The Nationals have reassigned top pitching prospect Lucas Giolito to minor-league camp, but they’re expecting to see him in the big leagues soon after a strong performance in Spring Training, James Wagner of the Washington Post writes. “He’s close to being big-league ready,” says GM Mike Rizzo. “I think the bulk of his developmental curve is complete. But he needs to work on the smaller, little details of preparation, participation and performance in trying to get major-league hitters out.” Giolito whiffednine batters while walking three and allowing three runs in 6 1/3 innings this spring. In the short term, the Nats are planning to go with a rotation of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Tanner Roark and Joe Ross, and it should be noted that Giolito’s experience is limited — he was dominant last season, but spent the bulk of the year at Class A+ and only made eight starts at the Double-A level. He’s also just 21 and has an injury history that includes Tommy John surgery. Still, the future seems very bright for one of the Nats’ best young talents. Here’s more from the NL East.
- The Braves were seriously interested in signing Justin Upton for a return engagement this past winter, Jon Heyman reports (Twitter links). The Braves were willing to sign Upton for six years, although they knew they couldn’t match the Tigers’ $22.125MM-a-year offer and never made a formal offer themselves. They were, however, believed to be willing to offer Upton a nine-figure contract. On the surface, the Braves signing Upton would not have made much sense, but they did have a protected draft pick, and Upton would have been a marketable player for them during their rebuilding phase, as well as being young enough (28) to still be productive once the team was ready to contend.
- Andrew Bailey seems to be the front-runner for the Phillies’ closer role, writes MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. That would be quite a promotion for a pitcher who’s missed much of the past two seasons due to shoulder trouble and has only thrown 8 2/3 big-league innings since 2013, although Bailey was, of course, once a closer for the A’s. “I want to see more velocity out of him,” says manager Pete Mackanin. “I know he can pitch. He’s a true competitor. He has that good curveball and cutter. But I want to see more velocity.” Dalier Hinojosa, who pitched well for the Phillies down the stretch last year, appears to be in the mix as well. David Hernandez might be another possibility, but he’s battled triceps tendinitis. Bailey, Hinjosa, Hernandez, Jeanmar Gomez, Edward Mujica and Brett Oberholtzer look likely to win bullpen jobs, with a seventh reliever yet to be determined.
Bailey, Hinojosa, Hernandez, Gomez, Mujica and Oberholtzer..
That means only 1 of Russell, Stumpf, Garcia, Neris, Lafromboise, Araujo, and Medina will be on the roster. At least they’ll have good depth.
watch out for the phillies next year and 2018. they will be ready to spend money again.
Loved Upton, but glad they did not waste near $40M over the next two seasons to bring him in. Would rather see them bank that money and possibly go after someone on the recently released Top 10 list going into 2017. Payroll going into ’17 sits under $50M currently.
If I could like this comment, I would. However, there’s not much on that 2017 FA list worthy of the investment. When Carlos Gomez is the top position player, it’s a shallow class. I’d rather them wait until the much-to-do 2018 FA class or just promote an 18-year old Kevin Maitan…
Depends on how good of a deal they can get. Any star player the Braves get will most likely be got through trade or development. I think the Braves can get Reddick and either the of the three catchers on the market and be set. Move Olivera back to 3B and have 2nd open for when Swanson is ready to join Albies in the bigs
“Move Olivera back to 3B’
He proved he couldn’t play 3rd last year. Fielding suspect. Very slow at throwing to 1st. He had not played 2b or 3b in couple of years obviously for a reason. If he could play there he would be there. The Braves were not hoping for a left fielder. I hope his bat in LF is very good. He’s shown signs of having a nose for driving in runs. If he doesn’t hit the long ball they will trade Markakis who last year showed no power and an awful arm that should be in LF at best.
bailey the closer? man, thats asking a lot
Anyone they try to get to close right now besides maybe Hernandez may be asking a lot, honestly I don’t think they should have a set closer and just let everyone pitch I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a dual closer kind of thing like the Giants did with Romo/Casilla. See who performs better in certain roles and situations,
The Braves are paying Markakis, Swisher, and Bourn over $35M combined in 2016, but can’t sign someone like Justin Upton for $20M+ a year on a long term deal? The real reason for this team trading off young (and talented) assets like J-Hey, Kimbrel, J-Up etc wasn’t to “rebuild” or whatever else, it’s because they’re too cheap to keep young talent. And they decide to give a massive contract to an injury plagued 1st baseman who is an average at best offensive player that offers no defense or base running lol. That’s the Braves way apparently.
Maybe Coppy will pull a JS and trade the entire farm for a rental player and the local media will find a way to somehow blame it all on Wren? Guess time will tell.
Freddie Freeman is way above average. .832 career OPS to go with a 129 OPS+,
“Injury prone.” Last year was the first time in his career hes missed more than a handful of games in any season.
You do realize Atlanta likely has the brightest future in the entire league. And they have swisher and Bourne so they could get rid of Johnson
If the phillies prospects pan out, their not too far behind.
Phillies prospects are either to far or don’t have the desired ceiling. The reason Philly can become strong sooner rather than later is their payroll and the upcomming mega free agency.
Too far? Knapp, Alfaro, Crawford, Williams, Quinn, and Appel will all be either starting the year in AAA or will be there by the break, and it isn’t inconceivable that any or all of them could be in the majors by season’s end. Add to that their spending capacity and you have my user name.
I read in 2018 their payroll will be at 0
Name the last can not miss prospect out of their minor leagues?
If you’re speaking of only prospects, sure. But the Astros and Cubs have very strong systems and are already loaded with MLB talent.
Almost all the cubs prospects got called up last year but they still have more coming, Torres McKinney Almora Contras and Vogelbach. I feel some of them might get traded to get a pitcher at the deadline.
Edwards and pierce johnson are both sure fire mlb players as well. You also left off happ who is a high floor guy, then they have dylan cease who throws 100, eloy jiminez who doesnt get much love but is primed for a big year, then guys like carson sands, justin steele, ryan williams who all have legitimate chances to be mlb starters. So while there top 10 overall type guys got called up their system is actually just as deep as the braves and the phillies except those teams havent actually had those prospects prove themselves, who knows swanson or albies can bust and then that system looks the same as the cubs minus the mlb talent.
Lol, best farm doesnt mean brightest future, the cubs and astros already have serious cost controlled talent in the majors and still have top 10 systems and have plenty of money to spend. Wouldnt be surprised if they are both in on strasburg next year to sure up thrir rotations.
I think the cubs use their farm system to trade for a pitcher, I think the yankees go after Strasburg
the braves operate strictly on revenue, so if you want them to have a higher payroll, spend more $$$ on them.
BG921;
The Braves are rebuilding.
They have the Swisher and Borne contacts on their books because they swapped Johnson’s contract, which Wren handed out.
I see Giolito being called up this year and then being in the rotation next season.
“Braves Were Prepared To Make Serious Offer To Justin Upton”
I’d like to know if they ever watched him play year before last? He apparently played better in SD but here he was so erratic you could never depend on him unless he was in one of his short lived streaks. He was awful in rf – our homer scorer saved him a lot so don’t quote any stats. I watched him dodge balls and though his arm reputation was good, his arm was atrocious in Atalanta. I’d rather take a shot at an international league player who has power potential than WASTE my money and roster spot on Upton. He played like six weeks of the year – the rest he was auto-out.
I hope the source of this claim is non existent. It is sad to think they actually entertained this idea.