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Victor Robles Tweaks Hamstring

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The Nationals hung on for a 4-2 win over the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLDS on Friday, but they may have suffered a major loss in the process. Center fielder Victor Robles departed after laying down a sacrifice bunt in the top of the eighth inning. He’s dealing with a tweaked hamstring and is day-to-day at the moment, Jamal Collier of MLB.com tweets.

The severity of Robles’ injury isn’t clear yet, but the Nationals know all too well that a hamstring tweak can lead to a long absence. Reliever Roenis Elias received the same diagnosis a month ago and hasn’t pitched since. If Robles’ issue is similarly severe, he might not play again in 2019.

An elite prospect during his days in Washington’s farm system, Robles has emerged as a strong contributor during his first full MLB campaign, evidenced by his 2.5 fWAR in 617 plate appearances. Robles didn’t show off Juan Soto-esque dominance with the bat in the regular season, when he hit .255/.326/.419 with 17 home runs, though he did swipe 28 bases and perform brilliantly as a defender. He led all MLB outfielders in DRS (24) and finished eighth in UZR (7.0).

When Robles exited Friday, Washington replaced him with Michael A. Taylor – a lesser hitter than Robles who also brings speed and defense to the table. Taylor and Gerardo Parra joined Robles as the only members of the club who garnered starts in center in the regular season. Parra’s also on the Nats’ five-outfielder NLDS roster, and if the team wants to keep that setup intact in the event Robles misses time, it could call on Andrew Stevenson as a replacement.

Nationals Announce NLDS Roster

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The Nationals have officially announced their 25-man roster for their National League Division Series matchup against the Dodgers.  Game 1 is tonight, with Patrick Corbin taking the hill for the Nats in his first-ever postseason game, while Walker Buehler will make the start for Los Angeles.

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

There isn’t much changeover from the Nats’ roster for the NL Wild Card game.  Catcher Raudy Read and outfielder Andrew Stevenson didn’t get the call for the NLDS, as Washington opted to add pitching depth in the form of Voth and Suero.  The latter is particularly notable, as Suero has posted virtually identical numbers against both left-handed and right-handed hitters over his 119 career innings, giving D.C. some extra protection (beyond only Doolittle) against the Dodgers’ lefty swingers.

The relief corps naturally stands out as the biggest question facing the Nats, given the bullpen’s season-long struggles.  Since there are only 11 pitchers total on the NLDS roster, it stands to reason that the Nationals will continue to use something of a mix-and-match approach in the series, though obviously not to the same extent as the wild card game (when Strasburg relieved for Scherzer).  Despite his relief outing on Tuesday, Strasburg is still expected to start Game 2, though no official announcement has yet been made.  Sanchez is the only other starting candidate, and he could potentially be used in Game 4, or more likely will be deployed as a long man throughout the series.

Nationals’ Wild Card Roster Features Only 5 Relievers

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The Nationals have released their Wild Card roster, and it’s a fun one. Anticipating a deluge of Brewers relievers — and long innings from their top starters — the Nats have loaded up on bench players at the expense of pitching volume.

Here’s the 25-man unit that will be available this evening to manager Dave Martinez:

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Catchers

It has long been supposed that the Nats would stake their season on their trio of high-end starters, and this roster is a bold affirmation of that decision. The club will ride Scherzer as long as he’s his typically dominant self before making its next move. Whether that’ll mean handing off to Strasburg and then Corbin, or vice versa, with or without a reliever interspersed … that all remains to be seen.

By foregoing additional hurlers, the Nationals will not have as many chances to gain situational advantage when they are in the field. They’ll instead trust their best pitchers to get outs no matter the handedness of the opposing batter. That’s a reflection both of the core trio of excellent starters — Scherzer, Strasburg, and Corbin — and the Nats’ season-long struggles in the relief unit. Doolittle was long the team’s lone reliable hand but ran into late health issues. Hudson has been good since coming over via trade but doesn’t exactly carry dominating peripherals. Martinez will do everything he can to avoid deploying any pitcher other than those five in a high-leverage spot.

It’s a bit of a surprise not to see Wander Suero on this roster. He threw a lot of mostly solid innings this season and has shown the ability to retire both left and right-handed hitters. Perhaps the club only anticipates utilizing Rodney, Strickland, and Rainey if specific match-up situations arise and simply did not see a way that Suero would get in the game.

There’s perhaps some possibility of the Nats being hung out to dry in the pitching department, though that’s not terribly likely and Sanchez provides a ready backstop. The team obviously felt it preferable to ensure that it doesn’t have such an issue arise on the position-player side. With the Brewers expected to run out a dizzying array of arms over the course of the contest, the Nationals have chosen to carry an overstuffed bench. That’ll create opportunities for countering the Milwaukee pitching match-ups and liberally deploying pinch hitters, pinch runners, and/or defensive replacements.

