Quick Hits: Humidors, Dodgers, Nationals
Here’s an interesting wrinkle to the 2022 season: Every Major League ballpark will store their baseballs in a humidor this season, The Athletic’s Eno Sarris hears from Cubs’ announcer Jon Sciambi. Sarris adds thoughtful context to the news in a series of follow-up tweets, including the list of teams whose ballparks had already featured humidors (Rockies, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Mariners, Mets, Astros, Marlins, Cardinals, Rangers, and Blue Jays). Colorado and Arizona were the first to explore using humidors to keep baseballs from dying out in their low humidity environments. While you might associate humidors with lessening the buoyancy of the baseball because of these examples, in high humidity environments, the humidors will dry out baseballs, thereby, theoretically, adding distance to their relative trajectories.
Sarris notes that San Francisco, San Diego, Tampa Bay, and Miami are some of the parks that might see a small jolt to the baseball because of the humidors. It’s hard to know the full effect at this time, but it will be one of many factors worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses. Here are a couple of other things to keep an eye on as the season nears…
- The Dodgers don’t have a dedicated closer right now, though Blake Treinen’s name would be at the top of the list for manager Dave Roberts if the season began today, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). Treinen would certainly be capable, but the Dodgers may want to explore the benefits of not having a single, dedicated player locked into the ninth inning. Daniel Hudson can certainly manage the mental weight of closing games – he did lock down the final moments of a World Series win, after all. Brusdar Graterol might be another interesting arm to give some of those opportunities to, if he can get himself on track. On the whole, however, the Dodgers look to enter the season with a less experienced pen than in years past. Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, and Corey Knebel departed for the Braves, White Sox, and Phillies, respectively, leaving Treinen as the natural choice to close games.
- The Nationals won’t have quite the same spotlight as the Dodgers, but they, too, need to figure out who will be collecting saves. If manager Dave Martinez has his way, it will be Tanner Rainey, but the 29-year-old is going to have to earn it, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. If Rainey can prove the consistency issues that have plagued him in the past are behind him, he should get his opportunity to close games. If he struggles, however, there’s suddenly a handful of distinguished vets to whom Martinez can turn, including his former closer, Sean Doolittle. Even beyond Doolittle, however, Steve Cishek, Tyler Clippard, Will Harris, and last year’s closer, Kyle Finnegan, would not be fazed by high-leverage opportunities.
Nationals Sign Tyler Clippard To Minors Contract
Tyler Clippard has returned to the Nationals organization, as The Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga reported that the Nats had a locker waiting for the veteran right-hander. The Post’s Jesse Dougherty confirmed that Clippard was indeed a non-roster invite to the club’s big league spring camp.
Clippard first pitched for Washington from 2008-14, a stint that solidified Clippard as a solid and sometimes elite bullpen arm. The righty posted a 2.68 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate, and 9.8% walk rate over his 464 previous innings in a Nats uniform, twice reaching the NL All-Star team and operating as either a workhorse setup man or (in 2012) as a closer. The two sides parted ways in January 2015, when the Nationals traded Clippard to the A’s for Yunel Escobar.
That swap kicked off a nomadic stretch for Clippard, as he saw action with nine different teams from 2015-21. Despite the lack of stability, Clippard was still posting effective numbers, with a 3.47 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate, and 9.0% walk rate in 376 1/3 frames in those seven seasons. There was a bit of a bump in home run rate (8.2% with Washington and 10.0% elsewhere), which isn’t a huge surprise given Clippard’s extreme fly-ball tendencies.
Never a high-velocity arm even in his prime years, Clippard has relied on soft contact and an excellent changeup as the keys to his success. Clippard’s strikeout totals have declined over the last four years, however, and his fastball averaged only 88.9 mph over 25 1/3 innings with the Diamondbacks in 2021.
Clippard got a late start late season, as a shoulder injury kept him from any big league action until July 21. Arizona declined their side of a $3.5MM mutual option for the 2022 season, thus sending Clippard into free agency entering his age-37 campaign.
Between the additions of Steve Cishek, Sean Doolittle, and now Clippard, the Nationals have bolstered their young relief corps with plenty of veteran experience. Given the amount of uncertainty in the D.C. bullpen, Clippard probably stands a pretty good chance of breaking camp with the team and even getting a crack at some high-leverage innings. It remains to be seen exactly how the Nats will line up their relievers in late-game situations, or whether or not manager Davey Martinez will go purely situational rather than have a set order for the seventh, eighth, or even ninth innings.
Nationals Avoid Arbitration With Juan Soto, Josh Bell
The Nationals have avoided arbitration with star outfielder Juan Soto and first baseman Josh Bell, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links). Soto will make $17.1MM, while Bell will collect an even $10MM.
