Tuesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Tied, 1-1 (Susp.) | vs. Lehigh Valley, 5:05 p.m. |
TBD and T. Hill (3-1, 4.14) vs. TBD and Morgan (0-4, 4.35) |
| Harrisburg | OFF DAY | vs. Binghamton, 6:30 p.m. |
Rauh (1-3, 5.06) vs. Lara, R (3-1, 2.51) |
| Potomac | OFF DAY | vs. Carolina, 7:05 p.m. |
Pivetta (1-3, 1.42) vs. Waszak (1-1, 3.86) |
| Hagerstown | Won, 5-0 | vs. Greensboro, 7:05 p.m. |
J. Rodriguez (0-3, 6.60) vs. Adames (1-2, 2.45) |
Lehigh Valley 1 Syracuse 1 — COMP.
• Jordan 9IP, 6H, R, ER, 0BB, 2K, 92-68 PIT-K
• Ka‘aihue 1-4, R, HR, RBI
The self-proclaimed purists will have to enjoy a night where Taylor Jordan’s inability to hit helped contribute to a 1-1 tie after nine innings, spoiling what should have been a complete-game win. Jordan gave up a run in the 1st then shut down the Iron Pigs for eight innings — retiring 16 of 17 at one point — for a nine-inning no-decision, with one run allowed on six hits and no walks. Kila Ka‘aihue’s solo HR in the 4th was one of just five hits mustered by the other eight batters in the lineup. Rain halted play in the top of the 10th.
Roster moves: RHP Erik Davis optioned from Washington; OF Tony Gwynn Jr. placed on the 3-Day temporary inactive list; LHP Felipe Rivero assigned from Washington for MLB Rehab; UT Jose Lozada activated from the 7-Day DL.
Harrisburg — OFF DAY
After a 1-3 road trip to New Jersey, the Senators return to City Island for six games against Binghamton and New Britain.
Potomac — OFF DAY
Dakota Bacus was named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for his two wins against Frederick last week. Potomac returns for a three-game pitstop against Carolina before heading back out on the road for four against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans over the long weekend.
Hagerstown 5 Greensboro 0
• Valdez (W, 4-2) 7IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 4K, HBP
• Amlung 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Marmolejos-Diaz 2-3, 2B, BB, 2RBI
• Carey 2-3, R, SB
• Abreu 2-4, R, 2B, BB
Greensboro broke up the no-hit bid with a two-out, two-strike double in a 5-0 shutout win by Hagerstown. Phillips Valdez no-hit the Grasshoppers for seven innings and Justin Amlung retired the first five batters he faced before losing the no-no. Valdez walked two and hit a batter while lowering his ERA to 1.22, second-best in the Sally League. “Orange” Marmolejos-Diaz and Osvaldo Abreu both singled, doubled, and walked to lead the Suns offense, which scored all five runs in the 1st and racked up 11 hits total.
Trea Turner Update
Turner walked, singled, drove in a run, stole a base, and elevated expectations with his five-game hit streak and an 18-game on-base streak. For those wondering, Syracuse is on the road in Columbus while Harrisburg is home against Trenton when the trade is expected to become official next month.
Looks like we may not need to worry about how Difo and Trea Turner will fit together at AA when Turner arrives in a month’s time.
Difo is apparently in Washington, per multiple Twitter and Facebook sources (see natsinsider comments)…..
Difo in Washington? What for? Is there an injury we don’t know about or is he having his injury looked at?
Its just in case Jason Werth goes on DL.
Difo in DC? Hmm . . . I did predict here a few days ago that he might be a candidate for a late-season call-up. The only things I can think of now is that someone among Escobar, Espinoza, and Desmond has tweaked something, or they’ve decided to let Uggla go in favor of someone more versatile.
At the other end of the food chain, who can fill us in on Valdez? He had been consigned to be an over-aged A- reliever and didn’t make the Watch List (rightly so). Now he’s got a 1.22 ERA and an 0.95 WHIP after seven starts. He’s a bit older for the league, though, and doesn’t have high K totals. One would suspect that he might get the first ticket to Woodbridge when Lopez gets his inevitable promotion.
It is surprising, but makes perfect sense when you look at the alternatives:
Den Dekker: .227/.286/.255
Gwynn Jr: .214/.275/.310 (now injured)
Stewart: .217/.317/.467
Ka’aihue: .189/.308/.333
Martinson: .244/.321/.423
Difo: .315/.367/.520
Martinson’s somehow comes away from this looking half-decent, but look closer and you’ll see he’s struck out 38% of the time. It wouldn’t be much fun to watch a guy sustain an 80% K% in DC….
Basically, we don’t have any other options. It’s definitely forcing Rizzo’s hand, but there’s a silver lining in that this could inadvertently solve the Difo/Turner in AA problem.
According to the Post, it’s Difo for Werth (going on the DL). I agree that he’s certainly the hottest bat in the system, but I’m not sure where he would play. Admittedly, considering his speed, he might be better in LF with no experience than T-Mo or Robinson are staggering around out there. I assume that Taylor will be starting in Werth’s place, so good for Michael A. and for Difo.
The only other OF possibility who came to mind (also on the 40-man) was Goodwin, who is doing OK but not thriving after the somewhat curious demotion to Harrisburg (.267/.321/.400, with only 1 HR).
It makes sense in that this transaction (Werth for Difo) basically corrects the imbalanced roster. Before, we had essentially 5 IFs for 4 positions- Escobar, Desmond, Espinosa, Uggla and Zimmerman, and 6 OFs for 3 positions- Harper, Span, Werth, Taylor, Moore and Robinson. Now the balance is more natural- 6 IFs and 5 OFs (though there is some versatility within each, i.e. Zimm can play LF, and Moore and Robinson can play 1B).
It’s extra helpful that Difo is a switch hitter, and has been effective from both sides of the plate (.800 OPS vs RHPs and 1.111 OPS vs LHPs), which adds more versatility than Goodwin or den Dekker, neither of whom have demonstrated they deserve to be in the majors.
Williams now has an extremely versatile roster. He can nearly field a complete RH’ed or LH’ed line up, depending on the opposing pitcher.
Plus, Difo’s not even the first Nats to be promoted after a very short stint in AA. Solis had 7.1 IP in AA before he got the call, and he’s been doing fine so far.
Trea Turner is having himself a heck of a season: http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=607208#/career/R/hitting/2015/ALL
After a pretty slow start, he’s hitting .326/.408/.500 with some power (4 homers) and some speed (8 sbs) in 35 AA games. And that’s in the Southern league, which is mostly a Pitcher’s league.
I wonder if we’ll be talking about pushing him to AAA when the trade is consummated, or shortly there after. Great news for the team.
Got to believe Rizzo’s getting calls for him. Is it possible to be traded while you’re a Player to be named for another team. Hope we don’t have to find out. Anybody know how the defense is for Turner? The power is welcome, and I wasn’t expecting as much.
Valdez must be part of the Dom Repub haul from last few years
I like difo tools just for speed and leather
Let him drink some may coffee vs pinstripes and
Further leArn how to hate philly