The Nationals announced (on Twitter) that they have designated right-hander Shairon Martis for assignment. The team had to create roster space for Jerry Hairston Jr., whose contract was approved by the league today.
Martis debuted for the Nationals in 2008 and started 15 games for the club a year later. In 106 1/3 innings compiled in 2008-09, the 23-year-old Curacao native has a 5.33 ERA with 4.8 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9. He spent the 2010 season at Triple-A Syracuse, where he posted a 4.09 ERA with 5.9 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 152 innings of work.
What does the Nats rotation look like for the start of the season?
Hernandez
Zimmerman
Marquis
Lannan
Maya/Wang
At first I thought letting go of Martis was bad…but he had no place in Washington
Forgot Tom Gorzelanny. Still, I’d have hung onto Martis over some of the other filler they have.
I knew I was forgetting someone…Gorzelanny/Maya/Wang going for the fifth spot
Gorzelanny has the 5th spot locked up unless he implodes during spring training. Rizzo wants a guy in the lineup who can strike people out.
They still feel bad about bringing Maya up to the bigs too soon, denying him the adjustment period to the US, so he’s most likely going to start in AAA. And Wang won’t be ready by the start of the season, by most accounts.
Surprising to see a guy who’s just turning 24 DFA’ed by a team that’s struggled so much to find pitching in recent years. When you’re coungint on guys like Livan Hernandez, Jason Marquis, and John Lannan, having depth is a must.
Martis’ numbers hardly blow you out of the water, but his minor league track record is at least serviceable, and age is on his side. There’s plenty of guys on that 40-man I’d have cut loose before Martis.
We have depth, Marquis, Livan, Gorz, Wang, Detwiller, Maya, Lannan, Zimmerman, Stammen, Ballister, How many guys do we need, I wrote before that I dont want to see Martin, Martis, Mock, or Atilano pitching for us anymore. Plus we got the starter from the rule 5 draft.
Atilano is one of the guys I’d jettison before Martis. When you’ve got two guys with crappy peripherals, you may as well keep the younger one around, especially if he has the best minor league track record of the three.
Also would probably cut Gonzalez (he of a .291 OBP the past 220 games) and Mock prior to him.
I’m hardly saying it’s a large mistake, I’m just surprised that with some of the mediocre mid-to-late-twenty-somethings on the 40-man, it’s a guy who hasn’t even seen his 24th birthday yet who goes.
You left off the fact that despite Gonzalez not being good with the bat he is a plus fielder who was actually worth almost 1 win off the bench last season. Why cut that when you have a guy like Justin Maxwell who strikes out almost 50% of the time at the major league level?
You know that it is a slow day in baseball when we are discussing who, among many, the Nats should cut.
Atilano is probably on his way out, too. They still have to cut two more guys from the 40-man.
Who would you cut? There are other guys on their 40 man that could be cut (A. Gonzolez and J. Maxwell), but it is hard to say that Martis wasn’t a worthy candidate to be DFA’d. The guy has sort-a-okay stuff, looked below average in AAA last year, and seems to me (editorializing here) to have a bad work ethic.
I mean seriously, he was on the Nats 40 man roster and relatively healthy last year, but didn’t get one start in the bigs. How bad did you have to be not to crack the Nats 2010 starting rotation?
I doubt this guy is going anywhere. He’ll accept his AAA fate and hope for the best because if he doesn’t, he’ll be doomed to serve the rest of his career in some Pittsburgh affiliate. I guarantee you he and Justin Maxwell are the BMOC in Syracuse, why leave familiarity?!
I betcha the Indians pick him up, I remember Manny saying he liked Martis and Justin Maxwell.