Wednesday’s News & Notes

19 Commments

1. Farewell, de los Santos. I thought at the time that they rushed him to the majors briefly last year that they’d regret having him on the 40-man. It was a mistake in foresight as well as hindsight. Like several who posted yesterday, I would have had Nick Lee higher on my DFA line.

   Great AAA debut by Giolito, showing no ill effects from Citi Field. Also another strong outing by Fedde. You would think he’ll be getting the AA call soon . . . or shut down, as he’s already at 114% of his 2015 innings.

   As for Lopez, I kept thinking of all of Luke’s comments about how the Nats really seemed to make him work on his secondary pitches last year at Potomac. That work paid off. The curve and change-up (slider?) were better than advertised, which Lobaton figured out as well, as he started calling for them more often. Lopez’s poise was just as impressive. It may look like a rough outing on paper, but there was a lot to like for the future.

   1. The mistake on De Los Santos was that by bringing him up and the sending him down almost immediately they burned an option. Had he not been added to the 40-man by last offseason, however, he would have been vulnerable to the Rule 5 draft and they likely would have lost him anyway. Frankly, he looked like a better prospect before the season than he does now.

2. That was quick–Schrock has already replaced De los Santos on MLB.com’s Nats’ Top 30 prospects list (not on the main page, you have to click on through to the actual list). Schrock enters the list at No. 20, but there are no other changes or updates.

   While it isn’t great to lose a 23-year old arm, De Los Santo’s lack of a big fastball seemed to get exposed this year. Wish him luck in Cincy, where the bullpen is so bad he’s liable to be their closer by next week. 🙂

3. Good teams get their players claimed immediately (the Reds are among the first in line for those that are DFAs); the Reds claim of De Los Santos shows the current depth in the organization.

4. Really baffling stuff from the Nats.

   de los Santos is 2 years younger than Lee, and has at times displayed fantastic stuff (last season in Harrisburg springs to mind). I have no idea what they see in Lee. He’s never dominated a level, and has always struggled with his command. He’s also several behind in the LH RP pecking order.

   Best of luck to Abel in Cincinnati.

5. I hope this signals the breakouts of Stevenson and Ward in Harrisburg.

   Any news on Robles’ wrist?

   Also, Fedde has now posted a 0.69 ERA over his past 8 starts. Remember when everyone was so ready to write him off earlier this season?

   1. Fedde’s SO/9 and BB/9 ratios were quite good even when he was struggling. Figured it was just a matter of him still regaining control after the TJ surgery.

6. Curious what they do with Fedde the rest of the season. As noted, he has a 0.69 ERA his last 8 starts (39 IP, 27 H, 8 BB, 3 ER, 36 K) and hasn’t allowed more than one run in any of them. He’s real close to being ready for a promotion, if he’s not already there.

   At the same time, he pitched 64 innings last year an he’s already at 73. If you assume the Nats’ MO of about 2o more innings per year post-TJ, he’s only got a couple of more starts so it might be best to wait till next year to bump him to AA.

   However, a look at Lucas Giolito’s innings increase shows that after surgery in 2012, he pitched 36 in 2013, but jumped to 98 in 2014 and 117 last year. So they allowed a big bump in the second year after TJ, which is where Fedde is now, so they might allow him more than 84 or so innings this year, which could impact the decision to promote him.

   All of this ignores the very real possibility that it won’t be the Nats who decide when to shut him down this summer. With the way he’s been pitching, his stock is soaring and for a team looking to win now, he is probably their best “not untouchable” piece if you assume Giolito, Turner, Robles and Lopez aren’t getting moved unless Mike Trout comes in return.

   Could easily see Fedde fetching someone like Charlie Blackmon.

   1. This morning, Rizzo unequivocally stated that the Nats were not engaged in discussions for Charlie Blackmon. While public pronouncements before the trading deadline are not worth much, Rizzo went out of his way to go beyond “no comment” and to specifically refute the report that the Nats were inquiring about Blackmon.

      Depending upon who is available, I would say the only untouchables are Giolito, Turner and Robles (barring Mike Trout becoming available). I think they feel they have enough starting pitching depth in the organization to deal Lopez.

      1. Someone “like” Charlie Blackmon.

         Didn’t say it would be Blackmon per se, but I can’t see the Nats not trying to add an OF (or 1B) bat. Way too little production from key spots for Rizzo to stand pat, especially when he has a strong minor league system that has 5 of the top 61 prospects in baseball and just had a strong draft and international signing period.

         Also, while I don’t think Rizzo is lying, a GM’s trade denial doesn’t hold much water till after the trade deadline. We all know Rizzo keeps his cards very close to his vest.

   2. Formerly, good points on the innings increase for Giolito over the last couple of years. Fedde may not be as close to shut down as I thought.

      I have always been a Fedde skeptic, since he was drafted, although I’ve been impressed with his last couple of months. I do agree, however, that he may be the most “available” of the Nats’ top prospect arms, although I’m sure Voth and Cole would be on the tradable list as well.

