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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.

Nationals Notes: Martinez, Turner, Robles

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Dave Martinez already broke new ground in Nationals’ managerial history by winning the World Series in 2019, but in 2021, he will again traverse new territory previously untrod by Nats’ managers: a fourth season on the job. Davey Johnson won Manager of the Year in 2012, Matt Williams won the award in 2014, and Dusty Baker became the first Nats’ manager to win back-to-back NL East titles in 2016 and 2017, but each of Martinez’s predecessors were let go before a fourth campaign (or third in the case of Williams and Baker).

Martinez figures to blow well past the three-year record previously held by Johnson, Jim Riggleman and Manny Acta. Martinez was given a contract extension last year, freeing him to take the long view in the development of his young players, including superstar Juan Soto, writes Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. The Nationals – reactionary to disappointing playoff losses in the past – seem to have a new view under Martinez, weathering a difficult 2020 without missing a beat. They’ll enter 2021 expecting to contend, and Martinez will look to check another box off his list by winning an NL East title.

Part of his forward-thinking approach is mulling new ways to maximize production from his superstars Soto and Trea Turner. This season, the question is whether or not to move Turner from the leadoff spot, writes Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. The Nationals don’t necessarily have another prime candidate to step into the top spot of the lineup, however. Martinez would like to try Victor Robles at the top of the order against southpaws, writes Zuckerman. Beyond a small sample size of success leading off, Robles has done little to prove himself a natural candidate as a table-setter. He owns a 5.3 percent career walk rate and a 36.7 percent first pitch swing percentage – a good deal more aggressive than the league average of 28.3 percent.

Viewing Turner as a middle-of-the-order bat is sound, however. Though he’s mostly known for being one of the fastest players in the game, Turner’s bat carries serious thunder: Turner boasts a .216 ISO and 130 wRC+ over the past two seasons. He’s performed 18 percent better than average with the bat for his career. Turner has largely been underrated in part because his most impressive performances have come in seasons cut short either because of a late promotion (2016), injury (2019) or the pandemic (2020). It was his return from injury that largely prompted the Nationals magical run in 2019, however, as Turner famously returned in May to hit .296/.352/.487 despite a broken finger. The Nationals are relying heavily on Turner to be the offensive superstar he was in 2020, when he was on pace for a 7+ fWAR season at a 162-game pace.

Quick Hits: Nationals, Schwarber, Martinez, Royals, Dozier, Red Sox, Prospects, Blalock, Yorke

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Kyle Schwarber is now a member of the Washington Nationals, in no small part because of Nats manager Dave Martinez, per ESPN. Schwarber, of course, won a World Series with Martinez as his bench coach in Chicago. In fact, Martinez was the Cubs bench coach for the first three years of Schwarber’s career. Said Schwarber, per ESPN, “I love [Martinez] to death. I’m so excited to play for this guy. He only wants to win.” Washington hopes Martinez can help Schwarber recapture some of the magic that made him a star in Chicago. Schwarber will also reunite with Starlin Castro, with whom he played as a rookie on the 2015 Cubs. Elsewhere…

  • Royals Assistant General Managers Scott Sharp and Jin Wong remain active in reaching out to agents about potential free agents, writes MLB.com’s Jason Beck. The Royals have been one of the more proactive teams in the Majors so far this winter, coming to terms with Mike Minor, Greg Holland, Michael A. Taylor, and Carlos Santana to Major League deals, all before the new year. The Royals are still potentially on the lookout for a left-handed bat, notes Beck. With just about $87MM in payroll commitments, the Royals have just a couple million before matching last year’s payroll. It wasn’t long ago, however, that Kansas City ran up payrolls over the century mark, so it’s possible they could extend yet another Major League contract, should the right deal fall their way.
  • Ryan O’Hearn, Franchy Cordero, and Nicky Lopez are the only pure left-handed bats on the roster, and only the latter has a guaranteed spot as a regular player. Adalberto Mondesi and Carlos Santana are switch-hitters who will be in the lineup every day, but both have traditionally fared better hitting from the right side. In terms of their targets, Beck also notes that the Royals are growing comfortable with Hunter Dozier as the regular third baseman. All that in mind, a lefty corner outfielder would fit nicely onto the roster. Should they not find a bat at an appropriate price point, however, the Royals are believers in the long-term ability of Khalil Lee, who is a candidate for playing time in 2021.
  • Red Sox prospect Bradley Blalock was a 32nd round draft choice in 2019, but after adding 10 pounds and roughly six miles per hour to his fastball, the 20-year-old right-hander will enter 2021 as a player to watch, per Alex Speier of Baseball America. Blalock is more-or-less just beginning his professional career, having signed out of high school for $250K in July of 2019. The Georgia native made just four appearances in rookie ball, giving up five earned runs on five hits and four walks while striking out four over 6 2/3 innings. Elsewhere in the system, the prospect gurus at MLB.com name Nick Yorke as a player who could rise quickly through Boston’s system, writing, “The California prep product has the sweet right-handed swing, bat speed, pitch recognition and discipline to potentially become a .300 hitter with 20 homers per season.” Yorke was the No. 17 overall selection of the 2020 draft.

