Reese Kaplan -- Nats and Mets Still Have Work to Do

Saturday I took at look at the vastly improved Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves as competitors for the crown, but intentionally left off the Washington Nationals as they are kind of in a similar spot to the Mets in that their off-season has to get a grade of incomplete. 

They started off with an extremely shrewd move of signing former Cardinals’ closer Trevor Rosenthal for a quite modest $7 million.  The Cards apparently lost patience waiting for the man to recover from his arm injuries and let him walk away.  For his career Rosenthal sports a 2.99 ERA with 435 Ks in just 325 IP while saving 121 games.  Last season he started putting it together again with a 3.40 ERA and 14.3 Ks per 9 IP.  At age 27 that was an aggressive and astute transaction for the Nats to make.

Quickly thereafter they secured the services of Kurt Suzuki who in an earlier article I’d identified as having the best offensive numbers in baseball for catchers over the past few years.  Some might argue that entrusting a tough defensive position like catcher to a 36 year old may not be too wise, but they later that same month executed a trade with Cleveland to bring Yan Gomes into the fold.  The 30 year old Gomes has a bit more power than Suzuki but doesn’t hit for the same average.

The big move, however, was the roll of the dice for one solid season of Patrick Corbin who GM Mike Rizzo rewarded with a 6-year $140 million contract.  That figure ought to have Jacob de Grom salivating.  Whether or not he’s worth nearly $24 million per year only time will tell.  However, the Nationals may have indeed spent all their money already after realizing that Bryce Harper is going to sign with whomever is willing to meet his price. 

So what does the team look like now?

Well, at 1B you have oft-injured Ryan Zimmerman who is just a year removed from a .303/36/108 season.  Last year he was available only about half time and the numbers declined precipitously.  He batted .264/13/51.  He’ll turn 35 during 2019 and playing arguably one of the least demanding positions on the diamond so it will be interesting to see if it was injuries or age-related decline. 

At 2B you have Wilmer Difo still penciled in at the keystone.   Given his lack of power, average and modest speed, you’d have to wonder if Howie Kendrick might see more time there than originally planned.  Consider that position a weakness. 

Shortstop belongs to Trea Turner who is already the kind of player the Mets hope that Amed Rosario becomes.  He finished the year hitting .271/19/73 with 43 SBs.  A.J. Preller and the Padres have to be kicking themselves for this deal, but perhaps not as much as Tampa Bay as they received .233 hitting outfielder Steven Souza, Jr. while giving up Wil Myers. 

Anthony Rendon plays 3B.  Enough said.

Rookie-of-the-Year contender Juan Soto did all you could ask in his first taste of the big leagues.  The left handed hitting 20 year old hit .292 with 22 HRs and 70 RBIs in just over 400 ABs.  Yeah, I think they’re fine in LF.

In CF the Nats feature another youngster, Victor Robles.  Turning 22 this year, he features moderate (15 HR) power, moderate speed (up to 20 SBs) and a decent batting average in the minors, but his under-100-ABs in the majors is too little to project how he will adjust to the next level of competition.

Before AJ Pollock got the Diamondbacks’ headlines for his combination of defense, speed and power there was the Snakes’ (and later the White Sox’) Adam Eaton.  Like Pollock he’s been bitten by the injury bug and has not turned in a full season since 2016.  What to expect from him is a great unknown at this point. 

The starting rotation is pretty formidable.  Headed by Max Scherzer and newcomer Patrick Corbin, this duo is joined by Stephen Strasburg, Anibal Sanchez and Joe Ross.  Strasburg hasn’t logged 30 starts since 2014, so health is standing between him and his former dominance.  Anibal Sanchez is a highly serviceable pitcher.  Joe Ross is their right handed version of Jason Vargas. 

The bullpen appears to be the team’s Achilles’ heel past Trevor Rosenthal.  You have a lot of unproven players and thus it is an area I’d expect the Nats to address between now and Opening Day. 

With three solid starters, one SP4 type and one SP5 type, they probably have enough pitching to skate by if everyone stays healthy, but any short outings by the starters could expose them to other teams’ hitters.  The lineup is pretty solid with the exceptions of perhaps 2B and RF.  Right now their 82-80 second place finish seems about where they’re headed again.  The Mets are still a work-in-progress and could finish significantly better or worse depending on what they choose to do to bolster the roster.