24 Comments
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baseball-birthdays's avatar

Over/under on how many baserunning blunders today? 3?

Carlos Lopez Ramirez's avatar

My prediction for the deadline:

Jacob Young is traded for a low A/rookie ball flyer; sent to a contending team that wants an 8th/9th inning elite defender and baserunner, similar to Justin Dean on the Dodgers

Susan H aka pitchingfan's avatar

Well, anything is possible, as the Nats continue to prove.

Mark on Twitter about 30 minutes ago:

"The Nationals granted RHP Drew Smith his unconditional release. Veteran reliever was in camp on minor-league deal, Nats would have had to add him to MLB roster today."

Really thought Smith would be in the pen.

Carlos Lopez Ramirez's avatar

Oh wow, had to at at the bottom of my possible chances

nebco66's avatar

Me, too. I thought he pitched well. I wonder who will be staying (and be a bit of a surprise). Ribalta, maybe?

gonatsgo1's avatar

Yep, I think Mark had him the other day as one of the last bullpen guys.

We won't know until know. -:)

Tcostant's avatar

Probably has more to do with Crews, if he's a valuable major leaguer then, maybe.

Jeff's avatar

The season hasn’t even started. Let’s be optimistic.

Dave Nemec's avatar

This. I'm tired of all the gloom-and-doomers. Focusing on any and all positive improvements I see.

Stephen Jobe's avatar

Brady House has been awesome. Maybe allows the Nats to play Fien at first. An infield of House, Willets, King, and Fien would look great in 2028.

gonatsgo1's avatar

"...would look great in 2028..."

There's your bumper sticker.

The old Senators had: "off the floor in '64."

Erik H.'s avatar

What is the rationale for not adding Drew Smith to the 40-man?

Stephen Jobe's avatar

Ruiz with an un clutch at bat with Nunez on third with one out.

Stephen Jobe's avatar

I wonder if the hitting issues for everyone not named House has to do with all the focus on analytics. Seems like Crews was possibly alluding to that regarding his struggles. Are the guys thinking too much.

Mellotron's avatar

I'd prefer to think that every one of these hitters is trying to make changes, guided by analytics. After all, every one of these hitters has a lot of room for improvement. When you change anything in your approach, there's a regression to begin with. Maybe it takes more than a couple of months of spring training to get past the regression and manifest those improvements.

Stephen Jobe's avatar

I hope you’re right.

Nats Fan in Exile's avatar

Yes a lot of voices in their heads likely. Certainly Crews is not the only one hitting below 200. Most of the projected starters are. I don’t disagree with the decision to send him down based on his specific issues but if based on ST performance you’d have to send most of the team down.

Hondo's avatar

I believe Yogi said you can’t think and hit at the same time.

Nats Fan in Exile's avatar

What a testament to Nunez’s hard work that he is slated as an opening day starter!

And to give credit where due, a great pickup by Rizzo

Mark Zuckerman's avatar

So far, so good for Cavalli. He's through three scoreless on only 37 pitches. His fastball is averaging 96.2 mph, and he's thrown six different types of pitches already.

Noodles & Cabbage's avatar

A silly bloop single, then the first hard contact off Cavalli comes in the 5th, and Cade finds himself in a 2-on, 0-out jam, then gets 3 straight ground balls to escape it beautifully.

gonatsgo1's avatar

Cavalli looking great.

Mark Zuckerman's avatar

And that's a wrap for Cavalli's spring. He faced one jam today (second and third, nobody out) and managed to escape unscathed in part thanks to a nice play by Nasim Nunez to start a 4-2-5 rundown play. Cavalli went five scoreless on 71 pitches. His final spring numbers: 14 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K. That's really good. Next up: Opening Day at Wrigley.