 

Nationals Extend Dave Martinez

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SEPTEMBER 26: Washington officially announced a “multi-year” extension for Martinez.

SEPTEMBER 25: The Nationals have agreed to a contract extension with manager Dave Martinez, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). It’s a three-year, $7.5MM contract that will take effect in 2021, Bob Nightengale of USA Today was among those to tweet. His previous three-year contract was set to expire at season’s end, and the Nats had yet to formally make a call on Martinez’s 2021 club option or on a lengthier deal. The new contract will make quite the birthday present for Martinez, who turns 56 years old tomorrow.

Typically, clubs seek to avoid having a manager or general manager navigate a season with the dreaded “lame duck” status — i.e. no contract in place for the following year — but the Nationals have repeatedly bucked that trend by waiting until the eleventh hour to make decisions one way or another on both their managers and GMs. The Nats didn’t extend general manager Mike Rizzo, whose contract didn’t even have a 2021 option, until three weeks ago.

No club in baseball has had more managerial turnover in recent years than the Nationals, but it appears that last year’s World Series win will bring about the type of continuity this current generation of Nats players has yet to see. Martinez became the sixth man to manage a Nationals game in an eight-year span (2011-18) when he was hired, and since moving to D.C., the Nats have never had a skipper last more than three seasons on the job. The Lerner family opted to replace former skipper Dusty Baker even after Rizzo reportedly fought to keep him in place, and Baker only landed with the Nats after the club alienated Bud Black with a lowball, one-year offer when he had emerged as the favorite following the interview process.

Replacing Baker with Martinez, previously the Cubs’ bench coach, has worked out for the Nationals. Despite losing Bryce Harper to free agency before 2019, the Martinez-led club won 93 games and its first title. On the other hand, this year has been a struggle for the Nationals, who saw star third baseman Anthony Rendon leave in free agency and have gone almost entirely without injured World Series MVP-wining right-hander Stephen Strasburg. At 23-34, the Nationals won’t defend their title in this year’s playoffs, but that championship was understandably enough to convince the club that Martinez is the right person for the job. Along with their World Series win, Martinez has guided the Nats to a 198-183 regular-season record during his tenure in D.C.

Mike Rizzo Discusses Trea Turner, Dave Martinez

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Before the coronavirus put the baseball season on pause this spring, the Nationals and star shortstop Trea Turner engaged in extension talks, general manager Mike Rizzo confirmed to reporters (including Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington). Of course, the pandemic introduced plenty of economic uncertainty for all 30 clubs. Nevertheless, Rizzo expressed an interest in revisiting those discussions once he gets an opportunity to examine the organization’s financial “landscape” (via Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post).

The 27-year-old Turner has done nothing to dissuade the front office’s interest in keeping him in the fold long-term. He’s somewhat quietly putting up a fabulous season, hitting .368/.421/.632 with nine home runs and five stolen bases in 171 plate appearances. While he obviously won’t sustain a .393 batting average on balls in play, Turner has seemingly turned a corner offensively. He’s striking out at a career-low 14.6% clip and has hit significantly fewer pop-ups this season. For his career, Turner’s a .297/.354/.479 hitter (118 wRC+) with generally average defense at shortstop, positioning him as a 4-5 win player per 600 plate appearances.

Turner and the Nationals agreed on a $7.45MM salary to avoid arbitration this offseason, his second year of eligibility. The former Super Two player is currently slated to go through the process twice more (and figures to earn a nice raise this winter) before reaching free agency after 2022. His first would-be free agent year would be his age-30 season.

More immediately, Rizzo says he plans to turn his attention to the managerial chair. Skipper Dave Martinez is amidst the final guaranteed season of his three-year contract, although the club does possess an option on his services for 2021. Rizzo made clear today he hopes not to have to exercise that option, instead preferring to hammer out a long-term extension with Martinez (via Jessica Camerato of MLB.com). “That’s the plan going forward,” Rizzo said. “See if we can get something done (and) negotiate a longer-term deal with him that goes beyond just picking up the option.” The GM himself just inked an extension yesterday that’ll keep him in D.C. though 2023.

The Nationals have had something of a rocky history with managers, with the Lerner family ownership group notoriously reluctant to commit to skippers on long-term deals. Martinez, though, is the only manager to have led the franchise to a World Series title, so it’d be a shock to see the parties not eventually come to terms on an extension.

Juan Soto Out With Elbow Soreness

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Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez is giving Juan Soto a couple of days off, per Jessica Camerato of MLB.com (via Twitter). Soto has been experiencing some elbow soreness. The Nationals’ young superstar underwent and MRI, but the results were good, so Martinez is just giving Soto a couple of days to rest and recover.

