The Nationals announced that right-hander Jeremy Guthrie has been designated for assignment, and in a corresponding move, righty Matt Albers’ contract has been selected from Triple-A to fill the spot on the 25-man roster.
Guthrie signed a minor league deal with the Nats in February and got an opportunity to start yesterday due to something of a rotation crunch (Stephen Strasburg was given an extra day of rest and Joe Ross wasn’t yet eligible to be called back up after being optioned to Triple-A). Unfortunately for Guthrie and the Nationals, the start was a disastrous one — Guthrie allowed 10 earned runs over just 2/3 of an inning in an eventual 17-3 loss to the Phillies. Adding insult to injury, yesterday was also Guthrie’s 38th birthday.
The outing was Guthrie’s first MLB appearance since 2015, as the veteran posted a 5.95 ERA over 148 1/3 innings for the Royals and didn’t make the postseason roster for the eventual World Series’ champions. Guthrie also struggled in 2016 pitching at the Triple-A level for the Padres and Marlins, posting a 7.17 ERA over 86 2/3 IP within the two organizations. Given Guthrie’s age and lack of recent effectiveness, it seems questionable whether he could catch on with another team, though a move to relief pitching seems necessary for the longtime durable starter. Guthrie averaged 201 innings per season from 2008-14 with the Royals, Rockies and Orioles, and he owns a career 4.42 ERA over 1765 1/3 innings in parts of 13 big league seasons.
Albers also signed a minor deal with Washington in February, though the Nats released him at the end of Spring Training and re-signed the righty to a new contract. Both deals were for the same terms — a $1.15MM base salary for making the MLB roster and another $600K available in incentives. Albers suffered through a rough 2016 season with the White Sox (6.31 ERA in 51 1/3 IP) but the pitch-to-contact specialist posted a 2.32 ERA, 6.1 K/9, 2.02 K/BB rate and a 59.2% ground-ball rate over 170 2/3 IP from 2012-15.
That start yesterday was brutal
Well, as unsurprising as this move is, it’s too bad to see a veteran [likely] go out this way.
He did an excellent job throwing batting practice
Yes he did
one start, and goodbye
One start? Not even one inning…but one brutal session of BP served up to a terrible team like the Phillies.
Terrible? That’s kind of a loaded statement .
Not that terrible, Hoss
That was short lived haha.
His corpse isn’t even cold yet
Didn’t see that one coming
Rough, I tell ya.
Padres trade for Guthrie in 3…2…1…
Starting Wil Myers sounds like a better idea than Guthrie.
or not sending anyone out to pitch at all, just have the batters soft toss to themselves
More earned runs in 2/3 innings then Strasburg and Scherzer will have in their next 5 starts each lol
He’s apparently a really great guy too.
I hope this isn’t the end for him. He’s certainly better than he was yesterday.
But he hasn’t been much on the mound in awhile (imo)
does this change his cy young chances?
Not funny on this thread or the other one.
yes it is.
Duno, but i bet at the end of the season he has less losses than kershaw, scherzer, syndegaard etc
ERA of 135.00 and a WHIP of 15.00, that is ugly
SSS
Surprised it took this long
At least he tried
He should at least get a participation ribbon.
Guthrie is the young, controllable ace the Cubs are looking for.
How did sending Joe Ross to the minors work out?
I never understood that move. Joe Ross is a more than serviceable major league starter. The fact that he is in AAA while he would quite possibly be the ace or at least the #2 on more than 1 team (Reds, Padres, Possibly Oakland and maybe Colorado, Miami and Atlanta) should tell you that right off.
Even the Padres didn’t call him up last year
Somebody has to let him work down that 135.0 ERA before he calls it a year. That’s just brutal.
Was it really?
One up one down
The worst team in baseball will sign him….braves!
Padres are the worst team. Braves aren’t good but compare their rotations. Padres is horrible
This. The Braves are looking to take that next step. The Padres, on the other hand, are looking to have a tank year.
Why did they option Ross to the minors?
Not doing so would’ve made too much sense.
306 games pitched in
273 starts
1700+ innings
How many pitches have you thrown in pro ball?
Dumbest argument of all time in regards to baseball.
He had a good career, but nobody is calling him a failure. He’s simply washed up and at 38 years old, it’s a fact.
The Nats had plenty of better options than Guthrie: Joe Ross was obviously the #1, but they could have picked up Bolsinger on Waivers just a day before for $20,000, maybe Voth or even Turner whos younger.
Well, Sam, I’m not making an argument. I posted his career starts and innings. It’s a fact that he’s had a more successful baseball career than 99.9% of people to ever play the game, and a more successful career than most that play a day in the big leagues.
If some nobodies that did nothing in baseball want to speak from a position of authority about major leaguers, be my guest. Guthrie’s career speaks for itself.
That’s a terrible argument. He’s not a good pitcher now, and this site is literally for people to discuss baseball players. If you don’t like “nobodies” discussing baseball, then why bother being on here?
I’m 39 and in the last calendar year everything hurts and I’m relatively thin and have even gained 20 pounds. Getting old sucks Jeremy. Keep trying till they burn your house down.
Shocker