And Now We Wait
Just a quick post here to hold the fort…
We’re a little more than a week way from the AFL starting up, which both upends and extends our offseason. On paper, this shouldn’t matter. We usually go fairly dark in September anyway.
But instead of things starting back up right about when the MLB playoffs begin and finishing just before the Rule 5 deadline to add players to the 40-man roster, it’s basically a week off – a weekend had any of the affiliates made their league championships – and then things go until roughly Game 4 of the World Series.
Those three slow weeks in September, when there’s at least some baseball, are now being shifted to November when there’s almost none. Yes, I know the winter leagues start up in mid-October, but if we’re honest, it’s mostly marginal players.
So you’ll have to forgive me while I figure out how to adjust my editorial schedule. In the meantime, here’s a place to keep the conversation going.
Withdrawal . . .
They do have an interesting AZ roster, beyond just the one hot prospect. This is a big opportunity for all of those guys who aren’t named Garcia. Garcia is two years younger than anyone else on the Surprise roster. I see that Freeman is listed as an OF, so I guess they’re intent on transforming him from the next Tony Renda into the next Billy Burns.
I’m still a bit puzzled by the Nats’ handling of Freeman. The fact that he made the AFL roster means he’s valued by the FO, but everything else about Freeman’s season suggests otherwise. He’s nearly 25, so why didn’t get a promotion to Harrisburg? It’s actually pretty incredible how consistently good Freeman was this year. Check out his monthly slashes:
April .306/.404/.398
May .302/.383/.368
June .301/.420/.410
July .314/.368/.419
August .338/.396/.438
With a bit more aggressive development plan, we could be talking about Freeman competing for playing time next year at 2B (especially if Rendon doesn’t re-sign, allowing Kieboom to play 3B). Instead, he’s looking at another season or two in the minors.
There was a lot of interesting posts last night and this morning about Spencer Kieboom. I’ll carry forward some of my thoughts.
This has to be the worst timed injury ever.
A lot of the pitchers in the system said he was more helpful to him than any other player. Karl surmised about the Nats someday making him a coach. I agree completely.
I hope James is right and he has another option year left. That would be great.
S. Kieboom’s transactions are weird, and not just because he was DFA’d at one point. He was optioned in 2016, then DFA’d in the spring of 2017, so he did not burn an option that year. We know he was optioned in 2019. In 2018, the Nats selected his contract, and he seems to have stayed with the big club through the end of the season, so he technically wasn’t optioned, although he spent part of the season in the minors before his contract was selected. So it does look like he still has an option year left. I stand corrected. Read was optioned in 2017, 2018, and 2019, so he should not have any left.
AFAIK, that is correct: Spencer Kieboom has a minor league option remaining and Raudy Read does not. Although with the promotion of Tres Barrera to the 40-man roster, Kieboom looks like the fourth-string catcher next year.
I like the idea of him coaching. The bat just never showed up this season, and who knows how he’ll bounce back from whatever arm injury he’s dealing with. If it’s serious, well, maybe it’s time.
FWIW, Matt Grace cleared waivers and accepted a minor league assignment from the Nats. So, he remains in the Nats’ organization.
The idea of Matt Grace pitching in Fresno next year is a frightening prospect.
My understanding is Grace will be a minor league free agent this winter, because he’s appeared in parts of at least seven minor league seasons in his professional career, so it may be a moot point. Of course, it’s not infrequent that organizational players have the opportunity to seek employment elsewhere, look around, say “nah”, and sign a new minor league deal to stay with the team they know.
A’s are bringing up Jesus Luzardo.
Of all of the prospects that the Nats have dealt away in recent years, Luzardo may be the one that resulted in the loss of a special player. Depending on how he does over the next 3 weeks, Luzardo could play a role in the AL playoffs.
I think Giolito already qualifies as the loss of a special player. With Luzardo, it just might mean we’ve dealt away two aces.
That’s a little sobering, considering that Eaton and Doolittle have collectively been worth less than 3 rWAR to the Nats this season.
Here’s a couple of tidbits: since the Nats came to town 15 years ago, our old friend “Orange” is the all time minor league leader in doubles (215) and RBIs (469), while Adrian Sanchez is the all time leader in hits (1005) and is second in doubles (200). That’s a glaring reminder of just how long you have to keep at the grind just to become a AAAA player if your aren’t a blue chip talent. Too bad “Orange” couldn’t have turned about a third of those doubles into dingers–he would have gotten at least a cup a coffee instead of likely being a career minor leaguer.
