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Offseason Update: Feb. 18, 2025

Position players report today – tomorrow we find out who’s in the best shape of their lives.

We’re still a few more days away before the first spring training game, to be started by MacKenzie Gore, according to MASN.

As noted in the comments, Top 100 season continues with FanGraphs issuing its version with Dylan Crews ranked #3, Jarlin Susana ranked #19, and Travis Sykora coming in at #84. One has to wonder if the recent news that Sykora had undergone hip surgery last fall affected his ranking.



Well maybe not last fall. That presumes that if Sykora will be ready to pitch in May that the Nationals are following the recovery timeline outlined by those hacks at The Cleveland Clinic. GM Mike Rizzo, who did not graduate from college much less medical school, characterized the procedure as “minor,” so that presumption may be too optimistic.

Finally, the Nats made a minor move on Monday, signing LHP Colin Poche a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training. The 31-y.o. southpaw pitched for the Rays for most of last summer, posting a 3.86/4.88/1.15 across 37⅓ innings and 43 appearances.

7 Commments

  1. Looks like WordPress ate part of the post.

    On the Sykora ranking, Longenhagen actually addresses the Sykora injury news:

    “Mike Rizzo told reporters that Sykora will be out until close to the middle of the 2025 season; he had a hip procedure during the offseason and will start the year in extended spring training. It didn’t impact his grade here, and so long as Sykora’s stuff looks the same when he returns, he’ll still have mid-rotation projection.”

    I also really like the nickname Longhagen gave Sykora: Sequoia. If he hasn’t been called that by now, he should be.

    Plus, 84th is right around the consensus for Sykora, maybe slightly low.

    Susana at 19th, however, is stunning. No one else has been remotely this high on Susana. Longenhagen is enamored with Susana’s slider. He even raved about it again in the chat. It’s interesting, because Keith Law was just insisting in his own top 100 list that Susana’s future is merely a reliever, because his two-pitch mix and his FB velocity playing down. You couldn’t get two more contrasting scouting reports than these two. Here’s to hoping Longenhagen is right.

    1. Well, McDaniel did say that Susana would be the 1/1 pick in the 2025 draft if he were in college, even though he ranked him at only #53. I think Longenhagen pretty much believes the same think but actually ranked him accordingly. And I applaud that. Too many of these gurus ignore potential ceiling. That’s what I was saying about how they were ranking Wood last year. Fan-boy on Chourio all you want, but could he hit 50 homers?

      It’s similar with Susana. The top two college arms in the draft this year are Arnold and Bremner, but neither is particularly big. In this day and age, would you bet a 1/1 pick on a starting pitcher who doesn’t weigh 200 pounds?

      Susana is far from a sure thing, but he’s got several plus-plus elements if he can harness them.

      In other Longenhagen news, he seems more bullish on Crews’s power than Law is. Law has him pegged as a 20-25 HR guy. Longenhagen writes of Crews as more of a 30/30-type player (although he doesn’t actually give number projections). I’ll admit to some personal skepticism of the 60 power grade from FG. We’ll see. I still see Crews as more of a Rendon type.

    2. I repeat at this spiritual hour when dogs bark in their REM sleep
      Bullpens evolve .
      Acosta
      Zach B
      Several lefties loogies to join the conga line but we must admit that Ferrar Jr might be destined to an All- Star nod in future .
      It’s in the stars cards .. tea leaves .. have you had enough of mine, Steely Dan ?

  3. Probably doesn’t mean a whole lot, but at the first full practice yesterday Cayden Wallace played 2B.

    1. Wallace leads Delino or any skipper flexibility in his infield
      St Patrick’s day is upcoming . Maybe Finnegsn returns to Nats in a green cap ?

    2. Oh c’mon, what good is Spring Training if we can’t leap to conclusions on the first day?! LOL.

      I was actually curious what position they envision for Wallace. There would be less power expectation at 2B than 3B. Wallace is probably the best secondary option at 3B if House struggles, though. Considering Wallace’s lost season at AA last summer, it might be best to start him back at AA anyway. He will only be in his age-23 season, so there’s time.

      Wallace flashed significant power in his last season at ARK (16 HR, 20 doubles in 67 games), but it hasn’t translated to the pros yet.

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