The Nationals are lining up a series of roster moves as they continue to deal with a barrage of early-season maladies. Most notably, righty Shawn Kelley is heading to the DL after departing last night’s game with an injury, Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post reports on Twitter.
It seems Kelley is dealing again with a bout of ulnar nerve irritation, MLB.com’s Jamal Collier of MLB.com tweets. Just how long he’ll be down isn’t clear, but he’ll at least need to allow the problem to subside and could ultimately require some rehab outings.
Kelley has shown some signs of a revival in his first six innings on the season, recording nine strikeouts without issuing a single walk. But he has also continued to surrender home runs at an unacceptable level, with three leaving the yard thus far in 2018 after he coughed up a dozen in 26 frames last year.
Outfielder Rafael Bautista and infielder Adrian Sanchez will head onto the active roster, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweeted. Both are already on the 40-man after debuting last season. Infielder Matt Reynolds will be optioned out to make way, as Collier suggested on Twitter and Castillo confirms in a tweet.
Perhaps the Nats will hope that the young call-ups can provide some energy, but neither holds out much promise of boosting a lagging offense. Bautista has rarely posted quality numbers with the bat in the minors and is hitting .304/.342/.362 through 75 plate appearances in 2018. Sanchez has an even lighter track record but is off to a .286/.349/.411 start to the current season at Syracuse.
“Perhaps the Nats will hope that the young call-ups can provide some energy . . . “
Or perhaps the Nats will hope that they flop? Sorry, not following the thought process here.
What the Nats need is for Murphy, Eaton, Rendon, Godwin, etc to get healthy. This is starting to look like one of those years in which their starting eight never get the chance to suit up together.
Martinez said he HOPES Eaton is well enough later this week to be activated, but I haven’t heard how Murphy is progressing in his rehab. Last update was a week ago, and in this case I think no news is bad news. Then they’ve got Zimmerman who has reverted to his pre-2017 form, and Rendon who can’t return until some time next week at best. All of it adds up to a flatlining offense. Lest we forget Matt Wieters whose bat continues to dematerialize.
“Then they’ve got Zimmerman who has reverted to his pre-2017 form . . . “
Zimm has been hitting into some bad luck. Hard hit rate among top 10 and finally starting to see results. Zimmerman regressing back to the path he was on pre-2017 remains a legitimate concern however. Not sure what Plan B is, perhaps moving Murphy to 1B and playing Difo at 2B?
“Lest we forget Matt Wieters whose bat continues to de materialize.”
Lest we forget MA Taylor, who would be ridin’ the pine by now, but for Robles injury. Wieters can blame age for his struggles at the plate, not so Mikey T.
Remember, WAS signed Kelley to a 3-year $15m deal
Initially, he was searching for a four-year deal in the $26m-36m range. Bullpen woes always seem to follow the Nationals around, which is why I think the Doolittle/Madson trade was Genius moveby Rizzo. (But I envy your elite Starting Pitching)
You think the Kelly signing paid off?
“You think the Kelly signing paid off?”
Obviously not, x, but that isn’t the way to approach it. The Nats are one of those organizations which believe that RP are both volatile and unpredictable hence the need to load up on them. Kelly has been a bust but how much value did you expect them to get from Matt Albers, Ollie Perez and Edwin Jackson? They throw a half dozen candidates out there, hoping that a couple stick—or get lucky. Sometimes it works and sometimes it’s 2015.
Actually, the Nationals should place him on the retired list since he between his constant injuries and his penchant for giving up runs every appearance, he is worthless