2018 Washington Nationals: NLCS Bound and Down...

JimRiceHOFer

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Updated roster for the 2018 Nationals:

Starting Lineup:
C - Pedro Severino
1B - Matt Adams
2B - Wilmer Difo
SS - Trea Turner
3B - Anthony Rendon
LF - Juan Soto
CF - Michael Taylor
RF - Bryce Harper

Bench: Spencer Kieboom, Mark Reynolds, Andrew Stevenson, Adrian Sanchez

SP - Max Scherzer
SP - Stephen Strasburg
SP - Gio Gonzalez
SP - Tanner Roark
SP - Jeremy Hellickson
Closer - Sean Doolittle

Bullpen - Shawn Kelley, Brandon Kintzler, Sammy Solis, Austin Adams, Trevor Gott, Carlos Torres, Wander Suero

Coaching Staff:
Dave Martinez - Manager
Derek Lilliquist - Pitching Coach
Tim Bogar - 1st Base Coach
Bob Henley - 3rd Base Coach
Chip Hale - Bench Coach
Kevin Long - Hitting Coach
Joe Dillon - Asst. Hitting Coach
Henry Blanco - Bullpen Coach
Randy Knorr - Senior Baseball Advisor

Minors Shuttle/Backups/DL:
P - Joe Ross (DL-60), Jeffry Rodriguez, Austin Voth, Tommy Milone, Koda Glover (DL-60), Joaquin Benoit (DL-10), Erick Fedde, Matt Grace (DL-10), Enny Romero, Ryan Madson (DL-10)
OF - Victor Robles, Brian Goodwin (DL-10), Adam Eaton (DL-10), Rafael Bautista, Moises Sierra
IF - Daniel Murphy (DL-10), Kelvin Gutierrez, Carter Kieboom, Jose Marmolejos, Ryan Zimmerman (DL-10), Howie Kendrick (DL-60)
C - Raudy Read, Miguel Montero, Jhonaton Solano (DL-60), Matt Weiters (DL-10)

Free Agents:
Ryan Raburn - released
Jose Lobaton - signed by Mets
Howie Kendrick - resigned to a two year contract
Brandon Kintzler - resigned to two year contract
Stephen Drew
Matt Albers - sigend by Milwaukee
Joe Blanton
Jayson Werth - signed by Mariners to a MiLB contract

Spring Training Non-Roster Invitees:
Edwin Jackson
Alejandro De Aza
Jhonaton Solano
Bryan Harper

Departures:
Adam Lind - team declined option

Arrivals:
Tommy Milone - signed to a minor league deal
Matt Adams - signed as free agent
Matt Reynolds - acquired from Mets
Jeremy Hellickson - signed to a minor league deal
 
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JimRiceHOFer

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Nats to sign Tommy Milone to minor-league deal

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/nationals-to-sign-tommy-milone.html

Milone will join a group of pitchers hoping to find a spot in the pecking order in D.C. Unless there’s an injury or the Nationals fail to add a fifth starter, Milone will enter camp with little more than an outside shot at making the MLB roster as a long man. But if he shows well, Milone could be among the first men up if a need arises.

*Trivia note - AJ Cole, Derek Norris, Brad Peacock and Tommy Milone were all traded by the Nats to the A's in 2011 for Gio Gonzalez. Since then, all but Peacock have ended up back with the Nationals organization.
 

JimRiceHOFer

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JimRiceHOFer

Member
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796
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JimRiceHOFer

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TheYaz67

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Well, no opening day for the Nats today in Cincy - hope it is not a bad omen, being part of a postponed opening day game in Cincy - bad stuff happened the last time they had a postponed opening day in that City....
 

JimRiceHOFer

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Weiters placed on 10 Day DL

https://sports.yahoo.com/harper-hits-3-run-hr-nationals-stay-hot-024637457--mlb.html

TRAINER'S ROOM

Nationals: C Matt Wieters was placed on the 10-day DL with a mild left oblique strain to address what is believed to be a short-term injury ''rather than it becomes a big issue,'' according to Martinez. He plans to ''mix and match'' backups Miguel Montero and Severino, who was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse before the game. ... 2B Daniel Murphy, on the DL following right knee surgery, was cleared for the first time to run in the outfield before the game.
 

JimRiceHOFer

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DeadlySplitter

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11-16 start, Atlanta prospects looking pretty good, Philly looking competitive, same for Mets. uh oh?
 

AB in DC

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I just noticed how screwy the Nats' schedule is.

They played 13 games against the NL West in April (going 4-9 in the process)
They have their second West Coast trip starting on Monday
The following week they have 6 more games at home
Then three more the first full week in June.

After that, the Nats don't play a single NL West team between June 10 and September 28.
 

TheYaz67

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Welcome to the team, Mark Reynolds! Debut tonight, against his old team, goes 3 for 4 with two bombs, including the game winner in the 8th.... 2.250 OPS to start the season, and he could not find a job this year after hitting 30 HR last year...
 

JimRiceHOFer

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Sad Sam Jones

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Relief pitcher Justin Miller's stats so far this season: 9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 14 SO, with a 3-0 record. Not a bad start for a 31-year-old who's had half a season of prior MLB success and was let go by four different organizations.

*
 

sean1562

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Juan Soto is really handling himself well as a 19 year old kid who missed most of last season due to injury. Nobody saw this kid as a regular on the Nats until 2020 or so, but he looks like a professional hitter. A cost controlled OF of Eaton, Robles and Soto could really help the Nats open up some payroll space moving forward. Or maybe move Soto(or Harper?) to 1B and give Harper the face of the franchise deal he is looking for. The NL East, with the Braves resurgence, looks like it could be one of the better ones the next few years.
 

