Still Quiet on the Minor-League Front
We hate to interrupt your National Bake Cookies Day, but we also have to make posts like these to ensure people know the lights are still on.
I wish I could tell you why this has become the norm. The cynic in me says this is by design, as MLB no longer wants (or needs) to promote MiLB except when it serves its own purposes. (Does anyone besides the MASN/WaPo commenters think this will be indistinguishable from mid-March ST games, aside from maybe letting the our guys have all four AB’s?)
Still holding out hope that we’ll get a transaction post between now and Rickey Henderson’s birthday Christmas, even if it’s often just a look at who the Nats want to fill out the AAA and AA rosters.
Until then, feel free to discuss in the comments…
In theory, the prospect matchup sounds fun, especially for an org like the Nats where the farm system is more exciting than its big league team. But I wonder if nearly major league-ready players will feature in these games. Take James Wood, for example. If he comes out of ST on fire, he’d be in contention (though perhaps a long shot) to make the big league team straight out of ST. Surely, the Nats wouldn’t send him away for 4 days right at the end of ST to play out a minor league fantasy game, and surely Wood wouldn’t want to jeopardize his place either. However, by design, the best prospects in baseball are those that are closest to the majors. Using FanGraphs’ top prospect list, you have to go all the way to the 25th (Termarr Johnson) before you find a guy who isn’t already at AA (and only 9 of the top 50), meaning all those guys are in the mix for the majors in 2024, also meaning a significant number likely wouldn’t play in this Minor League Prospects game. Lastly, it’ll be very messy to coordinate schedules to make sure the best SP prospects (like Skenes) feature.
TBH, I’m envisioning these games as being like split-squad games where the pitchers battling to be the #5/6 SP and 11/12th man out of the ‘pen do the pitching, 3-5 prospects are in the starting lineup, and then the AAAAs fill out the lineup. I can’t see any organization willing to let their top pitching prospect throw more than a single inning.
Hey Luke
Since this is flu season
Post a picture of the dog with a thermometer in mouth
You think Nats might bring back Tetrault and Hillman just to eat IP
@ AA on rehab ??
Is Brandon Belt washed up to consider as a stop gap Option until – say – White for the Beltway
?
Luke : phonetically how does one pronounce Brad Cs last name just added to the PD staff ?
Add Samuel Reyes to farm bullpen depth chart
Interesting use of mysticism in the video done by Topps for the soon to be released Bowman signature set featuring Tom Brady Was this Just a dream ? I had that as a vinette for a book I never fully tackled about mystical other time lines as Delores Cannon would say
Into The Montreal Mystic
Interesting how I rarely hear Davey Martinez wax nostalgic in pressers going back to his influential Expo years . I do recall Marquis Grissom talking about Felipe and I’m sure Delino has done the same in Harrisburg and the EL
Luke you’re due for a slight write up tomorrow
Dermis Garcia makes how many players Rizzo has received from the soon to be Las Vegas – what happens between the chalk lines stays there – Amazing As on Tropicana Ave ?
Garcia could be a bench piece based on his 2023 numbers ?
Odds of Belt or Bellinger being a Nat ?
The Nats aren’t doing anything important on the major league front so it’s not surprising that they’re neglecting the minor league side.
Well as the dogs stir in our respective homes as they await the Winter solstice for deeper slumber ( along with some of us humans )
Spencer Watkins and Ty Tice both probably Danny Haas signings .
Note to brain : russet beef for the Boston ..
Now I’ll have to go bust the chops of a child hood buddy who might have to scare up some future S Watkins jersey from Rochester .
There is your first link to Danny Hass son of Eddie .
There’s no reason for the Nats to rush the Big Three. The front office and/or ownership doesn’t seem inclined to make the moves necessary to make the big club semi-competitive. (And the bizarre infatuation with failed prospects continues with the arrival of Senzel.)
