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MLB Announces Suspensions Following Nationals-Pirates Incident

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TODAY: Lopez had his suspension reduced to two games after his appeal, and he’ll start serving that suspension today.  (MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman was among those to report the news.)

APRIL 17: Major League Baseball announced Thursday that Nationals reliever Jorge Lopez and manager Davey Martinez have received suspensions after a Lopez fastball to Andrew McCutchen sailed high-and-tight, nearly hitting McCutchen in the head. Lopez has received a three-game suspension, which he will appeal. Martinez was suspended for one game and will serve that punishment today. (Managers cannot appeal suspensions of this nature.) Bench coach Miguel Cairo will manage in his place.

The errant pitch to McCutchen eventually prompted both benches to clear. Tensions had already been high. Mitch Keller had hit Nats infielder Paul DeJong in the face a day prior, breaking his nose and sending him to the injured list. Lopez had first hit Pittsburgh outfielder Bryan Reynolds with a pitch before losing the handle on another offering to McCutchen, the very next batter. Lopez was ejected from the game.

The league’s announcement indicates they believe Lopez to have been “intentionally throwing” at McCutchen. Lopez has denied that, and even McCutchen himself suggested after the game that he didn’t believe there was intent behind the pitch.

“It’s just the nature of the situation,” McCutchen replied when asked postgame about the incident (video link via MLB.com). “Take it as is, even if it wasn’t on purpose, which I don’t think it was. I think the height of the moment just got to him, maybe. One got away from him, similar to [Keller]. … Just thankful I was able to move out of the way.”

Command troubles aren’t exactly new for Lopez. He’s walked 10.5% of his opponents this season, hit another pair of batters, and has been charged with a wild pitch. That all comes in just 7 2/3 innings of work. Dating back to 2021, Lopez has pitched 312 1/3 big league innings and walked nearly 10% of the batters he’s faced. He’s also hit another 29 batters — 2.1% of his opponents, well north of league-average — and been charged with 22 wild pitches.

Signed to a one-year, $3MM contract over the winter, Lopez got out to a nice start with the Nats before stumbling in his past two outings. Through his first six frames, he held opponents to a pair of runs on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts. He’s since been tagged for seven runs in a total of just 1 2/3 innings, ballooning his earned run average to 10.57 on the young season.

Lopez logged a 2.89 ERA, 23% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 51% grounder rate in 53 innings between the Mets and Cubs last season. He collected 10 holds and four saves along the way. In 183 innings from 2022-24, he recorded a 3.74 earned run average with 30 saves and 21 holds.

Nationals Agree To Extension With Dave Martinez, Working On Deal With Mike Rizzo

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The Nationals are working to finalize extensions for manager Dave Martinez and president of baseball operations/general manager Mike Rizzo, report Ken Rosenthal and Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. Martinez has already agreed to a two-year deal with a club option for the 2026 season, per the report. Rizzo is close to agreeing to a contract of “similar length.”

Both Martinez and Rizzo had club options exercised for the 2023 season and are in the final seasons of their current contracts. There’s been longstanding speculation regarding the contract status of both, with the ongoing rumblings of a potential sale of the franchise only muddying the waters. Even amid that uncertainty, current Nationals ownership will opt for continuity and give both Martinez and Rizzo the opportunity to see the rebuild that began under their watch through to completion.

Martinez and Rizzo helmed the Nationals’ stunning run, famously shaking off a 19-31 start to surge into postseason contention, seize a Wild Card spot, and ultimately emerge as World Series champions. Things have since taken a turn for the worse. Several stars who keyed that World Series run — most notably Anthony Rendon — have left in free agency. The decision to re-sign World Series hero Stephen Strasburg proved almost immediately regrettable, as Strasburg has been injured for the vast majority of the past four years and is facing questions about whether he’ll ever pitch again.

With the Nationals falling well shy of expectations in 2021, Rizzo made the difficult decision to trade ace Max Scherzer, star shortstop Trea Turner and several other veterans, kickstarting a rebuilding effort originally envisioned to be built around young phenom Juan Soto. However, when Soto rejected a 14-year extension offer, Rizzo & Co. bit the bullet and traded Soto for a franchise-altering package of young talent.

