Washington Nationals

It's easy enough to dismiss most of what has happened this year to bad luck or at least things out of the team's control. Werth's injury. Ramos' injury. La Roche starting slow. Gio starting slow. Some back-end bullpen blowouts from guys you trusted fully. Even Espinosa, the current punching bag of the fans, who out there wouldn't have had him start the season and play at least a month, if not more? How can you blame a management when it's putting a team everyone thought was great out there and it doesn't perform.But this ignores the fact that the team did take gambles during the off-season. They were minor gambles, seemingly pretty innocuous at the time, but they've all blown up in the Nats faces and contributed a fair amount to the struggles up to this point.The signing of Dan Haren was the first gamble. On another team this would have been a bigger deal, but on the Nats, with 3 rotation guys who were expected to be good to very good and Detwiler looking like a fine back of the rotation guy, Haren didn't have to be great. He merely needed to be ok and eat up innings. He did battle an injury last year, but he seemed to pull through it and get stronger as the year went on. If he was right, he could be fantastic moving from the AL to the NL. Edwin Jackson, who filled this role last year, wanted a big contract and proved to be unreliable, so why not take a chance on a guy that might end up giving you one of the best rotations of all-time?The problem though was depth. In that the Nats have none with starting pitching. Edwin Jackson was a machine went brought in for this role. He had no significant injury history in the past 4+ years and was only 28. Haren on the other hand had just battled injury and was going to be 32 and that's less reliable. If you didn't want to dip into your AAA pitching because it wasn't very good, then bringing in Haren was not the best move. Now it turns out he hasn't gotten injured, but he has given the Nats a performance very much like what they'd expect from a throw-away arm that would replace an injured Haren.Worse yet with a slow start from Gio and Stras not being dominant, the Haren issues meant more innings were needed from the front part of a pen which was a problem because of gamble #2.The second gamble the Nats made was to cut out some of the middle reliever cost and set up a slightly unusual bullpen contstruction. Rizzo knows enough that a pen doesn't really need a lefty. If you have good enough pitchers they will get anyone out. For this reason he let Mike Gonzalez & Sean Burnett walk to be replaced by Rafeal Soriano. With Soriano, Clippard, and Storen at the back end it presumably wouldn't matter who they faced because they'd get them out. This gamble worked out ok for the most part.But then he also decided to roll with Zach Duke instead of Tom Gorzelanny to save a few dollars. While Gorzelanny had proved over the course of a couple grooming years that he was up to the job of middle relief, Duke had only one year post his last failed starter attempt and the results were mixed. Yes while up with the Nats he looked good, but the longer time he spent that year was in AAA and the stats are decidedly unimpressive. The other gamble he took was keeping H-Rod on the staff. H-Rod had no defined role. He's just a live arm that is around because Rizzo is desperate to prove he didn't lose that Willingham deal. Maybe he'll develop, maybe not, but he's nothing to be relied on. Of course with a rotation and back-end of the pen like the Nats have, the two gambles would hardly matter, right?Back to where we ended gamble #1 - Haren failed though, and Gio wasn't sharp and Stras wasn't going deep. All of a sudden the Nats didn't need fewer bullpen innings they needed more. 20% more in April in comparison to 2012. Add in a couple of back-end blow-ups with Storen looking especially shaky, and you really do need all hands on deck. But Duke's shown he is that mediocre AAA arm that he looked like last year. And

