I’d start Luis and swap where Crews and Chapparro are batting, but I know nothing relatively speaking. (Took a long long time to realize this but I’m catching on…😀) Then again, I was on the cutting edge of letting James play right and put Crews in left, so I got that goin’ for me — which is nice….
I agree about swapping Crews and Chappy. And I would move Nasim higher in the order; he is hitting better and is a scoring threat almost every time he bats.
Nunez is thriving where he is. The bottom of the order gets more pitches to hit. Move him up and it changes how they approach him. If he hits like this for the rest of year, maybe he merits consideration to move up. But now now.
thanks for the article, I would never sit Garcia, Lile needs a rest to reevaluate... been swinging at many balls out of the zone, has cost him numerous walks...
Hope to never see the home plate Umpire again...from last night.....
I'm not trying to denigrate any Nats player, but as trade deadline talk heats up, it seems likely a better platoon partners for Garcia and Ruiz would be useful upgrades. And of course pitching... lots of pitching.
And such acquisitions don't have to cost usury payment of top prospect talent. Mead, Vivas, Poulin, etc... proved that.
Sooner would be better than later. I hope hey lean forward and not wait to see if they are still in the race come August. They should work to insure they are still in the race come August.
Teams selling & on the fence will wait 'til closer to the deadline to make moves. Nats now do have a surplus of upcoming outfielders. With their recent improvements, not sure they would necessarily need platoon partners for Garcia or Ruiz.
The plan going in was to put Harry Ford in that role. Harry has been hitting a bit more at Rochester recently, so perhaps after the All Star break he gets a look see.
They'd be more likely to bring up Morales to pair with Garcia and Ford to back up/platoon with Millas. Toboni seems like a disciplined guy... He's unlikely trade away young talent this year.
I hope for an overdue explosion of 6 - 8+ runs and quality pitching. I also don't care how they get there, but at the end of the day let's get a CURLY W!! GO NATS!!
Reminder to those critical of the old regime, Luzardo is a former Nats prospect (2016 3rd rounder) that has been producing in the Big Leagues since 2019. He was 7th in Cy Young voting in 2025.
We got Doolittle, Madson and a head start toward the 2019 World Series for Luzardo. Fair price appropriately paid. What would the 2026 equivalent be? That's a tough one, but maybe Alvarez, Clammey?
I wonder what Mike Rizzo thinks of the Nats' success, considering how this basically identical offensive core has gone from poor to the best in the league. I think for all the praise we heap on the coaching staff this year, we also should keep in mind that this roster was still mostly assembled by Rizzo, for all of his other evident flaws.
I saw a brief write-up on Rizzo, and he took credit for the players he acquired. Overall, I think Rizzo was very good with most of the trades he made. He did try to save money on the bullpen, and developing lower-round draft picks was never one of the organization’s biggest strengths, though I’m not sure what kind of resources he was given.
That said, he brought this city a World Series title, and as they say, flags fly forever.
I would say this current team is greater than the sum of its parts, and a lot of credit has to go to the overall organization for putting it together so quickly. There are a lot of players who have significantly improved and continue to improve. Having great players obviously helps, but assembling a team that plays together this well is a thing of beauty.
Not sure how strongly Rizzo was restricted by ownership/budget considerations. For example, did the Lerner family veto a Harper trade to the Astros in his walk year? I never have heard confirmation one way or the other on those "rumors". Might provide some vindication for Rizzo. He does deserve credit for putting together a team that won the WS in 2019.
I personally am very interested in what happens if the Nats do well this year, how ownership reacts going forward. You could add some relief pitching without blowing up the rebuild. Does that happen? We'll see...
Keep in mind that most observers are anticipating a work stoppage (for who knows how long?) after this season. Not sure the Lerners are looking to spend a lot of money with that in mind.
I liked Rizzo, and I do think things changed a lot after the elder Lerner passed away and the children took over more control of the team. It also has to be hard to work for an organization that seems to be run by committee.