It’s a massive second-year number for Soto, who had been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $16.2MM mark. That’s a reflection of the 23-year-old’s otherworldly track record, as he’s coming off as good a year at the plate as anyone in the game. Soto hit .313/.465/.534 with 29 home runs in 654 plate appearances. That earned him a notable bump over his 2021 salary of $8.5MM. Soto reached arbitration last winter as a Super Two and is controllable through 2024.
Bell’s $10MM salary is an exact match for Swartz’s projection. The former Pirate is coming off a decent first season in the District, posting a .261/.347/.476 line with 27 homers. After a pedestrian first half, Bell caught fire down the stretch. He’ll try to keep that going this season and set himself up for a nice payday next winter, when he’ll reach the open market for the first time.
With those agreements in place, the Nationals now have around $135MM on the books, according to Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That’s nearly $50MM lower than last year’s season-opening mark, as the Nats kicked off a retooling effort last summer.
Nationals Claim Hunter Harvey, Place Carter Kieboom On 60-Day Injured List
The Nationals have claimed right-hander Hunter Harvey off waivers from the Giants, per a club announcement. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, third baseman Carter Kieboom has been placed on the 60-day injured list with what the team has termed a right UCL sprain/flexor mass strain.
Harvey is a former first-round pick and top prospect who once looked as if he’d be an important part of the Orioles’ long-term plans. His professional career has been thrown off track by injuries, though, as he landed on the minor league injured list in every season between 2014-18. That included a July 2016 Tommy John procedure that kept him to 31 1/3 cumulative innings between 2016-17.
Baltimore eventually moved Harvey to the bullpen in an attempt to keep him healthy, although that hasn’t yet manifested in better results in that regard. He missed the majority of last season recovering from oblique and lat strains. Between the injuries, Harvey has only managed to log 23 2/3 innings at the big league level.
Despite the questionable health record, the North Carolina native has continued to catch teams’ attention. San Francisco nabbed him off waivers from the Orioles in November, but they’ll lose him before he ever logs an inning in their uniform. It’s easy to see why Harvey hasn’t yet passed through the wire unclaimed, as he owns a 3.42 ERA while averaging north of 97 MPH on his heater in his limited big league time. If he can stay healthy — which is clearly no small caveat — it’s still easy to envision Harvey as a productive arm in the middle or late innings. He also has a minor league option year remaining, so the Nats can shuttle him between Washington and Triple-A Rochester for the rest of the year if they carry him on the 40-man roster.
Kieboom is a former first-rounder and top prospect himself. He has struggled to a .197/.304/.285 line over his first 414 MLB plate appearances, but the 24-year-old still seemed to have a path to regular playing time on a retooling Nationals club this year. Unfortunately, he recently sustained a forearm/elbow injury when throwing, and MLB.com’s Joe Trezza tweets that he’ll need to rest for at least six weeks before he can resume baseball activities.
It’s a tough setback for both Kieboom and the Nationals, as 2022 is shaping up as something of a make-or-break year for the young infielder. The Nats don’t look like a strong playoff contender this season, but they’re not about to embark on a rebuild with Juan Soto only under club control for three more seasons. Evaluating whether Kieboom could be part of the long-term core seemed like a key objective for the Washington front office, but that’ll be on hold for at least a couple months. With Kieboom out, Luis Garcia, veteran utilityman Ehire Adrianza and non-roster invitee Maikel Franco all seem to have an easier path to playing time at the hot corner early in the year.
Twins Claim Jhon Romero, Place Randy Dobnak On 60-Day Injured List
The Twins announced Monday that they’ve claimed righty Jhon Romero off waivers from the Nationals and, in a corresponding move, placed right-hander Randy Dobnak on the 60-day injured list. Dobnak is still dealing with the effects of a strain in the middle finger on his pitching hand that he suffered last summer.
Romero has five big league innings under his belt, all coming with Washington within the final couple weeks of last season. The 27-year-old showed a three-pitch mix, averaging 94.5 MPH on his four-seam with a slider and changeup that both checked in around 85 MPH. While his big league body of work was too limited on which to draw any meaningful conclusions, he did have an excellent season in the high minors.
The Colombia native split the year between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester, spending the bulk of the season at the lower level. He tossed 55 cumulative innings across 38 appearances, posting a 2.62 ERA with an excellent 30.5% strikeout percentage and a minuscule 4.9% walk rate. That earned him a late-season call with a Washington club that had a very thin relief corps by the end of the year. However, he didn’t stick on the Nats 40-man roster all winter, as they designated him for assignment last week upon finalizing their one-year deal with Nelson Cruz.
The Twins will take a low-risk dice roll on Romero on the heels of his strong minor league campaign. He still has all option years remaining, so Minnesota can stash him with Triple-A St. Paul for the foreseeable future so long as they keep him on their 40-man.