Scherzer, Turner, Soto, Daniel Hudson, Kyle Schwarber, Jon Lester and others were all traded in deals netting a combination of Keibert Ruiz, Josiah Gray, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Lane Thomas and a slew of prospects (James Wood, Jarlin Susana and Robert Hassell III among them). As with most rebuilding clubs, the Nats have also picked near the top of the past several drafts, landing notable prospects like Brady House, Elijah Green and 2023 No. 2 overall pick Dylan Crews.

Buoyed by that wave of young talent, the Nats have the look of an organization on the rise. But while the faces taking the field will have turned over almost entirely from the prior core that led the club to a World Series win, ownership clearly has faith in the same decision-makers who previously brought them to the dance.

Martinez is in his sixth season as the team’s manager and is now guaranteed another two years at the helm. The rebuild has taken a toll on his overall managerial record, which sits at 378-455. Rizzo, meanwhile, has been the team’s general manager since 2009 and was bumped to the title of president of baseball operations back. A two-year deal for Rizzo would lock him in for his 16th and 17th years running baseball operations in D.C. — and give him an extended window to see how the fruits of his latest rebuilding efforts will acclimate to the Major League level.

Nationals Exercise 2023 Options On Mike Rizzo, Dave Martinez

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The Nationals announced that they have exercised the 2023 contract options of both president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez.

This concludes a bit of drama that has been surrounding the team in recent months. It was reported in May that both Rizzo and Martinez were in the final guaranteed years of their respective deals. Given that the club was mired in a roster teardown and that the Lerner family was exploring a possible sale of the club, it was certainly noteworthy that the team’s manager and primary front office member were both in lame duck status.

However, the organization has given itself a small bit more certainty about its future, with Rizzo and Martinez each locked in for at least one more season. Back in May, there were conflicting reports about Martinez’s salary for next year, with Bob Nightengale of USA Today placing it at $4MM, while Jon Heyman of the New York Post said $3.5MM. However, in reporting on today’s news, Nightengale used the $3.5MM figure. Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post relays that Martinez met with Lerner Sports COO Alan Gottlieb today, ahead of the July 15 deadline for the club to decide on both options.

Rizzo has overseen many different eras of Nationals’ baseball, having first been hired by the team in 2006. After many losing seasons, the club emerged as contenders in 2012 and stayed there for the remainder of that decade, making the playoffs five times and winning the World Series in 2019. However, their fortunes have slipped in recent years, which led to the club undergoing a massive selloff at last year’s trade deadline. That has unsurprisingly led to this season’s 29-50 record, better than only the Reds among National League teams. Martinez, on the other hand, was hired prior to the 2018 season and was at the helm of the team during competitive years, including the World Series victory. Now he has transitioned into overseeing a rebuild, with much of the roster composed of younger players auditioning to be part of the next core.

Despite the extra certainty afforded by these decisions, they also represent a kicking of the can down the road, in a sense. The same lame duck situation could still arise one year from now, unless contract extensions are worked out in the interim. The potential sale of the club still lingers in the air. Then there’s the Juan Soto situation, as the club’s superstar is slated to reach free agency after the 2024 season. Reporting in recent days has revealed that the potential of an extension is still in the cards, though Soto reportedly rejected a 13-year, $350MM offer before the lockout and some unknown, presumably-higher offer after it. That’s still a lot for the club to work out, though they’ve given themselves some time to work on it by knocking a couple of items off the to-do list.

NL Notes: Knebel, Phillies, Cain, Garcia

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Recently-minted Phillies manager Rob Thomson told Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia today that Corey Knebel is out as the team’s closer, for the time being. Signed to a one-year $10MM deal this past offseason, Knebel hasn’t demonstrated the same sharpness he did in last year’s campaign with the Dodgers. While this season’s 3.24 ERA through 25 innings is plenty respectable, his 20.7% strikeout rate is far from his career average while his 14.4% walk rate ranks amongst the worst in the league. Knebel’s four blown saves also stand as the highest mark in the league at the moment.

After a messy May, the Phillies have surged with an 11-2 record thus far in June, bringing their season record above .500 to 32-31. Despite the recent hot stretch, the Phillies remain eight and a half games back of the first place Mets in their division and three and a half games back of the last NL wild card spot. A closer-by-committee approach figures to help the team stay in their groove, with Seranthony Dominguez and Brad Hand representing steadier options than Knebel thus far.

