Washington Nationals Mid Season Report: A Local Team At .500 in July
Well believe it, for the first time in the new century there's a local team at the .500 mark at the all star break. That team is the Washington Nationals, who sit in fourth place in the tough NL east, with a mark of 46-46. Thanks to good scouting and building up the minor league system through the draft, the Nats seem poised to have a winning season for the first time since moving to DC. The Nats have been successful through great pitching and grittiness. The Nats have played 36 one run games, that is about 22% of there games this year and are 18-18 in one run games. No matter how many runs this team is down by, this team always feels like they are in it and that is a great positive for any type of sports team and that's why this team is exceeding expectations so far this year.
One thing I would like to see, the Nationals, improve on is there overall offense. The Nats rank 21st and 23rd in runs scored and batting average respectively. While ranking 24th and 15th in extra base hits and homeruns respectively. If the Nats could get offense consistently and not just when they need it in the later innings, this team could be in the wild card race. But at the same time the team's core is young and the best is yet to come.
My first half MVP award goes to the whole pitching staff. The Nats rank 10th in ERA and 12th in quality starts. 8th in homeruns allowed and 15th in WHIP (walks to hits ratio per inning). Jordan Zimmerman seems to be establishing himself as one of the great young pitchers in the league as he has a 2.66 ERA and 88 strikeouts on the year. Zimmerman doesn't have more wins because he ranks 7th in the league with least run support when he pitches. With a healthy Stephen Strasburg, next year, and Jordan Zimmerman this could be one of the best one and two starters in the league next year. In the bullpen, Tyler Clippard is the teams only all star representative, which I think is BS, but anyways Clippard has an ERA of 1.75 and 63 strikeouts. Clippard is establishing himself as the Nats main setup man. Closer, Drew Storen, has also been a bright spot in the Nats bullpen with a 2.53 ERA and is 23 of 26 in save opportunities good enough for 8th in the league with saves. What I think is one of the key stats, to the Nats first half success, is that the bullpen ERA is ranked 3rd in the NL and 7th in the league. If the pitching can continue this, in the second half, the Nats will be definitely looking at .500 at the end of the year. The surprise player of the first half could go to either Ryan Matthews or Michael Morse. Ryan Matthews has taken the roll of the middle reiliever after the starter is taken out and right before Clippard. Matthews has a 1.32 ERA and 8 strikeouts on the year. While Matthews has been a great surprise, the surprise player of the first half goes to Michael Morse. Morse is batting .306 with 15 homeruns and 49 RBI, while leading the team in hits with 83. Morse is a great addition as he normally bats behind Ryan Zimmerman, and late in games pitchers can not just walk Zimmerman as they have in the past. If Zimmerman is walked then opposing teams have to face Morse, so the a decision, for opponents, must be made on who to walk or to even walk Zimmerman and or Morse. Morse was on the final vote for the all start game, but did not win.
The bum of the first half goes to Jayson Werthless, I meant Werth. Yes, he was obviously overpaid, yes I knew he was never going to live up to his contract, but when Jason Marquis has a better batting average than you there's a problem. Werth is batting .215, only 10 homeruns on the year and leads the team in strikeouts. Yup $126 million is going towards striking out a lot. At least Mark Reynolds up I-95 has 20 homers on the year, while striking out a lot. Jayson Werth is a combination of Albert Hanyesworth and Alex Semin. Werth is overpaid like, Hanyesworth and while Werth doesn't have world class talent, like Semin, I don't think Werth is maximizing his talent every night. Prime example was this past Friday and Saturday night. On both nights he had was up in the bottom of the 9th, with runners on. Friday night he strikes out on a hit and run ending the game and on Saturday night he grounds into a game ending double play. Back to back nights!!! Are you seriou??? That is unacceptable for anyone on any team that hits in the heart of the lineup. Well minus well get used to this shit show for the Nats, there's 6 years left of this and its highly doubtful he will be traded to another team as no team will take his contract. The biggest weapon of all, for the Nats, is Davey Johnson. Johnson knows that when he leaves, his position as manager, he will go back to a front office job in the organization. Because of that Johnson has a why not attitude, he knows he can't get fired so why not try some risky tactics. The most risky of the tactics was last week when Johnson tried a suicide squeeze. Twice in an at bat. The first attempt Michael Morse almost got killed by a foul ball as Lance Nix fouled off a pitch down the third base line and almost hit Morse as he was running. The second attempt was successful and the Nats won the game. Maybe it's risks and plays like that, that fire up this team and can contribute to the success of this team, during the second half of the season. With good pitching, a can't quit attitude and a manager that will try anything, this team can definitely be at or above the .500 mark at the end of the season. To see if the Nats are a legit .500 team, they will be facing the Atlanta Braves there first series back from the break and then starting on July 26th, the Nats will have three straight home series against the Marlins, Mets and Braves. Division series are the most important series of all and by the time these four series are over we should know for sure if the Nationals will be .500 or not.
