Nationals center fielder Victor Robles has played just four games this season due to a hamstring strain he suffered in early April, and manager Dave Martinez told reporters (per MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) on Friday that he’s “running really well” in his rehab assignment, indicating he remains on track for a return at some point this month.
Perhaps more notably, Martinez indicated that Robles isn’t likely to take back the starting job in center field upon his return. 24-year-old youngster Jacob Young has made a strong impression as a regular in Robles’s absence, with a .311/.354/.378 slash line in 81 trips to the plate. That production is good for a 113 wRC+, and Young has also gone 12-for-13 on the basepaths. That type of offensive production would be hard for the club to part with, but its nonetheless surprising that the Nationals don’t plan to return Robles, a former consensus top-5 prospect in the sport who has patrolled the position for eight seasons, to his usual spot in the lineup.
With Young seemingly taking over as the regular center fielder long term, Martinez noted that Robles will still play center field on occasion but “could play some right field as well.” The club has relied on Eddie Rosario and Alex Call in right field as of late, with the veteran Rosario struggling badly to an eye-popping -10 wRC+ to this point in the season that indicates he’s been 110% worse than league average at the plate. Call has impressed with five hits and three walks in 21 trips to the plate this season, but that production has come across just seven games at the big league level.
More from around the NL East…
- The Phillies suffered a major injury scare last night when third baseman Alec Bohm exited the club’s win over the Giants with right hip tightness. The move was labeled precautionary by manager Rob Thomson (as noted by Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer) in the aftermath of yesterday’s game and Bohm himself indicated to reporters (including Coffey) that he isn’t particularly concerned about the issue. That Bohm seemingly won’t require a trip to the injured list is surely a massive relief for Phillies fans, as the club lost Trea Turner to the shelf yesterday and he had been the club’s second best hitter behind Bohm this year. MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald recently took a look at Bohm’s hot start this season, during which he’s hit a whopping .364/.435/.579 in 138 trips to the plate.
- Braves backstop Sean Murphy has been ramping up baseball activities as he rehabs an oblique injury that sidelined him during the first game of the season back in March. Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Murphy had already been ramping up his throwing from behind the plate and caught a few bullpen sessions but has now progressed to swinging the bat, starting with him hitting off a tee during the club’s road trip to Seattle last week. The return of Murphy would surely be a major boost to Atlanta, as the 29-year-old has emerged as one of the best catchers in the sport in recent seasons. That said, veteran Travis d’Arnaud has done exceptionally well in Murphy’s absence, slashing an incredible .269/.341/.564 with a whopping five home runs in just 88 trips to the plate this season.
Once Murphy returns, the Braves should offer d’Arnaud back to the Rays, where he also flourished. The reasoning? We gave up on Charlie Morton before it was time, allowing the Braves to swoop in and win a title with him. So really, the Braves *owe* the Rays.
s/
The Braves gave up on Morton first long before he was ever a Ray lol
So. Sure they should def do that! Lol right after the rays make reparations to the pirates for glasnow, cards for arozarena and and red sox for springs to name a few
@Sideline Redwine: What an amazingly ridiculous post.
Where does this retroactive “owing” process stop?
Maybe the Blue Jays owe the Yankees one for Fred McGriff and the Mariners owe them one for Jay Buhner.
Why don’t the Mets owe the Cardinals one for Keith Hernandez and the Astros owe the Red Sox one for Jeff Bagwell and owe the Mets one for Mike Scott?
And why don’t the Braves owe the Tigers one for John Smoltz?
Maybe the Tigers owe the Mets one for Rusty Staub, the Angels owe them one for Nolan Ryan, and the Royals owe them one for Amos Otis while also owing the Brewers for Lou Piniella.
Speaking of the Mets, how about when they traded for Gil Hodges and made him manager in 1968? Do they owe the Rangers one for that?
How about the Orioles owing the Reds one for Frank Robinson and the Cardinals owing the Cubs for Lou Brock?
The Yankees should be owing the A’s one for Roger Maris. And why don’t they owe the Cardinals one for Enos Slaughter?
And what about the Red Sox owing the A’s one for Jimmie Foxx and the A’s owing the Tigers one for Ty Cobb?
WTH, the Yankees definitely owe the Red Sox one for Babe Ruth.
Is that far enough back for you?
And the Cubs owe the Phillies for Ryne Sandberg and Ferguson Jenkins.
Indeed. I remembered Sandberg after I posted.
Baron,
You missed the sarcasm.
And here you are coming from leftfield. I didn’t miss anything.
The Pirates owe the Dodgers yuge and bigly for Roberto Clemente.
Of course
Rays need to accept at least some responsibility the the primping of the former BJ Upton and the worst (and largest) FA contract in Braves franchise history that jumpstarted the rebuild. So Rays are indirectly involved in ATL’s rebuild.
I’d be completely fine with trading dArnaud, Kelenic, and Shawver for Arozarena.
The Rays would probably insist on Harris instead of Kelenic.
How much longer are the Nats going to run Meneses out there in the middle of the lineup?
I get it. He had a nice 1/3 of a season two years ago. But that’s over. Time to accept reality and move on. Even the Cubs eventually gave up on Frank the Tank.
I agree. I don’t know what they see in him. He was already like 29 years old when he had the hot 2-month stretch in 2022.
Is there really no thought of seeing James Wood at 1B? His bat plays and his athletic enough to really be interesting on the basepaths. WSH has enough OF depth at all levels, especially if Jacob Young continues breaking out.
Love the guy but yeah it’s time. Keibert Ruiz is also an automatic out at this point.
Adams’ production was OK in the absence of Ruiz. SO I keeping envisioning Ruiz switched to a backup role.
Meneses at 1B is simply the only choice and the NATS are hoping for a bounceback. But when they cut loose, moving winker to 1B when Robles comes back can work. There has not been a long term 1B though.
It’s really more a roster construction problem than a lineup issue. The Nats don’t really have anyone for 1B. Joey Gallo’s been an even bigger hole in the lineup than Meneses and he’s now on the IL.
Juan Yepez is 26 instead of 31 and having a decent showing at AAA after a strong spring. If Dom Smith was worth a look, so is Yepez.
He was their 2nd best hitter last season.
So the Florida teams actually do have a couple fans?
The Braves really should have held onto William Contreras. Alex lost out on that trade, although it seemed good at the time.
Still too soon to call. Contreras looks great, but hard to think he would have still looked like that in ATL. We still haven’t fully seen what Murphy is capable of due in part to awful platooning last year and injury this year, but that extension really helped ATL. It also should be noted that Murphy could have 2 extra years of control than Contreras, if ATL picks up the 2029 team option.
One thing is clear, OAK really lost out — choosing Esteury Ruiz over Contreras. Whew!
Contreras is making a superhot hitting start to 2024 but he was great over 162 last season and he still seems to be developing. His performance as a catcher is getting stronger too. He looks like a very solid plus catcher /hitter.
I love William Contreras and I think he will be a great catcher for years to come. But Sean Murphy is still a more complete catcher than Contreras. That’s not taking away anything from Contreras, we’re talking about possibly 2 of the top 5 catchers in MLB right now. There is no wrong answer here
So Dale Murphy is coming back to the Braves, to catch again?