      Here’s a point I haven’t seen made about Fedde: he’s older than Giolito, Lopez, and Joe Ross, and Fedde is still at A+. I happen to be one who thinks the age card is often overplayed in the alternate universe of ProspectWorld, but it’s definitely a thing, particularly when it comes to trade value. Cole seems to have been terribly devalued . . . at 24. Voth just turned 24 as well.

      Pilchard, I hope Lopez is still “untouchable.” He sure has been mentioned in a lot of trade speculation over the last couple of years, though, for whatever that’s worth. On the flipside, I think they’d listen to offers on Robles, although they had better be very, very good ones. He still needs to demonstrate the HR power to allow him to play a corner OF slot to rise to “can’t miss” status (and learn to dodge pitches better!).

      1. I’d actually suspect Robles and Turner are the most ‘untouchable’.

         Strasburg, Scherzer, Ross and Roark are all under team control for 4+ years. That leaves one spot for Giolito, Lopez, Voth, Fedde, Cole, and others.

         Meanwhile, we’re desperate for OF help. Werth is in his final stages of usefulness, Harper hits FA after next season, and Revere and Taylor are playing themselves off the team. While Robles is still only in high A, he could reach the majors as soon as late 2017/early 2018, just in time for Harper’s possible departure. Besides Goodwin, whose big league impact is still in question, there’s no other top OF prospects in the pipeline who stand to make an impact in the next 2+ seasons.

         Thus, Robles is more valuable to the Nats than he is to most other teams. Meanwhile, guys like Voth, Fedde and even Lopez are comparatively less valuable to the Nats than they are to other teams. If we trade some of our top 10 prospects away, they’re going to be SPs.

      2. My guess is that the Nats value their quartet of near MLB ready starters in this order:

         1. Giolito
         2. Fedde
         3. Lopez
         4. Voth

         The first two have big frames, draft pedigrees and received huge signing bonuses, meaning the team has the most invested in them. If Lopez is what it takes to get a deal done, I’ll bet they trade him.

         1. Lopez throws 5+ MPH faster than Fedde, frame or no frame. Voth just gets guys out. Always has; always will. Both of them would be ahead of Fedde on my list, but perhaps not Rizzo’s. I’ve always thought Voth would get traded.

            There are a couple of new factors in the starter sweepstakes, though. The Strasburg re-signing was a surprise, probably even to many in the organization. And Roark’s reestablishment of himself, or whatever you want to call it, also changes the dynamics. There are fewer open slots in the MLB rotation going forward, and therefore, more guys who might be available.

            Will, I agree that the Nats are very low on position players. I WANT Robles to turn into that 5-tool guy. But with the last couple of drafts and the Soto signing, they’ve stocked up on OFs. Stevenson and Perkins from last year and Johnson and Upshaw from this season are all speedy CF types who may or may not show enough power to play LF/RF (although Johnson may have some pop, and they hope Perkins develops it, although he’s not very big). Wiseman and Banks are more the hopes for the corner OF slots, but again, they’ve got to show the pop.

            They really need someone from among this crew to step up and lead the line of Werth’s potential replacements. Of course that might still be Taylor, leaving room for a lesser-powered guy to replace Revere . . . unless Blackmon or someone else happens in the meantime.

            I would prefer that they keep Robles. If they move him, it had better be for a class of player better than Blackmon or any reliever (particularly a half-season rental). That said, Robles’ value may currently be at its peak, while is power is still “projectable.” No one knows a prospect better than his own organization.

7. Koda Glover added to the MLB roster for tonight’s game; meteoric rise for him. For those that believed Lee should’ve been DFA’d instead of De Los Santos, Lee was DFA’d today. Lopez was sent back to Cuse. Will be interesting to see what their next DFA’d move as the next one would be painful.

   1. Happy for Glover. When was the last time a Nats draft pick made the majors this fast? Glover made it quicker than Strasburg, Storen and Harper. Ross Detwiler made it a few months after being drafted in 07 so that may be the answer. Here’s hoping Glover is tad more successful than Det. (Who I’m STILL not ready to give up on!)

      As for the next DFA, hopefully the Nats clear some 40-man space with a trade or two rather than letting these guys go.

      1. Martin or Grace would probably be the next in the DFA conga line, although either might net a little in a trade. Among the position players, I would have said Difo a few weeks ago, but he’s finally gotten it in gear (up to .256). I wouldn’t think they would DFA den Dekker, but he is scuffling along at .218 and probably doesn’t have much value right now. He looked so good with the big club at the end of last season. But yeah, all in all, the next cut would hit a quality player.

         I’ve been touting Glover for a long time (relatively speaking, since he was just drafted last year) so I’m eager to see what he can do with his shot. I’m glad the Nats are giving the internal big arms a look before overpaying for an external reliever.

         1. I’ve been suggesting that Loby should be the next on the list to DFA. He’s doing very little for the Nats and Severino should be no worse than comparable. Plus, with Kieboom also on the 40, it’s awkward to have 4 catchers on the 40 man.

            1. They really like Lobaton’s pitch-calling and that he’s a switch-hitter. I wouldn’t mind a trade for a better bat as the second catcher (bringing Suzuki back for the stretch run would be nice) but I doubt the Nats go that route.

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