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2018 Washington Nationals - Weak Cheese

@DCGoldPants

By @DCGoldPants
in The Tailgate

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samy316

samy316

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I'm getting excited for the upcoming season.  We're less than a month away from spring training, and only a couple of weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting.  We're also on the cusp of potentially witnessing Bryce Harper's final season with the Nats.  I hope we cash in this year with at least an NLCS or a WS appearance.  Any further advancement from the NLDS will be considered a success.

 

I know we don't have to worry about this until next Winter, but what do you all think is going to happen with Harper next offseason?  I think he's going to have an MVP season, and really drive up his potential future earnings with his performance this year.  I see a 40+ HR, .320+ season like we saw back in 2015.  I know Cubs & Dodgers fans will be paying especially close attention to Harper too.

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Riggo#44

Riggo#44

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Keith Law ranks Nats Farm System 18:

 

18. Washington Nationals
2017 rank: 22

It's kind of remarkable that the Nats have avoided becoming a bottom-five system, even with numerous prospect trades to bolster their playoff-bound rosters. They lost high picks and high-ceiling international signings, yet brought in two potential stars and quite a bit of lower-level depth, mostly in position players. Their international scouting department deserves a ton of credit for continuing to stock the system. When they've spent big in Latin America, their track record is pretty good.

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@DCGoldPants

@DCGoldPants

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9 hours ago, Riggo#44 said:

Keith Law ranks Nats Farm System 18:

 

18. Washington Nationals
2017 rank: 22

It's kind of remarkable that the Nats have avoided becoming a bottom-five system, even with numerous prospect trades to bolster their playoff-bound rosters. They lost high picks and high-ceiling international signings, yet brought in two potential stars and quite a bit of lower-level depth, mostly in position players. Their international scouting department deserves a ton of credit for continuing to stock the system. When they've spent big in Latin America, their track record is pretty good.

 

They draft well and trade well. Now you have a wave of younger guys up mixed with Vets and the farm is only middle of the pack? Wait a year and it'll be top 10 again just on progress of the guys they recently drafted. 

 

Oh, and no deal on Robles. Soto I'd rather keep but understand if Rizzo pulled the trigger. 

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Riggo#44

Riggo#44

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Keith Law's write up on Nats System overall:

Quote

The Nationals pick low in the first round when they pick at all, but they still find value wherever they pick, while their international scouting staff has landed a number of extremely high-ceiling prospects who now rank in the team's top five.

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1. Victor Robles, of (ranked No. 4)
2. Juan Soto, of (ranked No. 42)
3. Carter Kieboom, ss
4. Seth Romero, lhp
5. Yasel Antuna, ss
6. Erick Fedde, rhp
7. Wil Crowe, rhp
8. Blake Perkins, of
9. Andrew Stevenson, of
10. Luis Garcia, ss

 

Non-top 100 prospects

Carter Kieboom missed most of the year because of a hamstring injury, but he showed some real promise when he did play, with a good eye at the plate and extra-base power to all fields. There's substantial upside here, even though he's very likely to move to third or second, because he has some on-base and power potential that could put him in the middle of a lineup. Seth Romero was their first-round pick in June after a tumultuous career at Houston that saw him kicked off the team. But when he's not suspended or otherwise in trouble, he's up to 95 with a plus changeup -- maybe even a 70 -- and a good enough breaking ball to get left-handed hitters. If the makeup wasn't such a huge concern, he might have been a top-10 pick, even with some injury and delivery concerns, because the stuff is that good.

 

Yasel Antuna hit .301/.382/.399 as a true 17-year-old in the GCL last year, his pro debut after the Nationals signed him for $3.9 million in 2016, and has the biggest upside in the system of anyone after the top two. He's a shortstop who can play just about anywhere, and has a smooth swing with an advanced approach and even some breaking ball recognition, with plenty of power projection to come. Erick Fedde, their first-round pick in 2014, had a disastrous debut this fall, but still has back-end starter upside and probably more value in relief. He's a sinker/slider guy with a changeup that still needs some separation from his fastball, and he has had trouble turning over lineups in the high minors. Will Crowe was one of the top college seniors in the 2017 draft class and should move quickly through the low minors as a strike-thrower with four pitches and good feel. He had Tommy John surgery in college and has had knee problems that led teams to shy away from him out of high school.

 

Blake Perkins led the low-A Sally League in walks at age 20 in his first full season switch-hitting. He's a plus defender in center with plus speed, and hit fairly well left-handed, although all of his homers came from his natural (right-handed) side. Andrew Stevenson had trouble making hard contact in Triple-A and the majors; he can play center, and does put the ball in play a lot, giving him a fourth outfielder probability with some starter upside that he might never fulfill in this organization. Luis Garcia, who signed for $1.5 million the same summer that Antuna signed, is probably more of a second baseman than a shortstop because of his stockier build. He's a plus runner with good hands but lacks polish at the plate and on the bases.