Wood has just started to tap into his limitless power, and he struck out 34% of the time at AA. Let’s tighten up that contact before exposing him to MLB pitching. House hasn’t found his power yet, completely forgot how to take a walk above A ball, and hasn’t shown that he can fully stay healthy. Crews looked like the golden child until he saw AA pitching plus ran into some bad BABIP “luck.” (I blame some of that on his long season and many stops. I think he’ll be a lot more locked in starting 2024.) To be clear, I believe in the high-ceiling potential of all three. But there’s no benefit to the club to rush them. It’s not like there will be a drive for the playoffs that they’ll help.
I agree with this, but there’s a real movement in the fan base (the online portions anyway) to throw the kids into the fire immediately. I guess the thinking is that if they’re good enough to be better than the Jacob Youngs and Alex Calls of the world then they should be playing in SW instead of Jacob Young and Alex Call. I think that’s unlikely to be in the best interest of the prospect or in the long term interest of the team.
John C : I recall how the indoctrination process with Delino Marquis Larry and others took having the manager seat made available for Felipe Alou .
Will truly take some time .
Speaking of Felipe Alou and his SF Giants
Would SF call Rizzo about Luis ?
well, look at the bright side – the sooner they’re on Half Street, the sooner the Lerners can offer them a meh contract and they can enter free agency, be depressed that it’s not what Boras told them it would be, and go sign with Philly for less.
Agreed, none of those 3 were in any way ready for even AAA.
Crews I expect will be the most ready after the needed offseason.
Well, the big three did pretty well at AA (Crews had some bad batted ball luck, but his EVs were elite). House putting up an OPS of .833 in his age 20 season is particularly promising. It will be interesting to see where all three are placed to start the ’24 season. Wherever they are placed, I’m sure that we will say that they are either being (a) rushed; or (b) held back unnecessarily.
AA vs. AAA is actually an interesting question for those guys, plus Hassell and Lipscomb in particular. The traditional saying was that AA is still a teaching level while AAA is more of an MLB holding pool, but I don’t know how much that still applies. The pitching likely is better at AAA, and if the biggest deal is seen as getting them ready to face major-league pitching, then perhaps that’s where they need to be. But please keep teaching them defense and base running wherever they are. Garcia was not ready for the majors defensively even if his bat was.
Sure would be nice to see much maturity / advancement from Adon , Andry and Theophile . Shuman too fully healthy .
Jeff, that’s a mighty big ask from Santa! And poor Adon is out of options, thanks to their stupid Rule 5 paranoia and adding him a year too early. Sure am glad they didn’t do the same with Lara.
They’ve had Lara “playing up” his entire career, no matter how well he has (or hasn’t) done the previous season. I’d vote for them starting him back at Wilmington and trying to find some solid dominance before kicking him up to AA.
Yankees claimed Jeter Downs off waivers from the Nats.
Color me shocked that any team, and particularly one with hopes of contending, would tie up a 40-man slot with Downs. In 231 games at AAA, he’s slashed .202/.306/.370.
Downs’s departure thins out the Nats’ organizational middle infield depth even more, though. We may be seeing a lot of Lipscomb at shortstop in the spring.
Agree. Don’t mind losing Downs, but the fact the Nats’ 40 man roster is full, just confirms how ridiculous the Strasburg situation is. It’s not like the Nats are WS contenders, but just sucks that every other MLB team has a 40 man roster and the Nats’ have 39.
I’m also surprised the Strasburg situation hasn’t been resolved. Are they really planning to just forge ahead with a guy with a career ending injury occupying a space on the 40 man for the next three seasons? Otherwise, what’s the benefit of him occupying a spot in 2024 if you’re going to release him in 2025 or 2026?
Stras won’t take anything less than the full amount. The Player’s Association would have a fit if he did. All that can be negotiated is the payout schedule. And with Boras as his agent, they aren’t going to take a deal that is disadvantageous to the client.
The Nats embarrassed themselves during the season by announcing a deal that wasn’t completed. It needs to get done. I have no insider knowledge, but the way things played out, there’s reason to suspect that the front office thought it had a deal in place, only to have ownership balk at it.
