Monday’s News & Notes

18 Commments

1. Brigham Hill hasn’t looked good all year, but got his first win of the season. His control is worrying, having walked as many (15) as a he struck out in 25 IP in Hagerstown. He looked to me like one of the quick risers from the 2017 draft, but has now been surpassed by 5 or 6 other pitchers from the same draft.

   1. Bullpenner
      Any word on Alex Troop??
      Eyes on Alastre tonight

      1. Bring back Matt Page until someday ready @ Hags for Pot
         To fill Wiseman ABs

2. Can anyone confirm that Grant Borne is not dead?

   What is up with him? There’s been no reports of injuries, but he’s constantly been missing games, but never long enough for it to be a TJ or other serious injury. Just three months here and there.

   It’s a shame, because in his limited time, he always looked like a really good player.

   1. Who knows. These 7 day DL postings like with Jason ( non Bourne identity ) Martinson turns into 3 month
      Situation with off the field health issue
      The cool situation with the DSL crop is that now we know the possible depth chart layers with lefty swinging bats for OF/ IF and 1b

3. Also, great to see Daniel Johnson back. Seems the Nats (and their prospects) are all getting healthy around the same time.

   In other news, Victor Robles is now hitting .385/.579/.385 in the GCL. Compare that to his slash in Syracuse earlier of .385/.467/.385. The guy is consistent!

   With Soto and Robles in the mix and Eaton and Taylor to split the remaining time, I would love for the Nationals to shop Harper around. The quotes on the O’s asking price for Machado are comparable to what the Nats should be asking for. If we could get a top 100 pitching prospect (something we desperately need), we wouldn’t even have a noticeable drop off swapping Robles for Harper.

   The A’s are surprisingly in the playoff hunt, and have a pretty bad OF, giving a lot of ABs to Dustin Fowler and Matt Joyce. I wonder if they’d consider giving us back Luzardo for three+ months of Harper?

   That’s probably too much to ask, but I could also swallow my pride and deal Harper to the Braves or Phillies, if we could get one of the Braves plethora of pitching prospects, like Touki Toussant, Ian Anderson, Max Fried, Kyle Wright or Mike Soroka.

   Then start giving reps to Kieboom at 2B (WHY IS THIS NOT HAPPENING ALREADY?!), sign Yasmani Grandal and and we could potentially have a line up of:

   Eaton (RF)
   Robles (CF)
   Turner (SS)
   Soto (LF)
   Rendon (3B)
   Adams/Reynolds/Zimmerman platoon (1B)
   Grandal (C)
   Kieboom (2B)

   Rotation:
   Scherzer
   Strasburg
   Roark
   Bring back Gio/sign Patrick Corbin or some other FA like Charlie Morton/Tyson Ross/Kershaw (lol)
   Joe Ross/Fedde/Voth/new pitching prospect

   1. Nats aren’t trading Harper before the deadline, and in the massively unlikely scenario that they contemplated trading Bryce this month, there is a less than zero chance the Nats would deal him to the Braves or Phillies. Nats want to win the division; they aren’t going to help a rival, and even as poorly as the Nats have played, the organization still believes that the current team (with a tweak or two) is better than the Braves and Phillies.

      That said, fully expect an OF to go before the deadline as the Nats have needs (catcher, starting pitcher, another bullpen arm). They are not trading Robles, Soto, Harper or Eaton (he probably isn’t tradeable given his knee injury); so, suspect that MAT would be the one offered in any upcoming deals; Robles looks like he would be ready to play at the MLB level by August, and the organization has a glut of OF talent. So, if the Nats make a trade deadline deal, would expect to include MAT, maybe Luis Garcia and then an arm depending on the quality and controllability of the talent that they get back.

      1. I agree that they’re not trading Harper. Dicker all you want about whether they “could” or “should,” but it’s not happening. I also agree that a trade involving MAT or Goodwin (who has very limited value right now) might be coming. Neither is starting, and both have awful numbers pinch-hitting.

         But would Robles be playing much if he is healthy and brought up soon? Or would he just replace Taylor as someone who is starting a couple of times a week? Would the Nats burn a year of Robles’s service time to have him as a sub? I realize they’re in a position that they need to do *everything* they can to gain some momentum, but I’m not sure how much momentum Robles would provide as a PH/PR. He certainly would provide some energy, though.

         With the emergence of Soto, I also don’t think the concept of trading Robles is as completely off the table as it used to be. An OF after this season of Soto/MAT/Eaton wouldn’t be bad. I’m not saying they’ll be actively shopping Robles, just that it’s no longer impossible. I’m not sure that there’s a “big enough” trade out there for him to be included, though, despite the persistent Realmuto rumors. I’m not sure they’ll even be dealing “big enough” to threaten the loss of Garcia. We’ll see.

