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Jackson Rutledge

Nationals To Make Several Roster Moves

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3:07pm: In addition to the moves below, the Nats added left-hander Jose Ferrer and right-hander Jake Irvin. To create roster space, they designated right-hander Tommy Romero for assignment while outfielder Yadiel Hernandez, lefty Evan Lee and righty Jackson Tetreault cleared outright waivers and were assigned to Triple-A Rochester. Additionally, the club avoided arbitration with infielder Ildemaro Vargas by agreeing to a one-year deal. Vargas will make $975K, reports Andrew Golden of the Washington Post (Twitter link). That’s a touch below his $1.1MM arbitration projection.

3:00pm: Talk Nats adds that Alu has indeed been added. 26 in April, Alu is an infielder who had a great year at the plate. Between Double-A and Triple-A, he hit .299/.365/.506 for a wRC+ of 132.

11:57am: The deadline for MLB teams to add players to their 40-man roster in order to protect them from selection in the Rule 5 draft is tonight at 5pm Central. The Nationals are set to add at least three players, according to Talk Nats. They are right-hander Jackson Rutledge, left-hander Matt Cronin and outfielder Jeremy De La Rosa. It’s possible more moves are still coming, with Talk Nats identifying Jake Alu and Jose Ferrer as possibilities.

Rutledge, 24 in April, was the club’s first round selection in 2019, going 17th overall. He got some work in affiliated ball after that draft but then saw the minor leagues get wiped out by the pandemic in 2020. Shoulder tightness and recurring blisters then limited his workload and effectiveness in 2021. He got things back on track somewhat here in 2022 by making 20 starts, but they were in Single-A and he only posted a 4.90 ERA. His peripherals were much stronger though, with a high BABIP and low strand rate likely pushing his ERA higher than deserved, as indicated by his 3.89 FIP and 3.93 xFIP.

He has yet to reach Double-A and is still likely not close to making his major league debut. Still, based on his previous prospect stock and ability to hit triple-digits with his heater, the Nats have decided they don’t want to risk losing him in next month’s draft. With the big league club mired in rebuild mode anyway, there’s little harm in dedicating a roster spot to someone who is unlikely to contribute in 2023 if the club thinks he can provide future value some day. He’s currently ranked the club’s #9 prospect at Baseball America and #10 at FanGraphs.

Cronin, 25, was a fourth round pick in that same 2019 draft. He’s worked exclusively as a reliever since then, working his way up the minor league ladder. In 2022, he split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, throwing 52 combined innings. In that time, he posted a 2.42 ERA with a 26.9% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. He’ll give the club a left-handed relief option that can potentially be optioned between the majors and minors for the next few years. He’s 17th on the BA list and 30th at FanGraphs.

De La Rosa, 21 in January, was signed as an international free agent in 2018. He started 2022 in Single-A and completely mashed, producing a batting line of .315/.394/.505 with 26 steals. A midseason promotion to High-A didn’t produce immediate results, as he hit just .195/.273/.271, though he did swipe another 13 bags. In the field, he played primarily in center field and could have a decent floor with his speed and defense. BA slots him in at #10 on their list while FanGraphs has him at #8.

Latest On Reds’ Trade Discussions

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The Reds and Nationals are known to have discussed a possible deal around third baseman Eugenio Suarez, and the failure to complete a deal seems to hinge on the Nats’ unwillingness to part with top pitching prospects Jackson Rutledge and Cade Cavalli, per MLB Insider Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Rutledge and Cavalli were the Nats’ top draft choices in the past two drafts. It’s not a surprise that Washington would hold on tight, as their system isn’t known for tremendous depth, and they traditionally value starting pitching. Besides, ace Max Scherzer will be a free agent after this season, and at some point, the Nats will need to graduate top pitching talent in order to maintain the standard they have set in the rotation. Any deal with the Nats would probably have to center on Carter Kieboom. If the Reds believe in Kieboom’s ability to play shortstop, he would make sense as a starting point for a deal.

The Reds seem more open to the idea of moving Mike Moustakas or Nicholas Castellanos, but neither has generated as much trade interest as Suarez, tweets Heyman. Despite an uninspired 104 wRC+ in 2020, Suarez remains the Reds’ most-compelling bat. A .214 BABIP was down by almost 100 points from his career average, and a shoulder injury might have slowed his production. His 29.0 percent strikeout rate is a touch high, but Suarez still boasts patience (13.0 percent walk rate) and power (.268 isolated power), as well as long-term control on a reasonable contract. The 29-year-old Suarez will make $10.79MM in 2021 before three years at $11.29MM and a $15MM club option in 2025. Relative to Moustakas (three years, $16MM AAV with club option) and Castellanos (three years, $15.3MM AAV with mutual option), Suarez’s deal looks like a bargain, and he’ll be just 33-years-old at the end of the 2024 season.

The most likely place for the Reds to add from outside the organization remains shortstop, as their 2021 starting shortstop doesn’t appear to be on the 40-man roster at present, writes the Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans. The organization clearly does not view Senzel as an option there, and Jose Garcia likely needs more the in the minors after being rushed into action in 2020. That could mean trading for a shortstop, but with so many options still available on the market – Marcus Semien, Andrelton Simmons, Freddy Galvis, Didi Gregorius – free agency remains their likeliest route to add an infielder.

Nationals Open To Moving Carter Kieboom In Trade Talks

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As the Nationals continue to explore their offseason trade options, the team is “definitely open” to including former top prospect Carter Kieboom in negotiations, The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli reports (Twitter links).  Right-handed pitching prospects Cade Cavalli and Jackson Rutledge, however, are not available.

