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Catching Up on Transactions

With Opening Day slated for Thursday, the Nats made another set of moves yesterday:
OPTIONED
● C Drew Millas
● OF Jacob Young
● OF Alex Call

ADDED TO 40-MAN
● OF Jesse Winker
● OF Eddie Rosario
● RHP Matt Barnes

ADDED TO 60-DAY I.L.
● RHP Mason Thompson
● RHP Jose Ferrer

As noted by longsufferingtime Nats beat reporter Mark Zuckerman, there are two moves left to be made: (1) Adding Derek Law to the 40-man (2) whether or not to add Trey Lipscomb to the OD roster. In theory, this should be easy: offer Nasim Nuñez back to the Marlins or option Nick Senzel. Technically, Luis García Jr. or Ildemaros Vargas could be cut, too.

Unfortunately, sending Lipscomb back down seems the least risky (or the most defensible “We want him playing every day”) and therefore most likely. I’d love to be wrong, but Senzel’s salary almost requires him to be on the MLB roster. Likewise for Vargas. One has to wonder if Rizzo is trying to swing a deal with Miami to be able to send Nuñez down, trade García, or perhaps even both (though prolly not García for Nuñez).



25 Commments

  1. Davey in the Zuckerman story, about Lipscomb: “He’s got to play every day, as we all know.” Sounds like the kiss of death to me. If that’s truly the case, then Lipscomb isn’t going to make the club. He’s an obviously better utility choice than Nunez. Vargas is one of Davey’s security blankets and isn’t going anywhere, and they’re not cutting Garcia. They could release Senzel and only owe him a portion of his salary, but that seems doubtful.

    To be clear, I’m not in any way convinced that Lipscomb is the next Rendon. We debated the likelihood of struggles on the last post. But Senzel is a known mediocrity, and Garcia is rapidly getting to that point. What would it hurt to give new blood a chance?

  2. Nasim Nunez has done absolutely nothing to prove he’s worth stashing on the 26 man roster. He’s somehow a worse hitting version of Jeter Downs. Unless some very minor trade can be arranged (and I think this highly unlikely) he needs to be sent back to Miami. That’s just the risk of the Rule 5 draft, and a loss of $50k is trivial. It’s a sunk cost.

    With that out of the way, the question is just how we use Lipscomb on the OD roster, which to me isn’t even a problem. The fact that Martinez and others view it that way is more of a problem, because the solution is so blindingly obvious.

    Lipscomb has proven to be a capable (and sometimes very good) defender across the infield. He is the perfect utility INF, and if his bat evolves into something, then that’s even better! So when Davey talks about him having to start, it’s that he get regular reps against pitching (not defensively). So how do we do that? Well, our infield is garbage, so this isn’t difficult. The simplest solution is to just start Lipscomb at 3B, his best position defensively, and be done with it. Senzel has proven he’s a bad baseball player, so use him as the utility infielder, not Lipscomb. But if that’s even too bold, then Nats management should read up on platooning (I know, revolutionary idea). Nick Senzel, as bad as he is offensively, is especially bad against RHPs. His career line against righties is a putrid .219/.288/.330, and not so bad against LHPs, hitting .287/.334/.460. So whenever there is a RHP on the mound (70% of the time), start Lipscomb at 3B. And when a LHP starts? Well, you know who can’t hit lefties? Luis Garcia. Garcia’s splits are a similarly putrid line of .247/.261/.358 against lefties, and a poor (but better) line of .272/.307/.409 against RHPs. So for the other 30% of games, start Lipscomb at 2B.

    Lipscomb for his credit (though this is a rather small sample size) did not favor righties or lefties last season with a .729 OPS vs RHPs and .732 vs LHPs.

    Problem solved! Lipscomb “gets to play every day”, and the Nationals get to be a better team as a result of it. So why isn’t this obvious to the Nats?

    1. Good analysis. Moreover, Trey could play shortstop on days that CJ needs rest. And on days Gallo goes out to left field, Trey could play first base. And you never know about injuries. Trey is not just a utility infielder, but potentially a “utility starter.”

