66 Comments
User's avatar
Mark's avatar

Suggest the Nats charge at home tickets at same price as Rochester since their pitching staff makes up most of the bullpen.

Logan Smith's avatar

I'm not sure if I should be angry, sad, or impressed at this point

Dave Nemec's avatar

I was disappointed on Tuesday, mad last night, and resigned tonight.

Nothing we can do about it except complain.

WDCFan's avatar

I'm just numb. For the rest of the season: If they win....ok. If they lose....oh well. Next season is effectively here.

McMerc7MHDC's avatar

Man…what is there to say? On to Baltimore.

Watching them blow the lead three days in a row is aggravating. But you have to play a complete game to beat a complete game. 6 innings won’t do it.

Sam Diament's avatar

I wish I could be as bad at my job as the Nationals' relievers and get paid as much as them.

Josh Sager's avatar

This bullpen, other than Lord and Ribalta, needs to be sent to The Hague for their crimes. It’s hyperbole but it’s gotten that dire.

Hitting wise, James looks lost. Dylan looks fantastic right now and hopefully he keeps it up. But oh my god this bullpen is actually so not fun to watch. There better be some moves. And Mitchell Parker NEEDS to be one of them.

Tegwar's avatar

Crimes against humanity? That sound right to me. :-)

Josh Sager's avatar

I mean Mitchell Parker specifically is actually insulting to this fanbase. I don’t understand how he’s still on this roster.

McMerc7MHDC's avatar

Tells you how poor the front office thinks the options are. No other reason to stick with Parker this long.

Kifah Foutah's avatar

I’ll say it again. The front office is seriously disrespecting the position players right now, and if I were them I wouldn’t feel supported. This has to change immediately. This is absolutely unacceptable.

natsclop's avatar

Please give a list of the 8 readily available arms to replace this bullpen

Doug Herbert's avatar

Here are three: Robert Cranz, Jackson Kent, Luis Perales.

Josh Sager's avatar

Not sure about Cranz, but Kent and Perales are ready to go

natsclop's avatar

Perales has nearly the same amount of walks as strikeouts with a WHIP of 1.3

gonatsgo1's avatar

In my I'm The King Of All The World imagination I'd have a bus waiting outside the locker room and send Parker and Lovelady's a++es straight to Rochester.

And make them pay their way.

Dave Nemec's avatar

You're more generous than I am. I want them both DFAd.

WDCFan's avatar

LOL.....I hear ya!

DaveTheSwede's avatar

It would be nice if the press asked Butera.. . . and especially Toboni . . . hard questions about the bullpen. Like: What's the plan? do you think you can ride out the season with this staff?

Butera (whom i really like) keeps saying "we'll give everyone a chance" No! go find a pitcher who can get guys out.

gonatsgo1's avatar

Agreed.

You know, I listened to the feed on the post gamer last night and the reporters toss a bunch of cupcakes to Butera.

How about a little NY media treatment?

At least I'd feel better. -:)

Will's avatar

I would be happy with relief pitchers who can throw strikes.

Mark P's avatar

It’s not Butera’s job to find pitchers. That’s Toboni’s responsibility. Butera can only use the arms that he is given. None of the pitchers not named Brad Lord has been consistently reliable to get outs when called upon.

Beached56's avatar

Brandon Marsh showed he deserved getting more votes than Wood this series.

Mark's avatar

Agreed and that’s painful to admit.

CBinDC's avatar

THESE THINGS HAPPEN because this team hates playing in DC

Tegwar's avatar

Start the bullpen first and close with the starters. It's worth a shot and less likely we lose in the 9th.

Mark's avatar

Honestly, why not? Look at how well our relievers do as openers. Brilliant to at least try it because watching this every night in the late innings has gotten old.

Gail Solomon's avatar

Miserable, indeed.

natsclop's avatar
1hEdited

If you’d told me this team was at .500 at the midway point, I’d call you a liar. It’s painful we can see what’s so obviously missing, but I really really want to emphasize how difficult bullpens are to build.

Pulled the makeup of the best bullpen in baseball right now by WAR. The San Diego Padres:

Mason Miller - Blockbuster trade involving 6 players

Adrian Morejon - Homegrown development

Jason Adam - Traded for 4 players

Kyle Hart - $1 million contract a year after Padres took a flier on a KBO guy

Yuki Matsui - Major spending, 5 year contract

David Morgan - Homegrown development

Wandy Peralta - Major spending, 4 year contract

Ron Marinnacio - Waiver Claim

Bullpens are fickle things, and throwing cash at things doesn’t mean immediate success. So much is dependent on development, and all thanks to Rizzo for the ring, but his final years left a lot to ask for in the development side.

We haven’t even hit a full year of Toboni and his development plans. His ability to build a bullpen is entirely dependent on what was left behind and waiver claims.

“Spend money” you’ll say. On a team who we thought might hit 100 losses? Hindsight is 20/20. You spend when your contention window is wide open, like the Padres. You don’t spend when your best case scenario is squeezing into the wild card.

Devin Williams is being paid $17 mill to be inneficient.

Seranthony Dominguez is being paid $10 mill to be inneficient.

Our old friend Kyle Finnegan is being paid $9.5 mill to have a WHIP nearly equal to his ERA.

Jordan Romano, cut. Scott Barlow, cut. Millions spent to NOT play for their team.

These things aren’t easy folks, “just go make it better” is not a helpful comment.

Susan H aka pitchingfan's avatar

Very well put. Thank you.

Dave Nemec's avatar

Spending money on free agent relievers is a crapshoot.

DaveTheSwede's avatar

All of that is fair. But this bullpen is the worst in the major leagues. That means 29 other teams are doing better. There's nothing worse than "the worst."

natsclop's avatar

29 other teams didn’t get tasked with building a pitching staff from the scraps left behind by a front office fired for their inability to build a pitching staff

gonatsgo1's avatar

You're right, but, c'mon, those kind of comments are more than justified right now.

We gotta vent.

natsclop's avatar

I agree, I think I’m just as annoyed as everyone. Losing, specifically in this fashion, sucks. But I’m equally annoyed with people who think perfectly good arms are just laying around.

Randem's avatar

Well said. Stick with the plan.

Tegwar's avatar

There is no way now that the everyday players and starters don't trust the bullpen anymore. Maybe Lord but not the rest of them.

cipherlockinexile's avatar

I can actually come up with a positive from this series. The Nats are able to compete successfully against a good Phillies team in all areas except one. The Nats have gone from needing a complete rebuild to needing a bullpen rebuild. But no denying that the bullpen is atrocious and unacceptably bad for a major league team.

Tegwar's avatar

Besides that Mrs Lincoln how was the play. :-)

Carl Rosendorf's avatar

Taking a Nats vacation timeout

Starting pitching and hitting solid and exciting.

Bullpen....omg....

Gonna give it a time out

WDCFan's avatar

Yep, that's what I did tonight. Didn't watch or listen to any of it. And it'll be more days of that this season for me.