Kyle Kendrick opposes the Nationals after the good guys return home from an extended west coast swing. Early Career to Present Succinctly, it has been unremarkable. Since he debuted in 2007 at age 22, the righty has paired a well below-average strikeout rate -- the MLB average hovers around 17-18.5%, and Kendrick has topped 12% once -- with a slightly above-average walk rate. But the Phillies have had some good teams over the years, and that has resulted in Kendrick getting win totals of 10, 11, 11, 8, and 11 when he's tossed over 110 innings in a year. Year fWAR ERA- 2007 +0.9 85 2008 -0.2 126 2010 +0.5 117 2011 +/-0.0 84 2012 +1.1 99 As you might expect from someone who doesn't get strikeouts and walks slightly fewer batters than the normal twirler, his WAR values haven't been great. And if you want to go by more traditional metrics, well, the chart at right makes things look reasonably better, so it's fair to adjust your perception upward if that's your thing (ERA- measures how far above or below major league average (100) a pitcher's ERA is; lower is better. 2009 was omitted, since he only pitched 26 innings that year). Kendrick has banked some pretty good results so far this year. Currently sporting a 2.82 ERA, Kendrick has already accumulated +0.8 fWAR and +1.9 bWAR, each of which are close to his best single-season marks. What's different now? Well, he's maintained a not terrible 16.3% K%, and has really cut down on walks (5.6%, versus league average of 8.1%). His BABIP is also .020 below his career average, and .027 below the ML average. Finally, he's stranding runnersreally well (83.1% of 'em have been left on base, 10% better than ML average). Here is how he's using his repertoire, and what results his pitches are yielding with respect to BB% and BABIP. Getting Down: Kendrick's Sinker and Split-Fingered Fastball Really, it's not a split-fingered fastball; its more like a split-fingered change. Fangraphs actually labels it a change, and it comes in at 83 MPH, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, Kendrick's main offerings are a 90.7 MPH sinker (57% usage) and the aforementioned split (24%). The Splitter Kendrick's improved control of the split in decisive counts may be to thank for his lower walk rate. Over his career, 5.8% of batters have walked when he used the pitch with a three-ball count. This year, he's only walked two batters in 71 at-bats when the split has ended a three-ball plate appearance, good for a 2.8% walk rate. In fact, Kendrick's split control appears to have improved across the board. For his career, the slow-rotating, tumbling pitch has gone for a ball almost 39% of the time; compare that to 2013, where he's cut that number by 7%, to 32%. In what is probably a corollary to the above, Kendrick is getting far more swings on the split this year that normal, too: 53.6% for his career, versus 63% in 2013. But his swing and miss percentage isn't all that different this year. What's up? His ground ball rate, is what (what, what...what). You can imagine that a pitch like the splitter -- a pitch that doesn't rotate a whole lot on the way to the plate, causing a diving action late in it's trajectory -- generates a fair number of worm-burners. This year is no exception. Batters are hitting 60% of splitters in play on the ground, a career high. Among line drives, fly balls, and grounders, the latter has the lowest run value. So I think his improved control, swing rate, and ground-ball rate on the split may be one part of Kendrick's career-best ERA. The problem is, hitters are having success on batted balls, evidenced by the .310 batting average and .380 slugging percentage. The Sinker So maybe the sinker is also pulling weight. Also: According to Baseball Reference, a sinker has less dramatic downward break than the split, if you were like me and wondering what the difference was. The offering is ge

Because of the quirks of this season’s scheduling, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals will finally meet on the field this weekend, near the end of the second month of the season. The Nationals enter Friday’s game 4.5 games … Continue reading →

