Headlines

  • Brewers To Promote Jacob Misiorowski
  • Red Sox Promote Roman Anthony
  • Craig Kimbrel Elects Free Agency
  • Marlins Place Ryan Weathers On 60-Day IL With Lat Strain
  • White Sox To Promote Grant Taylor
  • Mariners Designate Leody Taveras For Assignment, Outright Casey Lawrence
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • 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
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2025
    • Free Agent Contest Leaderboard
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction 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

Sean Doolittle, Roenis Elias Nearing Returns

By Jeff Todd | August 28, 2019 at 3:38pm CDT

3:38pm: Both Doolittle and fellow lefty Roenis Elias came away from simulated games feeling strong today and could be activated as early as Friday, tweets Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com.

9:47am: The Nationals have been on a lengthy and remarkable run in spite of an ongoing bullpen malaise that has shown no signs of abating. While the team is now in strong position, it seems inevitable that its roller-coaster bullpen will be a key factor in any postseason run. The availability — and form — of injured closer Sean Doolittle is therefore of paramount importance to the D.C. org.

Doolittle tells reporters including Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com that he’s working out hard while sidelined with right knee tendinitis. The idea, he says, is to “kick start the engine a little bit” and “develop that trust” in his joint. He has been throwing bullpen sessions and is now readying for a sim game today, which could lead to a quick return. Doolittle says he’s hoping to be activated during the club’s next series.

Of course, when he hit the injured list ten days ago, it seemed Doolittle was in need of a break for multiple reasons — including the knee issue that technically led to the placement. He was being called upon to rescue the Nats with unaccustomed frequency, with his performance clearly suffering.

Doolittle has mostly maintained his arm speed, but has back-slid in swinging-strike rate (from 16.8% in 2018 to 12.1%), home runs (from 0.60 to 1.73 per nine), and exit velocity (from 83.8 mph to 89.8 mph). He has already exceeded his workload from the prior two campaigns, managing only a 4.33 ERA in 52 frames.

The veteran southpaw acknowledged the wider issues in his comments. Doolittle says he has worked on cleaning up his mechanics, allowing him to “stay on top of, and behind the baseball” and to regain “extension” and “deception.” Some time away has left his arm feeling “a lot better,” as well.

That all sounds promising for the Nats, who have opened a nice Wild Card lead but will need a big final month to track down the Braves in the NL East. It’d be a huge boon down the stretch and into a hopeful postseason run if Doolittle is able to jump back into the closer’s seat and regain his 2018 form.

Share 0 Retweet 3 Send via email0

Washington Nationals Roenis Elias Sean Doolittle

Giants Release Carlos Torres
Main
Royals Shut Brad Keller Down For Rest Of Season
View Comments (11)
Post a Comment

11 Comments

  1. whyhayzee

    6 years ago

    Good to know that you can do little and still make progress.

    Reply
    • wv17

      6 years ago

      This is great.

      Reply
  2. erauber

    6 years ago

    So I read this this way… The Nats have been overusing Doolittle because he is the most important and valuable piece in their pen. This caused overwork, tendinitis, drop in overall performance, requiring him to go on the IL for a break, and costing him a chance to enter free agency next year.

    Does he have a grievance case here? The misuse by his employers lead directly his losing his ability to increase his earnings. This is akin to the team holding him back the last few games to keep his option team-only, rather than mutual.

    Reply
    • mcmillankmm

      6 years ago

      Aren’t teams allowed to do that?

      Reply
    • Black Ace57

      6 years ago

      Incompetence or mismanagement isn’t against the rules. It would have to be malicious.

      Reply
      • erauber

        6 years ago

        True. I’m just pointing out the irony of a player being so valued by a team, he gets broken, leading to his personal ability to take advantage of that value to decrease. If that makes sense. Just too bad this is happening to such a good dude.

        Reply
        • BorgDevil

          6 years ago

          He’s got a club option for 2020. Unless he’s broken, he’ll be back w the Nats

          Reply
  3. John Luke

    6 years ago

    I’m surprised nobody has brought up the fact that pretty much most teams have bullpen and pitching issues. I would attribute this to be an effect of the juiced baseball. Flyball pitchers are now giving up a ton of homeruns. Less margin for error with pitching now more than ever.

    Reply
    • reflect

      6 years ago

      It’s cause of fossil fuels

      Reply
    • Vandals Took The Handles

      6 years ago

      It’s not the juiced baseball……

      It’s that literally every single batter is now working counts by hitting endless foul balls. Starting pitchers are usually only allowed somewhere between 90-115 pitches per game. The result is that only TOR pitchers make it through 7 innings some of the time, usually make it through 6, and often less then that. Other starters don’t even make it that far.

      So teams have to carry 13 pitchers to pack their bullpens, meaning that all teams now have at least one position player that can play multiple positions as their benches are so short. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough decent relief pitchers around to stock major league bullpens, so teams are calling up and sending down pitchers from the high minors multiple times a week, as well as putting them on the IL. Most back-end bullpen guys are running out of steam from being used too much.

      Games are no longer decided by highly-paid starters or “superstar” (every team is now said to have at least 2 or 3) position players – games are decided by the bullpens….particularly those that bridge from the starter to the closer.

      This is not good for the sport. But that’s what happened when a bunch of Business and Law majors took over the teams and based their teams actions and style of play on analytics.

      Reply
  4. macian

    6 years ago

    Go braves!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Brewers To Promote Jacob Misiorowski

    Red Sox Promote Roman Anthony

    Craig Kimbrel Elects Free Agency

    Marlins Place Ryan Weathers On 60-Day IL With Lat Strain

    White Sox To Promote Grant Taylor

    Mariners Designate Leody Taveras For Assignment, Outright Casey Lawrence

    Angels Acquire LaMonte Wade Jr.

    Corbin Burnes To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Braves Select Craig Kimbrel

    Jerry Reinsdorf, Justin Ishbia Reach Agreement For Ishbia To Obtain Future Majority Stake In White Sox

    White Sox To Promote Kyle Teel

    Sign Up For Trade Rumors Front Office Now And Lock In Savings!

    Pablo Lopez To Miss Multiple Months With Teres Major Strain

    MLB To Propose Automatic Ball-Strike Challenge System For 2026

    Giants Designate LaMonte Wade Jr., Sign Dominic Smith

    Reds Sign Wade Miley, Place Hunter Greene On Injured List

    Padres Interested In Jarren Duran

    Royals Promote Jac Caglianone

    Mariners Promote Cole Young, Activate Bryce Miller

    2025-26 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings: May Edition

    Recent

    Nationals Claim Ryan Loutos

    Brewers To Promote Jacob Misiorowski

    Orioles Designate Emmanuel Rivera For Assignment, Option Heston Kjerstad

    MLBTR Live Chat

    Mariners Place Bryce Miller On Injured List

    Jed Hoyer: Cubs Planning To Look For Pitching At Deadline

    The Opener: Martinez, Montes De Oca, Stanton, Snell, Scherzer

    Dodgers To Recall Matt Sauer, DFA José Ureña

    Red Sox Promote Roman Anthony

    The Astros Are (Again) Not Getting Much From A Pricey First Base Signing

    ad: 300x250_5_side_mlb

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

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • 2024-25 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • Nolan Arenado Rumors
    • Dylan Cease Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Marcus Stroman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • 2024-25 Offseason Outlook Series
    • 2025 Arbitration Projections
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • 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
    • RSS/Twitter 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 arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version