MLBTR Poll: NL Wild Card Matchup

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It’s a quiet morning, but the evening promises to be filled with fireworks. The Nats and Brewers will square off in D.C. after falling shy in their respective divisions but out-running the rest of the National League Wild Card field.

All Wild Card games come with the potential to be … well, wild. The format allows teams to compile rosters aimed at maximizing situational possibilities in one single game. And the win-or-go-home setting ensures that those rosters are unloaded — sometimes in creative fashion — without concern for ensuing contests. But this particular matchup is especially intriguing. In part by design and in part by happenstance, these teams have polar-opposite distributions of pitching talent.

The Nats are in good shape on paper, as they’ll trot out one of the game’s preeminent aces and competitors in Max Scherzer. An exceedingly unreliable bullpen lies in wait, but the club may attempt to forego it entirely by calling upon their other top-shelf starters — Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin — to clamp down on a Brewers lineup that managed to produce a late winning streak even after losing superstar Christian Yelich for the season. In theory, it’s a reasonably straightforward situation for Nats skipper Davey Martinez, but there could easily be some nervy moments as he decides whether and when to pull his horses and hand the ball off to Sean Doolittle and company.

The Brewers will also call upon their best starter in Brandon Woodruff. But he won’t be tasked with turning in a lengthy, shut-down performance. The young righty has only made a pair of two-inning appearances since returning from injury and surely won’t be extended too far beyond that point. His abbreviated start will kick off a cat-and-mouse bullpen game that is likely to feature multiple frames from relief ace Josh Hader and gobs of mixing and matching. It’ll be fascinating to see how manager Craig Counsell attempts to navigate a deep and balanced Nationals lineup. He’ll no doubt try to get as many outs as possible from his best arms while deploying situational relievers when necessary. The Milwaukee pitching situation could take any number of different paths and involve every hurler on the roster.

Which team has the edge in the NL Wild Card? (Poll link for app users.)

Nationals Reportedly Made Recent Extension Offer To Anthony Rendon

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The Nationals have made a late-season push to retain pending free agent star Anthony Rendon, according to Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post.

Per the report, the club dangled a seven-year offer in the range of $210MM to $215MM. While there were deferrals in the proposal, it would’ve functioned more like the Max Scherzer contract than the long-fuse offer the team made last year to Bryce Harper.

The offer was put on the table in early September, according to Svrluga, and it doesn’t seem as if it’s likely to be accepted. Rendon is now just weeks away from the open market and appears destined to reach it. He’ll do so armed with the knowledge that the Nats have intense interest in keeping him.

It’s not entirely clear whether the D.C. organization will keep this particular offer on the table once the offseason begins. Neither is it known whether the team is willing to go any higher if that’s needed. Regardless, it’s a nice starting point for Rendon, who has ramped up his already excellent play to higher-than-ever levels in 2019. He’s slated to reach free agency as the top available position player.

Depending upon where one looks for their contract numbers, the reported offer may sound light. After all, Rockies star third bagger Nolan Arenado just got a $260MM contract that spans eight years … sort of. In fact, that deal added seven years and $234MM beyond Arenado’s final season of arbitration eligibility. In reality, the Nats’ offer to Rendon is close to — but still clearly less than — the money the Rox gave to Arenado.

That Arenado contract (which also includes an opt-out) always spelled bad news for the D.C. organization’s efforts with Rendon, as it pushed a big new comp out at an inopportune time. Rendon is nearly a year older, lacks the history of consistent home run output, and isn’t as flashy a fielder or well-known a marketing piece. But for all his steady excellence, Arenado has never reached the offensive heights Rendon did in 2019 and hasn’t yet posted a 6.0 fWAR campaign. Rendon, meanwhile, has quietly reeled off three-straight seasons with that level of all-around value.

These ongoing talks only help to set the stage for what promises to be quite an interesting trip onto the open market for Rendon and super-agent Scott Boras. The universe of bidders isn’t yet known, but there’s little doubt multiple clubs will make serious pushes to draw Rendon from the Nats.

