Catching up on Transactions
Still on hiatus but I thought this would be something I could do on my phone to help keep the site semifresh.
SYRACUSE
• C Jhonatan Solano placed on the 3-Day TIL
• RHP A.J. Cole optioned to Washington
POTOMAC
• RHP Whit Mayberry reassigned from Harrisburg
• 2B Max Schrock traded to Oakland for LHP Marc Rzepczynski and cash considerations.
HAGERSTOWN
• LHP Tyler Watson promoted from Auburn
• SS Tyler Beckwith promoted from the GCL
No word on who gets called Tyler and who gets called O.T. (Other Tyler).
As always please discuss in the comments.
Surprising that Beckwith skipped Auburn… especially given the current SS options there.
Given how well Schrock has hit in the minors, seems like a high price to pay for a guy with a career 3.87 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.
At the same time, the Nats need help now AND Schrock, with Turner, Difo and the current starting IF ahead of him, was definitely blocked for the next couple of years.
Can’t say I like this trade but I do like that Rizzo saw a need and tried to address it.
How many years have we been talking about the Nats bullpen problems? For whatever reason, the Nats just can’t seem to put a quality one together. Whether it be through poor free agent signings (Perez now being the latest one), bad trades (Papelbon, Blevin), or not being able to harness the talent of some youngsters (Felipe Rivero, Xavier Cedeno), it just feels like there is constant turnover and no one ever steps up (although finally Melancon seems to be a keeper – hope they resign him). Now the bullpen is in shambles again and they are forced to overpay. I mean come on, Schrock for Marc Rzepczynski? And on another note, the bigger elephant in the room is the Zimmerman situation – there is no way the Nats are going anywhere with their 1B hitting .230 with terrible situational hitting. If they are going to overpay at this point, i’d rather they go for some offensive help.
Espinosa hits FA in 2018. Murphy hits FA in 2019. Our middle IF options are going to be pretty thin right around the time Schrock was expected to be ready for the majors.
Oops that was meant to be a response to Guest.
This is a fair point, but Difo and obviously Turner are right there, assuming they can find a way to get Difo adequate ABs at the big league level till then.
Behind Schrock, are this year’s draft picks and July 2 international signings. The Nats drafted IFs in the 1st (Kieboom) and 2nd (Neuse) rounds and three of the top international signings, all of whom are listed as middle IFs in Yasel Antuna, Luis Garcia and Jose Sanchez.
Between this year’s additions and Difo and Turner there’s the likes of Kelvin Gutierrez and Osvaldo Abreu. Then there’s 3B in Drew Ward and Anderson Franco, and while neither of them will likely play 2B, they decrease the odds the above IFs will switch to the hot corner, thus increasing the odds of some of them playing 2B.
In short, the Nats have enough depth in the IF that they can afford to trade a good-hitting, no-defense IF prospect like Max Schrock to try and solidify an obvious weakness to help them win now.
You know how everyone jokes about how we traded 50 ABs of Cristian Guzman for Tanner Roark? Well this trade is going to go down just like that.
There’s 36 games left of the season. If Rzep optimistically pitches every other game for 0.2 IP (he’s averaging less than that per appearance), then he’ll have thrown 12 IP for the Nationals by the end of the season. Factor in another 8 G or 5 IP in the playoffs, and we’ve just given Schrock away for 17 innings by a mediocre LOOGY.
I agree that we gave much more than we got, but if those 5IP in the playoffs result in 1 Win that we wouldn’t otherwise have gotten, then Rizzo will absolutely consider it a prospect very well spent.
Will, I couldn’t have said it better.
I remember when Manno’s Minions wailed and gnashed their teeth when the Nationals traded Manno & Rinehart for Jonny Gomes in 2011. There is a very good chance that this trade follows that script. It’s easy to love prospects, particularly late round picks that are doing well when they start out. The vast majority of them do not make it. Schrock’s upside is Jamey Carroll; his downside is as a poor man’s Steve Lombardozzi, Jr. (and Lombo, bless his heart, wasn’t good).
Carroll is not a good comp of Schrock. Carroll was a defensive-minded 2B, who could hit for average, but had no power. Schrock is a bat-first 2B, who hits for average and some power. He’s basically a carbon-copy of the Mets version of Daniel Murphy or Jose Altuve.
My complaint is not with trading Schrock, it’s trading him for essentially 10 innings from a LOOGY who is not appreciably better than what we have.
To add to that, it’s after the trade deadline, which means the A’s had absolutely no leverage here. Rzep hits free agency in 6 weeks. So either the Nats declined to claim him off waivers, then changed their mind and had to compete with other bidders. Or they just claimed him, and made an outrageously generous first offer for a player that had literally zero value to the A’s.
Sagdal needed a bump up
After he helps Hags in playoffs.
Next june brass will draft
A couple more lefty swinging
Kids to plug gap between A minus and AA.
Or Rule V??
a good move by Rizzo, parting with Schrock is not without risk but they have some depth there with Difo
The dreaded POY curse strikes even before it can be awarded! Schrock seemed the overwhelming favorite. This year’s winner will have an asterisk.
