Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Won, 4-1 | vs. Rochester, 7:05 p.m. |
Hill (3-9, 5.08) vs. Berrios (11-5, 3.09) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 2-1 | @ Richmond, 7:05 p.m. |
Bates (5-4, 3.98) vs. Lujan (7-5, 3.45) |
| Potomac | Lost, 4-0; Won, 7-0 |
vs. Frederick, 7:05 p.m. |
Roark (1st A+ start of ’15) vs. Gonzalez (5-10, 6.79) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 6-3 | @ Lakewood, 7:05 p.m. |
Bach (6-4, 3.19) vs. Garcia (8-9, 3.05) |
| Auburn | Lost, 3-0 | vs. Mahoning Valley, 7:05 p.m. |
Borne (1-3, 3.11) vs. Lovegrove (1-5, 5.40) |
Syracuse 4 Rochester 1
• Cole (W, 5-5) 6⅔ IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 7K
• Grace (H, 11) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 2-1 IR-S
• Hague 1-2, BB, RBI, OF assist at 1B (DP)
• Sizemore 1-2, R, 2B, BB
A.J. Cole pitched into the 7th to lead the Chiefs to a 4-1 win over the RedWings. Cole gave up one run on three hits and a walk and struck out seven over six and 2/3rds for his fourth win in five August starts [insert obligatory speculation about September callup here]. Matt Grace lost the shutout bid for Syracuse but earned his 11th hold while Sammy Solis worked around a hit in the 9th for the save. Ricky Hague and Scott Sizemore both went 1-for-2 with a walk to pace the Chiefs’ offense.
Richmond 2 Harrisburg 1
• Giolito (L, 2-2) 6⅔ IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 8K, HBP
• Suero 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Pleffner 1-2, BB
Lucas Giolito couldn’t toss the shutout necessary to win with an AWOL offense as Richmond edged Harrisburg, 2-1. Giolito allowed both Flying Squirrel runs on five hits and a walk while setting down eight on strikes over six and 2/3rds innings to lose his second AA game.
Bryan Harper got the last out of the 7th and Wander Suero tossed a scoreless 8th to keep it close. Shawn Pleffner was the sole Senator to reach base twice with one of four (4) singles and one of two (2) walks recorded by the batters.
Frederick 4 Potomac 0 — GAME ONE
• Mapes (L, 4-3) 5IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 2BB, 3K
• Thomas 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 5K
• Masters 1-2
• Webb 0-2, BB
• 0-0 RISP, 2LOB
The Keys nearly no-hit the P-Nats in the opener, shutting out Potomac 4-0 on one hit and one walk. Tyler Mapes was charged with all four Frederick runs on four hits and two walks over five innings to lose for the third time for Potomac. Justin Thomas was lights-out with five K’s to six batters faced over two innings. David Masters singled in the 3rd while Brendan Webb drew a walk in the 7th. Neither batter reached second base.
Potomac 7 Frederick 0 — GAME TWO
• Dickson (W, 3-2) 5IP, 1H, 0R, 4BB, 6K
• Valdez 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Keller 1-2, BB, RBI
• Martinez 1-3, 2R, 2B, RBI
• Webb 1-3, R, 2B
Potomac’s bats woke up in the nightcap in a 7-0 shutout of Frederick. Ian Dickson went the first five frames and got the win with a LaLoosh-like line of four walks and six whiffs over five innings with one hit allowed. R.C. Orlan followed suit with two walks and two K’s in the 6th for his third hold. Estarlin Martinez and Brendan Webb both went 1-for-3 with a double as the P-Nats scored seven times on seven hits and four walks.
Roster moves: 2B Dan Uggla, 1B-OF Tyler Moore assigned from Washington for MLB rehab; RHP Tanner Roark optioned from Washington.
Lakewood 6 Hagerstown 3
• Amlung (L, 3-3) 7IP, 9H, 6R, 5ER, BB, 2K
• D. Williams 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K
• Marmolejos-Diaz 2-4, 2RBI
• Davidson 1-2, R
Lakewood pinched Hagerstown for six runs early en route to a 6-3 win in the series opener. Justin Amlung let in all six BlueClaws runs on nine hits and a walk over seven innings for his third Low-A loss. Deion Williams followed with a scoreless 8th. “Orange” Marmolejos-Diaz’s two-run single — his second of the night — capped off a three-run 5th but the Suns were held to just five hits and three walks total while fanning 11 times.
Roster move: RHP Matt DeRosier assigned to GCL for MiLB rehab.
