To Robles, or not to Robles, that is the Harper question. Photo via milb.com
MLB Nats beat reporter Jamal Collier did another mailbag last friday … which came out before reports about what Nats turned down for Bryce Harper at the trade deadline.
Which was a lot.
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Nats turned down this offer:
- RHP starter and 2017 1st rounder J.B. Bukauskas, who had matriculated to AA by the end of 2018 and is a DC-area native.
- Catcher Garrett Stubbs, a 2015 8th rounder who was Round Rock (AAA)’s starting catcher in 2017 and 2018, hitting .310/.382/.836 last year
- and another minor leaguer
So, let me get this straight. The Nats could have gotten a much, much needed nearly MLB ready 1st round starter, a guy who looks like he could very well step into the 2019 starting Catcher conversation, and a third prospect instead of what they will eventually get for Harper (i.e., a pick between the 4th and 5th round in June 2019)?
You can call this revisionist history if you want. But this report makes me sick. It was clear in early July they were in trouble. On July 26th their #2 starter Strasburg went back on the D/L and left an already struggling pitching staff relatively decimated. They were 50-51 and thus needed to go 40-21 from that point to get to 90 wins (which, as it turned out, was precisely what they needed to win the division). And the team turned down this package only to dump everybody just a couple weeks later.
I mean, Mike Rizzo still has a job, so to me this was an over-his-head decision. Well fans, ask yourself how you feel now bout the entirely of 2018 at this point and the decisions they made from the first week of the season to the final trade of FAs to be in mid August.
Anyway, onto Collier’s questions:
Q: What are the odds the Nationals do the smart thing and sign everybody else they need before Bryce signs somewhere else rather than after?
A: Slim. If the Nationals spend all their FA money before the Harper-bazaar gets going, then Scott Boras doesn’t have his baseline 10yr/$300M contract to use as leverage with other teams. And as we’ve seen time and time again, the Nationals ownership seems to exist to enable Boras, hire his cast offs, give him his record-breaking contracts and generally serve to make sure Boras Corporation continues to gain new customers.
Here’s what’s going to happen: the Nats will hem-and-haw, miss out on all the top Starters, miss out on a Catcher, basically do nothing but acquire middle relievers (they’ve already got two there) and 1 year corner sluggers to provide cover for Ryan Zimmerman, all the while having daily breathless media reports about their negotiations with Harper.
What *I* want them to do is to be aggressive, assume Harper is going to Chicago or New York or Los Angeles liks we always though he would, and spend his salary fast and swiftly. But this is not Rizzo’s team; this is Lerner’s team, and we’re beholden to that ownership group and their idiotic decisions.
Collier points at the Barraclough and Rosenthal signings as evidence that Rizzo will make moves. I don’t buy it. A $6M reliever coming off of injury is one thing; a $20M starter with significant competition from other teams is another.
Q: If Bryce is re-signed, how does the outfield shake out for next year? Or does he play first base?
A: If Harper signs, the team moves either Eaton or Robles (likely Robles since Eaton’s two injuries in two years has destroyed his value) to acquire a position of need (SP, C, 2B).
Will Harper play 1B?? What a dumb question. This team has been bending over backwards for Ryan Zimmerman for years now; what makes you think anything changes for 2019? Zimmerman isn’t riding the pine.
Harper, in theory, is a 26yr old athlete in his absolute prime of athletic ability. As others have noted, he appeared to be “dogging it” in the outfield last year, which contributed to god-awful defensive stats. But in years prior he’s proven himself to be more than elite defender, with one of the top outfield arms in the game. Maybe the security of a long term contract enables him to return to form. But he’s 10 years from being the kind of immobile player to waste at 1B. I mean, Zimmerman is only there because he’s forgotten how to throw across the diamond; he’s still an excellent range defender.
Collier agrees.
Q: What’s a fair expectation for Victor Robles next season?
A: Great question. Things go one of two ways:
- Harper signs elsewhere and Robles plays a full season of CF for this team, hits 6th in the order right after Anthony Rendon, posts an .830 OPS figure, threatens 20/20, puts up nearly 4 bWAR or perhaps more if he’s really as good defensively as advertised and is a Rookie of the Year finalist. All for about $575k in salary.
- Harper signs here for $30M/year and the team has to move Robles. They can’t move Eaton b/c they’d be selling low, and they’d be completely morons to move Juan Soto. So its Robles out; he goes onto star for some other team (Miami?) and becomes a force of nature for 6 years for some other franchise while we get like 2 years of some veteran player and play a different “what if” game related to a hamstrung payroll and an aging team.
Can you tell which way I want this to go?
Collier kinda says, well he could be good, no idea which team.
Q: Should the Nats be looking at a second baseman/utility man (a Josh Harrison type) given the lack of production at second and the unknowns of Howie Kendrick‘s rehab?
A: I think Josh Harrison might be an excellent piece. I’m more confident of a Kendrick return than others. So my answer is kinda like this: there’s a slew of good 2B on the market and I woouldn’t mind getting one of them … but for me its priority 3 of 3 in terms of major acquisitions for this off-season. I’m ok going to war with Kendrick as my starting 2B and 7th hitter. HE had a 112 OPS+ in 2017, 110 in 2018 before getting hurt. That’s fantastic for a 7th or 8th hitter (depending on what we get for a C).
Collier notes that Rizzo has been on record saying he’s ok with 2B too. So we’re in line. Collier also notes that there’s two significantly good prospects coming up soon in Carter Kieboom and Luis Garcia, both of whom could play 2B and one of whom (Kieboom) was in the AFL getting some time at 2B, perhaps in preparation for a mid-season callup to do just this.
Q: Do you feel it’s more realistic for the Nats to address an everyday catcher via the free-agent market or via a trade?
A: Usually the answer here is trade, since the FA market will bid up services of good players and thus you overpay for what you get. If you can even get them.
FA signings just cost money. Trades cost players. This team has been shedding players for a long time in pursuit of playoff glory … and this off-season are in a great position to use MONEY to get players and not shred their depth any further. I think they should go after Yasmani Grandal hard and make him their starter for the next 3 years, and then should focus heavily on developing a catcher from within from the draft or from somewhere.
Collier says FA is more likely.