{"id":14632,"date":"2017-12-21T09:57:09","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T14:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=14632"},"modified":"2017-12-21T09:57:09","modified_gmt":"2017-12-21T14:57:09","slug":"operation-nats-off-season-progress-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=14632","title":{"rendered":"Operation Nats Off-Season; progress Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Is<\/a>

Is Adams our savior?
photo via ksdk.com\/Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n

On the heels of the\u00a0Matt Adams<\/strong> signing, lets get a status update on the “needs” of the team and what they’ve done so far now that we’re past the Winter Meetings.<\/p>\n

Needs\/Off-season todo list: Here’s what I listed as the team’s “pressing needs<\/a>” in a 10\/16\/17 post.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Resolve\u00a0Dusty Baker<\/strong>\u00a0situation.\u00a0 <\/strong>Status Update<\/strong><\/span>: they whacked him and hired\u00a0Dave Martinez<\/strong> to replace him.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Should we bring back\u00a0Jayson Werth<\/strong>?\u00a0 Status update<\/strong><\/span>: no update here, in that Werth has not signed elsewhere but the tea leaves definitely seem to indicate he’s moving on.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. What do we do at Catcher? Status Update<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0\u00a0Nothing yet; our former backup\u00a0Jose Lobaton<\/strong> has already signed, penning\u00a0 minor league deal with the Mets.\u00a0 Not that he was going to really be an option for us.\u00a0 We’ve seen some rumblings about how the team is going to manage\u00a0Matt Wieters<\/strong>‘ playing time, and there’s a couple more options out there at catcher (not the least of which is\u00a0J.T. Realmuto<\/strong>, who has expressed publicly his desire to be traded<\/a> now that the new Marlins ownership group has gutted the roster.\u00a0 I still don’t see any change here in direction; I think the team will stay with internal options.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Will they pursue FA extensions with key players?\u00a0<\/span> Status Update<\/strong><\/span>: there were brief rumors of extension talks with Harper\/Boras<\/strong>, same with Rendon<\/strong>.\u00a0 Nothing with Murphy<\/strong>.\u00a0 So not much.<\/li>\n
  5. Do they need to pursue a Starting Pitcher?\u00a0<\/span> Status Update<\/span>:\u00a0<\/strong>not much news here yet; they’ve gotten\u00a0Tommy Milone<\/strong> to return to the fold, signing a ML deal that I would think includes an opt-out if he doesn’t make the team (but that’s an assumption).\u00a0 Right now the 5th starter is the winner of an\u00a0A.J. Cole\/<\/strong>Erick Fedde<\/strong>\/Milone spring training run-off.\u00a0 I would expect to see something happen here at some point this off-season.\u00a0 One complicating factor: Cole is out of options…<\/li>\n
  6. What is the Nats 2018 outfield?\u00a0 Status Update<\/span><\/strong>: no news and no trades from depth, so its still looking like Eaton\/Taylor\/Harper<\/strong> with Goodwin<\/strong> and Stevenson<\/strong> as backups.\u00a0 They did intimate that\u00a0Victor Robles<\/strong> will be starting in AAA so that he can play full-time, a decision I fully endorse.\u00a0 Goodwin in particular got some mention<\/a> from\u00a0John Sickels<\/strong> in his prep post for the Nationals farm system, wondering aloud what Goodwin’s numbers would look like with a full season of ABs.\u00a0 I don’t see that happening here … so I still think there’s a trade coming.\u00a0 Another complicating factor here: Goodwin is now out of options.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Do the Nats leverage their sudden depth of position players in trade this off-season<\/span>?\u00a0 Status Update<\/strong><\/span>: nothing yet here … maybe\u00a0Billy Beane<\/strong> has been on vacation and he just hasn’t returned\u00a0Mike Rizzo<\/strong>‘s phone calls for the next big Oakland-Washington trade.<\/li>\n
  8. What do we do with the bench<\/span>?\u00a0 Status Update<\/strong><\/span>: so far we’re starting next year with\u00a0Severino<\/strong> as the backup catcher, we just signed Adams to replace\u00a0Adam Lind<\/strong> as the lefty PH bench bat.\u00a0 I still think we need a RH bat to replace the\u00a0Chris Heisey<\/strong> role, a guy who could play a corner in a pinch.\u00a0 Otherwise we’re on track here.\u00a0 Keep in mind; Murphy may not be ready for opening day so right now we’re looking at\u00a0Wilmer Difo<\/strong> in the starting lineup.<\/li>\n
  9. What do we do with the bullpen<\/span>?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Status Update<\/strong><\/span>: the team re-signed\u00a0Brandon Knitzler<\/strong>, which I think is a quality move but may also complicate the bullpen.\u00a0 We now have three relievers who are out of options (Grace, Solis<\/strong> and Romero<\/strong>), all of whom were utilized last year.\u00a0 If you keep the four guys now signed for big money FA deals along with the 3 out-of-option guys … then you’re leaving in particular\u00a0Koda Glover<\/strong> in the minors.\u00a0 Or on the D\/L.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So, just 3 of the 9 categories really addressed at this point, though not all 9 categories were really Mandatory to do this off-season.<\/p>\n

    What does our 25-man opening day roster look like right now?<\/p>\n

      \n
    • SP: Scherzer, Strasburg, Roark, Gonzalez, Cole<\/li>\n
    • RP: Doolittle, Madsen, Knitzler, Kelley, Grace, Solis, Romero.\u00a0 (4 of these guys have guaranteed contracts, the other 3 are out of options)<\/li>\n
    • C: Wieters, Severino<\/li>\n
    • Inf: Zimmerman, Murphy, Rendon, Turner, Adams, Difo (likely one more here with Murphy on the 10-day D\/L to start the season)<\/li>\n
    • OF: Eaton, Taylor, Harper, Goodwin, Stevenson<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Does that look like a World Series winning team?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      On the heels of the\u00a0Matt Adams signing, lets get a status update on the “needs” of the team and what they’ve done so far now that we’re past the Winter Meetings. Needs\/Off-season todo list: Here’s what I listed as the team’s “pressing needs” in a 10\/16\/17 post. Resolve\u00a0Dusty Baker\u00a0situation.\u00a0 Status Update: they whacked him and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3142,689,17,2814,212,3739,257,164,2095,1859,3733,845,3445,2425,115,590,2239,3738,2827,2772,1228,2094,708,129,2000,19,180,34,2757,2650],"class_list":["post-14632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral","tag-adam-eaton","tag-adam-lind","tag-aj-cole","tag-andrew-stevenson","tag-billy-beane","tag-braondon-knitzler","tag-brian-goodwin","tag-bryce-harper","tag-chris-heisey","tag-daniel-murphy","tag-dave-martinez","tag-dusty-baker","tag-enny-romero","tag-erick-fedde","tag-jayson-werth","tag-john-sickels","tag-jose-lobaton","tag-jt-realmuto","tag-koda-glover","tag-matt-adams","tag-matt-grace","tag-matt-wieters","tag-michael-taylor","tag-mike-rizzo","tag-pedro-severino","tag-sammy-solis","tag-scott-boras","tag-tommy-milone","tag-victor-robles","tag-wilmer-difo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14632"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14636,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14632\/revisions\/14636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}