Some other Wednesday items from the Senior Circuit…

  • After optioning Mickey Moniak on Tuesday, the Phillies appear set to roll with a platoon of Matt Vierling and Odúbel Herrera in center field. The Athletic’s Matt Gelb speculates how the team may upgrade that arrangement given the feeble production from the first two players thus far, plus the questions that have plagued Herrera dating back to his 2019 suspension. Gelb lists Michael A. Taylor, Ramón Laureano, and Victor Robles as realistic trade targets for the club should they seek to plug a defense-first option between corner outfielders Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos. The center field platoon’s production will be worth monitoring through the summer, as the Phillies have holes in the infield and bullpen as well but may not possess enough financial or prospect capital to address all three areas.
  • One center fielder who isn’t an option for the Phillies, or perhaps for any team much longer, is Lorenzo Cain. Speaking with Andy McCullough of The Athletic, the 36-year-old Brewer acknowledged the likelihood that this season may very well be his last in the major leagues. The two-time All-Star remains a strong defensive player and as affable a clubhouse personality as any, but admits to difficulties in elevating his offense at the ten-year mark of his career. To that end, a .168/.223/.226 showing through 41 games has already begun to cost him some playing time this season. For now though, President of Baseball Operations David Stearns remains in Cain’s corner, citing Cain’s defense and contributions to four straight years of playoff baseball in Milwaukee as reasons to exhibit patience.
  • Nationals manager Dave Martinez has an update on another 2015 World Series champ, stating that Opening Day shortstop Alcides Escobar will return in a utility role when he completes his current rehab assignment. 22-year-old Luis García will be given some leash at the position after his hot start to the year at the Triple-A (.899 OPS in 42 games) and Major League (.829 OPS in 13 games) levels. Neither player profiles as a defensively elite shortstop at this point in their careers, so Escobar’s current OPS of .552 figures to cut into the playing time of other slow-starting veterans’ around the infield (Maikel Franco, .669 OPS; Cesar Hernandez, .646 OPS) over the youngster looking to establish himself.

Nationals Notes: Rizzo, Martinez, Soto, Ross, Strasburg

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The Nationals hold 2023 club options on general manager Mike Rizzo and skipper Dave Martinez, as each is currently in the final guaranteed year of their contracts. Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that Washington is expected to exercise their option on Rizzo, who has been running baseball operations in the nation’s capital since midway through the 2009 season. Nightengale adds that the team has until the All-Star Break to decide whether to pick up Martinez’s option, which he reports is valued at $4MM. Jon Heyman of the New York Post, meanwhile, writes that Martinez’s option is valued at $3.5MM.

The Nats were excellent for a good portion of the last decade, making the playoffs five times between 2012-19 and claiming a World Series title during their final postseason run. That unsurprisingly seems to have bought Rizzo more time at the helm, even as the club has sputtered over the past couple seasons. After underperforming in 2020 and during the first half of last year, Washington kicked off a deadline sell-off. The Nationals shipped off a host of impending free agents and somewhat surprisingly pulled the trigger on a Trea Turner deal even though the star shortstop was controllable through the end of the 2022 season.

Parting with Turner signaled the Nationals were going to embrace a multi-year reboot. There was no indication that encompassed a possible trade of Juan Soto, however, and the superstar outfielder isn’t likely to find himself on the move this summer either. The Nationals’ dreadful start (last place in the NL East at 14-28) will no doubt lead rival teams to inquire about Soto’s availability, but a blockbuster trade of the 23-year-old feels like little more than a pipe dream right now.

Both Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic and Jon Heyman of the New York Post pushed back against the possibility of a Soto trade last week. Nightengale, meanwhile, writes that the organization is unlikely to seriously entertain the possibility until after the 2023 season — if at all. Soto reportedly rejected a 13-year, $350MM extension offer over the offseason, expressing a desire at the time to proceed year-by-year via arbitration. He remains controllable through 2024, however, and trading Soto this year would signify a rebuild of greater scope than the Nationals seem to want to entertain.