  3. Ferrer getting added to the 60 day IL is extremely disappointing. Since it was reported on as a back injury, at least it’s not TJ. It was reported on how he came into ST with a few extra ticks to his FB velocity, which had the potential to elevate him into something special. I hope he returns quickly!

  4. I also fear for our pitchers’ sanity when Robles takes a day off. An OF of Winker-Rosario-Thomas has the potential to be one of the worst defensive OFs ever.

    I think being surrounded by bad defense has a much bigger impact on pitcher development than we think. Ruiz’s struggles with framing (and catching runners and everything else defensively) didn’t do any favors to Gray and Gore in 2023. I hope our bad outfielder defense won’t also do damage.

    1. Agree, very little/no focus on defense. Millas would of helped the young pitchers. Might be scaaary!

    3. I was hoping Jacob Young would stick. He was good at MLB level last season and had a nice spring. Maybe this is another case of “needing innings for him.”

  5. issue one: is Lipscomb ready to tackle MLB pitching or does need time in AAA to work on his plate discipline?
    issue two: is it time to part with Garcia?

    I don’t know the answers but they are the issue

    1. I don’t disagree about the unknown of how Lipscomb will do against MLB pitching. But I would counter by asking what is to be gained by waiting to find out? He’s only a month younger than Garcia, who has already been given 1,245 MLB plate appearances despite consistent struggles and poor defense.

      1. if Lipscomb goes to upstate NY and continues to draw walks and hit at the same level and success as he did in FLA then he will land in DC with improved confidence in that approach. I think that is the best case scenario and worth shooting for.

        if Garcia continues as he has been, let him go and bring up Lipscomb.

  6. ETA of Wood , Crews and Hassell 3
    Dream that as we see the outfield
    Defensive skills sets on group .
    Wouldn’t Brooks Lee look good at 2b?

  7. the boys get to dress in a major league clubhouse and take the field in a major league stadium against major league players. hold your heads high fellas, all the hard work has been worth it and millions of young men just like you dream of it every day.

  8. Don’t understand why the Nats have to see Senzel struggle for two months before bringing Lipscomb up. Agree that it would be idiotic to keep Nunez on the active roster. His bat was always the question mark, and he somehow under-performed at the plate this Spring. I’ve never got the sense that the Nats are wedded to Garcia. Both Davey and Rizzo haven’t held back the criticism of him.

    Just sucks that we have to put up with poor roster construction for two months, when Lipscomb has proved to be the best IF option among the available players. Also, wouldn’t be surprised if a savvy organization tries to get Millas. He can hit, run and defend…. and is cheap. The Nats financial commitment to Ruiz is blocking him.

  10. I’m seeing that it has been announced that Wood is going to Rochester and Crews to Harrisburg. Glad they’re not pushing Crews on to AAA. He seems to need more seasoning.

  12. Pretty brutal to send Rutledge out in the 4th after already allowing 10 ER thru 3. I know the game means nothing, but that’s pretty funny.

      1. Oh, it seems MLB.com’s box score is just completely wrong: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/nationals-futures-vs-nationals/2024/03/26/761424/final/box . They currently credit 12 ER to Rutledge, which made it appear like they sent him out again after that 6 ER inning, but on closer inspection it seems that’s not the case. They also credit him with 3.2 IP, which is also incorrect as he appears to have been pulled with 0 outs in the 4th… Unless the play-by-play is also incorrect? Strange to see a box score with so many mistakes…

        1. I don’t understand why they didn’t have the minor-league pitchers pitch to the minor-leaguers and the major-leaguers pitch to the major-leaguers the way they do on the backfields when, for example, AA teams play A-level teams. And I’m seeing what you’re seeing — that boxscore is a hot mess.

  14. Adios to the guy who was AAA/AA in As farm last season .
    Stehly 1b for Sens . No Frizzell on Sens .. yet …
    GAB always a challenge to pitch in even if Opening series ..

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