The Nationals have shifted veteran righty Doug Fister to the bullpen, manager Matt Williams told reporters after today’s game, Dan Kolko of MASNsports.com among them (on Twitter). Impressive rookie Joe Ross will take his regular spot in the rotation.
The move is surprising to see, in some respects, but makes sense as the evidence on both pitchers has continued to accumulate. Fister has dealt with injuries, lost velocity, and a continued decline in his ability to generate strikeouts.
All told, he owns a 4.60 ERA over 86 innings, with 5.0 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 with an uncharacteristically low 42.0% groundball rate. Those are his worst results as a big leaguer, and ERA estimators suggest that his earned run average reflects his performance this season.
On the other side of the ledger, Ross — who came over with Trea Turner in the deal that sent Steven Souza to the Rays and Wil Myers to the Padres — has been excellent since making the jump to the big leagues. After today’s strong outing, he sits at a 2.80 earned run mark over 45 frames, with an outstanding 47:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Ross now seems to have the inside track on a rotation spot for next year’s club.
Beyond the impact on the postseason race, Fister’s demotion carries important implications for his upcoming free agent case. For one thing, the 31-year-old no longer seems at all likely to receive a qualifying offer from the Nationals. Not unlike Justin Masterson last year, Fister entered the season primed to be an important second-tier arm on next year’s market, but now looks like a candidate for a short-term deal with a club that is willing to take a gamble on a return to form.
Rizzo has made a lot of very good trades. The Ross / Turner trade may wind up being the best.
Yeah he never ceases to amaze me in what he’s able to do in trades. Seems he gets a great trade once a year.
Fister has definitely struggled this year, but he’s also been injured. I think he’ll have a return to form next season on a one year contract. Seems like the kind of guy the Braves would take a flyer on.
Has he had Tommy John? If no, Braves aren’t interested.
Ha
Unfortunately, Fister is injured every year. It’s always only a question of how serious is it.
Remember the ‘5 aces, best rotation since 2011 Phillies’ talk around these guys prior to the year? They don’t even have the best rotation in their own division. I don’t know if its just me being a Phillies fan or not, but its really hard to root for the Nats at all.
I mean, it’s easy to say that, but Strasburg and Fister have both dealt with injuries. Scherzer has been outstanding and Gonzalez has been decent.
Nationals have had a lot of injuries this year – possibly to more impact players then any other team in MLB. But that’s why we watch the games and the teams play out the season – no one foresees all. And there’s still a lot of baseball to play this year, and more surprises to come.
The Nats only have on reliable Pitcher, Scherzer , The Mutts are going to kill them !
Also a Phils Phan here. I can be objective while they rebuild. But Im definitley not liking the Mets rotation. It terms of playing against them. They should be able to add free agents to that list if needed. So the Phils rebuild will need to out rebuild their rotation, either by being a better pitching club or hitting… its more likely the farm will produce better pitching at this point then hitters, so thats a bit concerning.. Its early though, The Mets had a hellva hyped up rotation before with isrighouer… and others. can’t spell the dudes name.
Disagree. J.P. Crawford is going to be a star. I’m not liking Nola to be anything more than a solid number 3 starter, the highest ceiling in your system is Jake Thompson. Between Franco, Alfaro, and Griffin, the Phillies better prospects are in the field
Whos Griffin?
There’s still the best rotation since the 2011 Phillies. They just happen to play for St. Louis rather than Washington (and amazingly Wainwright isn’t one of them).
Anybody starting to see the wisdom in trading Fister for Robbie Ray yet?
Tigers gave up on Ray too soon and they should not give up on Greene. Just like Ray, Greene is young and controlled for a long time. He is on the upswing and will help Detroit while Fister is on the downswing. The trade was a good one, unfortunately the positive impact was too late to end the scorn leveled by the fans.
Robbie Ray has light years better stuff than Shane Greene. Ray has picked up almost 2 MPH in Arizona compared to his time in Detroit. Just a snipet.
Ray Avg FB velocity:93.2 Avg off FB:0.242
Greene AVg FB velocity: 91.4 Avg off FB: 0.387
Yikes.
I wonder if the Nationals rotation next year of Scherzer/Strasburg/Gonzales/Ross/Giolito is going to be better than this years.. Plus, they will still have A.J. Cole and Tanner Roark waiting in the wings in case one of them falters.. Gonzalez has an FIP of 3.09 this year which makes him better than several of the pitchers above him and a good candidate for the #2/#3 spot.. Personally, I think they should unload Strasburg while he still holds plenty of value and move onto a young staff anchored by Scherzer.. With the promotion of Turner to take Desmond’s spot and everyone returning healthy they could actually be the team that everyone expected them to be this year.. They could trade Strasburg to any number of teams for an addition to their outfield or 3rd base. I could see him being enough to pry someone like Judge from the Yankees or Peterson/Cecchini from the Mariners or Red Sox respectively. I am sure several Yankees fans will surely disagree with me though and I am not sure who would play centerfield for the Nats so 3rd is probably the best option to improve on..
they should have just traded roark this winter.
Agreed..
Roark is a relatively inexpensive arm that can fill as a #4-5 starter. I understand their using him in he bullpen, but he doesn’t seem to pitch as well from there.
I don’t think they want to trade him.
They will do the same thing with him that they did with John Lannan. Instead of trading him while he has use as a starter, he will depart as a non-tender or free agent and his career will never be able to get rolling. So the Nats will get nothing for him and Roark will suffer greatly as well just like Lannan.
Roark is a good example of playing head games with a player and not rewarding him with doing a good job. Players are human.
Rizzo does that quite a bit. As great as he is with trades, notice how none of the Nats players seem to get extensions either. J. Zimmerman, Fister, Desmond. It didn’t even look like Ryan Zimmerman was going to get one.
I thought it was J. Zimmermann and Desmond who were the ones that shut extension talks down.
The Nats injuries have stymied them this year. They haven’t been able to get their MO JO going. I still think they will be fine when Werth, Rondon, and Zimmerman settle in. With all the players on their last year of their contract, there is some chemistry issues for sure. Rizzo has made the right moves getting Ross and
Turner. Turner should be able to take over for Desmond next year and Ross will be in the rotation. I think Rizzo will still try and sign either Price, Cueto, or Greinke in the off season. A rotation of Scherzer, Greinke, Srasburg, Gonzales, and Ross. I think Giolito will move into the rotation in 17.
If they do, between the Nats, Mets, Cardinals, and presumably the Dodgers, there are going to be some scary starting rotations in the National League next year.
He’s gotta be pissed off…… That’s two…. How is Papsmear working out for you guys? Has he blown a save yet? Its going to be much watch tv when he returns to philly. If he blows a save, the whole crowd is going to crotch grab themselves as he exits the field. Will be funny to watch for sure. l
Pap hasn’t blown a save yet, hes 19-for-19 with a 1.69 ERA.