It stands to reason that Washington will be aggressive next offseason in acquiring upgrades to build a new core around Soto. They’ve little chance of competing in 2022, so they still seem likely to move impending free agents over the coming months. First baseman Josh Bell would probably be their most in-demand rental, although players like Nelson Cruz (if he rights the ship offensively) and César Hernández could hold some appeal as well.

Starting pitcher Joe Ross is another impending free agent who could be a viable midseason trade candidate, but he’ll first need to establish health. The right-hander was diagnosed with a partial tear of the UCL in his throwing elbow last summer, an injury that ended his season prematurely even as he avoided Tommy John surgery. He did undergo a less significant procedure during Spring Training, as doctors removed a bone spur from his elbow in March.

Ross opened the season on the 60-day injured list and isn’t eligible to return to the majors until the first week of June, but he’s moving closer to his season debut. The club informed reporters (including Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post) that Ross is set to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Harrisburg this week. Pitchers can spend up to thirty days in the minors on rehab, so the 29-year-old should be back in the big league rotation within a month, barring a setback.

That’s likewise true of Stephen Strasburg, who has been on the 10-day IL all year as he recovers from last July’s thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. The three-time All-Star is beginning a rehab stint with Low-A Fredericksburg on Tuesday (via Dougherty), suggesting he’s also trending towards a return within the next few weeks. Strasburg has made just seven starts since the beginning of the 2020 campaign due to various injuries.

With four-plus years remaining on the $245MM contract he signed over the 2019-20 offseason, Strasburg isn’t likely to be a realistic trade candidate anytime soon. Getting him back on track and finding anything resembling his pre-2020 form would give the Nationals a much-needed rotation anchor in their efforts to return to contention after this season, however. Washington’s starters have been a big culprit for their dismal start; only the Reds have a worse rotation ERA than the Nats’ 5.58 mark. Erick Fedde and Josiah Gray are the lone Nationals’ starters with an ERA south of 5.00, and both of them have allowed more than four earned runs per nine innings.

Nats’ Dave Martinez And Mike Rizzo In Final Guaranteed Contract Year

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Nationals manager Dave Martinez and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo are each in the final guaranteed year of their respective contracts, according to a report from Jesse Dougherty and Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post.

The initial reporting on the 2020 extension for Martinez said that it was a three-year deal, which would cover the seasons through 2023. However, when the team officially announced the extension, they described it merely as a “multi-year” deal. According to this new report, the extension was actually for two years plus a club option for 2023. Asked about the situation, Martinez neither confirmed nor denied the report. “I just want people to know that I love it here and I want to be here,” he said. “I am excited for what we’re building and want to see it through for another championship.”

These details only add to the uncertainty for an organization that’s already immersed in it. The club had an incredible eight-year run from 2012-2019, which included a winning record in each year, five postseason appearances and was capped off by a World Series championship in 2019. Since then, though, the club slumped through a mediocre showing in both 2020 and 2021, the latter of those seasons including a massive sell-off of veteran talent for younger, unproven players.

Furthermore, just as the current season was beginning, a report emerged that the Lerner family are considering selling the club. On the field, the Nats are currently holding a record of 12-26, a winning percentage worse than every team in the majors except for the Reds.

This is the fifth season at the helm for Martinez, who was hired prior to the 2018 campaign. Rizzo has been a part of the club even longer, having been hired as assistant general manager in 2006. It appears that neither is guaranteed to be returning in the same role next year, making the future wide open for the club in many ways. After last year’s fire sale, they have only two players on the books beyond this season. Patrick Corbin’s deal runs through 2024, while Stephen Strasburg’s goes through 2026.

Of course, the big ticking time bomb in the room is Juan Soto, who can be controlled via arbitration through 2024. The Nationals are naturally interested in extending him, but actually doing so might be difficult. Soto’s agent Scott Boras discussed the matter in November. “The first thing that’s going to have to happen is that he knows that he’s working with an ownership that’s going to annually try to compete and win,” Boras said. “And then I think once he knows that, then he’ll be ready to sit down and talk whenever they choose to talk.” It was later reported that Soto and his camp turned down a 13-year, $350 contract offer from the Nats prior to the lockout. A player’s earning power only increases as they approach free agency, meaning that the price tag on locking Soto up long-term will only continue growing over the coming seasons, especially if he continues playing well. Through 38 games this year, he’s hitting .254/.387/.478, 146 wRC+.

