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Nationals Reinstate Stephen Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman

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The Nationals have reinstated right-hander Stephen Strasburg from the 10-day disabled list and brought back first baseman Ryan Zimmerman from the 60-day DL, the team announced. To make room for those two, Washington optioned righties Wander Suero and Trevor Gott to Triple-A.

Strasburg’s back after missing upward of a month with shoulder inflammation, and his return will be a much-needed one for a Washington club with ground to make up in the NL East. The Nationals went just 48-48 before the All-Star break and currently sit five games out of a wild-card spot and 5.5 behind the division-leading Phillies. Part of the problem has been a lack of high-end starters behind ace Max Scherzer. Gio Gonzalez and Jeremy Hellickson have both pitched well, though they haven’t turned in front-line performances. Strasburg, 30, has done that throughout his career, and he managed a 3.46 ERA/3.58 FIP with 10.6 K/9 and 2.12 BB/9 in 80 2/3 innings before going on the DL.

Zimmerman has been out since May 12 because of a back injury, and he struggled prior to landing on the shelf. After reviving his career in 2017, the 33-year-old opened this season with a .217/.280/.409 line in 125 plate appearances. His DL placement opened the door for the addition of fellow veteran first baseman Mark Reynolds, whom the Nats selected from Triple-A Syracuse when they lost Zimmerman. The minor league signing of Reynolds has paid dividends for Washington, as he has slashed a splendid .291/.361/.573 with 10 home runs (and a 10-RBI game) over 133 PAs. It’s now unclear how the Nationals will divvy up playing time between Zimmerman and Reynolds, two righty-swingers.

Minor MLB Transactions: 7/18/18

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Here are the latest minor moves from around the game, all via Matt Eddy of Baseball America unless otherwise noted:

  • A few right-handed hurlers with some MLB experience have found new homes. Casey Coleman has returned to the Cubs on a minors deal after opening the year in indy ball. He has appeared previously in parts of four MLB seasons and thrown 177 1/3 total frames at the game’s highest level, mostly for the Cubs. Coleman has a lifetime 5.72 ERA in the majors and hasn’t seen time there since 2014. Meanwhile, Mike Broadway will go to the Rays after being released by the Royals. The 31-year-old has struggled in the upper minors of late after making 25 appearances in the bigs with the Giants in 2015 and 2016.
  • Another righty, Jeff Ames, has been announced as the newest member of the Brewers organization. The 27-year-old was a sandwich-round selection in the 2011 draft but has yet to make it to the majors. He had worked to a 5.70 ERA with 12.9 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 over 23 2/3 Double-A innings this year in the Nationals organization.
  • Eddy lists a variety of players who were cut loose, none more prominent than infielder Alexi Amarista. The 29-year-old, a seven-year MLB veteran, had been with the Phillies but slashed just .238/.285/.288 in his 173 plate appearances at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Amarista has a lifetime 68 OPS+ in 702 games of MLB action, so the lack of offensive production is hardly a surprise. He’s obviously valued primarily for his glovework.
  • Also released were outfielder Rymer Liriano (Angels) and lefty Jairo Labourt (Tigers). Both were in the not-too-distant past considered intriguing enough players to make it into the majors and then bounce around a bit via waiver claims. Liriano had posted a robust .268/.343/.523 slash in his 65 games of action at Triple-A with the Halos organization. But he had not yet been given a shot at the big league level this year and will now go looking for a better opportunity elsewhere. The 24-year-old Labourt, on the other hand, only made it into five rookie ball games with the Chicago organization, recording 11 strikeouts over 5 2/3 one-hit innings but also issuing nine free passes and allowing six runs (three earned).

Nationals Notes: Realmuto, Robles, Eovaldi

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The Nationals could be willing to “revisit” talks with the Marlins about J.T. Realmuto, according to Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman.  The Nats have long been connected to Realmuto, though GM Mike Rizzo seemingly threw cold water on the potential of a trade a few weeks ago by saying that his team wasn’t willing to meet Miami’s very high asking price for the star catcher.  Now, there is some belief that Washington could be open to dealing star outfield prospect Victor Robles, though Heyman notes that this is unconfirmed.  The Nats were firmly against the idea of dealing Robles or Carter Kieboom to the Marlins for Realmuto, which is what brought talks to a halt in the first place.

DL Placements: Felix Hernandez, Sean Doolittle, Josh Tomlin

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With several players hitting the disabled list this afternoon, we’ll round them up in this post:

  • The Mariners announced that starter Felix Hernandez will hit the DL owing to lower back tightness. It seems the idea is to afford him a longer rest by lining up the placement with the coming All-Star break, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets. Reliever Nick Rumbelow and infielder Gordon Beckham will head onto the active roster, with outfielder John Andreoli being optioned out. Hopefully for the M’s, a bit of a respite will allow Hernandez to bounce back in the second half. It has been a frustrating season to this point, as he has allowed 5.13 earned runs per nine over 105 1/3 innings.
  • Likewise, the Nationals announced that closer Sean Doolittle is hitting the shelf with left toe inflammation. His placement is retroactive to July 7th, meaning he’ll be eligible to return immediately after the break. The roster will get two fresh arms in Wander Suero and Austin Voth, while fellow right-hander Jefry Rodriguez was optioned after his start yesterday. As for Doolittle, it had been hoped that he would be able to return to action, but the team can ill afford an un-utilized roster spot with a tired relief corps. The club has other capable late-inning arms to turn to, though obviously the fervent hope will be that this placement will stave off any more concerning health matters.
  • Indians righty Josh Tomlin is going to the DL with a right hamstring strain, per another announcement. He’ll be replaced by Adam Plutko, who has seen seven games (including six starts) of action in the majors this year. Tomlin has struggled both before and after being bumped from the rotation. Though he hasn’t been hit quite as hard in a relief capacity, he’s still allowing a .256/.294/.538 slash to opposing hitters while working from the bullpen. The 33-year-old owns a 6.98 ERA with 5.5 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 — and an unhealthy 3.9 homers per nine — over 49 total innings this year.

Nationals Activate Matt Wieters

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The Nationals announced Monday that they’ve activated Matt Wieters from the disabled list and optioned fellow catcher Pedro Severino to Triple-A Syracuse in order to open a spot on the active roster. Wieters has been out since mid-May following a hamstring injury that ultimately required surgery.

Wieters returns to the Nats at a time when the organization is widely reported to be in the market for an upgrade behind the dish. He’ll look to change the organization’s thinking in that regard over the next three weeks, though that may prove too difficult after a disastrous 2017 season in which Wieters batted just .225/.288/.344 with lackluster defensive contributions.

To his credit, Wieters was off to a much better start to the season before sustaining his injury. Through 76 plate appearances, he’d hit .231/.342/.385 with three homers. It’s a tiny sample, to be sure, but Wieters had boosted his walk rate by five percent while trimming roughly that same figure off his strikeout rate. Of course, a couple of his walks came while batting eighth early in the season, and his chase rate on pitches out of the zone had actually increased, while his swing rate at pitches in the zone had decreased.

Even with Wieters in the fold, it seems likely that the Nats will continue to explore the possibility of adding another option who’d likely push Wieters into a backup role. Wilson Ramos is the most frequently mentioned candidate connected with the Nationals as of late — especially following GM Mike Rizzo’s blunt comments about Miami’s asking price on J.T. Realmuto being too high. ESPN’s Buster Olney wondered yesterday, too, whether the Nationals would inquire on Martin Maldonado, should the Angels fall any further out of the race for a Wild Card spot in the American League (Twitter link).

Rays Scouting Nationals' Class-A Affiliate

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  • The Rays had a pair of scouts watching the Nationals’ Class-A affiliate over the weekend, tweets Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. While most teams obviously send scouts to watch other clubs year-round, and other teams surely had scouts on hand at that game as well, it’s nonetheless notable at a time when rumors have been circulating that the Nationals could pursue a trade that would bring Tampa Bay catcher Wilson Ramos back to D.C.

Rays "Closely Watching" Nationals' Farm System

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  • More on the Rays, who are “closely watching” the Nationals’ farm system as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline draws closer, Jon Heyman of Fancred reports. The Nationals are interested in Rays catcher Wilson Ramos, per Heyman, which jibes with an earlier report from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “There’s no sign” the Nationals have made any progress in trying to pry elite catcher J.T. Realmuto from the Marlins, Heyman writes, so Ramos may be the Nats’ best hope to upgrade behind the plate. Ramos spent 2010-16 in Washington and has landed back on the team’s radar amid what may be an All-Star season for the 30-year-old.

Nationals Interested In Wilson Ramos

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  • The Nationals recently sent special assistant Dan Jennings to watch Rays catcher Wilson Ramos, Cafardo reports. The Nationals are already familiar with Ramos, who played with the team from 2010-16, and the pending free agent figures to end up with either them or another club by the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. After a mediocre 2017, the 30-year-old Ramos has rebuilt his stock with a .287/.338/.460 line in 293 PAs. Those numbers are far better than the production Nationals catchers have offered. Washington’s backstops have combined to hit a league-worst .185/.278/.265 in 338 trips to the plate, thus contributing to the team’s five-game deficit in the NL East.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Nationals Outright Tim Collins

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  • Left-hander Tim Collins cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Syracuse by the Nationals organization, reports Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (Twitter link). The southpaw had enough service time to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, but Janes adds that Collins will indeed go to Syracuse. The 28-year-old returned to the Majors for the first time since 2014 this season, having missed significant time due to a pair of Tommy John surgeries. He posted a 2.77 ERA that looks strong at first glance but was accompanied by 14 hits allowed and six walks against just eight strikeouts through 13 innings.

Latest On MASN Dispute

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While the ongoing television rights dispute between the Orioles and Nationals has been out of the news for some time, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any action behind the scenes. Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun recently provided a notable update on the situation. While the Baltimore organization has “grown weary of battling Major League Baseball over the [MASN] network” and has tried to work out a settlement, there’s still no resolution. At present, there’s no indication that the stalemate will be broken voluntarily; barring a change in that dynamic, the next big event on the calendar is a scheduled arbitration hearing in November.

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