Dim13

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Man, this team is an absolute mess right now. They're 5-17 since June 9 and there are some rumblings of punting what is certainly Harper's final season with the team, a thought that was unfathomable a month ago. They're 7 back for the division and 5.5 for the wild card (with 5 other teams in front of them.) Injuries have hurt a lot (though, at this point, this team should go into a season planning for the fact that they are going to lose Strasburg for a length of time.) You also have a loosey goosey rookie manager and the urgency of winning before Harper leaves on an organization that hasn't historically handled pressure very well all contributing to a horribly disappointing season so far. Rizzo is going to have some interesting decisions to make in a few weeks if they can't right the ship. We'll see if these players-only meetings have any impact.
 

TheYaz67

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Going to be a tough road back, now the closer (Doolittle) is injured and out several weeks - injury bug has hampered the team all year.

Nats a close second to the TX Rangers this year in player days lost to injuries - Nats at 19 players and 1,014 days (TX 1,021 days). League average seems to be more like 14 or 15 players and 725 days - Houston has been healthiest (9 players 405 days)...
 

sean1562

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Yea, I don't see them having much of a chance. The Braves/Phillies window opened a little earlier than expected. I don't expect to see Harper or Murphy in DC next year. Interesting to see what direction they will take this club. Wouldn't be surprised if they try and grab Kimbrel from us, sign one of Dozier/LeMahieu for 2B, and try and re-unite with Ramos, maybe?
 

Plympton91

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Even with the injuries this has to be one of the most disappointing teams in my memory. The bullpen arms just never seem to develop here yet —Treinen and The Guy they traded to Pittsburg both flourished after leaving.

Dave Martinez has to take some of the blame for the general underperformance. Rizzo’s early trade for Herrera despite all the Red flags on his peripherals also has to go into the head scratcher bucket. Going so long with Severino/Kieboom was also a management failure.

Agree with the above list. Get a 2Bman who can hit leadoff. Get Ramos back. Get a closer. Also think they need to Get a #2a starter, because Stras is so brittle.
 

TheYaz67

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Well, the tear down continues with Gio being shipped off to the Brewers for their postseason stretch run - so weird to see major parts of this team head out of the door, after all the success (minus postseason success unfortunately) they have had in the past 6 years (4 Division titles). Going to be a "new" team that takes the field next year, and if Harper is not back as well, it truly will feel like a real reboot/new team....

They do have some talent in the Minors (in addition to Soto), so if they get contributions from them and make a couple good signings in the offseason, there is no reason they will not compete for the Division next year I think....
 

patoaflac

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Harper is not the best teammate, he has declined (for whatever reason), so maybe they will let him go and retool completely.
 
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sean1562

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They need more pitching and a better bullpen. Ryan Zimmerman's contract is something of an albatross, since he is never healthy and they keep counting on him to be their premier 1B. They need to sign at least one more SP, hope Joe Ross comes back and pitches well, go hard after Grandal or Ramos and get some help in the bullpen. Would not be shocked to see them go after Kimbrel. Signing Harper would be a mistake, their OF is fine. Put some faith in Robles, throw Soto in LF, and Eaton in RF. 30 mil plus for Harper just doesnt make sense for the future of this team, primarily because of the emergence of Soto.
 

dcmissle

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They need more pitching and a better bullpen. Ryan Zimmerman's contract is something of an albatross, since he is never healthy and they keep counting on him to be their premier 1B. They need to sign at least one more SP, hope Joe Ross comes back and pitches well, go hard after Grandal or Ramos and get some help in the bullpen. Would not be shocked to see them go after Kimbrel. Signing Harper would be a mistake, their OF is fine. Put some faith in Robles, throw Soto in LF, and Eaton in RF. 30 mil plus for Harper just doesnt make sense for the future of this team, primarily because of the emergence of Soto.
It doesn’t make sense. But the Lerners will be making the Harper call, not Rizzo, so anything is possible. The moves this entire season have not made sense.

He is far from perfect, but Rizzo was smart enough to sign a deal that pays him in the upper echelon of GMs on an AAV basis — but is a two-year deal.
 

BigPapiLumber Co.

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And so we learn that Rizzo had a deal in place for Harper > Astros at the deadline, and the Lerners said no.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25235880/bryce-harper-nearly-dealt-houston-astros-washington-nationals
As Sox fans, we should be thankful we didn't have to face him in the middle of that order.

As a Nats, my feelings will be dependent on future events - if we resign him and he is therefore a Nat for most/all of his career - I'm good. If we can't resign him I'll wish we'd traded him.
 

jose melendez

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Watching the Nats fans boo the shit out of harper makes me think they might make it as a baseball town. Also, the Papelbon was right sign is wonderful
 

loshjott

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Watching the Nats fans boo the shit out of harper makes me think they might make it as a baseball town. Also, the Papelbon was right sign is wonderful
2 Ks so far against Scherzer are nice too!

I was thinking the same thing about the boos. When the kids who grew up with the Nats, like my kids, grow up to be drunk obnoxious young adults, then we’ll get somewhere here.
 

dcmissle

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Twitter accounts ablaze here after Harper’s first two ABs. Then he went double, single and 458 foot bomb, and the Twitter accounts went down. Hilarious.
 

sean1562

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this teams bullpen is a disaster. rosenthal has yet to record an out this season
 

jon abbey

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Scherzer left with 1 out in the 7th and a 12-2 lead. It’s now 12-9, 1 out in the 9th.
 

soxhop411

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So I think the Nats need to clean house, from the FO down to the lowest levels of the organization. They are an absolute tire fire.