That leaves the club with about two years and five months to convince Soto to stay. Between now and then, there’s very little certainty about who else will be on the team, who will be in the manager’s seat, who will be running the front office or even who will own the club.

MLB Suspends Nationals’ Sean Nolin, Dave Martinez

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5:59 pm: Nolin has apparently elected not to appeal after all. He’ll begin serving his ban tonight, Jessica Camerato of MLB.com was among those to relay.

5:18 pm: Major League Baseball announced that Nationals left-hander Sean Nolin has been suspended five games for “intentionally hitting” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman with a pitch during Wednesday night’s game. Nolin, who also received an undisclosed fine, is appealing the suspension. He’ll remain on the roster until his appeal is heard.

Additionally, MLB suspended Washington manager Dave Martinez for one game as a result of Nolin’s actions. Martinez, who also received an undisclosed fine, will serve his ban during tonight’s game against the Pirates.

In the first inning of Wednesday’s start in Atlanta, Nolin threw a first-pitch fastball behind Freeman’s back. His second pitch of the plate appearance — also a fastball — hit Freeman in the right hip. Nolin was then ejected by home plate umpire Lance Barksdale.

The night before, Braves’ closer Will Smith hit Nationals star Juan Soto with a pitch. It seems that Nolin threw behind and then hit Freeman as a retaliatory measure, although he denied doing so intentionally. After the game, Nolin told reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com) he simply had trouble gripping the baseball.

Nolin made his return to the majors this season for the first time since 2015. Over five starts, the 31-year-old has worked 17 2/3 innings of 5.60 ERA ball.

Nationals Notes: Scherzer, Turner, Soto, Staff

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Prior to becoming a member of the Dodgers, there were rumors that the Red Sox were “in the mix” of the Max Scherzer sweepstakes. However, it doesn’t seem as if talks got very far, according to Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo. When asked about the report that Scherzer was willing to waive his no-trade rights to join Boston’s rotation, Rizzo said, “We never got that close to a deal with the Red Sox so that was never a question that was posed to him,” according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com, relaying an interview with Rizzo on 106.7 The Fan.

Some other notes from DC…

  • Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that the Nats’ last extension offer to Trea Turner was for six years, $100MM. Heyman also says that the Nats didn’t make another offer in the spring of 2021, as had been reported. This would have been fairly close to the six-year, $120MM extension Xander Bogaerts signed with the Red Sox in April of 2019. Although Bogaerts was just a year away from free agency then, whereas Turner would have been three years away in March of 2020. Betting on himself seems to have paid off for Turner so far. His salary in 2020 was $7.45MM, though that was prorated to around $2.75MM with the shortened season. This year, he’s making $13MM and will be in line for a hefty arbitration raise in 2022. He could then go into free agency as a 29-year-old, having already banked around $35MM of that $100MM.
  • Juan Soto “felt something in his knee” in tonight’s game, manager Dave Martinez tells various reporters, including Bobby Blanco of MASN. After a trade deadline fire sale, Soto was the figurative last man standing, staying put and watching Scherzer and Turner walk out the door, as well as Josh Harrison, Yan Gomes, Kyle Schwarber and others. The lefty is having yet another excellent season, with a wRC+ of 144 and 3.1 fWAR. But since the team has seemingly already waved the white flag on the season with the aforementioned fire sale, they can afford to be cautious with their remaining star if any issues arise.
  • Martinez also says five members of his staff that tested positive for COVID-19 have been cleared to rejoin the club, according to Gene Wang of The Washington Post. These positive tests were part of the same outbreak that sent Trea Turner and Daniel Hudson to the IL last week.

Nationals Place Stephen Strasburg On 10-Day Injured List

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JUNE 2, 10:23 pm: Today’s MRI revealed nerve irritation in Strasburg’s neck, Martinez told reporters (including Zuckerman). He’ll rest and rehab the injury for now.

JUNE 2, 4:35 pm: The Nationals announced they’ve placed Strasburg on the 10-day injured list with a neck strain. The team didn’t provide a timetable for his potential return. Kyle McGowin was recalled from Triple-A Rochester in a corresponding move.