Health Notes: Turner, Kepler, Wong, G. Sanchez

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Nationals shortstop Trea Turner suffered a fractured right index finger April 3, and though the speedster made it back in mid-May, he’s nowhere near healthy, Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic details (subscription required). The index finger is a “swollen, disjointed mess,” per Ghiroli, whose piece includes quotes from Turner and some Nationals teammates and coaches in regards to his ability to play through it. Third baseman Anthony Rendon, who revealed to Ghiroli that Turner also broke his right middle finger, is in awe of the season he has had despite the injury. “I don’t know how he does it. When I messed up my thumb or whatever earlier in the year, you can’t even hold a bat,” said Rendon. “You don’t realize you need to use all your freaking fingers, but he can’t, which is even more impressive.” The Nationals locked up a wild-card spot Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies. All Turner did was collect three hits, including two doubles, in Game 1 and then belt a go-ahead grand slam in a come-from-behind victory in the evening.

  • Twins outfielder Max Kepler has been dealing with left shoulder issues since Sept. 8, when he left a game against Cleveland after swinging awkwardly. The ailing Kepler hasn’t taken an at-bat in almost two weeks (Sept. 14), and it’ll be a little while longer before he does. The breakout 26-year-old is currently planning to make it back “no later than the beginning of a possible postseason series,” Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com writes. The Twins are on the verge of clinching the AL Central, so avoiding the wild-card game will give Kepler a bit of extra time to get ready for a first-round series.
  • The left hamstring strain Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong suffered last Thursday is a Grade 2 tear, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. That likely sounds worse than it is, as Wong’s hopeful he’ll be able to come back during the Cardinals’ final series of the regular season. The Redbirds are closing in on a division title thanks in part to Wong, a .285/.361/.423 hitter with 11 home runs and 24 stolen bases in 549 plate appearances. His absence has enabled Matt Carpenter to get back into the Cardinals’ everyday lineup at third base, while highly productive rookie Tommy Edman has taken over for Wong at the keystone.
  • Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez is hoping to return from a groin strain this weekend, James Wagner of the New York Times tweets. That would give Sanchez a bit of time to tune up before the AL East champions’ first-round series. The slugger hasn’t played since Sept. 12, which has left New York’s catcher position to Austin Romine and Kyle Higashioka.

Boras Dishes On Opt-Outs, Upcoming Free Agents

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The upcoming free agent market will be shaped to an unusual degree by agent Scott Boras and his clients. That’s true not just because he represents so many of the top players heading to the open market, but because several of his clients have opt-out opportunities this fall. It’s all reading tea leaves at this point, but Boras did offer at least a few subtle hints in the course of an interview with Jon Heyman and Josh Levin on the Big Time Baseball Podcast (audio link).

He was asked first about Stephen Strasburg, who just turned 31 and is presently polishing off an excellent and healthy campaign. Given a chance to chat about the talented righty, Boras was muted. Indeed, he began by pointing out that Strasburg can opt out either this winter or next — which is true, and notable, but isn’t exactly a patented Boras sales pitch.

So, does that mean that Strasburg is leaning against an opt out and/or that Boras will recommend he hang onto his four-year, $100MM commitment? That’s impossible to say. And Boras made clear we shouldn’t assume any such thing, saying: “I make it a practice to not discuss anything with players about their contracts until they’re done performing and certainly we’ll have time to address that and I’m sure Stephen will give me direction on it.”

Boras was not similarly restrained when the hosts raised the topic of Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez, another prominent opt-out candidate. Though he didn’t specifically address the opt-out decision (three years, $62.5MM in his case), Boras left little doubt that he has begun compiling talking points on the slugger.

Martinez, per Boras, is “one of the top 5 offensive players in the game … and that is the vision of J.D. Martinez that I believe all teams have.” But the premium hitter is not a bat-only player, says his agent. He’s in the lineup every day and “plays forty or fifty games in the outfield,” says Boras. “I don’t think teams would in any way view J.D. Martinez as a DH,” adds the always-entertaining player rep, who also emphasized Martinez’s leadership and provision of hitting information and “intensity” to teammates.

Whether it’s fair to read anything into these comments is up for debate. Strasburg is famously quiet and may simply prefer his agent support that low profile. But those decisions are of critical importance to the respective teams and the overall market landscape. While their names were at least mentioned, Boras unsurprisingly passed on the chance to highlight Elvis Andrus and Jake Arrieta — two other clients who don’t seem to be in position to strongly consider opting out of their deals.

Boras also largely passed when asked to comment on two key Nationals players, Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto. Boras says the team has made clear its “strong interest” in retaining Rendon. Having previously sputtered, contract talks won’t start again until the Nats wrap up the 2019 campaign. It still seems unlikely that a deal will be made before Rendon has a chance to test the market, though that’s not written in stone.

As for Soto, Boras acknowledged some recent comments from president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo regarding the team’s obvious interest in a long-term deal with the exceptional young hitter. But he did not read more into them than was intended or give any hint that there was particular interest or disinterest in dealmaking on the part of the 20-year-old Soto. “Those are things that we kind of leave in the space of the offseason before we ever begin discussion,” said Boras.