@KW To be clear, the Nats never announced a deal. There were discussions that were leaked (“according to three people familiar with the matter”). Who leaked that and why? Beats me. Possibly by Boras to put pressure on the Nationals. Later there was scuttlebutt that when the Lerners were prepared to pay Strasburg 100% MLB stepped in out of concern over the precedent that it would set. When the team then floated a less-than-100% possibility, the MLBPA stepped in for the same reason as MLB.
Even if that’s all true, it’s not like the Lerners covered themselves with glory here. If that’s what happened I would have told MLB to pound sand. But it’s not right to blame the Nationals for announcing a deal that hadn’t been finalized, because they never announced one.
That’s a very good summary, John. I still just don’t understand what the problem is in letting Stras retire. He’s permanently broken and unable to play. What do the Nats get from not allowing him to retire? The only thing I’m seeing is that, as Pilchard already pointed out, is that it hamstrings our roster flexibility. That’s not a good thing. Whereas Strasburg just needs to keep occasionally getting a medical note saying “yeah, he’s still irreparably broken.”
This is none of MLB’s business. They didn’t and had no right to stop the Lerners from giving Strasburg the ill-advised contract in 2019, they likewise have no right to tell them to not pay out his contract and let him retire.
It seems to me the best course of action for both the Nats and Stras is to let him retire. And yet, here we are….
I’m not “blaming” anyone. I don’t remember in detail how it all played out, but it was supposedly so far down the line that they were floating prospective dates at the ballpark for a celebration. Whether it was just “leaked” or not, it ended up making the organization look bad. Something was moving behind the scenes that fell apart.
And as we can all agree, it needs to get done. They’re going to have to pay him. It’s an ironclad contract. It makes little sense to tie up the roster spot, and do the 60-day IL dance, for three more seasons.
Curiously, Baseball-Reference already has “(retired)” by his future salary years:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/strasst01.shtml#all_br-salaries
KW you are correct . Pitching maturity and the realization that some guys just hit their destined ceilings are two topics in one bubble .
Still a tad early for the brass to hire those new hitting coaches on the farm ??
FredMD : spring camp will be the answer to all winter wondering like this :
3 b hole @ Will and Fred ?
McHenry / Peña combo ? A minor league free agent scooped up in late March ? Fred and Zion Pettigrew for beginners ?
how about Ochoa Leyva, Cooper, Cruz and Diaz around the horn in FBurg. it would mean moving Wander off SS but that may be a good thing for him
I was also thinking Ochoa Leyva for 3B, since he was drafted as a SS.
They could keep Infante at Wilmington at 3B, unless they move him up to fill out the infield at some spot in Harrisburg. They’ve got to be scratching their heads with him — 17 homers in 2022 but only 4 in 2023.
The Grand Canyon @ Wilmington with Egyptian pyramids miles below ground sending off frequencies effecting hitters power results compared to FRED
Even Gene Roddenberry would love that answer .
I keep forgetting about Ochoa Leva .
The signing of Dermis García late of the As had he reminiscing about all the games I attended at the old Alameda Coliuseum in OAK taking BART right to the stadium site from the East Bay
One especially : the first night game Canseco returned to face the As after the Big Trade . The power went out in the stadium for 30-40 minutes .
Winder Cruz again at Fred ?
Lacking depth at some positions, overflowing at others. We’ve mentioned above about questions of which level Wood, Crews, and House (and Hassell) might be. There are so many OFs in the system ready (or quasi-ready) to move up, though, and Morales right behind House at 3B, unless they move Morales to 1B. Pinckney seems ready for AA, and de la Rosa and perhaps Lile are as well. There’s no reason to rush them, though. Several of these (including Hassell) still haven’t established success at their current level.
Pinckney is my pick to click in 2024. He hasn’t gotten as much attention with so many other outfielders in the system, but he’s got the tools to be as good as any of them.
if a trade for a pitcher comes down don’t be surprised to see Pinckney as part of the return.
Yes FredMD that’s possible since
Crews Pinkney R/R with Wood Hassell lefties
Thomas lingers around for a year or more ??
You know what pitcher , FredMD stands out to me in league bottom because I once lived in the town he was later born in ?
Kyle Harrison pride of Concord DeLesalle HS Concord CA home of Dave Brubeck and original concord jazz record label .