Nationals Hire Davey Johnson
On Thursday, Nationals manager, Jim Riggleman decided to resign as the manager of the Nats. Since then, GM Mike Rizzo found his new man in Davey Johnson. Johnson led the Mets to a World Series title in 1986 and led the Orioles to two ALCS' in 1996 and 1997. Johnson has also managed the Reds and lastly the Dodgers in 200 while also managing Team USA in the 2009 world baseball classic. Johnson signed to manage the Nats for the rest of the season and if he is not retained, as the manager, for the 2012 season he will work else were in the organization. Before I get into Johnson, I'll get into how badly the Nats handled the Riggleman situation.
At the start of the season, Jim Riggleman knew that his contract was up and if he did not led the Nats to a decent season. Riggleman wanted to get this contract situation solved during the season. I'm not sure if this is whatt Riggleman wanted at the start of the season, but with the way this team has been playing it only seemed right that GM, Mike Rizzo, and Riggleman have contract talks. That never happened, and while the Nats were in the middle of there best month, since moving to DC, Riggleman said enough and decided to step down, due to the lack of communication between Riggleman and the organization. A lot of people say oh Riggleman quit on the team. I tend to think differently. I think Riggleman was in the right because the organization never asked to discuss his contract with him, despite the Nats being in third place and above .500. This team, on paper, should not be in third place in a tough NL east division. This team's success should go to Riggleman's credit as this team lost there future star, this year, due to tommy john surgery. I find it disturbing that owner Ted Learner and GM Mike Rizzo would rather spend $126 million on a player, in Jayson Werth, than spend money on a manager that has this team playing above its potential. Let's see here, signing a player that is past his prime to an outrageous contract while letting actual talent leave sounds a lot like another organization in this city. For now I don't like the way Ted Learner handles this team, but the next few years will tell if Learner will be like Dan Snyder or Ted Leonsis.
Despite letting go of a manager that was doing one hell of a job with this team, Rizzo made a good hire in getting Davey Johnson. Being an O's fan, since DC had no team, all I have is good memories of Davey Johnson and if Peter Angleos wasn't such an idiot and fired Johnson, the O's could've possibly won another World Series. Anyways Johnson brings tons of knowledge to the table and that is a great thing since the Nats are a young team with a lot of raw talent. Johnson is a winner as he has taken every team he has managed to the playoffs, except the Dodgers. Johnson is 68 and because of his age, Rizzo had the contract say that Johnson will be manager for the rest of this year and if he is not brought back as manager, next year, he will still be a part of the Nats organization and will help in the search of his successor. Johnson will manage his first game on Monday, as the Nats head west to take on the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim. If the Nats do continue to win the rest of the season, Rizzo will look like a genius for letting Riggleman go, if the Nats finish around 20 games or worse under .500 then DC will be questioning Rizzo as the GM. The Nationals Have a bright future, but will this Season be Bright???
The other big off season story was the signing of Jayson Werth to a 7 year $126 million contract. Its good that the Learners are willing to spend money, but like Dan Snyder money was spent in the wrong place. What happened to the "we don't want to sign Adam Dunn to a long term contract because of his age" type of thinking. Werth and Dunn are the same age 31. I can easily see Werth possibly turning into a Hayneworth situation because of all of the money the Nats are going to pay him, but time will tell.
Livan Hernandez is 36 so its going to be a question of how long his body can hold up and if his arm can once again take the bumps and bruises of a long baseball season. Especially since Hernandez tends to pitch a lot of innings, I'm not sure if his body can take that any more. Hernandez is good to have around though to mentor the young pitchers. John Lannan is at the age were he should be reaching the prime of his career so with enough bullpen support Lannan has the potential to win 10 games, but will most likely be around 8 wins again this year. Joradan Zimmermann is in the same boat as Laannan, but I think still has some growing to do, Zimmerman could also have a breakout year. Jason Marquis only started 13 games last year due to injury and it showed, if some of the young arms begin to blossom in AAA ball I wont be surprised if one will take Marquis' spot in the rotation later in the year. Tom Grozelanny had a decent season with the Cubs last year and his bascially in the down of his career from what I think. Grozelanny will also Hernandez in mentoring Lannan and Zimmerman.