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers Syracuse Won, 8-7 (11 inn.) @ Columbus, 7:05 p.m. Rosenbaum (4-2, 3.04) vs. Bauer (2-0, 3.23) Harrisburg Lost, 8-6 vs. Reading, 7:00 p.m. TBD vs. Wright (0-2, 11.88) Potomac Lost, 7-4 @ Lynchburg, 6:05 p.m. Hill (4-1, 2.31) vs. Moore (4-4, 5.94) Hagerstown Won, 7-0 vs. Lexington, 7:05 p.m. Encarnacion (3-3, 2.48) vs. Nina (1-2, 4.55) Syracuse 8 Columbus 7 (11 inn.) • Torra 4IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 4K • Roark 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K • Davis (BS, 2; W, 1-1) 2IP, 1H, R, ER, BB, 2K, HR • Owings 2-6, 2R, 2HR, 5RBI • Rahl 2-5, 2R, HR, RBI (15-game hit streak) • Kobernus 2-4, R, 2BB, SB, CS Chris Marrero’s two-out, two-run single in the 11th was the difference as the Chiefs won for the fifth time in 11 extra-inning games, 8-7. Matt Torra made his first start of the season, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Micah Owings drove in five of the first six Syracuse runs with a solo shot in the 2nd and a grand slam in the 5th. Columbus tied the game at 6-6 with a leadoff HR off Erik Davis in the 9th, his second blown save. Xavier Cedeno “earned” his first save despite giving up a solo HR in the 11th. Roster move: RHP Matt Torra activated from 7-Day DL. Erie 8 Harrisburg 6 • Jordan 1+ IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 0K • Holland (L, 0-2) ⅓ IP, 2H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 0K, • Herron 2⅔ IP, 5H, R, ER, 0BB, 7K, 2-0 IR-S • Johnson 2-4, R, 3B, BB, 3RBI • Leon 1-3, 2R, 2B, BB • Rendon 0-3, 2BB, K as DH So much for getaway day. The ride home was shorter than the 5 hours and 49 minutes it took from first pitch to the last out as Erie took its second straight against Harrisburg, 8-6. Taylor Jordan went just an inning and walked a batter to start the second before a 149-minute rain delay ended his day. Harrisburg scored four in the third to take a 4-1 lead only to allow seven runs over the next five innings before scoring twice in the 9th. Neil Holland took the loss with four runs charged to him on two hits and two walks and a hit batsman in the space of just seven batters faced. Josh Johnson paced the Senators offense with a single, walk, and a triple and three RBI, as Harrisburg managed to score six times on just five hits thanks in no small part to ten walks issued by the Seawolves. Frederick 7 Potomac 4 • Cole (L, 1-2) 5+ IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 5K, HR • Bates 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K • Nieto 2-4, 2-2B, RBI • Taylor 2-4, 2B A four-run 6th for Frederick turned a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead, as the Keys split the rain-shortened series with a 7-4 win. Starter A.J. Cole failed to go six innings for the third straight start, putting the first three runners on in the sixth via a walk and back-to-back doubles. The 21-y.o. would be charged with five runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out five in his second loss. Adrian Nieto paced the offense with a pair of doubles as the P-Nats piled up 11 hits to the Keys’ nine, but twice ran into outs on the basepaths to kill rallies. Hagerstown 7 Lexington 0 • Pineyro (W, 4-2) 7IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 6K • Benincasa 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K • Renda 3-5, R, 2B, RBI • B. Miller 2-4, R, 2B, RBI • Piwinica-Worms 2-4, R, RBI, SB Three Hagerstown pitchers combined for a four-hit shutout as the Suns debunked the Legends, 7-0. Ivan Pineyro tossed a season-best seven innings, with no walks, six strikeout and just three hits allowed to win his fourth contest. Cody Davis and Robert Benincasa each allowed a baserunner while laying the last two goose eggs on the scoreboard. Tony Renda led the attack with a 3-for-5 night, followed closely by Brandon Miller and Will Piwinica-Worms, who each went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Roster move: LHP Kylin Turnbull reassigned to XST; RHP Jason Smith reassigned from XST.

Your browser does not support iframes.After a grueling, 10-day road trip to the West Coast that featured plenty more lows than highs and a red-eye flight home from San Francisco, the Nationals would have been excused had they simply wanted to take Thursday off and rejuvenate themselves.How, then, do you explain more than a dozen members of the roster and coaching staff showing up at Nationals Park for Ryan Zimmerman's annual "Night at the Park" charity event?"It means a lot," Zimmerman said. "We're obviously teammates, and on the field we're fighting for the same thing. But for them to take time out of their off-day — which we don't get many — and getting home at 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning from the West Coast, for so many of them to come out and support me and buy thingsRead more »

Christopher Hanewinckel – USA Today Sports In sports, there are always guys who get a ton of credit, and then there are the players who consistently perform but never get the recognition. This also applies to fantasy baseball, as many quality contributors often fly under the radar, only to play well year after year. Finding these solid veterans for cheap can be invaluable for your fantasy team, so we are going to create a full squad of underrated performers that are helping your 2013 squad and have been doing it for years. To continue the series, we look at Washington Nationals 1B Adam Laroche. When drafting, it’s important to get power from your first base slot. From eight of the past nine seasons, Laroche has been a cheap but consistent source of power. A notoriously slow starter, owners know what they are getting into at the start of the season just by looking at his career .695 OPS in April. He consistently gets hotter with the weather and that OPS rises all the way up to .911 in August; much closer to his career .815 OPS. Laroche has hit at least 20 home runs every season — other than his injury shortened 2011 — since 2005. The career .266 hitter won’t kill your average and is a lock for 80-100 RBI as well each year that he’s healthy. This season has been no different than his career as the veteran struggled through April with a .213 OBP, .473 OPS and just three home runs and eight RBI. Already in May, Laroche has four home runs, 12 RBI and a .924 OPS. It looks to be yet another productive season for Laroche in 2013. Rich Arleo is a fantasy sports expert with Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Rarleo, ‘Like’ him on Facebook and add him to your networks on Google.  2013 Fantasy Baseball All-Underrated Team SP: Bronson Arroyo, Cincinnati Reds RP: Rafael Betancourt, Colorado Rockies OF: Nick Swisher, Cleveland Indians 1B: Adam Laroche, Washington Nationals Stay tuned for the next edition of the 2013 Fantasy Baseball All-Underrated Team on Rantsports.com/fantasy

