Headlines

  • Orioles Acquire Cole Irvin From A’s
  • Astros Name Dana Brown General Manager
  • Rays Extend Jeffrey Springs
  • Royals, Red Sox Swap Adalberto Mondesi For Josh Taylor
  • Red Sox Designate Matt Barnes For Assignment
  • Scott Rolen Elected Into Baseball Hall Of Fame
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Nationals, Mat Latos Agree To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | June 29, 2016 at 6:52pm CDT

6:50pm: Latos will have multiple opportunities to opt out of the deal over the coming months, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets.

3:04pm: Free agent right-hander Mat Latos tells Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago/670 The Score that he’s inked a minor league contract with the Nationals, pending a physical (Twitter link). He’ll report to the minors for now if the physical checks out.

Latos, 28, opened the season with the White Sox and posted a pristine 0.74 ERA through his first 24 innings on the South Side of Chicago, but things quickly went awry. That ERA came despite a 13-to-7 K/BB ratio and was largely propped up by a .167 average on balls in play and 97 percent strand rate. Latos seemed like a regression candidate, but the extent of his regression likely included some poor luck — particularly in the home run department. Over his next seven starts, Latos pitched to a 7.25 ERA with a 19-to-18 K/BB ratio in 36 innings. He was tagged for an alarming nine home runs in that time and ultimately carried a 4.64 ERA at the time of his DFA and release from Chicago.

Latos has been beset by knee injuries in recent seasons, and the result seems to be greatly diminished velocity. His heater sat near 94 mph when he first came up and settled into the 92.5 mph average range from 2011-13, but he’s averaged just about 90 mph over the past two seasons while working as a starter. That has almost certainly contributed to a vastly diminished marks in terms of swinging-strike rate and strikeout rate.

When at his best from 2010-14, Latos could be relied upon for an ERA in the low 3.00s with above-average strikeout rates and very solid control. However, he’s struggled greatly in each of the past two seasons now and hasn’t given much of an indication that his missing velocity is returning or that he’s learning to succeed with a lesser fastball. He’ll hope to do so for a Nationals organization that recently saw Stephen Strasburg land on the disabled list with an upper back strain. However, with the number of rotation options in D.C. — Lucas Giolito has entered the rotation in place of Strasburg, and the Nats also have Austin Voth and A.J. Cole as options at the Triple-A level — perhaps his best path back to the bigs with the Nationals would come via the bullpen. That’s speculative on my behalf, though Latos did make three appearances out of the bullpen between the Dodgers and Angels late in the 2015 season.

Share 31 Retweet 22 Send via email0

Transactions Washington Nationals Mat Latos

Giants Select Ruben Tejada, Place Joe Panik On Concussion DL
Main
International Notes: July 2 Preview, Maitan, Braves, Padres
View Comments (12)

Comments

  1. sigurd

    7 years ago

    4.64 ERA? If he came back to the Reds he could be our best pitcher 🙂

    Reply
    • Connorsoxfan

      7 years ago

      Haha

      Reply
      • Connorsoxfan

        7 years ago

        Of course it’d be the same on the Red Sox so I can’t talk… 🙁

        Reply
        • TheWestCoastRyan

          7 years ago

          You guys have the SP with the lowest ERA in the Majors…

        • soxfan1

          7 years ago

          And the rest of them are a bunch of schmucks.

  2. jackblue411

    7 years ago

    Still wondering why the Pirates haven’t signed him. Seems like a perfect fit for both sides

    Reply
    • Jorge Soler Powered

      7 years ago

      As a Cub fan, I’d be okay with this.

      Reply
  3. Strauss

    7 years ago

    I can’t understand why Latos couldn’t make it with the white sox. They have such a fine coaching staff and a a great front office that’s led them to 4 losing seasons!!! Latos should be glad he left that failing organization.

    Reply
    • BigB

      7 years ago

      Comeback when the Cubs do something.

      Reply
  4. SF_Giants

    7 years ago

    Good move for the Nationals. Latos will be united again with Dusty Baker. They were both together with the Reds. Dusty gets the best out of his players and he would be the guy to help get Latos back on track. And Mike Maddox is the pitching coach in DC. Good low risk move here.

    Reply
  5. krillin

    7 years ago

    Man, I always wonder what happened to Latos. Did he just lose focus after he signed a pretty decent contract? Back in his Reds days, a lot of teams would have loved to have him. Now, he has just fallen off the map.

    Reply
  6. BorgDevil

    7 years ago

    He’s also been injured a bit and is way out of shape. As a Nats fan, I don’t see him making it to the big club, unless he finds a switch to flip. Just too much for him to overcome to get back to where he was in such a short time, and too many better options for the Nats at this point.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Orioles Acquire Cole Irvin From A’s

    Astros Name Dana Brown General Manager

    Rays Extend Jeffrey Springs

    Royals, Red Sox Swap Adalberto Mondesi For Josh Taylor

    Red Sox Designate Matt Barnes For Assignment

    Scott Rolen Elected Into Baseball Hall Of Fame

    Red Sox Sign Adam Duvall

    Brad Ausmus Reportedly Among Astros’ GM Finalists

    Mike Clevinger Under Investigation For Domestic Violence Allegations

    A’s To Sign Jesús Aguilar

    Arte Moreno No Longer Pursuing Sale Of Angels

    Twins Acquire Michael A. Taylor From Royals

    Padres Sign Nelson Cruz To One-Year Deal

    Sal Bando Passes Away

    Twins, Marlins Swap Luis Arraez For Pablo Lopez In Four-Player Trade

    Marlins To Move Jazz Chisholm To Center Field

    Pirates Sign Andrew McCutchen

    Mariners Sign Tommy La Stella, Designate Justus Sheffield

    Royals To Sign Aroldis Chapman To One-Year Deal

    Twins Sign Chris Paddack To Extension

    Recent

    Orioles Acquire Cole Irvin From A’s

    Rangers, Ian Kennedy Agree To Deal

    Yankees Have Shown Interest In David Peralta

    Brewers Release Jon Singleton

    Phillies, Jesus Cruz Agree To Minor League Deal

    Brewers Sign Robert Stock To Minor League Deal

    Red Sox Have Shown Interest In Matt Moore

    Gary Peters Passes Away

    Mariners Outright Justus Sheffield

    Orioles Designate Darwinzon Hernandez For Assignment

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Offseason Outlook Series
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version