Bullpen and Closers:
Strasburg's Start As Good As Advertised
The Washington Nationals come into this years season with multiple questions at pitching and will feature a batting lineup that some say will be a little bit weaker than last year with letting Adam Dunn. The Nats went through a some what interesting off season. First was then GM Stan Kasten leaving and Mike Rizzo taking over in that same position. For those of you that don't remember Stan Kasten was the GM that built the Atlanta Braves into what they were in the 1990's. That was very encouraging to me as Kasten looked like he was going to do the same here in DC. Kasten stepping down is a huge red flag to me, because that means that Kasten may have not been getting along with the Learners. Kasten isn't the type of GM that will step down right in the middle of the rebuilding process and with future looking bright. This tells me that the Learners may be wanting hands on in alot of the player personal decisions the team makes a la Dan Snyder. Which brings me to Adam Dunn.
Why would let the team leader in homers and RBI walk away??? Granted he is hot and cold, strikesout a lot, and his getting old in age. But Adam Dunn could've stuck around here in DC and help mentor this young team. A lot of the players last year said that Dunn was the reason why the team was so close and was basically like a family last year. Why would you want to mess comradery up like that? From experience and from watching pro teams, the teams that tend to be most successful are close to each other in the locker room, no homo. It's going to be interesting to see if the Nats still have that comradery this year with Dunn gone.
Ok, enough of my bitching from the offseason, the team is what it is. On to what to expect from this year's team.
Pitching:
With Stephen Strasburg not expected to be back from Tommy John surgery until August or September, there is alot of questions with this pitching staff from starters to closers. Here's what the projected starting rotation will be with the players stats from last year
| 1 | RHP | Livan Hernandez 10-12, 3.66 ERA, 114 SO, 16 HR | ||||||
| 2 | LHP | John Lannan 8-8, 4.65 ERA, 71 SO, 14 HR | ||||||
| 3 | RHP | Jordan Zimmermann 1-2, 4.94 ERA, 27 SO, 8 HR | ||||||
| 4 | RHP | Jason Marquis 2-9, 6.60 ERA, 31 SO, 9 HR | ||||||
| 5 | LHP | Tom Gorzelanny 7-9, 4.09 ERA, 119 SO, 11 HR, (with Chicago Cubs) | ||||||
Livan Hernandez is 36 so its going to be a question of how long his body can hold up and if his arm can once again take the bumps and bruises of a long baseball season. Especially since Hernandez tends to pitch a lot of innings, I'm not sure if his body can take that any more. Hernandez is good to have around though to mentor the young pitchers. John Lannan is at the age were he should be reaching the prime of his career so with enough bullpen support Lannan has the potential to win 10 games, but will most likely be around 8 wins again this year. Joradan Zimmermann is in the same boat as Laannan, but I think still has some growing to do, Zimmerman could also have a breakout year. Jason Marquis only started 13 games last year due to injury and it showed, if some of the young arms begin to blossom in AAA ball I wont be surprised if one will take Marquis' spot in the rotation later in the year. Tom Grozelanny had a decent season with the Cubs last year and his bascially in the down of his career from what I think. Grozelanny will also Hernandez in mentoring Lannan and Zimmerman.Bullpen and Closers:
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| Closer: Drew Storen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closer: Doug Slaten | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drew Storen will be the main closer and Tyler Clippard will be the main set up man. Storen stepped into the closer in the middle of last year and went 4-4 with 5 saves. Storen is supposed to be the Nats closer for a long time to come and looked pretty good last year and will most likely build from what he accomplished last year. Clippard went 11-8 with 1 save last year. Clippard is also a young pitcher that the Nats have high hopes for. Clippards high amount of wins is due to the teams biggest weakness, the middle relievers. The middle relievers is alot of the reason why the Nationals lost alot leads and games last year and will be there alchies heel again this year. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bating: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 9 Picther | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
You know what you are going get in Ryan Zimmerman, he's a .300 batting average guy and should get 20 home runs every year. Ian Desmond is still developing and should continue to make strides. Jayson Werth is basically going to be Adam Dunn's replacement we'll see if the money goes to his head. LaRoche is in his 30's butt still seems to be producing which is why he's perfect for the clean up spot. Rick Ankiel, the pitcher turned fielder has bounced around alot since leaving St. Louis a few years ago and if he's having a good year don't be surprised if he becomes trade bait at the deadline. Overall the offense should be were it was last year maybe even better. Zimmerman would be easily considered a star in the league if the teams was in the playoffs and Werth does have that veteran leadership for the offenses.
