / .663 in May earning him a trip to the All-Star Game and getting Nats fans excited about his potential. The only problem was... well... he might have been the worst fielding shortstop in baseball in years. The plan for 2025 was to start him at SS and hopefully watch him solidify his position as an MLB offensive star while playing some better defense. This didn't quite happen. His 2025 at the pla...
6 days ago
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After a rebound in 2024 to good stats at the plate and in the field, the Nats 2nd base situation was well set. Luis Garcia can play there so Luis Garcia will play there. Ideally he would have stepped up again in 2025 but the opposite happened and a slight regression knocked him back to basically average at the plate and 2024 turned out to be the unsurprisingly fluke with the glove. But at least it was something that passed the season without worry. That's something right? Presumed ...
8 days ago
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A lot of things went wrong in 2025 but none were so clearly made to work NOW and so clearly a failure then the Nats' answer at 1B. The Nats brought in Nathaniel Lowe with a trade* to man the position in 2025-2026 likely with an eye for having him possibly be there beyond. He had been a sneaky good 1B, one that ranked 5-10 overall with consistent solid hitting since arriving in the majors and glove that he worked into average to good. There was one thing they didn't consider though... Nat...
22 days ago
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Huh. That was a longer break than I thought. Thanks for the kind words in the comments. Yes, I'm not as motivated to post as I have been in the past, but rest assured I won't end the blog with a ghosting. First I'll try a couple new things if I really can't keep up what I've done in the past. Then I'll let you know if that ain't working for me. Speaking of what I've done in the past - Off-season position reviews. The Nats catcher situation was bad. Having your ca...
26 days ago
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If rooting for (or against) former Nats in the playoffs is fun for you heres the list Blue Jays : Max ! although they left him off the ALDS roster as he struggled at the end of the year. Jacob Barnes would also get a ring if they are generous (release by Tor in August) Yankees : Amed Rosario is it, though they have regular season Nats villain DJ LeMahieu and post-season Nats hero, Trent Grisham. Tigers : "Garbage" Kyle Finnegan was acquired by Detroit in a trade. Tanner Raine...
2 months ago
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I like to do this annually - figuring where the team got lucky and unlucky and seeing how that factored into this season and what might be read into 2026, given return to forms are often seen for people way under or over performing. LUCKY Prospects can surprise but Daylen Lile hitting well enough to win player of the month of September and setting himself up for a starting role in 2026 was well above and beyond expectations. It was way more likely that Amed Rosario was ...
2 months ago
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So if you want to know what we guessed in wins it's here . I had them at 71. The group leaned into a bit higher but the winner in the clubhouse would be Matt with "high 60s" Not quite! We all lose by Price is Right rules. We'll spend the week going over the season (promise!) but the general tone of it was one of disappointment and now a bit of concern. The team is in the midst of a rebuild but also starting over with a new GM and new manager and that could easily ...
2 months ago
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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 f...
3 months ago
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Daylen Lile is hot right now. He's been up almost half a year and is closing in on 300 PA. in that he's hit a solid .282 / .327 / .450 line and it's only been better in the second half .318 / .360 / .523. How excited should you be from a guy that probably entered 2024 the 6th Nationals outfielder to watch on some lists* He's a legit prospect (2nd round pick) and while is isn't super young he's right in there with Wood and House which is frankly young enough for anyone that isn't a ...
3 months ago
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ok yes everything but nothing has gone right for this squad since early June. At one point they were 30-33, then went on a 20-53 stretch. The last 5-1 brings it up to 25-54 which is just over a 50 win pace for a season. Yikes. You can't blame the firings - Davey and Rizzo were gone in the middle of this. You can't blame the trade deadline. Yeah it made the team weaker but they aren't losing squeakers because of a weakened pen. Here are some 2nd half splits B...
3 months ago
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Yeah I was only doing bats. Gore is the only arm that I think deserves talking about in terms of a long-term signing. I like Lord and Ferrer but relief pitching is notoriously fickle, neither of these guys is lights out (or likely to be that) so they just feel very replaceable and not something you gamble money on keeping past age 30. As arms go Parker and Irvin are nothing to hold on to. I mean I guess if they want to be REAL reasonable and sign for cheap so they don't have to move...&n...
3 months ago
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You can win in several ways in baseball but the current hotness is to "rebuild" sign a bunch of your young players while they are young so they don't cost as much and hope that if you sign 6 that 2 work out and money wise that still probably saves you enough money to spend on FA. Of course because people LOVE to go into the comments to say "It's not up to the Nats..." "Scott Boras won't let them..." I'll note here that what we want to see is a concerted and public effort to make these si...
