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Marlins Tie Nats, Beat Nats

Yesterday afternoon, the Nats ‘pen blew leads of 7-2 , 8-6, and 9-8 to finish with a kiss-your-sister 9-9 tie to the Marlins in Jupiter.

Mitchell Parker made his third ST start and gave up two runs on two solo HRs and four hits total over four innings. He walked none and struck out four.

Robert Hassell and Daylen Lile started in CF and LF respectively and played the entire game. Hassell singled, doubled, and struck out in five trips to the plate while Lile walked and scored a run in four plate appearances.

The first blown save belonged to Evan Reifert, who let in an inherited runner in the 5th and three runs of his own in the 6th. He retired three of eigbt batters faced and allowed two hits and two walks while fanning two.

Chase Solesky took the second blown save as a one-out HR tied the game in the 9th. Solesky retired the next two batters to preserve the tie, finishing with a two strikeouts in his sole inning pitched.

Here’s how the watchlisters fared coming off the bench:

  • Yoyo Morales pinch-ran for Nathaniel Lowe and took over 1B. He also drew a walk.
  • Armando Cruz pinch-ran for Keibert Ruiz but did not score or play on defense.
# # #

Hours later and 20 minutes down 95, the Nats’ split squad pitchers tossed two scoreless innings. The other seven innings? Not so much, as Florida doubled up Washington, 10-5.

Offseason pickup Shinnosuke Ogasawara was lit up again, harpooned for five runs (three earned) on seven hits (one HR) and three walks over three and 2/3rds innings. He struck out two and took his second ST loss in four starts.

Dylan Crews returned to action and batted second while playing RF but was hitless in three at-bats. The rest of the watchlisters came off the bench:

  • Cayden Wallace subbed for Luis García Jr. at 2B in the 7th and had an RBI single in the 8th.
  • Brenner Cox replaced Crews in RF and struck out to end the 7th.
  • Andrew Pinckney followed James Wood in LF and struck out to lead off the 8th.
  • Seaver King took over SS from C.J. Abrams and grounded out to end the 8th.
  • Brady House pinch-ran for 3B Amed Rosario in the 7th and scored a run, took over 3B in the 8th, then fanned to lead off the 9th.
  • Elijah Green replaced Jacob Young on defense in CF and did not strike out (or bat).

The Nats have their final scheduled off day today. They return to action tomorrow against their West Palm Beach co-tenants. Trevor Williams is expected to start.

14 Commments

  1. Since I was talking about the most impressive arms of the Spring yesterday, perhaps the two most disappointing: Reifert and Ogasawara.

    Reifert had yet huge struggle locating his pitches. He three 3 wild pitches to accompany his 2 walks in only one inning. He now has 7 BB in only 5.2 IP. I think he’ll still break camp with the Nats, if only because he’s lost forever otherwise as a Rule 5 pick. But it doesn’t look like he’ll be with the team long.

    Ogasawara has been very, very hittable. I wasn’t expecting him to be a strikeout machine, but his game is to limit hitters to weak contact. That’s not happened. He’s allowed 16 (!) hits in only 8.1 IP including 2 HR. And he’s been allowing quite a bit more flyballs than groundballs. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Ogawara came out of the gates hot, hitters having never seen his stuff before, followed by a cooling off period, as the scouting reports trickled in. But it’s been the opposite. He’s fooled no one from day one. He’ll need to adapt himself.

    1. Is this where I point out that the Nats can literally return him when they visit the Rays on Thursday? /Homer backs into the bushes

    2. All the best to Jarrett Gonzales in his next life phase ,
      Following his father into org contributions in coaching or scouting , Luke ??

    1. I think so. He has as much MLB service time as most people reading this, which means he has options. That he’s 27 is irrelevant in terms of the roster rules.

      1. But what players with no service time can sign a 2 year/$3.5m contract?

        There’s clearly some sort of special case for posted NPB players, I just can’t pinpoint where it spells out this case.