Schrock is a typical Billy Beane target. Production exceeds his projection. Not sure where the idea comes from that the Nats have a bullpen problems as compared to the rest of the league.
For the 2016 season, out of 30 MLB teams, the Nats rank:
– 2nd in fewest bullpen runs allowed per game
– 2nd in fewest blown saves
– 4th in save percentage
– 4th in inherited runners that scored percentage
The Nats traded Rivero for Melancon and Solis is injured. With the erratic Oliver Perez as the only lefty in the pen (and a Sean Burnett a major question mark), the Nats needed another lefty and Rzepczinski has significant post-season experience. Schrock has been awesome to follow, but the Nats have a minimal investment in him, and a decent (not great) young middle infield depth now. The trade makes sense.
This is pretty much my thinking. Schrock may have a Billy Burns-type chance of making the majors with the A’s, but I couldn’t ever project him as a starter for the Nats. I wish they had gotten more than a couple of months of control for Marc R., but they had a need, and they filled it by trading a 13th-round pick.
For those following Billy Burns, he has completely tanked this season and the A’s dumped him for another player having a terrible year – but with a higher draft pedigree.
I am very disappointed in this trade. So many National hitters fail to produce consistently. Schock does. And I found it exciting (if not therapeutic), to check his linescore each day.
A two month rental of a mediocre pitcher? Hell, we don’t need that. Perez is quite capable of blowing a game without more help.
If Rzep’s number weren’t so bad this year, you could have made a case for this trade.
Meh. As Fangraphs pointed out (in an article that wasn’t crazy about the trade), Scrabble’s numbers this season are thrown off by a combination of bad BABIP and six IBBs impacting a small sample size. Scrabble is a solid journeyman LOOGY – which may well have been the best that Rizzo could get given the need to clear waivers.
Although fun, this trade can’t be judged today, but by the results. If Rzepczinski plays any role in Nats’ post-season success (at least an appearance in the NLCS), then the trade was worth it. If the Nats lose the NLDS again, the trade was not worth it as the Nats were going to win the division regardless.
Will be rooting for Schrock to continue to rake for the A’s. Would love to know how the negotiations went (i.e., who the Nats’ initially offered; how close the call was to not pulling the trigger because the A’s insisted on Schrock).
The Nats’ initial offer was Henry Rodriguez and Kurt Suzuki.
Plus Elijah Dukes…
For folks who care about the minor leagues and minor leaguers, this is a must-read:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/the-minor-leagues-life-in-pro-baseballs-shadowy-corner/2016/08/26/96ab542e-6a07-11e6-ba32-5a4bf5aad4fa_story.html
That article is sickening. With how much money is in baseball, it’s crazy how the owners treat the minor leaguers like indentured servants. It’s one thing to be a high bonus pick, but another to be Matt Skole, Taylor Hill, and others who are barely hanging on but can’t even market themselves to other clubs until they are older and less desirable. Smh. Thanks for posting.
The disgusting side of the game.
One of the lead figures in this is a former Nats farmhand, maybe Luke remembers his name but I forgot, who spent 7 years in the system and topping out at Potomac (I think).
If there is any justice baseball will lose this big-time.
The D-Nats got rained out today, effectively ending their dismal 29-41 campaign. With last year’s biggest IFA bonus baby, Juan Soto, raking up in Florida, the team was particularly challenged offensively, hitting only a collective 3 HRs and with no players having an OPS exceeding .750.
On the plus side, the team had a number of promising teenage pitchers, who collectively were 3rd in the 37 team league in strikeouts. A lot of those guys will likely be pitching stateside next season.
Karl, you aren’t kidding about the lack of power. There were 43 – FORTY THREE!!! – different DSL players who had more home runs, individually, than the DSL Nats had as a team.
You’re right that the pitchers showed some promise. Among them….
Yelmery Sisnero, 18, a 6-1 lefty, had an eye-popping 0.43 ERA and 0.91 WHIP in 41.2 IP over 9 starts. He struck out 41.
Alfonso Hernandez, 17, a 5-11 Venezuelan lefty, had a 1.32 ERA albeit in just 13.2 IP. He had a .059 WHIP and fanned 14.
Miguel Ortiz, a 6-5, 17 YO righty, had a 1.59 ERA in 17 innings over 10 games. He had a 1.18 WHIP and struck out 10.
RH reliever Warner Duran, 18 and 5-11, had a 1.65 ERA in 32.2 innings over 19 games. He had a 0.73 WHIP and six saves, striking out 35.
19-YO 6-2, Venezuelan RH Angel Guillen led the team in innings pitched at 54 and had a very respective 1.67 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in his third season in the DSL.
Another lefty, Darly Infante, 19 and 6-2, had a 2.94 ERA in 49 innings. He struck out 52 but his 1.49 WHIP raises concerns.
Gilberto Chu, an 18-YO Panamanian lefty listed at 5-11 had a respectable 3.18 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 11 starts. He struck out 50 in 51 innings.
There’s more to performing and potential than numbers, obviously, but given we don’t get to see the games and we don’t get much in the way of media info on the DSL, that’s the best we can go on.
And given this organization’s dearth of lefties throughout the system, that so many of the top DSL prospects are southpaws is very promising.