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Checking In…

Uninspired for NPPFor those of you not celebrating National Apple Dumpling day, today’s just another Saturday. For us, it’s that weird limbo with the big club steaming towards the playoffs, which nowadays means that “our guys” are mostly sitting the bench until the division is clinched.

Believe me, I prefer this to the earlier days of this site’s existence when WAY TOO MUCH attention, hopes, and pent-up desire for a contender was projected onto players who could only have gotten a shot on a losing team with a farm system that had been stripped for parts by the team’s first GM, then run into the ground without changing the oil, filter, or tires by the team’s second GM.

I don’t miss those days… or the pseudofans who would reflexively (repeatedly) wail about the team’s spending (“The Lerners Are Cheap!”) who I now refer to as the Lieutenant Dans (because they don’t have any legs to stand on), though I believe they’re now lurking in the comments section of MASN and WaPo, where there’s so much stupid, I wouldn’t advise visiting without a dumbrella.

I rather like the folks who’ve stayed here past the meteoric rises of Strasburg and Harper and enjoy following the development of guys who might replace today’s Washington Nationals in a few seasons, but also understand they might be traded away, too. (If we’re honest, it may be more of the latter than the former ☹)

About the only thing I can add to what our diligent commenters have beaten me to the punch in the previous post is the almost fait accompli of the Nationals renewing its PDCs with Auburn and Potomac this month, joining Hagerstown last month. This ensures that all five affiliates that the team doesn’t own will remain in place through the 2018 season.

I know this doesn’t sit well with some folks, who’d like the AAA and AA teams to be closer, but Bowie isn’t going to open up without an apocalypse (Richmond is both farther away in miles and drive time, not to mention its stadium is AA’s analog to the Pfitz) and Norfolk might only be a shorter drive if you’re willing to go there in the middle of the day and the middle of the week.

In my opinion, the substandard facilities in Hagerstown and Potomac notwithstanding, the current arrangement is about as good as we can reasonably hope for. It’s better than it was 10 years ago, when Washington’s AAA affiliate was in Louisiana, Low-A was in Georgia, and SS-A was in Vermont. Maybe you could ask for a switch in the NYPL to State College from Auburn or for Washington to make an arrangement with an Appy League team, I suppose.

That’s about it for now as we shift from daily posts to weekly posts before the AFL starts up. Enjoy your dumplings! 😉

31 Commments

  1. Signing Scherzer and Strasburg to contracts worth just over $400 million should permanently put to rest any idiotic notion that the Lerner family is running the Nats on the cheap. That said, it was curious that the team resisted adding much payroll at the trading deadline again this year even after asking Jayson Werth to defer salary.

    The MASN mess is probably a factor, but I also wonder whether if it has anything to do with the decline in attendance–according to BR, the Nats are currently at -114,355 fans this year, or -1,545 per game. As a ST holder for the big club, I’ve been particularly surprised at how relatively empty the stadium has been for the August and September games, particularly compared to packed house for much of the 2012 & 2014 stretch runs. For some reason, having a dominant first place team easily cruising to a division title hasn’t been enough to get more fannies in the seats–and that is worrisome for the team’s willingness to spend more money on contracts going forward.

    1. Could the August and September decline be partially attributed to the improvement of the Redskins and the nuisance of Metro? It may take a World Series, not disappointing October flameouts to generate a permanent bump.

      1. The decline was very much in evidence before the Redskins started playing. The Metro mess could be a factor, as well as the fact that they raised ticket prices this year–and parking has gotten a lot more expensive around the stadium as formerly empty lots that were used for game day parking now have buildings going up on them. The lot I use, for example, charged only $15 just three years ago, but is now up to $30.

        Whatever the reason(s), lack of fans means lack of revenue, and while the Lerners might not be “cheap,” I also would not expect them to operate the team at a loss.

      2. Generally speaking, MLB attendance has a delayed reaction – a winning season in year X usually creates a bump in year X+1. This is especially pronounced in places where a majority of the tickets sold aren’t part of a plan (*ahem*).

        That said, short-term factors like, oh, I don’t know… THE HEAT may have also been at play. Shitty parking and substandard public transit system certainly don’t help.

        FWIW, MLB counts attendance as tickets sold, period. The N.L. used to count the turnstiles until 1999, then when revenue sharing was instituted, they switched to the A.L. method.

        1. I noticed the slight decline in attendance for the season, but don’t agree that had any impact on the Nats pre-trading deadline moves.

          At the deadline, the Nats primary need was a closer, and they acquired a top 5 closer, while not give up any top prospects, which was always the priority. By all reports, the Nats were heavily involved for Chapman and Miller, but rather than money being an issue, the Nats simply weren’t willing to part with the level of prospects that the Indians and Cubs offered, like: Giolito, Lopez, Robles or Turner (yes, teams were asking about Trae before he exploded offensively). Have no doubt that the Nats wouldn’t have hesitated to take on Miller’s or Chapman’s salary.

          As for addressing other weaknesses, there was no legitimate 1st base bat available (and the Nats have persistently clung to the hope that RZ is going to turn it around), and at the time the trading deadline passed no one knew that SS was likely to be unavailable for the post-season; so, it would’ve made no sense to acquire a starting pitcher (BTW, all of the starting pitchers that team’s did acquire have been at best mediocre or have major injury concerns: Pomeranz, Cashner, Miley, Moore, Hill).

  2. The IL roster says
    Lefty starters nurturing for
    Maybe two each below Burg
    R/R outfielders. Coming on
    Talent to push Mota
    To the mets fans : as your arms go
    To the surgeon dusty toys with
    Options for October and 17
    Lmao

  3. Not that it gives me any satisfaction, but I correctly predicted that Bostick would be DFA’ed when Ross was activated. The only silver lining in the move is that they made it instead of placing Solis on the 60-day DL, so maybe Solis might be back for the playoffs. Given the state of their LH relief pitching, we can only hope.

