Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 3-0 | vs. Iowa, 6:05 p.m. | Watkins (7-7, 4.61) vs. Noland (5-2, 5.27) |
| Fredericksburg | Postponed | vs. Kannapolis, 5:05 p.m. | Clemmey (0-0, 14.73) and/or Sykora (0-0, 0.00) vs. McDougal (0-0, 6.75) and/or Moore (0-0, 3.00 ERA) |
Iowa 3 Rochester 0
• Alvarez (L, 4-7) 6IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 6K, WP
• Acosta 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 4K
• Cluff 1-4
• Lipscomb 1-4
Rochester did its best imitation of the 2024 Wilimington Blue Rocks and plastered Iowa for two hits in a 3-0 shutout, their 10th of the season. Andrew Alvarez gave up all three runs on four hits and four walks over six innings. He struck out six but lost for the seventh time. Trey Lipscomb had the first singled with a one-out grounder up the middle in the 1st. Jackson Cluff broke up the one-hitter with a line-drive single to left to lead off the 6th. Andrew Pincket was the sole batter to reach second, thanks to an HBP followed by a WP. He then watched the next three batters go in order for the 0-for-3 with runner in scoring position.
Fredericksburg vs. Kannapolis – PPD
After making the fans wait for more than two hours, Game Two of the Mills Cup Championship was postponed to tonight, where they’ll finish the series… weather permitting. Travis Sykora is not officially listed as a starter for either game, but today would be normal (six days) rest.
Continuing yesterday’s thread of turning Soto into a first baseman: I have never been one of those who believes it is practical to “hide” an outfielder at first base. It would take an extraordinary athlete like Harper to make that kind of switch, and Harper came up as a catcher. (You can cite others who made the switch.) First base is a hot corner for left-handed hitters. You have to scoop up wild throws. You have to learn all the quick and fancy footwork around the bag. You handle the ball more than any player outside the battery. We are seeing right now how below-average first basemen, not counting Gallo, can affect a game. Soto, as a below-average outfielder, would probably be a way-below-average first baseman. Worth a try, if you have a half-billion to gamble. Soto is worth less than that as DH, but you lose more by keeping him in the OF.
It would seem like the optimal defensive 1B would be someone trained as an infielder, like Morales or House, guys who have the instincts of a 3B. Between Wood’s size and his lack of infield experience, it likely would be a difficult transition for him, no matter how good an athlete he is. He certainly would have extraordinary reach to snare throws, though.
As for Soto, trying to find a place for him would be a good “problem” to have. The Nats certainly have massive “cap space” (to use the NFL term) to pursue him, since they’ve hardly spent anything the last couple of seasons.
Riley Adams could not transition to first base (not that easy). Good points EdDC!
By the way, Adams played shortstop his first year in varsity high school!!!
In terms of the Soto “ full circle “ to play 1b for Davey
What writer coined the literary phrase : “ you can’t go home again ?”
Andrew Alvarez the leader of Nats farm arms starters in IP @ 132?
Acosta has sure finished his season in true “ hum baby form “.
Now for the rehabbing starters in Luke’s favorite WP program or in a therapy program somewhere .
Is there actual evidence of Adams not making the transition to 1B? They played him at 1B for only 3 games in Rochester, after hyping up his demotion as a chance to give him reps at 1B, which was a really frustrating, and seems like a pretty dishonest thing to do. I didn’t see any of those 3 games, but he didn’t commit any errors, so they couldn’t have been total disasters.
If Soto is making $50m/yr, that’s $308k per game. He’d be my DH because I don’t want him anywhere near a batted ball that he didn’t hit himself.
Soto just doesn’t fit with how the Nats have constructed their rebuild. Jacob Young (the Nats’ 2nd most valuable batter this season, by the way, at 2.7 WAR) plus Wood and Crews are the outfield for the next 5-6 years.
Does it make sense to pay Soto $500m/10years to be our 1B/DH? I’m not convinced.
I’d rather sink a decent portion of that $500m into Corbin Burnes, or on a couple of reclamation projects (after doing thorough homework) on someone like Bieber, Buehler or Giolito, and save the remainder for the 2025 offseason.
I’d have to agree… it’s almost always a stud pitcher that takes a team over the top. As much as a horrible person he is off the field, on the field Curt Schilling was what put the Red Sox over the top from ’03 to ’04. You could make the same case (in both ways) with Patrick Corbin. But right now, the Nats don’t even have true #2 starter, never mind a #1. So if they’re going to open up the checkbook, I think it’d be wise into looking into pitching.
Back to Alvarez
What with the winter time departure of Corbin and Williams and Gray rehabbing back
This might be the time Alvarez makes a debut in the bigs in 2025
Meanwhile Bennett Sullivan Agostini and Adonis make their way back to affiliate game competition instead of the complex simulated games
I was at the Rochester game Tuesday night. The fireworks after the game were the best part. The entire team wanted to finish early although Iowa wasn’t exactly smacking the ball either. Although Alston finished the game facing 5 batters with two strikeouts.