Mahoning Valley 3 Auburn 0
• Guilbeau 5IP, 4H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Torres (L, 5-1) 1IP, 2H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1K
• Wiseman 1-3, BB
• Kerian 1-3, BB
Mahoning Valley broke the 0-0 tie with three runs in the 9th and completed the shutout for a 3-0 to tie the series at 1-1. Taylor Guilbeau tossed five scoreless innings with four hits allowed for the no-decision. Luis Torres suffered his first loss with all three Scrappers runs allowed on two hits and two walks in his one inning of work. Rhett Wiseman and David Kerian both went 1-for-3 with a walk but the rest of the Doubleday lineup managed just three singles and a double.
Okay, I’ll take a shot at it:
Cole gets the September callup along with Grace, Martin, Solis, Difo and den Dekker.
Pedro Severino get placed on the 40-man and recalled to be the third catcher.
Reed Johnson gets activated from the 60-day DL.
Carpenter, Uggla and Moore get activated from the 15-day DL.
Roark gets recalled and fills in for Ross in the rotation when the latter is shut down in two weeks.
To accommodate the Johnson and Severino activations, E Davis and Goodwin get DFA’ed.
That will make for a pretty full clubhouse with 18 pitchers and 37 players overall, but after all the Nats ARE in “all hands on deck” mode.
Sounds about right to me.
However all this talk about the 40 man reminded me of Adrian Nieto. The Sox managed to keep hold on him, and saw he hadn’t featured for them this season, which was odd considering the White Sox have a historically bad offense this year. But it makes sense, as he hit .206/.342/.316 in AA… I hope that year in the majors didn’t destroy his development.
The bad news for Adrian Nieto is his career has been interrupted by rotting on a bench for a year.
The good news is he was paid a full year of hefty wages.
His OPS this year is .650+
Oddly enough his OPS in Chicago was nearly the same as his OPS in AA.
I don’t think the Nats roster will expand to 37.
No doubt that all the DL guys will get activated: (Johnson, Carpenter, Uggla and Moore). Agree that will add one lefty either Grace or Solis, but not both. Would guess Grace. With Turner already on the roster, I don’t think the Nats recall Difo (unless an infielder gets hurt) as they will have the ability to go two deep at each infield position with Escobar, Rendon, Desi, Turner, Espinosa and Uggla. It’s already been stated that Roark is returning on 9/1. Even though they suddenly will have a ton of OFs, agree that with Robinson as the only left handed bat off the bench that den Dekker gets recalled.
Interesting prediction about Severino. Most teams do bring up a 3rd catcher; so, agree that the Nats will place Severino on the 40 man roster as that would free up Lobaton or Ramos to pinch hit. If they do that, Davis will get DFA’d. Could be wrong, but don’t think that the Nats are ready to give up on Goodwin yet.
Martin deserves a call-up, and is far more effecitve than Fister at this point, but with Carpenter activated not sure if there is a need for another RHP.
So, my roster additions are:
P: Grace
Roark
Carpenter
C: Severino
INF: Uggla
OF: Moore
Johnson
den Dekker
That would give the Nats 15 pitchers (really 14 because Joe Ross will be shutdown early in September) and a 10 man bench. Kind of hard to see the Nats going with a roster any bigger than that. If they add one more, it would be Martin.
And McLouth will still be nowhere to be found, off counting his $10 million. Oy.
Anyway, as Karl notes, they would have to DFA someone to bring up Reed Johnson since he’s on the 60-day DL and doesn’t count toward the 40-man total. My DFA candidates would be Davis (whose season numbers are awful but who has been OK the last few weeks until giving up three in his last outing), Taylor Hill (who has been getting rocked and isn’t getting any younger), and Goodwin. Davis and Hill would be my first two DFA’s.
I think both Solis and Grace get the call, for more LH arms. I’m more with Karl for “all hands on deck,” including Beer League Martin, Cole, and Jordan.
I do agree that Severino gets the call. I would be surprised if they don’t get a third catcher, and Severino would make more sense than a waiver-wire rental.
The only other thought I have is whether they think about clearing a space for Skole to get another big LH bat on the bench. It’s hard to see it, though, as he’s hitting .192 at Syracuse, .222 for the season. Would they DFA someone to add Skole and his 17 dingers?
Just can’t see Skole getting called up.
While I love the idea of a lefthanded power bat, this guy can’t get hit minor league-right handed pitching (and lefties he’s even worse) and if he can’t do that, I can’t see him being any good in the Nats situation.
Best thing for Skole is a good season of winter ball in the DR or PR and come have a strong spring and a good start to AAA next year.