    1. Yes, Solis’s always fragile body has had a lot of ramifications these last 2 months. Both yesterday’s move and that still dumb trade for Repz. don’t happen without the bullpen needs from the left side.

      The system is very thin on middle infielders and left handed pitching now.
      The Nats F.O. is obviously more confident on Wilmer Difo’s ceiling than am I.

      1. Am I the only one amused by the beat writers acting like Solis’s injuries were either unlucky or unexpected? This about as unsurprising as a repeat Emmy award winner.

        1. why all the apple dumplings on the Polish rifle out of the bullpen??
          The guy is an ole salt. will get outs in the playoffs.
          two unexpected things this season? Goodwin was healthy and made a cup
          of Dusty coffee and AJ Cole pitched well enough to be filling in for injured guys
          in the slow trot to a third NL East title.

    2. Consider me baffled yet again.

      The Nats essentially just repeated the Rzep trade, by giving away a young middle infielder for about 10 innings from Mat Latos (who’s been miserable so far).

      Latos’ innings could be replaced by literally any guy with an arm. He’s not good enough to make the post season roster, and we’re all but assured of winning the division. So these last games are completely inconsequential. Why did we give up a player that could play a part in the Nats future for a player who has no part in the Nats present and will certainly not have a part in our future?

        1. Pushing up quick? He had a really poor season this year, batting .247/.328/.346, and continued to showing question marks on defence (21 E). Furthermore, Abreu is a SS while Bostick is a 2B, with the ability to play OF. There’s no overlap between the two players. Also, Abreu will at best play in Harrisburg next season, if he isn’t asked to repeat Potomac, while Bostick was in Syracuse.

          Bostick wasn’t blocking anyone, unless you think Steve Lombardozzi, Adrian Sanchez or Kayyan Norfork are prospects in disguise.

          1. It seems to me that perhaps Rizzo was confident that the system can continue to churn out fungible UTs (e.g. Lombardozzi, Kobernus, Renda, Walters) which is why they parted with Schrock and Bostick.

            I think we’re also seeing that being on the 40-man means nothing more than a contingency.

          2. I’m still skeptical of how easy it is to churn out these fungible UTs.

            For example, it took Lombo 4 years, Kobernus 5 years, Renda 5 years, and Walters 4 years each between being drafted and reaching the majors. It wasn’t like we were able to draft them, then flip them a year or two later. It took a long time for these ‘polished’ college players to establish themselves as fungible AAAA types.

            In the meantime, we’ve depleted our contingency plan for fungible UTs at the higher levels, which means the players at lower levels, like Sagdal, Lora, Noll are still 3-5 years away.

            Meanwhile, we have a hole at 2B in 2 years. Espinosa hits free agency in 2 years too. Turner has looked like he could stay in CF, so we presumably have an imminent hole at SS. And then we just gave away Bostick. Nothing in return or anything. He was deemed to be less valuable than a guy like Latos or Burnett who have literally no value.

        1. Have we actually lost Bostick?

          Just because he’s DFA’d, if no one claims him he is still a Nats minor leaguer. Plenty of players are removed from the 40-man and end up back on it with the same organization.

          As of now, no one has claimed Bostick so let’s not freak out about it. Also, as of now that no one HAS claimed Bostick should tell you how he is viewed in baseball circles. In other words, nothing to get too freaked out about.

          That doesn’t mean he can’t be a major leaguer still, but it’s not like we’re talking about a high-end prospect here.

          1. I haven’t seen anything saying that Bostick has been claimed. He was DFA’d on the 18th, and there’s a 10-day window. The Nats DFA’d den Dekker earlier in the summer and he cleared waivers and is still with the organization. The same will probably happen with Bostick. There should be much threat about losing him in the Rule 5 draft, either, considering his struggles in AAA.

            I do hope they manage to keep him. I think he has a higher upside than Difo.

          2. Err, meant to say there “shouldn’t” be much threat of losing him to Rule 5. His AAA play would make it hard for a team to think that he could stick on an MLB roster.

  4. I’m just glad you’re still doing this. It’s informative, interesting and a nice relief from the craziness of the commenters on the sites devoted to the “Big Team”

  5. Apparently the Nats have dipped a toe back in the Cuban market, making a modest signing for 29-YO OF Yadiel Hernandez for just $200K.

    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/09/nationals-to-sign-cuban-outfielder-yadiel-hernandez.html

    Apparently a corner OF with good BA but modest pop. Doesn’t exactly fill the need for more power in the Nats system but still nice to see the Nats going back into the Cuban market as I believe this is their first such signing since they took a flier (and missed) with RH Yunesky Maya back in 2010.

    Expect to see him at AAA next year and perhaps with the big club if he can hit.

  6. Interesting on Hernandez. Hasn’t played in awhile, though.

    It appears that the timing of the Bostick DFA favors him staying with the organization. No one claimed denDekker a few weeks ago. Nats should be safe with this one.

  9. Considering that Hernandez’ most recent walk percentage outpaces anyone in the major leagues, he is not a bad guy to have around the house. He may not be good enough to start every day, but as a depth piece, 200K is an absolute bargain. Think of what hype brought Hector Olivera.

    1. Wiseman ended up 0-3 in the Friday game. Israel is 2-0 in the double-elimination qualifier so will be playing again this weekend.

  11. Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more like the Nats rushed Koda Glover and have tried to rely way too heavily on him before he was ready. His ERA in his last 6 outings is a positively ugly 10.13. I just hope it doesn’t damage his confidence.

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