Runs have come at a premium lately for the Washington Nationals, putting a big burden on their starting pitchers. Luckily, Jordan Zimmermann has been up to the task this season, though Friday night he’ll have to bounce back from his first loss in nearly a month. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Washington Nationals News

It's not even June yet, but apparently it's not too early to begin speculating about Davey Johnson's successor. And so, with Don Mattingly on the hot seat in LA, CBS Sports' Danny Knobler did just that in a column on Thursday, speculating that if Mattingly gets fired, he could be on Mike Rizzo's radar as Davey's eventual replacement. Via CBSSports.com: "People who know Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo say Rizzo is and has always been a Mattingly fan. The Nationals considered Mattingly as manager once before, according to sources, although they never officially interviewed him for the job at that point.... Eventually, though, they will need someone to take over for Johnson, who has said that this will be his final year as manager. Both ownership and the front office are believed to strongly favor hiring a high-profile manager, rather than simply promote someone like Randy Knorr or Trent Jewett from Johnson's coaching staff." Back in 2009 Mattingly turned down an opportunity to interview with the Nats. Different job back then, of course. UPDATE: Sources have confirmed that Jim Riggleman is NOT on Mike Rizzo's short list of potential replacements for Davey. (Screencap via MLB.com video) Befriend Nats Enquirer on Facebook. Follow on Twitter.

Davey Johnson told reporters there was "unfinished business" he had to attend to in 2013 in the nation's capital, but after that, the Washington Nationals' manager said he was done as a major league skipper. Johnson's managing the Nats through the end of this season in what he's called a "World Series or bust," campaign, then the plan is for the 70-year-old baseball lifer to return to the consultant's role within the organization that he held before being called back to the bench in the majors mid-season in 2011 for the first time since he was fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers after failing to make the postseason for the second-straight year in 2000. Johnson decided he was the right man for the job after the 2011 season ended and he agreed to return for one more run this past December after leading Washington to the NL East crown and the postseason in 2012. Johnson took a moment to address the mantra for his final go-round early this Spring. "Being as this is my last year," he told reporters, "it wasn't any great, earth-shaking news, 'World Series or bust,' because I think that we've already won [the division], we've been in the postseason and with that experience and with the talent level that's here, our goal should be higher." "There's no sense in me romancing anybody," Davey Johnson said, "and telling you that, 'Jeez, we'll be lucky if we win the division,' or be lucky if we go far in the playoffs." - Davey Johnson on 'World Series or bust' quote "There's no sense in me romancing anybody," Johnson said, "and telling you that, 'Jeez, we'll be lucky if we win the division,' or be lucky if we go far in the playoffs. Maybe I'm just covering my [butt]. But my [butt] is going to be gone anyway. But, I think, I'm not telling these players anything that they don't believe themselves." After this season, however, he's done. No one's budged from that stance since it was first announced. No one's really discussed a potential successor either, not seriously, though there were some rumblings today after CBSSports.com reporter Danny Knobler threw Don Mattingly's name out there just as the current Dodgers' skipper's being barraged by rumors of his impending dismissal. "People who know Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo say Rizzo is and has always been a [Don] Mattingly fan. The Nationals considered Mattingly as manager once before..." - CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler in article today Several reports today contradicted recent rumblings that said Mattingly's tenure as the Dodgers' skipper might be nearing its end with "multiple sources" telling ESPN.com's Jayson Stark and Buster Olney that the 52-year-old, third-year manager, "... is in no imminent danger of being fired." CBSSports.com's Mr. Knobler, while acknowledging the reports that Mattingly's not in danger of losing his job right now, wrote that if he were to leave the Dodgers, "... keep the Nationals in mind.": "People who know Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo say Rizzo is and has always been a Mattingly fan. The Nationals considered Mattingly as manager once before, according to sources, although they never officially interviewed him for the job at that point." Mr. Knobler went on to write that Rizzo, "... not surprisingly, didn't want to come anywhere near discussing Mattingly or the Nationals' succession plans for Johnson," when his colleague, Jon Heyman, asked recently, and added that the Nationals, "... ownership and the front office are believed to strongly favor hiring a high-profile manager, rather than simply promote someone like Randy Knorr or Trent Jewett from Johnson's coaching staff." "[Rizzo] not surprisingly, didn't want to come anywhere near discussing Mattingly or the Nationals' succession plans for Johnson..." - CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler in article today As the report notes, the Nationals reportedly asked for permission to interview Mattingly, then the Dodgers' hitting coach under then-manager Joe Torre, when the