        1. And you’re probably right… I mean, when was the last time this happened? Leave it to the Nats to have us trying to figure out something that shouldn’t be an issue.

    2. You actually raise a really interesting question. In one of the articles when Ogasawara signed it explicitly says “If he needs more time to develop, Ogasawara could be optioned to Triple-A Rochester to start the season, but Rizzo noted, “our plan is that he’s big league ready.”” (https://www.mlb.com/news/shinnosuke-ogasawara-contract-with-nationals)

      But I don’t really understand the contractual basis for this. Ogasawara, as best I can tell, signed a major league deal, whereas signing a minor league deal was an option. Koyo Aoyagi signed one with the Phillies this winter and last season Naoyuki Uwasawa signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. So I don’t understand what would allow the Nats to option him to AAA. Do posted players get allocated options unlike a normal free agent? FanGraphs seems to suggest they get 3 options on his player page, so it seems sending him to Rochester isn’t an issue at all. But does anyone know where this is stated in the CBA or some other agreement?

      I always just assumed Ogasawara would start the season in AAA, even if he had a decent Spring, if only because we’ve already got too many SPs at the moment, and Rizzo keeps promising starter roles to players. Like Soroka and Williams, Rizzo keeps talking about Ogasawara as a starter. It’s already kind of crazy, in the middle of a rebuild, we’re sending one of Parker/Herz/Irvin back to the minors after showing each of them could hold their own in the majors to make space for Mike Soroka. If Ogasawara forced a second of the trio down to the minors, I’d question what the whole point of a rebuild is that actively blocks playing time to your best prospects.

      1. C’mon. Maybe Soroka isn’t the answer (although his stuff looks good so far), but the Nats could not go into 2025 without trying to upgrade the rotation. If Herz and Parker perform well in Rocheser, they will get their chances in 2025, but good teams build rotation depth.

        1. Soroka was signed on a one year deal. Yes, he certainly has the potential to upgrade the rotation, but to what end? We go from 71 wins to 74? Great. And then Soroka leaves as a free agent, and any “bounce back” benefits are lost.

          His purpose isn’t to make the team better in 2025, it’s to yield a prospect or two at the deadline, and make the team better in 2027 and later, which in isolation is a good idea.

          But if these short term, fill out the roster additions begin to block the actual future: Parker/Herz/Irvin’s playing time, it becomes problematic. Signing just Soroka for the rotation makes a lot of sense. Soroka and Williams starts getting problematic, unless there’s some significant injuries. Signing Soroka, Williams AND Ogasawara to be in the rotation is stupid and will impede our young arms’ development. If we’d done this last year, we’d have never had the opportunity to give playing time to Parker and Herz, who proved to be, at a minimum, capable innings eaters, but with significant upside.

      2. Re options and ML contracts, here’s how I understand it:

        Almost all players come into MLB by signing amateur deals. Other than the signing bonus, these contracts are all exactly the same. If they are ever added to an ML roster, they are subject to the usual salary and control rules. These guys can be released at anytime and no future earnings are guaranteed.

        Separately, there is a system of where each player has up to 3 (or occasionally 4) option years where they play part of the season in the minors while being on the 40. One of the quirks of that system is that players can refuse to be optioned after earning 5 years of service time. Since all the players on the standard amateur contract don’t reach FA until they have 6 years of service time, almost all major league FAs have the right to refuse an option assignment. And with a fully guaranteed contract, almost any player who has the right to refuse would do so.

        But foreign professionals – players with at least 9 years of service time in a foreign league – are the exception. These guys are free agents and can sign a fully guaranteed ML contract with any team for any amount. But they don’t have any ML service time. So teams can option them if they want. The team doesn’t get to tack on years of control the way they do with guys on amateur contracts, and they have to keep paying his ML salary even when he’s in the minors, but Oga hasn’t used up his 3 options and Oga doesn’t have the 5 years of service that give him the right to refuse, so Oga is optionable.

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