Rizzo and Dave Martinez deserve a lot of credit for winning the World Series in 2019. Flags fly forever. At the same time, I’m sure Paul Toboni may face some of the same challenges, and we’ll have to see how well the organization drafts and develops players going forward. I’ll also judge him by the trades he makes.
What I will say is that the organization seems to have changed quickly from top to bottom, and that is a difficult thing to do. How well it pays off, we’ll all find out.
Rizzo’s problem was being loyal to Davey and those sorry coaches. Also not modernizing training and development. Building a winning team was never an issue. He had already done it once to win a chip.
We're underway on a refreshingly breezy, 74-degree Tuesday evening in D.C. And there are late lineup changes for both teams. CJ Abrams was scratched with left side tightness, which bumps Jose Tena into the lineup. Kyle Schwarber was scratched from the Phillies lineup with lower back tightness.
Mark any indication of what caused CJ issue? I noticed last night on the 9th inning DP he appeared to winced after the throw to 1B. But then he didn’t seem react after the play as if it was anything
I’d start Luis and swap where Crews and Chapparro are batting, but I know nothing relatively speaking. (Took a long long time to realize this but I’m catching on…😀) Then again, I was on the cutting edge of letting James play right and put Crews in left, so I got that goin’ for me — which is nice….
I agree about swapping Crews and Chappy. And I would move Nasim higher in the order; he is hitting better and is a scoring threat almost every time he bats.
Nunez is thriving where he is. The bottom of the order gets more pitches to hit. Move him up and it changes how they approach him. If he hits like this for the rest of year, maybe he merits consideration to move up. But now now.
thanks for the article, I would never sit Garcia, Lile needs a rest to reevaluate... been swinging at many balls out of the zone, has cost him numerous walks...
Hope to never see the home plate Umpire again...from last night.....
And Nats need to be more judicious early on ABS challenges.
Very important.
Very very
I'm not trying to denigrate any Nats player, but as trade deadline talk heats up, it seems likely a better platoon partners for Garcia and Ruiz would be useful upgrades. And of course pitching... lots of pitching.
And such acquisitions don't have to cost usury payment of top prospect talent. Mead, Vivas, Poulin, etc... proved that.
Sooner would be better than later. I hope hey lean forward and not wait to see if they are still in the race come August. They should work to insure they are still in the race come August.
Please and thank you.
Teams selling & on the fence will wait 'til closer to the deadline to make moves. Nats now do have a surplus of upcoming outfielders. With their recent improvements, not sure they would necessarily need platoon partners for Garcia or Ruiz.
Ruiz and Garcia's platoon partners are hitting under .200 with OPS below .600. I think a minor upgrade could be useful.
The plan going in was to put Harry Ford in that role. Harry has been hitting a bit more at Rochester recently, so perhaps after the All Star break he gets a look see.
They'd be more likely to bring up Morales to pair with Garcia and Ford to back up/platoon with Millas. Toboni seems like a disciplined guy... He's unlikely trade away young talent this year.
Counting on Poulin for another solid "starter" outing
I hope for an overdue explosion of 6 - 8+ runs and quality pitching. I also don't care how they get there, but at the end of the day let's get a CURLY W!! GO NATS!!
Reminder to those critical of the old regime, Luzardo is a former Nats prospect (2016 3rd rounder) that has been producing in the Big Leagues since 2019. He was 7th in Cy Young voting in 2025.
We got Doolittle, Madson and a head start toward the 2019 World Series for Luzardo. Fair price appropriately paid. What would the 2026 equivalent be? That's a tough one, but maybe Alvarez, Clammey?
I think Mark was defending the prior regime's talent evaluation record as it pertains to Mr Luzardo.
I wonder what Mike Rizzo thinks of the Nats' success, considering how this basically identical offensive core has gone from poor to the best in the league. I think for all the praise we heap on the coaching staff this year, we also should keep in mind that this roster was still mostly assembled by Rizzo, for all of his other evident flaws.
