The Nationals announced that they have signed right-hander Dylan Floro to a one-year major league deal. They also announced their previously-reported pact with infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, infielder Jeter Downs was designated for assignment. Per Jim Bowden of The Athletic, Floro will make $2.25MM plus incentives. Jon Morosi of MLB.com relays that Floro will get an extra $1.25MM if he pitches in 60 games next year.
Floro, 33 this month, has plenty of major league success but is coming off a frustrating 2023 campaign. From 2018 to 2022, he tossed 252 2/3 innings for the Reds, Dodgers and Marlins with an earned run average of 2.96 in that time. He struck out 21.6% of hitters faced, issued walks at a 7.6% clip and kept 50.9% of balls in play on the ground.
He was back with the Fish to start 2023 but had an earned run average of 4.54 through 39 2/3 innings. He was then traded to the Twins for another struggling reliever in Jorge López, with both clubs hoping for a change-of-scenery boost. But Floro posted a 5.29 ERA in 17 innings for Minnesota before getting released as the season was winding down.
There’s no denying that those results were less than ideal, but it’s possible that the baseball gods were responsible for them. Floro’s peripherals were still strong, as he struck out 23.4% of batters for the season as a whole, walked just 6.9% and got grounders at a strong 54.4% rate. But his .401 batting average on balls in play and 65.3% strand rate were both on the unlucky side of average. His 2.96 FIP and 3.34 SIERA suggest he may have been closer to his previous self than would appear on first glance. His 37.1% hard hit rate in 2023 was a career high but his 87.1 mph average exit velocity was actually lower than the year before.
The Nats are in rebuilding mode and aren’t expected to compete in 2024. They can give Floro a job in their bullpen and perhaps flip him to a contender at the deadline if he bounces back. This was a strategy the Nats deployed last season, signing Jeimer Candelario, Dominic Smith and Corey Dickerson to one-year deals. The deals for Smith and Dickerson didn’t work out, but Candelario bounced back nicely and was flipped to the Cubs at the deadline for two prospects.
Downs, 25, was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox about a year ago. Once a highly-touted prospect, he was part of the package that the Sox received in the Mookie Betts trade. But his performance in the past few years diminished his stock significantly. He played in just six games for the Nats in 2023, spending most of the year either on optional assignment or the injured list. In 60 minor league games this year, he walked in 16.6% of his plate appearances but also hit just three home runs. His .222/.363/.356 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 91.
The Nats will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He still has one option year remaining and less than a year of service time. Given his past status as a top prospect, some club could put in a claim and wouldn’t even need to commit an active roster spot to him.
Do the Twins have any pitchers left?
HUMOR!
Low risk, medium reward… unless Floro somehow has a pre-injury Felix Bautista year.
That Mookie Betts trade was really one sided.
And to think the Red Sox could have had Brusdar Graterol in the deal instead of Jeter Downs. Makes it that much more pathetic.
Poor Jeter Downs…where will fate take him next?!
When do the Nats project to be good again? Do they need 2 Bags back from the Halo’s? Because they can have him.. Get that 2019 magic going again…
Probably starting to get really good in August. Nats will have their best starting pitcher prospect, Cade Cavalli, returning from TJS in July or so. (And I know, so many things can happen that “There is No Such Thing as a Starting Pitching Prospect”). About then or just after the trade deadline, the team will have Dylan Crews and James Wood in the OF, and probably 3B Brady House.
With fill-in players at 3B and LF, and maybe a serious FA at 1B, the team has a good chance of playing around .500 until then.
Ah, but Rendon was so fine in 2019! Maybe he just needs to come back to the Nats organization to regain his sanity. Sure seems to have lost that, and his health, in LA. Unfortunately, he has a contract that makes him un-tradeable, even if he does not have a no-trade clause. (And I don’t remember about a no-trade clause)
There was a time when JeterDowns was a very highly rated prospect. Guess that’s why they’re called prospects
As Jose Mota says: “From prospect to suspect!”
Or as many baseball people say, “Prospects are just suspects until they prove they can play at the MLB level.”
That too.
There was a time when LAD convinced BOS that Jeter Downs was a very highly rated prospect…
Ya, the Boston analysts are still pointing at charts saying, “but, but, but…”
Another Twins pitcher hits the road, this one won’t be missed much though.
$2 million of it is deferred to 2060.
Don’t put that past this team.
Definitley seems like a good rebound candidate for next year. Had a career high strikeout rate, nearly matched a career low in walk rate, 0.48 HR/9 is about his career average, and despite having a 2.9% barrel rate, 54.4% ground ball rate, and 87.1 MPH exit velocity, somehow had a .401 batting average on balls in play.
Well… he can’t do much worse than last year… unless he does. 😉
Heh, seriously, best of luck to Dylan and the Nationals.
I wonder how much Julio Urias will get playing in Japan this year?
Why are Urias comments closed? Shohei really looked at the team that covered for Julio TWICE and thought “yeah, seems like a classy bunch.” Ridiculous.
Please don’t bring the Urias conversation into an unrelated thread. MLB Trade Rumors closed the conversation on that post for a reason (regardless of whether you agree or not), and there are plenty of other forums where you can debate about his situation.
Uh, who are you? Mind your own biz.
Guys, guys…don’t get all Julio Urias on each other.
Wrong question. You should be asking “Where are you?”
lol
.401 BABIP despite 85th percentile exit velocity is just comically unlucky. Seems like a solid rebound candidate and eventual trade piece at the deadline if the Nats are out of it.
When they are out of it, I think you meant.
After the season the Rangers just had coming off 94 losses, I’ve learned not to discount any team’s chances of playing out of their minds and turning everyone’s heads.
Sounds right for the Nats in 2025. Cade Cavalli starts again around July, and by August there is a good chance that Dylan Crews, Brady House, and James Wood will be ready. Then things get interesting.
That’s fair.
I guess the recent Rule 5 acquisition of Nasim Nuñez made Downs expendable. They’re both fast and basically late inning pinch running options. What a long way to slide for a once top prospect.
Last year I was at the game where Downs drove in a winning RBI to cap a big comeback win and it was cool to see his unalloyed joy at having risen to that occasion after a tense and nervous at-bat. Good luck to Downs.
So Dylan Flores gets into a low pressure situation. He could be fantasy gold…until he gets traded to a contender and has high-pressure situations.
Floro will be OK with the Nats in 2024. He won’t need to be The Guy, since the team used Finnegan and Harvey as their hard-spot relivers, with Jordan Weems a 7th inning guy. They have Robert Garcia as their first-up lefty and Jose Ferrer and second. Tanner Rainey pitched an inning, so he ought to be back for the full season. Floro just has to be respectable.