{"id":16439,"date":"2020-01-04T19:27:44","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T00:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=16439"},"modified":"2020-01-04T19:49:56","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T00:49:56","slug":"getting-the-band-back-together-cabrera-re-signs-along-with-other-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=16439","title":{"rendered":"Getting the band back together: Cabrera re-signs along with other moves"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_16442\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/CabreraAsdrubal-withnats2019-via-newsday.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16442\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16442\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16442\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/CabreraAsdrubal-withnats2019-via-newsday-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"Cabrera is back. Photo via newsday\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/CabreraAsdrubal-withnats2019-via-newsday-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/CabreraAsdrubal-withnats2019-via-newsday.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-16442\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cabrera is back. Photo via newsday<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It was a busy Saturday for Nats GM\u00a0<strong>Mike Rizzo<\/strong>.\u00a0 In quick succession we heard about three moves:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The team re-signs 2B\/3B\u00a0<strong>Asdrubal Cabrera<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nationals-sign-asdr-bal-cabrera-154951930.html?src=rss\">1yr $2.5M<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The team signs 2B\u00a0<strong>Starlin Castro<\/strong> to a 2yr\/$12M deal<\/li>\n<li>The team previously signed RHP\u00a0<strong>David Hernandez<\/strong> sometime in Dec 2019 to a minor league deal (which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseballamerica.com\/stories\/minor-league-transactions-nov-3-dec-17-2019\/\">just announced on Baseball America<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cabrera was awful for Texas last year and got outright released; he lit it up for Washington, mercifully taking over for the completely ineffective\u00a0<strong>Brian Dozier<\/strong> and lighting it up for the team down the stretch (slash line for DC last year post-signing: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cabreas01.shtml\">.323\/.404\/.565<\/a>).\u00a0 \u00a0Cabrera played 3B for Texas but mostly 2B for DC; right now he&#8217;s your starting 3B opening day save any other move.<\/p>\n<p>Castro clearly is the starting 2B; he moved there a few years ago, played it exclusively for several years but moved to 3B last season to make room for a prospect.\u00a0 He was reportedly telling teams in FA he was only interested in playing 2B &#8230; so we have our starting 2B.\u00a0 His signing seems to clarify what the team&#8217;s infield will be looking like come April.\u00a0 He has two straight years of right around league average OPS+, but in 2019 he spiked homers, hitting 22 of them on the year playing a lot of games in pitcher-friendly NL East stadiums.<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez was a great middle reliever in 2018 for Cincinnati, but blew up last year and signs a MLFA deal in an attempt to get back to the majors.\u00a0 I like this as a low-risk\/high reward move for a team always looking for the next 6th\/7th inning RH reliever.<\/p>\n<p>With these moves &#8230; as per the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/186nm-v5F-zTCoR2Be7TFYM3e2cZ-gYi2WVqJLEkHdmc\/edit?hl=en#gid=1071234630\">updated Big Board<\/a>, your starting lineup come 4\/1\/20 looks like this (here&#8217;s a guess as to the lineup)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eaton (RF)<\/li>\n<li>Turner (SS)<\/li>\n<li>Soto (LF)<\/li>\n<li>Kendrick (1B)<\/li>\n<li>Castro (2B)<\/li>\n<li>Cabrera (3B)<\/li>\n<li>Suzuki (C)<\/li>\n<li>Robles (CF)<\/li>\n<li>Pitcher<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s\u00a0 &#8230; a big step back from what we showed offensively last year, obviously.\u00a0 The loss of\u00a0<strong>Anthony Rendon<\/strong> in the middle of the order is pretty apparent.<\/p>\n<p>Is this a playoff team?<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>Cabrera becomes the fourth 2019 team member\/FA to re-sign with the team, joining\u00a0<strong>Stephen Strasburg<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Howie Kendrick<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Yan Gomes<\/strong>.\u00a0 Pretty much the entire industry assumes\u00a0<strong>Ryan Zimmerman<\/strong> is re-signing to be a bench bat as well.