It seems so long ago that I first drew this up, and yet it was only a little more than a month ago. Sadly, the two most notable changes are effectively dumpster dives – the selection of Thad Ward via the Rule 5 Draft, and picking up fallen-but-somehow-not-former prospect Jeter Downs, who lived up to …
It’s Festivus for some of us, the home stretch for those who celebrate Hannukah, and the Friday before Christmas and Kwanzaa for others.
By tomorrow morning, every state in the lower 48 will be at or below 20 degrees according to the National Weather Service. That means hell Florida will freeze over unless Bugs Bunny was successful.
So in addition to staying safe, stay warm. And my hope, as always, is that by the time you read this, you’re where you want to be, with whom you want to be, and all your to-dos are done.
And in the immortal words of William Shatner: “Don’t drink and drive – do one or the other.”
Shalom or Happy Sangria Day, depending on either your religion or the proximity of your family, iykwitm…
We haven’t gone dark. It’s just really, really, really slow.
I’m not sure why this has become the new normal. If you look at the URL string, you’ll see that this is the fourth time in the past four years it’s been so slow that I’ve had to run back-to-back posts that effectively say “I got nothing.”
Because of the timing of Christmas this year, I don’t expect anything to happen between now and Boxing Day, if not New Year’s Day. I hope I’m wrong – frequently posts “create” news to shake loose – but if not, you can expect one or two posts before I finalize the 2023 Watchlist.
With all eyes and interest on the free-agent signings, there’s not much else to pass along in our little corner of the Natmosphere.
Lucius Fox became the latest casualty of Mike Rizzo’s dumpster-dive approach to filling out the Washington/Rochester bullpen(s). About the only effect this has is reducing the 2022 Senators shortstops’ chances of making the 2023 Red Wings Opening Day roster, assuming there’s a means of measuring the gap between nil and none.
Otherwise, I return you to the 2022-2023 Offseason doldrums…
As noted in the comments, the Nats made a curious trade yesterday with the pickup of OF Frankie Tostado from the Mariners for cash considerations. What makes this odd is that Tostado was taken by Seattle in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft on Wednesday. He has already been assigned to Harrisburg, where …
For the first time since 2010, the Nats made a selection during the MLB phase of the Rule 5 Draft, taking Boston Red Sox minor-leaguer Thad Ward. Ward, who will fit right in having already had Tommy John surgery last year, made 13 starts across four levels in 2022. He posted a line of 2.28/2.69/1.15 …
While some fans may lament not getting the top pick, it could have been worse. Just ask our perennial (annual?) trade partners in Oakland. The actual draw took place prior to the MLB Network special, which you can read about here. TL;DR – the Twins getting into the Top 5 was quite the coup when …
Despite the preliminary watchlist skewing towards relievers, starters ruled day (as they should) in this year’s Top 10: Cade Cavalli (1) Jarlin Susana Jake Bennett* Mitchell Parker* (7) Matt Cronin* (5) Andry Lara (3) Zach Brzykcy Jackson Rutledge (4) Cole Henry (2) Jake Irvin Others receiving votes, excluding honorable mentions: Jose Ferrer*, Lucas Knowles*, …
It’s probably been about five years since the Nats have been this low on starting pitching in the minors. After Cade Cavalli, it’s a struggle to name a true-blue starter that wasn’t acquired this past June or July or still has to register for Selective Service.
For your reference, here are the preliminary 2023 watchlist pitchers.
Like the bats, you can send your Top 10 list to enfieldmass-top10arms[at]yahoo[dot]com (link will open your preferred email client) or post them in the comments.
Once we have enough votes (or on Monday morning), I’ll weigh them in reverse order (#1 = 10 points, #2 = 9 points … #9 = 2 points, #10 = 1 point) and post the results, along with my comments and snark.
Like five years ago, I suspect we’ll have a consensus on the first two or three pitchers, then it’ll be a free-for-all, especially since there are so many relievers and swingmen from which to choose.
The overlap between our list o’ bats (because bats are always Irish?) and the Baseball America Top 10 is rather strong – with seven position players making the Top 10: James Wood, OF (deadline trade) Robert Hassell, OF (deadline trade) Elijah Green, OF (’22 Draft pick) Cade Cavalli, RHP (2) Brady House, SS (5) Crithian …