As of now we have 5 position players (Espinosa, Lombardozzi, Tracy, Moore, and Bernadina) who have an on base percentage of under .250. Of these, only Lombardozzi is hitting above the Mendoza line. You may be thinking (as I have) that players putting up such putrid numbers have no business on the roster of a contending team. They certainly don't belong in the starting lineup. However, there are problems with replacing most of these underperformers from the standpoint of position flexibility. An obvious candidate for AAA or the DL is Danny Espinosa. There are 3 in AA and AAA who would be likely to put up better offensive numbers (Rendon, Kobernus, and Rhymes). The problem is that Danny is also our backup shortstop. Can any of these guys give Desmond an occasional blow? I wonder if he'd still be with us if he couldn't also play short. Otherwise, Ryan Theriot might be getting a call from the 202 area code. If Danny goes, we need someone who can play shortstop. Maybe Rendon? Seems he would have enough on his plate learning to play second at a major league level. What about sending down Lombardozzi? Even for a good field, no hit utility player his offensive numbers are pretty weak. Kobernus offers as much defensive flexibility, but would he be a better alternative? He, like Lombo, strikes out more than he walks. Still, it would be hard to walk less than Lombo. He isn't likely to hit .300 against major league pitching, but maybe he could put up good numbers until the league figures him out. It would be a crap shoot, but possibly one worth trying. Giving Chad Tracy his walking papers would take away a left handed bat off the bench who can fill in at the corner infield spots. Who in AAA can play the corners and bat left? Will "Batman" Rhymes has played some third, and bats lefty. However, he isn't a threat to do what Tracy did against the Padres. If Lombo stays, or Kobernus is called up, they can also fill in at the hot corner. There are other options at first, including Moore (if he and his .120 average stay) and Marrero. I was afraid Tyler Moore would be exposed if he were put in the starting lineup. It looks like he has been exposed even without starting. If he swung at one of Livo's 65 mph curves they'd probably need a corkscrew to get him out of the ground. At first I thought bringing up Marrero to replace him was a no brainer. He hit around .250 with gap power during a callup in 2011. He seems to be regaining his power stroke at Syracuse. But wait; he's strictly a first baseman. Moore can play the outfield, even if he doesn't play it that well. I think if Moore is sent down for Marrero maybe it should be after Werth returns. Another possible replacement would be Micah Owings, but he has struck out at a rate almost as high as Moore's. On the other hand, his lifetime average against major league pitching is higher. Bernadina, even though he seems completely lost at the plate this year, is a valuable defensive replacement. I don't see this as being as complicated now that Corey Brown is off the DL. Maybe it's time to give him a shot to see if he can make it as a fourth outfielder in the Nation's capital. As you can see, replacing our underachievers isn't an easy task. We have guys who are producing in the minors, but there are complications when it comes to filling positions. Of course there are folks who are paid a lot more than me to make these decisions. What say you? As of now we have 5 position players (Espinosa, Lombardozzi, Tracy, Moore, and Bernadina) who have an on base percentage of under .250. Of these, only Lombardozzi is hitting above the Mendoza line. You may be thinking (as I have) that players putting up such putrid numbers have no business on the roster of a contending team. They certainly don't belong in the starting lineup. However, there are problems with replacing most of these underperformers from the standpoint of position flexibility. An obvious candidat