Dobnak posted quality numbers through his first two big league seasons, combining for a 3.12 ERA despite a subpar strikeout rate on account of excellent control and ground-ball numbers. Minnesota signed him to a five-year, $9.25MM extension last spring, but his 2021 season was a disaster. He was tagged for a 7.64 ERA in 50 2/3 innings. Dobnak spent most of the second half of the season on the injured list with the aforementioned finger strain, returning for one appearance in September before going back on the shelf.
The hope had been that Dobnak would bounce back this year, but the team shut him down over the weekend due to continued soreness in the area. There’s no clear timetable for his return, but he’ll miss at least the first two months of the season.
Carter Kieboom To Miss At Least 4-6 Weeks With Forearm Injury
TODAY: Kieboom told Jessica Camerato and other reporters that in the “best-case scenario,” he will miss four-to-six weeks of action. A more specific timeline will be known when the additional tests are done.
MARCH 19: Nationals third baseman Carter Kieboom underwent an MRI on his sore throwing elbow today that revealed a flexor mass strain in his right forearm, manager Davey Martinez told MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato and other reporters. It isn’t clear how much time Kieboom will miss, as the 24-year-old is continuing to undergo more tests.
Kieboom is entering his fourth MLB season, though the former 28th overall pick has yet to make an impact at the big league level. Kieboom has hit only .197/.304/.285 in 414 plate appearances, making for an inauspicious start for a player who was considered one of the sport’s top 15 prospects heading into the 2020 season.
Of course, the unusual nature of both the 2020 and 2021 seasons surely haven’t helped Kieboom’s development, not to mention the simple fact that many players (even top prospects) take a while to adjust to the majors. It is far too early for the Nats to give up on such a highly-touted youngster, even if Kieboom’s lack of power has now seemed to carry into his minor league numbers. Kieboom hit only .237/.376/.385 over 181 PA at Triple-A last season, after posting much higher slugging percentages in his first four minor league seasons.
While Kieboom had some big shoes to fill as Anthony Rendon‘s heir apparent at third base, Kieboom’s lack of production has limited his playing time, and now this injury will cost him at least some time at the start of the 2022 season. Even if Kieboom is able to avoid a trip to the injured list, he’ll need some more time in the minors or in extended Spring Training to make up for the lost prep time, thus opening up a hole at the hot corner in Washington’s Opening Day lineup.
Barring a future transaction from the Nationals, Maikel Franco is probably the likeliest candidate to fill that spot. Franco inked a minors deal with the District in December, as he was a minor league free agent and thus eligible to sign during the lockout. A former top prospect himself on his way up the Phillies’ minor league ladder, Franco had a nice 2015 rookie season but has since hit .244/.294/.419 over 2792 PA with the Phillies, Royals, and Orioles.
Utilityman Ehire Adrianza could also get some third base time in the event of a Kieboom IL stint, and other minor league signings like Richard Urena or even Dee Strange-Gordon could potentially get some looks. Top prospect Luis Garcia is being used only as a shortstop and second baseman during Spring Training, MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman writes, and neither Garcia nor current starting shortstop Alcides Escobar seem like a third base candidate.
Nationals Sign Jace Fry To Minors Deal
The Nationals have signed lefty Jace Fry to a minor league deal, according to Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post. He has been invited to big league camp.
This will be just the second organization for Fry, as he has been with the White Sox for the entirety of his career thus far. After a cup of coffee in 2017, he settled in as a mainstay of the team’s bullpen over the next three years. From 2018 to 2020, he appeared in 145 games for the Pale Hose, with a 4.43 ERA. Although the 13.7% walk rate was concerning, he could certainly rack up the strikeouts, with a rate of 29.6%.
In 2021, a microdiscectomy kept him on the IL until June and he struggled in his return. In a small sample of just 6 2/3 MLB innings, he put up a 10.80 ERA. However, in 40 Triple-A innings on the year, his ERA was just 2.93, along with a 36.1% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate. Despite that strong showing in the minors, he was outrighted by the White Sox at the end of the year.
For the Nationals, they leaned into a rebuild last year, trading away various players, including relievers Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand. That left them with a bullpen primarily consisting of inexperienced younger pitchers and Will Harris, who was limited by injury to just six innings last year. Since then, the club has added Sean Doolittle to be the primary lefty, alongside younger options like Sam Clay and Francisco Perez. Fry is still just 28 years old and has an option year remaining. If selected to the roster, he could give the Nationals an optionable veteran southpaw in the ‘pen. He also has less than four years of MLB service time, meaning he could be retained into the future via arbitration if he succeeds with the Nats.
Nationals Designate Jhon Romero For Assignment
The Nationals announced that right-hander Jhon Romero has been designated for assignment. The move opens up a roster spot for Nelson Cruz, whose signing is now official.