If there was another topic that really seemed to pique Boras’s interest — aside from the need to protect the health of players, in relation to the recent Kris Bryant injury — it was the upcoming free agency of Nicholas Castellanos. The outfielder has been aflame since landing with the Cubs, with Boras explaining that his talent has finally been freed by “getting into a lineup where people really can’t work around him and have to throw to him and they also have situational pressure.”

With Castellanos having “taken advantage of that situation to illustrate his skills,” and shown the defensive chops of one of the “ten to twelve best right fielders in the game,” Boras obviously feels he’s got a significant piece to market. Castellanos is still just 27 years of age and has certainly impressed in Chicago, but it remains less than clear just how robust his market will be. Boras says he believes “everyone understands now what kind of ballplayer that Nick Castellanos is.” And that may be true. But what isn’t clear is whether teams really believe Castellanos to be more than a 2.5 to 3 WAR range of performer — and whether they’ll be willing to commit big money over a lengthy term to acquire such a player.

Injury Notes: Suzuki, Adams, Lowe, Freeland

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Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki returned to the D.C. lineup tonight for the first time in nearly two weeks, logging a pinch-hit, bases-clearing double in the 10th inning of a game against the Marlins. Though he’s back to swinging a stick for the Wild Card-contending Nats, it isn’t as if he’s altogether healed from the elbow issues that first sidelined him on Sept. 7. As he told Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports, Suzuki is simply going to have to play through pain if he wishes to help his club into October. “Shoot, I’m 35 years old. I’m going to be 36 (on Oct. 4),” the catcher said. “If I get hurt, knock on wood, it’s not going to be just a little rest thing…At the same time, I don’t know how many times I’m going to have the opportunity to get to the playoffs.”

If Suzuki’s ongoing presence is a question of pain tolerance, the Nats should be sure to have plenty of aspirin on hand for the veteran backstop. After all, his .260/..319/.473 line (100 wRC+) through 301 plate appearances this year is vastly superior to the output offered by teammate Yan Gomes in 2019 (.221/.316/.370 slash in 329 plate appearances).

More notes about athletes dealing with their own share of September pain…

  • As noted by Greg Johns of MLB.com, Mariners reliever Austin Adams crumpled into a heap after tweaking his knee while covering first base in tonight’s game against the Orioles (link). Adams, 28, had to be helped off of the field by trainers. After kicking around the Angels and Nationals organizations since being drafted in 2012, Adams had appeared to find a comfortable home with Seattle in 2019. In his first prolonged big league exposure, the righty has logged a whopping 15.06 K/9 rate in 31.2 innings this year, with solid ERA (3.98) and FIP (3.12) indicators.
  • Rays youngster Brandon Lowe was back in uniform and manning second base today–albeit only in a sim game. Still, manager Kevin Cash thinks the rookie is almost ready to return from a left quad strain that has sidelined him since being injured in a rehab appearance in late July. “He’s close,” Cash told Juan Toribio of MLB.com (link). “I saw a video of him going first to third, and he’s running a lot better. I’m not going to say he’s back to his normal speed yet — he’s going to have to manage that whenever he does get activated — but we’re encouraged that the at-bats have been really good, the defense has been really good, it’s just running and getting out of the box and us having enough trust in him that he can manage that.” Lowe hasn’t played since July 2nd, when leg issues first befell him. Because Lowe is on the 60-day IL, the team would have to clear a 40-man spot to facilitate his return.
  • Rockies starter Kyle Freeland has been activated by the club and started tonight’s game against the Dodgers. Logging two scoreless innings in something of an “opener” capacity this evening, Freeland penned something of a modestly positive chapter in what has been an otherwise forgettable 2019 saga. With a sky-high 6.98 ERA (6.13 FIP) in 99.1 innings entering tonight’s game, Freeland has been a chief culprit in Colorado’s ’19 pitching woes. Interestingly, Jeff Saunders of the Denver Post penned a column today examining baseball’s offensive explosion in 2019, citing Freeland as one player who will be difficult to evaluate this offseason in part because of the possible “juiced” quality of this year’s baseball (link). Said Saunders: “In my opinion, the  “juiced baseball” really hurt Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland this season. I’m not making excuses for Freeland’s 6.98 ERA and 25 home runs served up in 20 starts, because he was clearly off his game and his mechanics were out of whack. But I also think it’s true that Freeland became a little gun shy because his slider wasn’t breaking as it should and he gave up a number of cheap home runs.” There may be some merit to this thinking. Freeland posted a 22.9% HR/FB rate this season while home run records were shattered league-wide.