I saw a brief write-up on Rizzo, and he took credit for the players he acquired. Overall, I think Rizzo was very good with most of the trades he made. He did try to save money on the bullpen, and developing lower-round draft picks was never one of the organization’s biggest strengths, though I’m not sure what kind of resources he was given.
That said, he brought this city a World Series title, and as they say, flags fly forever.
I would say this current team is greater than the sum of its parts, and a lot of credit has to go to the overall organization for putting it together so quickly. There are a lot of players who have significantly improved and continue to improve. Having great players obviously helps, but assembling a team that plays together this well is a thing of beauty.
Not sure how strongly Rizzo was restricted by ownership/budget considerations. For example, did the Lerner family veto a Harper trade to the Astros in his walk year? I never have heard confirmation one way or the other on those "rumors". Might provide some vindication for Rizzo. He does deserve credit for putting together a team that won the WS in 2019.
I personally am very interested in what happens if the Nats do well this year, how ownership reacts going forward. You could add some relief pitching without blowing up the rebuild. Does that happen? We'll see...
Keep in mind that most observers are anticipating a work stoppage (for who knows how long?) after this season. Not sure the Lerners are looking to spend a lot of money with that in mind.
That is the 200 pound ant at the picnic. Bill Veck always said the owners will always do the dumbest things they can...
"the 200 pound ant at the picnic" - Now that's a scary image!
I liked Rizzo, and I do think things changed a lot after the elder Lerner passed away and the children took over more control of the team. It also has to be hard to work for an organization that seems to be run by committee.
Rizzo and Dave Martinez deserve a lot of credit for winning the World Series in 2019. Flags fly forever. At the same time, I’m sure Paul Toboni may face some of the same challenges, and we’ll have to see how well the organization drafts and develops players going forward. I’ll also judge him by the trades he makes.
What I will say is that the organization seems to have changed quickly from top to bottom, and that is a difficult thing to do. How well it pays off, we’ll all find out.
Rizzo’s problem was being loyal to Davey and those sorry coaches. Also not modernizing training and development. Building a winning team was never an issue. He had already done it once to win a chip.
Charlie and Dave discussed the opener possibilities on the post-gamer last night which I heard driving home from the game.
Charlie thought they might use Poulin as an opener tonight AND tomorrow. Dave suggested Poulin and then Lovelady.
We'll see. But it definitely continues what we've all become used to this season: the opener followed by the bulk (still cracks me up) reliever.
please stone me with pollin: o/u hrs the guy who follows the opener gives up: 3.5
I’ll go under. 🦞⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️🍀🙋🏼♀️
We are due for a game where we exceed our 5.3 runs per game average. No idea what the pitching is due for though.
CJ scratched
Schwarber scratched.
We're underway on a refreshingly breezy, 74-degree Tuesday evening in D.C. And there are late lineup changes for both teams. CJ Abrams was scratched with left side tightness, which bumps Jose Tena into the lineup. Kyle Schwarber was scratched from the Phillies lineup with lower back tightness.
Mark any indication of what caused CJ issue? I noticed last night on the 9th inning DP he appeared to winced after the throw to 1B. But then he didn’t seem react after the play as if it was anything
All right, PJ!
That was faster than I could log on.
Seriously.
And PJ Poulin retires the side on 8 pitches. He's now got a 2.06 ERA in 10 opener assignments. Will probably get another one tomorrow.
At this rate, he may just end up leading the league in starts...
If he opens every other day, he might break Pud Galvin’s season record for games started.
Uneventful start for Poulin, which is always a plus. Might get another inning out of him unless the plan is also using him tomorrow night.
Looks like tomorrow is the plan. He only threw 8 pitches.
I like everything Butera has done, or what the aboves tell him to do, even everything I disagree with 🙂⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️🦞🙋🏼♀️