Speaking of Luzardo’s potential: Which starting pitcher has the higher br/WAR right now:
A). Max Scherzer
B). Stephen Strasburg
C). Patrick Corbin
D). Lucas Giolito
If you answer was anything other than “D” you probably also think trading either Freeman or Guilbeau (whichever it was) for Elias was a good idea, or you are Mike Rizzo’s nephew.
Yes, KK, the Nats needing a lefty arm traded Guilbeau and a DSL arm for Elias, someone who has shown no ability to get leftys out all year.
Now he’s sporting a 9.00 ERA when he actually pitched, which isn’t much.
Guilbeau is already pitching in the majors.
You’re right. After one month in, we can 100% agree that the Guilbeau for Elias trade was the worst trade in the history of the Nats, if not all of baseball! C’mon.
Yes, it does stink that Elias has been hurt (twice) since the Nats got him. But Guilbeau was not the answer to the Nats LHP relief problem. It’s easy for teams like the Mariners or ChiSox to let players try to make their bones in the MLB because there’ no pressure for them to succeed right away. The Nats didn’t have that luxury. They needed someone who has proven they could get major league hitters out. And if you think the Nats should have held onto Guilbeau and called him up to pitch and he stunk up the place, then I guarantee you would have been one of the first to rant and rave that the Nats shouldn’t have tried to let an unknown pitch during a playoff-push.
As for the Eaton trade, I’ve always felt that this was a Giolitto for Eaton trade, with Lopez and Dunning thrown in. Neither of those two have done diddly for the ChiSox. And one could argue that if Eaton doesn’t have that terrible injury his first month with the Nats, then the Eaton that we’ve seen this year (specifically the last two months) would have been the Eaton we would have had all three years – a very productive RF and a perfect #2 hitter in the lineup.
You’re not addressing that Elias has not been able to get lefty out all year. Yes, all year.
Will — My guess is that if Cole Freeman could play SS, he would have been in AA for half the season. I think a big part of the reason they kept him at A+ was so he could learn the OF and have at least a little more utility usefulness. I believe Luke has described his arm from the OF as a “noodle,” though, which also probably sums up why he can’t play SS. Freeman strikes out very little but also doesn’t walk much.
The Nats sure could use another SS-capable option in the upper minors as I believe Difo and Sanchez both will be out of options after this year. Freeman and Noll really can’t play SS, though.
Is it easier to learn a defensive position in A+ rather than AA?
Also, Freeman walks at a pretty solid rate, 10% this year. Coupled with his very good hit skill, he very nearly finished with a .400 OBP. Dustin Pedroia made a very successful career out of that exact same skillset.
Not saying Freeman will be Pedroia, but even a player half as good as Pedroia would be extremely useful.
I’m not as bullish on Freeman’s ceiling, but I’d be glad for him to prove me wrong. Pedroia has 140 career HRs, including 21 in a season, which I can’t see from Freeman. There’s certainly still a place for a sparkplug type player like Adam Eaton, but Andrew Stevenson’s experience shows how difficult it is to thread that needle if you don’t have a lot of power. (To his credit, Freeman strikes out a lot less than Stevenson does.) Billy Burns, who had more elite speed than Freeman does, had a brief flash with the A’s but then hasn’t stuck regularly in the majors in the last three seasons.
As I said, I’d be glad for him to prove me wrong. The AFL is a good showcase opportunity, one Stevenson really took advantage of a couple of years ago.
I find it a little curious that Carter Kieboom isn’t on the AZ roster. I realize that they don’t have him active with the MLB club because of career “time clock” concerns, but it would seem like they would want their top prospect playing somewhere. In this last year of oversized Sept. roster expansion, the only non-injured 40-man guys who aren’t with the big club are C. Kieboom, Noll, McGowin, and Bourque.
Therein may lie your answer: all of those players have already been to the AFL, which frowns upon repeats.
Kieboom will be getting reps at the Nats facility in WPB.
They did send Robles back for an AFL encore, though, straight out of MLB action. I guess they don’t mind as much if it’s a flashy prospect who is repeating. Ditto for the two years Bryce did there.