Though the Nationals have face-planted in their title defense season, there’s been no such hangover for the 21-year-old Soto. Soto is currently the major-league leader in slugging (.758) and OPS (1.211). He’s slashing .354/.453/.758 with 11 long balls in 117 plate appearances. Soto has more walks (17) than strikeouts (16) while registering in the top 1% for exit velocity (94.2 mph) and top 2 percent for hard hit percentage (55.4%).

Soto rested for both games of yesterday’s doubleheader against the Braves, and he figures to get another day or two to rest his elbow. Especially since the Nats are just one game ahead of the Pirates for the worst record in the National League, they are likely to value Soto’s long-term health over any benefit they’ll get from rushing him into action over the final few weeks of what’s bound to be a lost season. Washington sits 5 games out of a wild card spot, and while that deficit isn’t impossible to overcome, they would need to turn around their play drastically enough to leapfrog five other teams in the NL.

Soto missed the first couple of days of the season after testing positive for COVID-19, though he was asymptomatic.

Quick Hits: Yankees, Chapman, Rays, Morton, Nationals, Rizzo, Martinez

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The New York Yankees will make a decision about Aroldis Chapman’s timeline to return to action after a throwing session on Tuesday, per ESPN’s Marly Rivera. Chapman has yet to make an appearance this season. He tested positive for COVID-19 back on July 11th after showing mild symptoms. Chapman has been working his way back to full strength and hopes to return to the back end of the Yanks bullpen shortly. Last season, Chapman put together another top-notch campaign with 37 saves in 60 games and a 2.21 ERA/2.28 FIP while striking out 13.4 batters per nine innings.

  • Charlie Morton of the Tampa Bay Rays left his start today with right shoulder inflammation, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com. The Rays do not appear to be overly concerned about Morton in the long-term. The 36-year-old hasn’t gotten off to a great start with a 5.52 ERA across three starts, though it’s obviously s small sample, and a 4.06 FIP isn’t quite so pessimistic of his performance.
  • The Washington Nationals aren’t any closer to coming to terms on an extension either for manager Dave Martinez or GM Mike Rizzo, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter links). Both are in the final year of their current deals. The Nationals have proven a fairly conservative organization and one that won’t budge due to public perception. For their parts, both Martinez and Rizzo appear to have great trust in the organization. Given that the Nats are coming off a World Series championship, it’s hard to imagine either man moving on. Rizzo is the longstanding architect of these Nats – one of the most sustainable contenders of the last decade – while Martinez is the culture of the club in its current iteration. He has both the respect and the admiration of his players, by all accounts. This is pure conjecture, but Nats ownership may be taking a principled stance by waiting on these extensions. They’ve routinely let star players play out the final seasons of their deals, and it shows some organizational continuity to do the same with Rizzo and Martinez.

No Contract Talks Between Nationals, Dave Martinez

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Nats skipper Dave Martinez spoke with reporters on a conference call this morning and, when asked whether there have been any talks regarding his contract status, replied with a simple, “Nothing” (Twitter link via Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington). The 2020 season is the final guaranteed year on Martinez’s contract, although the Nats do hold a club option on the 2021 season.

It’s not surprising to hear that there have been no talks during the pandemic shutdown, but it’s a bit curious that the two sides hadn’t spoken about a new deal earlier in the spring. The 55-year-old Martinez, after all, was at the helm for one of the most remarkable turnarounds any team has made in recent memory. In the absence of an extension, the Nats could’ve perhaps picked up Martinez’s 2021 option in advance; such measures are fairly common throughout the league (particularly for winning managers) in order to spare managers the dreaded “lame duck” status and the frequent questions and speculation that accompany such contractual uncertainty.

Then again, the Nationals aren’t anything close to a typical organization with regard to how they handle their managers. Martinez, for instance, became the sixth man to manage a Nationals game in an eight-year span (2011-18) when he was hired and took the field for the first time. No Nationals manager has ever lasted more than three seasons on the job, and in addition to generally having a short leash with managers, the Nats have a reputation for not compensating their skippers as well as other clubs throughout the league. (Recall that the team wanted to hire Bud Black to manage in the 2015-16 offseason but made him only a one-year, $1.6MM offer despite a nine-year run as a well-regarded manager in San Diego.)

If anyone were to buck those trends, it’s easy to imagine Martinez being the man to do so. His Nats famously surged back from a 19-31 start to the 2019 season to capture the franchise’s first World Series win and finished above .500 the season prior as well. Logically speaking, one would expect Martinez to stick around for at least the 2021 season, but the Nats’ track record in this arena illustrates that they’re difficult to predict. As the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga highlighted in early March, general manager Mike Rizzo is in a similar spot (minus the club option), but ownership has seemingly yet to make any sort of final decision on its organization’s leaders.

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