 

Outfielder Daniel Johnson (11) was old for the low-A Sally League and saw his production drop a bit after a late promotion to high-A. He can show a plus arm and above-average speed (more on defense than out of the box), and has pull power, but is too much of a fastball hitter right now and needs a better approach, including using the opposite field. One big positive from his 2017 season: He didn't have trouble with left-handed pitching at any of his three stops, including the Arizona Fall League. Right-hander Luis Reyes (12) has an extremely high spin rate on his curveball to go with a low-90s sinker and a promising changeup, which sounds like the makings of a very good starter if he can get to even average control. Kelvin Gutierrez (13) missed more than half of the season after a brutal leg injury, losing a lot of development time he needed at the plate. He has a rifle of an arm with good hands, but his swing doesn't use his lower half much so he has been a light-contact hitter so far. The Nationals added catcher Raudy Read (14) to their 40-man roster this winter after he nearly doubled his previous high in homers, hitting 17 with 25 doubles at Double-A Harrisburg. He's a dead-pull hitter with chronically low OBPs, but a catcher with his kind of power and a plus arm can still be valuable, more so if he improves his receiving.

Jackson Tetrault (15) was the Nats' seventh-round pick in June out of a Florida junior college, a very projectable right-hander with a live arm who's still raw as a pitcher. Third-rounder Nick Raquet (16) will show two above-average pitches from the left side, but his command and control point to a likely relief future. Jefry Rodriguez (17) was popped for 80 games after a positive PED test; he was 90-95 before the suspension, with a too-hard changeup and inconsistent curveball that would flash plus up to 81 mph.

 

Catcher Jakson Reetz (18) seems as if he has been in the system forever but will play all of 2018 at age 22; he has improved behind the plate and is making better quality contact, just not enough of it. Gabe Klobosits (19) was the Nats' 36th-round pick out of Auburn and punched out 29 percent of batters in his pro debut; the 6-7, 250-plus pound right-hander works in the mid-90s with a good slider and split. Right-hander Tomas Alastre (20) won't turn 20 until June, and works with a low-90s fastball with good feel to spin his breaking ball. He's projectable, with a 6-4 frame that could take a lot more muscle, and the Nats praise his cerebral approach. Jose Sanchez (21) played in the GCL this summer at 16 -- he turned 17 on July 12, so yes, he was born in the year 2000 -- and is a gifted defender at any infield spot, with some feel for the bat right now, but as you might expect he's not physically mature just yet.

 

2018 impact: Victor Robles is ready if and when there's a spot in the Washington outfield. Fedde could help the team this year out of the bullpen or as a swingman.

 

Sleeper: Yasel Antuna might be two years away from top-100 status rather than one, but his upside is enormous and he already has an aptitude for baseball beyond that of most 17-year-olds.

 

The fallen: Joan Baez was No. 10 on my Nats list last year, but his control just fell apart last season, with 66 walks in 79 innings for high-A Potomac. He's up to 97 with a promising curveball, but he might have to go to the bullpen to salvage his career and my chance to work song titles into future columns about him.

 

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Warhead36

Warhead36

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3 hours ago, Riggo#44 said:

Thank you, Mike Rizzo. The Redskins, again, showed why you don't toss away players like Robles and Soto. I would love Realmuto, but in no way want to give up blue-chippers like those two.

I was just about to come in here and post the same thing. Thank God there is at least one team in town with a GM with a brain. If Allen ran the Nats he'd have traded Robles and Soto for the decaying husk of Andrew McCutchen and we'd probably have to throw in salary to boot.

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Dan T.

Dan T.

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4 hours ago, Riggo#44 said:

Thank you, Mike Rizzo. The Redskins, again, showed why you don't toss away players like Robles and Soto. I would love Realmuto, but in no way want to give up blue-chippers like those two.

 

Are talks off?  I'm still hoping he can pry Realmuto away from the Marlins.

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Riggo#44

Riggo#44

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1 minute ago, Dan T. said:

 

Are talks off?  I'm still hoping he can pry Realmuto away from the Marlins.

 

I haven't heard one way or another--but Rizzo doesn't panic. He's made his pitch what he thinks Realmuto is worth. He's not going to overpay to keep him from another team.

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thebluefood

thebluefood

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In a wide-ranging MLB Network Radio interview on Wednesday morning, Washington Nationals’ GM Mike Rizzo talked to “Power Alley” hosts Jim Duquette and Mike Ferrin about the remaining roster needs for the defending NL East champs, the free agents still on the market, and the Nats’ level of interest, and the battle for the fifth spot in the starting rotation in the nation’s capital.

 

Predictably, Rizzo reiterated on Wednesday what he’s said all Winter, there aren’t too many needs on the major league roster. At this point, the Nationals have addressed a numbers of the positions that had to be filled.

 

“We’re really satisfied with the team that we have right now,” Rizzo said.

 

“We came into the offseason with some things on our checklist that we wanted to get done. We think that we’ve got ourselves an improvement on our bench.

 

https://www.federalbaseball.com/2018/2/1/16958376/washington-nationals-state-of-the-union-mike-rizzo-talks-nats-roster-needs-rotation-battle-more

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Dan T.

Dan T.

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Nats sign catcher Miguel Montero to a minor league contract with an invite to the major league spring training camp.

 

Montero is the guy who caught a game for the Cubs in late June last year with Jake Arietta on the mound against Washington, and the Nats went 7 for 7 in stolen bases.  After the game, Montero said it was largely Arietta's fault because he didn't hold the runners and was too slow to the plate.  The next day, the Cubs designated him for assignment.

 

 

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