NL East Notes: Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Kendrick

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With the Marlins reaching the vaunted 100-loss mark, CEO Derek Jeter spoke on Friday about his team’s approach to the impending offseason, with the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson speculating on what the winter may hold. This season, the club ranked second-to-last in payroll, dishing out just $70MM in total salary expenditures. However, with Martin Prado slated to hit free agency and the team likely to decline Starlin Castro’s club option, a considerable portion of that number will come off the books following the season, leaving the Marlins with just about $31MM in guaranteed contracts for the 2020 season, per Roster Resource. That number will rise as the team inks players under team control, but the point stands that the Fish will have significant room to seek upgrades in the offseason. After a trade deadline that saw them bolster the farm system through the acquisitions of Lewin Diaz, Jazz Chisholm, and Jesus Sanchez, the Marlins now find themselves with one of the Majors’ better farm systems, featuring a solid crop of position-player prospects, though few in that group will be ready to contribute in the coming season. With that in mind, Jeter sees his team as needing to strike a balance between seeking positional upgrades and developing youngsters: “You want to give [prospects] enough time to continue to develop but you don’t want to block their way,” he said on Friday. The team has needs all over the diamond, though outfield, first base, and the bullpen stand out as perhaps the most glaring. Jackson lists a number of potential free-agent targets to keep an eye on, including big-name hitters with south Florida roots like Jose Abreu and Nicholas Castellanos; however, it remains uncertain whether the team will target big fish, since projections of increased revenue have yet to actualize, though attendance-related issues may be remedied by making a splash in the offseason.

Here are the latest tidbits from the ever-competitive NL East…

  • Just over a week ago, the Mets found themselves at the heart of quite a controversy when Mets starter Noah Syndergaard expressed his proclivity for catchers not named Wilson Ramos, who has been the most productive hitter out of the Mets’ catching group. For the first time, Ramos offered his thoughts on the situation, as relayed by Mike Puma of the New York Post. Evidently, the veteran catcher isn’t bothered by the drama, understanding that there are times when pitchers feel a heightened comfort with a particular catcher. Ramos, who’s been around since 2010, is certainly no stranger to the dynamics of a big-league clubhouse and is instead choosing to focus his energy on getting the Mets into the postseason. Coming off a win last night, his club finds themselves 3.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot with nine games left to play—a deficit that, while not insurmountable, makes them a longshot to play in October. After making a pair of starts with Ramos behind the dish, Syndergaard got his wish on Wednesday, when he threw to Rene Rivera, though that combination didn’t yield much better results. With his next start scheduled to come on Tuesday, it will be interesting to see whether Mickey Callaway turns again to Ramos.
  • One of the unsung heroes of the Nationals bid for the postseason has been veteran Howie Kendrick, who has excelled as a pinch-hitter and occasional infielder. As Todd Dybas of NBC Sports writes, he’s enjoying a career year that might not have happened if he weren’t under contract for 2019 following an Achilles tear suffered early last season. Of course, the free agent market has been notoriously cruel to players in their 30s, and Kendrick, 36, may not have gotten another chance in the Majors after such a significant injury. However, with a $4MM salary already in place for 2019 after inking a two-year deal with Washington, Kendrick has carved out a nice role and now projects to play an instrumental part in a potential Nats playoff run, all while setting himself up to draw interest for yet another contract this coming offseason.

Dave Martinez Returns To Nationals

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Sept. 20: The Nationals announced Friday that Martinez will return to the dugout for tonight’s game.

Sept. 17: Martinez has been released from the hospital and is resting at home, general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post). He’s waiting to be cleared to travel and won’t join the club for its current series.

Sept. 16: Nationals manager Dave Martinez, who left yesterday’s game after experiencing chest discomfort, remains in Washington, D.C. for further testing, as MLB.com’s Jamal Collier was among those to report. MLBTR extends its best wishes to Martinez for an optimistic prognosis and speedy recovery.

It isn’t known how long Martinez will be out of action, but he did not travel with the team to St. Louis. Martinez, who was was hospitalized as a precautionary measure, underwent an exploratory cardiac catheterization procedure. He is continuing to receive medical evaluation.

For the most part, then, the Nationals are simply awaiting word from Martinez and his doctors. Bench coach Chip Hale, a former manager himself, will fill in while Martinez is sidelined.

With the Nats trying to close out a postseason appearance, the hope certainly seems to be that Martinez will return to uniform in relatively short order — though obviously his personal health will take priority. Hale says that he spoke with his colleague and found him to be in good spirits; indeed, Martinez texted a lineup to his temporary fill-in.

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