JUNE 1: Nationals manager Dave Martinez and Washington’s trainer visited with right-hander Stephen Strasburg after he began Tuesday night’s game with a four-pitch walk, and despite some obvious discomfort (noted by Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post), Strasburg stayed in the game. His fastball velocity was down to the point that his four-seamer was registering as a change-up, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (via Twitter) who provides some spin rate evidence to back his claim.

Stras would ultimately leave the game early, though it took a 109.6 mph comebacker off the bat of William Contreras to get Strasburg out of the game. The underlying issue, however, was a tight trapezius muscle, noted the Athletic’s Maria Torres and others after the game. The Nats’ right-hander will have an MRI on Wednesday, but whatever the results, Strasburg is clearly not his usual self.

In the meantime, the Nats are running dangerously low on arms. They won Tuesday’s game, but they required seven pitchers to do so. Only Tanner Rainey and Kyle Finnegan were left in the pen by game’s end. Austin Voth earned the win, but in using 50 pitches to get through three innings, he likely rendered himself unavailable for Wednesday. Jon Lester was already scheduled to start Wednesday’s game on short rest, but now they’ll ask the veteran to give them some length as well.

Tomorrow was originally set up to be Erick Fedde’s start, but the Nats did not feel he was stretched out enough to come off the injured list, per Torres. Instead, Fedde will make a rehab start in Single-A on Thursday and prepare to join the Nats over the weekend, tweets Zuckerman. In the meantime, the Nats could choose to option Sam Clay, Wander Suero or Paolo Espino in order to bring up a fresh arm. All three have options remaining. Typically, Washington does not aggressively manage their organizational arms in this way, but given the state of the rotation, it would not be surprising to see them make some kind of move.

NL Notes: Nationals, Pirates, Cardinals

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The Nationals will enter the season with Starlin Castro as their everyday third baseman. Josh Harrison will get most of the starts at second, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Veterans Jordy Mercer and Hernan Perez will back them up. The latter duo had just 28 plate appearances between them in 2020. This wasn’t exactly the plan as designed for how to replace Anthony Rendon, who is finally recognized as one of the best in the game at the hot corner.

Unfortunately, Carter Kieboom hasn’t totally turned the corner after tying for the 10-lowest ISO mark (.010 ISO) among batters with at least 100 plate appearances in the past twenty seasons. Among those in the bottom-10, three promptly retired, while others continued on as rarely-used bench players. Take it for what you will, then, that a Kieboom resurgence still likely presents the highest possible ceiling of the options available. For now, the Nats will trudge forward with their cadre of veterans. This might not be a short-term solution, however. Manager Dave Martinez said he wants Castro at third because he’s going to play everyday and he doesn’t want to move him around, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Martinez prefers Harrison’s range at second. Meanwhile, we’re just three days from opening day…

  • Former Nationals Wilmer Difo and Brian Goodwin were reassigned to minor league camp along with right-hander Steven Wright, the Pirates announced today. Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb has also been optioned to the minors. That means Anthony Alford likely starts the year as the starting centerfielder, notes Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, with Dustin Fowler backing up all three outfield spots. Alford, 26, jumps right into a regular role after experiencing mere cups of coffee in the four years prior. Going back to his debut with the Blue Jays in 2017, here are Alford’s season totals for plate appearances: 8, 21, 30, and 29.
  • Tommy Edman will be the Cardinals’ backup centerfielder to start the season, per Jeff Jones of MLB.com (via Twitter). Tyler O’Neill will line up after him. Harrison Bader’s injury has certainly thrown a bit of a wrench into the Cardinals defensive alignment. With Bader, St. Louis was preparing an otherworldly defensive unit: Paul Goldschmidt is a three-time Gold Glove winner at first; Yadier Molina is a nine-time winner and the consensus best defensive catcher of his generation; Paul DeJong has been frozen out of award season, but he’s been easily among the NL’s best defensive shortstops in recent seasons; ditto for Bader in center, while O’Neill posted 9 DRS in left last season; Nolan Arenado, of course, has never not won the Gold Glove. Not mentioned there, Carlson and Edman, who are, apparently, capable of shifting to centerfield at a moment’s notice. No matter who mans center, it seems, the Cards plan on catching the baseball.
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