Nationals Arm Race

Johnson takes over as the franchise's 4th manager since relocating. Photo: AP/Rob Carr.

With every new regime comes changes.  I suppose it was inevitable that new Nats manager Davey Johnson would have some “opinions” on the current construction of the Nats 25-man roster.  In this Mark Zuckerman piece he has some enlightening comments.  To paraphrase (along with mentioning the players he’s probably targeting for replacement):

• More offense off the bench instead of defense.  Current Bench: Stairs, Cora, Bixler, and Ankiel (Hairston when he’s not injured).  You would have to think he’s talking specifically about Bixler and Cora.  Bixler’s time on the roster probably would have come to an end had Hairston not gotten hurt.  But he may be offering criticism of Ankiel’s current batting form.  And, in a round about way (I believe the impetus for the question came from more questioning about Stairs’ value on the squad), he seems to be defending Stairs’ inclusion on the roster.  Perhaps we may see a swap for someone like Michael Aubrey in the coming days (requiring a 40-man move) but the fact is our minor league cupboard is pretty bare.  Cora is in the same boat as Hairston; useful utility veterans who can play multiple positions and whose presence on the roster is required.  Not much you can do about them, and they’ve both produced pretty well this season given expectations.
• A better long-man/spot starter.  Current bullpen: Storen, Clippard, Burnett, Coffey, Rodriguez, Mattheus and Balester, with Gaudin, Slaten and Kimball on the DL).  Of that entire list, only Balester has recent starting/long man experience and he’s struggled in 2011 thus far.  I think the move here could be to swap Balester for Craig Stammen, an MLB experienced guy who is pitching pretty well in AAA.
• Another Loogy.  The loss of Slaten has hampered the bullpen matchup game, despite his ridiculously bad WHIP and Inherited Runners-allowed-to-score figures.  Our minor league cache of lefty-relievers is pretty weak, but we did just sign Philly-castoff JC Romero.  I think Romero is destined to replace someone in the current bullpen (Mattheus?) as a loogy matchup guy sooner than later.
• Fewer Regular Lineup guys with bad L-R splits.  This is a tougher one to solve.  Lance Nix’s splits: .306 vs righties, .105 versus lefties.  Espinosa’s splits: .321 versus lefties, .207 versus righties.  Ankiel has been equally bad versus both lefties or righties this year.  Morse has actually been much better versus right-handers (.315 versus .269).  There’s no real good way to solve this problem in the short term.

Specific to hot topic Matt Stairs and his lack of capabilities on this roster, Johnson was quoted as saying that “you win pennants with 25 guys, not 24, 23 or 22.”  To me, this means that Stairs isn’t long for this team.  He was barely functional before he failed to hit his weight, now I think he’s holding back Johnson’s strategic desires.  (Last night’s walk-off blast not withstanding).

One of the problems Johnson needs to be reminded of is the specific lack of MLB experience by the rest of the current 40-man roster.  Here’s the remaining guys not already mentioned on the 40-man (with pitcher ages).

• Starters: Detwiler (L) 25, Mock 28, Stammen 27, Maya 30
• Relievers: Severino (L) 26, Carr 27
• Catchers: Flores
• Infielders: Marrero
• Outfielders: Harper, Brown

Of these 10 remaining players, 5 have never played a minute of baseball in the majors (Severino, Carr, Marrero, Harper, and Brown).  That leaves just ONE positional player on the 40-man who has played in the Majors in Flores, who clearly needs to stay in AAA to gain market value.  The four starters have all played in the majors, with mediocre-to-awful results.  So, clearly there’s not much in the minors that can be called up immediately.

My ever-lasing memory of Johnson’s managing strategy occurred during his stint with the Orioles.  The team was facing Randy Johnson during the height of his powers, and fielded a lineup of entirely right-handed hitting guys, sitting most of Baltimore’s best players.  Most thought he was crazy, but the lineup beat Johnson that night by playing matchups to the best of the team’s abilities.  So it’s not terribly surprising to hear that he wants more flexibility in his lineup.  Unfortunately, the best way to solve most of his roster-construction complaints is going to be done either on the trade-market in the next month or in the off season (more likely).  We may see some slight adjustments in the coming weeks, but the 40-man is pretty bare of resources right now for what Johnson wants.

Looks like we’re going to go with what we have for now.