4 months ago
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The Nats brought up Dylan Crews today, back from injury and ready to get some more at bats. To clear a roster spot they didn't cut 32 year old signed for a single year Josh Bell, who is hitting average from the DH spot. They didn't cut 31year old, well he can field if he can literally do NOTHING else, signed for a single year Paul DeJong. They didn't cut 29 year old, never was catcher Riley Adams who doesn't do anything well. Instead they cut 29 year old Nathaniel Lowe, who b...
4 months ago
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Alex Call was the last domino to fall - over to the Dodgers for a couple arms. As noted before Call was actually turning out to be good but if there was one place the Nats didn't have space for a player like Call it was OF where they want to play Wood and Crews and cycle through whoever else they want to look at. Keeping a 4th OF is a luxury on a team like that. Sean Paul Liñan was a solid looking arm for High A that the Dodgers pushed to AAA to see if they had somethi...
4 months ago
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I did go on vacation again, yes. I also will again the second week in August. The Nats have begun their sell-off and it's mostly gone exactly as you could hope Chafin and Garcia and Soroka out. Chafin was found money, a DFA'd player who turned it around for the Nats and ended up part of a deal. Soroka didn't pan out exactly as planned but the fact he was sent out for anything means his signing was a win. Luis Garcia is at least a decent arm with ...
4 months ago
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The Nats season is over in the "compete for anything worthwhile" but it's far from over in the "kids development sense" we know about the kids that are here and doing well. What's coming down the pike? More time for kids here Brady House - looks like a talented kid up for the first time. Strong swing, solid form but he's getting fooled a lot. Works out to about an average bat in his limited time. A little iffy in the field so far. If he can just slightly i...
5 months ago
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Everything? Ha ha. No! Didn't you read the last post? There are some good and in the comments I mention the sort of neither good or bad (Garcia, Irvin, Parker, all the kids just getting their feet wet) But there are some bad things. You can't be 20 games under at the All-Star break on luck alone. Plan Ruiners Keibert Ruiz had a hot start making optimistic Nats fans say "forget about the last few years! Maybe he was hurt!" Nope. He stinks! Always bad behind the pl...
5 months ago
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With the team reeling there isn't much to say here but we generally start out with right so... Unqualified Successes James Wood is a bonafide star. All-Star. HR Derby participant. On pace for 40 homers, 100 RBIs, and 100 walks. He strikes out a bit much and never developed the skills in the field you'd hope but at 22 he's one of the best bats in the game and likely to get even better. He's a build around player. MacKenzie Gore is an ace. Maybe not a Skenes ...
5 months ago
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The Nats did not get better after the firings. The 1-5 run isn't anything off than expected, facing two good teams away from home 2-4 is the baseline with 1-5 and 3-3 happening almost as easy. This is not a good team, and it's still being run by Davey's guys so don't expect any miracles. The big thing that happened was the draft. I don't usually care much about the draft, but in the past the Nats having the #1 pick with generational talents has made me take a closer look at it. That was ...
5 months ago
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What's next? 1) New guys take over... for now. Mike DeBartolo is the new GM. He's young, with a business bent. He's been with the Nats a long time with a role in a lot of different aspects and he's familiar with analytics. Still I imagine with no baseball leadership experience and his history being the second guy on a team who just fired it's GM I assume he's a placeholder. Miguel Cairo, bench coach, is the likely choice for interim manager. What is on DeBartolo's...
5 months ago
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You all know how I feel. Davey deserved to get fired as much as any manager who won a WS has, at least on performance. His teams regularly underperformed expectations, including this year, and they regularly failed at the fundamentals, or at least it felt like it. I won't rehash it anymore. You can go back and read what I said a few posts ago. I think it's best for the Nats he's gone. Rizzo is more complicated. As others have pointed out, Rizzo has a skill s...
5 months ago
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DAVEY OUT! RIZZO OUT! The Post if you have it What was the final straw? You'd have to assume the lifeless play in the past month+ 9-23 since the end of May. The team looks bad. The feeling around the team is bad. More tomorrow later tonight. Too much to wait until tomorrow but you know I got kids stuff to do right now Ed Note- internet down and my cell reception at my house is spotty so nothing more tonight Ed Note 2 - It's back!
5 months ago
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Like the Nats in general They are now nearly what I feared they'd be last post. Worst of the rest. Only the Athletics are standing in their way. They are clearly behind the Marlins now. Hell so are the Braves. Things have gotten so bad the team is trying to get you excited for the idea of Paul DeJong coming back and DHing even though he can't hit. What the hell are we doing here people? Kick anyone over 27 to the curb. Just play kids...
5 months ago
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on the worst "trying" team in baseball The Rockies, despite sweeping the Nats, are historically bad. They are on pace for 37 wins. There literally should be calls from the game to replace the owner because things are so non-competitive in Denver. The White Sox are in a similar spot, Reinsdorf aging into a worse version of himself as owner often do stuck with a "back in my day we didn't pay players so much" mentality, trying to squeeze every last dollar from the team for...
6 months ago
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