Washington went into the 2020 season hoping Kieboom could step in as the new everyday third baseman, after Anthony Rendon left for the Angels in free agency.  While nobody expected Kieboom to match Rendon’s All-Star level of production, the Nats surely hoped for more than the .202/.344/.212 slash line Kieboom delivered over 122 plate appearances.  The lack of hitting led the Nationals to demote Kieboom to their alternate training site for just shy of two weeks, and his season was also shortened by a wrist injury in the final week of play.

Aside from a respectable OBP, there wasn’t much to like about Kieboom’s first extended taste of Major League action, as he didn’t make much hard contact and next to no power — Kieboom had the lowest slugging percentage of any player in baseball with at least 120 PA.  However, Kieboom showed lots of pop in the minors, hitting .287/.378/.469 with 45 homers in 1462 PA in the Washington farm system after being drafted 28th overall in 2016.

Considering this prospect pedigree, Kieboom’s age (23) and the fact that the 2020 season was about the most difficult of possible circumstances for a younger player to acclimate himself to the big leagues, it is certainly very possible that Kieboom can break out in the near future.  As such, Ghiroli notes that the Nationals surely aren’t going to “give him away” in any trade, if they were to deal him whatsoever.  It’s probably safe to assume most teams also still see Kieboom as a valuable trade chip, so D.C. would only deal Kieboom as the centerpiece of a trade for an established MLB player — perhaps even at third base, to solidify that position.

Cavalli and Rutledge are widely seen as the top two prospects in a Washington farm system that is heavy on pitching, particularly right-handers.  The sheer amount of depth makes it possible that the Nationals might be willing to discuss one of those less highly-regarded prospects (say, in the 5-10 range of their top ten list) but it also makes sense that they’re not budging on moving Cavalli or Rutledge, both first-round picks in the last two drafts.

NL East Notes: Nats, Bryant, Cubs, Phillies, Matz

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The Nationals’ recent interest in Kris Bryant isn’t the first time Washington has explored trading for the former NL MVP, as the Nats and Cubs held some discussions just last offseason.  Victor Robles was known to be of interest to Chicago in a potential Bryant trade, and Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post adds that held firm in keeping not only Robles, but also Juan Soto, Trea Turner, and pitching prospect Jackson Rutledge during negotiations with the Cubs.

Needless to say, there was zero chance Soto, Turner, or probably even Robles were being moved for Bryant last offseason, and this quartet will continue to be off the table in any trade talks this winter.  Rutledge (the 17th overall pick of the 2019 draft and ranked by MLB.com as Washington’s top prospect) could have made some sense as a trade chip when Bryant was coming off an impressive 2019 campaign and had two years of team control remaining.  Now, however, Bryant is just a year away from free agency and is looking to rebound from an injury-plagued 2020 season.  As Dougherty notes, the Nationals or any other team might not have to give up much or any major prospect capital to land Bryant, if the Cubs’ chief intent is just to get Bryant’s projected $18.6MM salary off their books.

More from the NL East…

  • The Phillies lost $145MM during the 2020 season, a source tells The Associated Press.  It’s safe to assume that every team took a sizeable hit, though the exact numbers for almost every team will likely never be fully known.  (The Braves, as part of the publicly-traded Liberty Media Corporation, are an exception.)  Phillies managing partner John Middleton has stated that the revenue losses will have some impact on the team’s offseason plans, but it remains to be seen if that means the Phillies simply won’t splurge as they have in recent offseasons, or if it could mean a much quieter winter.  The latter option would make things very difficult for a Phillies roster that has a lot of needs to address.
  • After a tough 2020 season, Mets left-hander Steven Matz has been mentioned as a possible non-tender candidate, as New York might prefer to seek out other rotation options rather than pay Matz a projected $5.1MM arbitration salary.  However, Newsday’s Tim Healey (Twitter links) doesn’t think the team’s decision is that hard, as Healey would “be surprised if [Matz] doesn’t get tendered a contract.”  Matz posted solid numbers as a starter in three of the previous four seasons heading into 2020, but he lost his rotation job during an injury-shortened season that saw him post an ugly 9.68 ERA and surrender 14 home runs over only 30 2/3 innings.  Retaining Matz would give New York some added rotation depth while they wait for Noah Syndergaard to return from Tommy John surgery, though the Mets are expected to be active in seeking out free agents, including pitchers.  The rotation already got a boost when Marcus Stroman accepted the Mets’ one-year, $18.9MM qualifying offer.

Nationals To Sign First-Rounder Jackson Rutledge

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The Nationals announced an agreement with first-round pick Jackson Rutledge on Monday. Rutledge’s pick (No. 17) comes with a $3.61MM slot value, but he’ll receive $3.45MM, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.

The 6-foot-8 Rutledge, a right-handed pitcher from San Jacinto College in Houston, entered the draft as a top 15 prospect in the eyes of MLB.com (No. 12), Baseball America (No. 14) and ESPN’s Keith Law (No. 15). In their free scouting report, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com write that Rutledge is one of the premier junior college draft prospects in recent memory and may have “the best all-around stuff” in this year’s class. The 20-year-old Rutledge’s fastball sits between 94 and 97 mph, and can hit 99 on occasion. He complements that offering with an impressive slider and a potentially “plus” curveball.

FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen are a bit less bullish on Rutledge than the rest, as they ranked him 21st going into the draft. They note there are concerns regarding Rutledge’s “build, athleticism, and injured hips,” though they still regard him as a “physical beast” with an imposing fastball and promising breaking pitches.

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