         1. The Nats have to know that Harper is not a winning solution in CF. Balls drop that should be caught; he still throws to wrong base often; Harper is minus RF is he is a double minus CFer. That is another reason why the Nats aren’t going to re-sign Harper; Soto will play everyday for the next 5 years; and Eaton is under contract for a couple of more years, and he doesn’t have the legs to play CF. Robles is the CF of the future.

            There is reason MAT almost always starts when Max is on the mound; Scherzer doesn’t want Harper in CF. If/when MAT is traded, they can’t get away with playing Harper in CF everyday; not a workable solution. So, Robles will have to come up.

      2. I agree that what you’re saying is what Rizzo will do, I just question the sanity in again trading away the future for a fundamentally flawed team in the present.

         One catcher or relief pitcher isn’t going to turn the team into a .650 ball club, as they’d likely need to be to make the playoffs (currently 9 out of 14 teams are better than the Nationals; they need to be significantly better than half of them to even get a WC spot). Meanwhile, their rotation is facing impending doom, and Harper, who no longer has a future with this team, could yield a top quality prospect to plug one of those 3 unoccupied rotation spots next season. Meanwhile, the loss of Harper might not even make this team worse. Statistically, an OF of Soto/Taylor/Eaton is better than one of Soto/Eaton/Harper this season. Plus, it creates space for Robles to act as a wild card.

         But in the end, we’ll probably trade away Garcia and Wil Crowe, only to trade away the next version of them in two years because we don’t have any upper-minors talent in the farm system to fill their void, and the cycle will repeat.

      3. I would say Goodwin more than MAT since the Cuban @ AAA is
         Turning it on.
         We will never know if DSL Nats would have completed the no-no vs the Yanx kids
         To borrow a friends idea : Mr Greene in Detroit
         Lend me a lefty in Aberdeen today.
         Y Ramirez still a work in progress whether starter or reliever ? Age on his side for brass determination

   2. Even were the Nats to consider trading Harper, they are not going to get anywhere near the return the O’s will get for Machado. Since both would be rentals, the fact that one is having a career year and the other is playing at REPLACEMENT level despite his home runs would be a big factor. There’s also the fact that Machado’s salary is only 70% of Harper’s this year–which means Harper will cost a couple of million more in payroll. Harper’s attitude right now is also so bad he really does look like the clubhouse cancer sportswriters used to say he would be back when he got drafted.

      Unless the Lerners are willing to eat Harper’s remaining salary–something they have bee loathe to ever do–the Nats probably wouldn’t even get a prospect in return equivalent to the draft pick they’ll lose when he walks.

   3. I like Robinson Chirinos on Texas as a plan C option for stretch drive.
      One has to think in the soul like an ole Ex-po fan. Harper is walking
      While Lerners await this off season for the MASN contract ruling .
      Retain the assets , Mr Rizzo.
      The rotation and other needs can be re- tooled with the Harper salary
      Number once on the Lerner ledger .
      Crowe rises next season for possible MLB debut. Sign a Corbin , draft a stud arm off the NCAA realm, cross fingers on Koda Glover staying healthy .
      Interesting that the Nats stepped Up their Latin commitment as the Harper era winds down.
      Like the Senators in by gone days signing Cuban talent . Johnny DiP–
      Becomes more crucial to the overall
      Game plan .
      Agree. Gio’s 12 million can go into a younger Corbin, perhaps a higher pedigree bullpen lefty , and a couple bench pieces.
      Time will tell

4. Everyone is acting like the Nats are out of it already. 5.5 games behind teams you play multiple times and have no pedigree.

   I know just a all star game but at the futures game Kieboom looked overmatched on the breaking balls that put him down in his two at bats.

   On the otherhand Garcia looked pretty impressive for a 18 y/o.

5. Kieboom was struggling heading into the game (2 for his last 22 with 8 Ks). He had been so hot; not surprising that he is struggling a little. This should temper the talk of Kieboom’s promotion to the Bigs.

   1. Two guys to follow HR wise for
      Rest of season is , of course, Wiseman , but Esthay is get warmer .

6. What a walk off in Harrisburg.
   Ducks bullpen helped.
   Imagine that GS in a playoff game.
   Makes one think about that Milton Bradley walk off to win EL title. ..

7. Ysel Antuna.
   Youngest player in low-A; I think. (Or if not the youngest, was at the start of the year). Mendoza line with not great defense in the first half of the season; understandably, as there’s a monumental learning curve to get up.

   However…..

   .900 OPS in July….;)

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