Season Prediction:
Unfortunately, it looks like to be another long year down on South Capitol street. The young pitching and the lack of a solid bullpen will cost the Nats again as it has in the past, while the offense will produce runs once again. The Nats are also a victim of being in a good division with the Phillies and Braves. If the Nats were in the NL central or AL west they could possibly be near the .500 mark, but they are not and have to keep on working towards the future if they are to compete with the Phillies and Braves. Nats could possibly top the Marlins for 4th place in the division, but I think it'll be a "good" battle to between the Nats and Marlins for 4th and 5th.
Strasburg's Start As Good As Advertised
Well, here it was, the event that everyone in DC (and some Baltimore fans) had waited for since that faithful night in April at the Verizon Center, Strasburg’s debut as a Washington National. After falling behind 2-0 in the count to lead off man Andrew McCutchen, Strasburg threw a 95 mph fastball that was hit right to the glove of SS Ian Desmond, then to end the inning, struck out former National Lastings Milledge. As if the first sellout crowd since the first game at Nationals Park didn’t have enough to cheer about, Ryan Zimmerman then hit a solo shot to right center coming through once again in a big moment at Nats Park. For those of you that don’t remember, it was Ryan Zimmerman who hit the walk off HR in the first game at Nats Park. Strasburg continued to use what we had seen in the minors this spring, his overpowering fastballs and changeups to this nasty breaking balls that seemed to only have drops thought possible in MLB the Show. Not only were his pitches as good as advertised, but so was his composure. Pitching in front of a sellout crowd did not faze Strasburg nor did anything else faze him as he was down 3-0 in the count and came back to strikeout the batter. Then, after giving up a 2 run homer to Delwyn Young in the top of the 4th, Strasburg proceeded to retire the next 10 batters. But that was not enough as he struck out the side in the 2nd, 6th and 7th innings.Those events created an atmosphere in the park that could only rival the atmosphere of a Capitals game at Verizon. I even heard some of the same chants that are used at Verizon being used at Nats Park tonight, of course replacing Caps with Nats. Anyway, every time Strasburg got to 2 strikes in the count, the crowd would hold their breath as if Ovechkin was flying across the neutral zone on a breakaway in anticipation of something special about to happen. And that something special did happen, as Strasburg struck out 14 batters on the night setting a franchise record for most K’s in a game. Nine more K’s than what the Vegas odds makers predicted at 5 K’s. Obviously, like any other young player, don’t be surprised if Strasburg has a few bad games this summer; remember there was no major league scouting report on him now there is. Batters know what pitches Strasburg will throw and after a few starts, batters will pick up on his tendencies. Strasburg will then have to adjust to how batters approach him; if Strasburg is able to do that he will then have the great career that everyone is expecting him to have.
For the first time in a long time, the crowd at a DC baseball game had something positive to cheer about and for the first time in a long time, there is hope for a DC baseball team. This team is slowly but surely becoming a contender right now; 2 out of 3 keystones are in place with Zimmerman and Strasburg, the 3rd was just drafted yesterday in Bryce Harper. In the first 4 years as the GM of the Atlanta Braves, Stan Kasten has a winning percentage of around .400 after that the Braves reeled off 14 straight division crowns and one World Series championship. Kasten, so far in his 4th year as the Nationals GM, is also on pace for a .400 winning percentage. Sounds like a good sign, the stars are starting to align in Natstown. In a few more years, DC will have 2, possibly, 3, championship contenders every year with the Caps and Nats as the first 2 and possibly the Wizards with Ted Leonsis becoming owner of that team.
This night just maybe the top night in DC baseball history behind the first game back at RFK and the first game played at Nats Park, unless Strasburg throws a no hitter or perfect game which has a good chance of happening. Not only will this go down as one of DC’s top baseball moments, but as one of the top moments in DC sports history.
