Tuesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | OFF DAY | vs. Lehigh Valley, 6:05pm | Cavalli (MLB Rehab) vs. Abel (2-2, 3.18) |
| Harrisburg | OFF DAY | @ Reading, 6:45pm | Susana (0-1, 3.38) vs. Castellano (2-1, 0.90) |
| Wilmington | OFF DAY | @ Brooklyn, 6pm | Cornelio (0-1, 3.93) vs. Hall (1-2, 1.45) |
| Fredericksburg | OFF DAY | @ Salem, 6:35pm | Polanco (0-2, 5.27) vs. Sprague (0-1, 7.36) |
Reminder: Probables based on Last Wednesday’s starters since teams do not list probables beyond the current series
Rochester Red Wings, 5-20, 10th place I.L. East, 14½ GB
After a 1-5 week, the Red Wings are on pace to win 35 games… out of 150. This week, they host the IronPigs for six, with a late-morning game on Thursday and afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday.
Harrisburg Senators, 9-12, 5th place E.L. Southwest, 5GB
Harrisburg took two of six from the Eastern League’s top-hitting team but fell two games further back of Erie. This week, the Sens visit the R-Phils for six night games.
Wilmington Blue Rocks, 7-14, 6th place Sally Lg. North, 8GB
The Blue Rocks bats woke up some, scoring six runs twice and seven once while winning four against the fourth-place IronBirds. This week, they visit Brooklyn with an 11am game tomorrow and afternoon games on the weekend.
Fredericksburg Nationals, 12-9, 2nd Place C.L. North, 3GB
The FredNats are riding a three-game win streak and remain the sole affiliate with a winning record. This week, it’s the first of two trips to Salem with five night games and a Sunday afternoon game.
I’m amazed we’ve made it a month into the season without significant changes to the major league bullpen. Something has to give. The narrative that the Nats don’t have any alternatives in the minors isn’t really accurate. They don’t have any ideal options, but there’s definitely some interesting pieces, made more complicated by some puzzling personnel decisions in recent years.
The Nats bullpen’s cumulative ERA is 7.30, which 2.02 runs worse than the 29th worst team, the Phillies (5.28). 2.02 ERA better than the Phillies is the Rangers (3.19 ERA), the 8th best bullpen by ERA. Meaning the gap from the Nats to the next worst bullpen is the same as the gap from the 29th to the 8th. That’s just how atrocious it’s been.
The worst offenders are obvious: Poche and Sims. But Salazar (9.26 ERA), Lopez (7.94), Ferrer (6.28) have also been very bad. The curse finally came to Henry, who’d been perfect before yesterday. Meanwhile, Rutledge has been a very pleasant surprise (2.61 ERA in 10 IP).
In Rochester, you have the following relievers:
Zack Brzykcy: 1.69 ERA, 1.62 FIP across 3 levels of mostly rehabbing. He’s the obvious first choice, being on the 40 man and having previously pitched in the majors
Jack Sinclair: 2.51 ERA, 4.71 FIP, probably needs a bit more time as he’s only thrown 15 IP in AAA in his career after throwing over 100 IP of quite good play in AA.
Tyler Schoff: 2.70 ERA, 2.99 FIP across AA-AAA (his ERA is actually better in AAA at 1.59 in 5.2 IP). He too spent a long time in AA, after making a late season appearance in AAA in 2023, and weirdly again starting his 3 season there this season.
Carlos Romero: 5.73 ERA, 6.91 FIP. Not good numbers, as he’s struggled big time with his command, but he was one of the breakout stories of last season, posting a 3.15 ERA across 3 levels. The performance came out of nowhere, so there’s a strong possibility that the spell was broken and he’s turned back into a pumpkin. But another option, nonetheless.
Patrick Weigel: 3.75 ERA, 3.37 FIP, had a short stint in the majors with the Brewers in 2021, and has looked pretty sharp so far this season, he like everyone not named Zack would need to be added to the 40 man roster.
Dark horses:
Marquis Grissom Jr: 1.86 ERA in AA, but the peripherals suggest he’s been rather lucky, sporting a 4.78 FIP. He, like most of the above names, is also on a strangely long AA course, having pitched the majority of 2024 there, and performed well with a 2.87 ERA last season.
Cade Cavalli: currently rehabbing in Harrisburg, he has a perfect ERA across two levels. The Nats have already talked about limiting his workload this season, and the bullpen could be one way to do that. There’s the added advantage of already being on the 40 man roster too. Personally, I think he’s too valuable going forward as a starter, but I felt the same way about Lord… we’ll see
Mike Soroka: also currently rehabbing in Harrisburg. In identical playing time, he posted a 6.39 ERA in the rotation vs a 2.86 ERA out of the pen last season, while striking out three times as many batters. Now if Rizzo can just get over breaking that promise he made to Soroka, we could have a lights out set up man on our hands…
Agree wholeheartedly with this. I would have thought bullpen turnover would be a top priority for Rizzo and Martinez. They are atrocious now and most weren’t very good options to begin with. Give the kids a chance to “sink or swim” at the very least to see what they’ve got.
Good stuff.
The Nats front office has committed malpractice with their failure to take any steps to improve the bullpen. Davey has tried to defend the decision to keep Poche (so many candidates to choose from, but he has been the worst, and the Nats have no organizational ties and a teeny financial commitment to him) by saying that Poche and Ferrer are his only lefty options.
WGAF about the number of LHP options, if they are unable to get outs?
In addition to the names mentioned above, Konnor Pilkington may be a candidate to get a call-up. In between his first outing in March and his last outing on Saturday, Pilkington had six scoreless appearances and two of those were three inning stints. His K rate is a ridiculous 14.9, but his walk rate is a disconcerting 6.4. Pilkington was OK over an extended stint with Cleveland in 2022.
At this point, the Nats have try something else. While any change would be welcomed, at a minimum Poche (DFA) and Salazar (he has options) need to go.
Nats release Stone Garrett.