\u00a0 So a lot of the veteran crew that was credited with helping the team win in October is now back.<\/p>\n<p>Is this a good thing?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/236223\/major-league-baseball-clubs-by-average-age-of-players\/\">The oldest team<\/a> in the majors last year has now resigned FAs who will be playing in their<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>age 34 year (Cabrera)<\/li>\n<li>32 (Gomes)<\/li>\n<li>31 (Strasburg) and<\/li>\n<li>36 (Kendrick).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They join other presumed starters and key relievers north of 30 in :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kurt Suzuki\u00a0<\/strong>(2020 will be his age 36 year)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Max Scherzer\u00a0<\/strong>(35),<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anibal Sanchez\u00a0<\/strong>(36)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Adam Eaton\u00a0<\/strong>(31)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sean Doolittle\u00a0<\/strong>(33)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hunter Strickland<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Roenis Elias<\/strong> (both 31)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wil Harris<\/strong> (35)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Starlin Castro<\/strong> (30).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Um.\u00a0 That&#8217;s a lot guys on the wrong side of 30.\u00a0 \u00a0And a lot of assumptions that the production like we got out of Cabrera (143 OPS+) continues into 2020 if he&#8217;s indeed the starting 3B.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>Oh, ps: all appropriate tabs in the Big Board are now updated for these transactions.\u00a0 We&#8217;re now at 36\/40 on the 40-man roster.\u00a0 New payroll estimate is\u00a0<span data-sheets-value=\"{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:185452709}\" data-sheets-userformat=\"{&quot;2&quot;:15299,&quot;3&quot;:[null,4,&quot;\\&quot;$\\&quot;#,##0&quot;,1],&quot;4&quot;:[null,2,16776960],&quot;9&quot;:2,&quot;10&quot;:2,&quot;11&quot;:0,&quot;12&quot;:0,&quot;14&quot;:[null,2,0],&quot;15&quot;:&quot;Calibri, sans-serif&quot;,&quot;16&quot;:11}\" data-sheets-formula=\"=sum(R[-5]C[0]:R[-1]C[0])\">$185,452,709<\/span>, leaving us\u00a0<span data-sheets-value=\"{&quot;1&quot;:3,&quot;3&quot;:22547291}\" data-sheets-userformat=\"{&quot;2&quot;:15297,&quot;3&quot;:[null,4,&quot;\\&quot;$\\&quot;#,##0&quot;,1],&quot;9&quot;:2,&quot;10&quot;:2,&quot;11&quot;:0,&quot;12&quot;:0,&quot;14&quot;:[null,2,0],&quot;15&quot;:&quot;Calibri, sans-serif&quot;,&quot;16&quot;:11}\" data-sheets-formula=\"=R[-1]C[0]-R[-2]C[0]\">$22,547,291<\/span> under the cap for 2020.\u00a0 For all of you still holding out hope for\u00a0<strong>Josh Donaldson<\/strong> &#8230; you should stop.\u00a0 He&#8217;s soliciting 4yr deals north of $100M; the numbers don&#8217;t add up.\u00a0 If this team has $22M and change left and are not going over, then we&#8217;re out of the Donaldson mix.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not sure what&#8217;s next.\u00a0 Does the team pursue a trade for a 3B?\u00a0 Clearly they don&#8217;t want to give up<strong> Victor Robles<\/strong> in a\u00a0<strong>Kris Bryant<\/strong> trade (and I don&#8217;t blame them, whether or not they have one year or two of his services).\u00a0 Maybe we&#8217;re going to see some Rizzo trade magic coming soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was a busy Saturday for Nats GM\u00a0Mike Rizzo.\u00a0 In quick succession we heard about three moves: The team re-signs 2B\/3B\u00a0Asdrubal Cabrera, 1yr $2.5M. The team signs 2B\u00a0Starlin Castro to a 2yr\/$12M deal The team previously signed RHP\u00a0David Hernandez sometime in Dec 2019 to a minor league deal (which was just announced on Baseball America) [&hellip;]<\/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":[3142,777,185,2370,1942,2421,1940,3568,2046,1776,1033,1037,129,2583,36,1347,133,38,2757,4310,2100],"class_list":["post-16439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral","tag-adam-eaton","tag-anibal-sanchez","tag-anthony-rendon","tag-asdrubal-cabrera","tag-brian-dozier","tag-david-hernandez","tag-howie-kendrick","tag-hunter-strickland","tag-josh-donaldson","tag-kris-bryant","tag-kurt-suzuki","tag-max-scherzer","tag-mike-rizzo","tag-roenis-elias","tag-ryan-zimmerman","tag-sean-doolittle","tag-starlin-castro","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-victor-robles","tag-wil-harris","tag-yan-gomes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16439","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=16439"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16447,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16439\/revisions\/16447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}