A veteran of six pro seasons, Romero had something of a breakout in 2021, posting a combined 2.62 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate, and 4.87% walk rate with Double-A Harrisburg (47 2/3 IP) and Triple-A Rochester (7 1/3 IP). This performance earned Romero his first big league promotion, and he posted a 4.50 ERA over four innings with the Nationals late in the season.
With teams constantly on the lookout for live arms, it wouldn’t be a surprise if another team puts in a waiver claim on Romero, taking note of his big strikeout totals both in 2021 and in his three previous minor league campaigns. It’s possible Romero could be a bit of a late bloomer as he enters his age-27 season, and it’s safe to assume the Nats might prefer to see him slip through DFA waivers and remain in their organization.
Nationals Place Joe Ross On 60-Day Injured List
The Nationals placed right-hander Joe Ross on the 60-day injured list today, in order to create roster space for their now-official signing of Sean Doolittle. Ross underwent surgery last week to have a bone spur removed from his throwing elbow, and Nats GM Mike Rizzo told reporters (including NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Weyrich) that Ross was expected to miss 6-8 weeks of action.
It represents another unfortunate setback for Ross, who has missed significant time over the last five seasons due to injuries. A Tommy John surgery in 2017 was the biggest issue, and Ross’ 2021 campaign was cut short in August when a partial UCL tear was discovered in his throwing elbow. The tear wasn’t quite serious enough to merit another TJ procedure, yet there was plenty of uncertainty about Ross’ status even before this latest bone spur issue emerged.
Ross had been only tentatively penciled into the Nationals rotation given his UCL concern, and now the club knows the righty will be unavailable until at least the back end of April. The Nats recently signed Anibal Sanchez, Aaron Sanchez, and swingman Erasmo Ramirez to minor league contracts, so any of those veterans could now have a clearer path to winning some starts in Washington’s rotation.
Nationals To Sign Sean Doolittle
The Nationals have reached an agreement with reliever Sean Doolittle, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post first reported the presence of Doolittle’s locker and contact between the two sides. He notes the contract is a Major League deal. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reports (Twitter link) he’ll be guaranteed $1.5MM with an additional $2.1MM attainable in incentives.
Doolittle, 35, will return for a fifth season with the Nats after splitting the 2021 season between the Reds and the Mariners. The two-time All-Star saved 75 games and pitched to a 3.03 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate and a 5.7% walk rate with Washington through 142 2/3 innings after coming over from the A’s at the 2017 trade deadline.
The past two seasons haven’t been the best for Doolittle, who’s logged a combined 4.71 ERA through 57 1/3 innings during that time. However, after seeing his average fastball drop to a career-worst 90.9 mph in 2020, Doolittle rebounded to 93.3 mph in that regard in 2021 — including a 93.9 mph average late in the season after being claimed off waivers by the Mariners. Last year’s 12% swinging-strike rate and 33.6% opponents’ chase rate also marked bouncebacks, to an extent.
At his best, Doolittle has overpowered both left-handed and right-handed opponents, but he’s developed more of a platoon split in recent seasons. It was particularly pronounced in ’21, when lefties mustered just a .222/.276/.389 batting line but righties rocked him at a .288/.390/.510 pace. It’s unlikely he’ll bounce all the way back to his 2018 levels, when Doolittle was one of the best relievers on the planet, but even a return to his 2019 form would be a welcome addition to a threadbare Nationals bullpen that was lacking in stable contributors but has begun to add some veteran pieces.
Doolittle joins sidearming veteran Steve Cishek as the second experienced addition for the Nats in the past day. That pair will join Kyle Finnegan, Tanner Rainey and Will Harris in the late innings. Rainey is in need of a rebound himself, however, after pitching to a grisly 7.39 ERA in 31 2/3 innings in 2021. Harris, meanwhile, missed time with a series of blood clots early in 2021 before undergoing thoracic outlet surgery on Memorial Day weekend last year, making him something of a question mark himself.
It’s been an active few days for a Nationals club that has begun to add some short-term veterans. The Nats tore down much of the roster at the 2021 trade deadline, dealing Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Daniel Hudson, Yan Gomes, Josh Harrison, Brad Hand and Jon Lester in rare fire sale for GM Mike Rizzo. However, Rizzo pushed back against the idea of a lengthy rebuild in the days after the deadline and early in the offseason. The recent signings of Doolittle, Cishek, and particularly Nelson Cruz suggest that Rizzo & Co. will continue to add some veteran pieces to round out the 2022 roster.
If things break right and they get strong rebounds from key starters like Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin, the Nats could be more competitive than many onlookers expect. If not, a series of short-term veteran additions will help to mentor some younger Nats before becoming trade fodder for a second straight deadline season.