Nationals starter Joe Ross will have Tommy John surgery on Wednesday in Texas, Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post tweets. The Nats pulled Ross from his most recent start, then placed him on the DL with what the team first described as triceps discomfort and then as an elbow sprain.
Ross will, obviously, miss the rest of the season. The loss leaves the Nationals with a lack of good rotation depth — they have an enviable front four in Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark, but there’s a considerable dropoff after that. Potential short-term options include A.J. Cole, Jacob Turner, Austin Voth and Edwin Jackson, none of whom have done much this season to inspire confidence. Prospect Erick Fedde has fared well this year, but he only recently reached the Triple-A level.
The Nationals could, then, enter the trade market for starting pitching. As Jeff Todd pointed out yesterday, the Nats don’t necessarily need an extra starter for the playoffs, and they have a comfortable 9.5-game lead in the NL East. But the addition of another starter would likely give their bullpen a degree of comfort while also insuring themselves against the possibility of another injury to a starting pitcher.
The 24-year-old Ross had a 5.01 ERA in 73 2/3 innings this season, largely because of his 16 home runs allowed in that span. He posted 8.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 37.5 GB% that had fallen off sharply from the 49.8% rate he posted as a rookie in 2015.
bush5104
1st comment. Joe Who?
natsgm
you aren’t a baseball fan
Slipknot37
That just hurt the nationals
Solaris611
Add the Nats to the list of teams interested in Sonny Gray
Slipknot37
I think they’re still better off going after relievers than a starter who will cost a lot. Pretty much if they go after gray, they can’t go after Robertson or someone else
ThePriceWasRight
first Tyson now Joe. like the Burdi brothers. wonder if teams will start to consider that arm or elbow injuries could also be genetic in nature.
davidcoonce74
Tyson had TOS, not TJ. But both have been injury prone for sure.
Houston We Have A Solution
Unfortunately, the Nats dont have enough to acquire Gray and any notable relief pitching.
If they acquire Gray theyll have to go cheap on relief pitching
If they acquire 2 or 3 relief guys they will have to bargain shop for starters.
Sounds more and more like the Padres and Nationals line up as good partners with Hand and Cahill in one package.
paulnewman
The upside with Cahill is the Nats can move him to bullpen in postseason.
Priggs89
The Nats have plenty to acquire Gray and a top notch reliever. Robles + Fedde easily gets Gray. Soto or Kieboom can easily bring back a top reliever. It’s not a matter of “if” they have enough; it’s a matter of what are they willing to give up?
outinleftfield
Soto or Kieboom alone does not bring back a top reliever. Maybe both of them plus another top 20 player in their system does, but now they have given up all 4 of their top prospects.
Priggs89
I guess it depends on how you’re defining top reliever. No, I don’t think either is enough to bring back a top reliever in all of baseball like an Andrew Miller. But yes, I do think either one could bring back one of the top relievers available like Robertson or either of the A’s guys. They might need to add a throw-in lower level guy on top, but all the value would come from Soto or Kieboom.
SixFlagsMagicPadres
I’ve been speculating that Hand could be a possible piece they could add to the bullpen, but now with Ross going down, things between the Padres and Nationals could potentially get a lot more interesting.
outinleftfield
They could go after a cheap interim starter and a good reliever. They certainly have the prospects for that.
What do you think the Padres would want for both Cahill and Hand. Hand alone is a top 50-100 plus 1-2 good prospects more. Adding Cahill would add what? A better 2nd prospect like a Kieboom or upping the headliner to Robles?
chesteraarthur
You must be a padres fan.
outinleftfield
Orioles. Since I was a kid and then they drafted me and cemented my love for the organization.
@bringinthereliefpitcher said “Sounds more and more like the Padres and Nationals line up as good partners with Hand and Cahill in one package” and I was commenting on that.
You must be a Yankees fan.
Houston We Have A Solution
Hand and cahill would be fedde kieboom and watson. As you said cahills value as a pen piece also adds appeal as you toss out scherzer strasburg gonzalez you have hand and cahill to anchor the pen in the post season.
Plus that leaves them soto and robles plus some pitchers like luzardo and baez to pull in gray and madson from the A’s
Would they deal all those? Most likely not.
padresfan
Hmm
Well the padres won that half the trade. Hope he gets a smooth recovery, and as far away from dusty baker as possible
bleacherbum
No the Padres didn’t.
Trea Turner is still a win straight up for Wil Myers. The revolving door at SS could have ended in San Diego but instead it still continues.. and Jake Bauers who was sent to Tampa in that 3-way trade, he could have stepped in and played first base. Turner, Ross and Bauers was a steep price to pay for Wil Myers.
outinleftfield
Turner, the guy who may miss the rest of this season, will probably take two years to recover fully from his broken wrist like every other guy that has that particular break, and was mediocre at bat and poorly at shortstop while he was in Washington this season?
Didn’t the Padres get 2-3 other pitchers in that deal too? Probably too soon to say who won the deal.
davidcoonce74
Trea Turner was mediocre this season? And wrist injuries take two years to recover from? Where do you get this stuff from? Turner was worth 2 WAR this year in less than half a season and may be able to play this season. Jeez.
tsolid 2
That might be one of the most “outofleftfield” comments I’ve seen up here. 2yrs to recover from broken wrist. LOL
outinleftfield
He hit .270 with a 92 OPS+. 8% below major league average. His wRC+, meaning how many runs did he create, was 94 or 6% below major league average. So his offense was mediocre and his defense was just bad.
Yesterday the broadcaster for the Nationals said that Turner would likely not return this season. In 223 similar wrist injuries that Beyond the Box Score mentioned in their article about it a while back, 3 returned to their previous level of production at the plate during the following season. For the rest, it was 2 seasons after the injury. So Turner should return to the mediocre level of production we saw from him this season in 2019.
kehoet83
Turner is a dynamic lead off hitter. Creates havoc every time he is on the bases. He had a slow start to the season but was really turning it on the last month or so.
tsolid 2
.270 115 OPS+ in 168 career games. Just b/c he had a SLOW start this season, he’s mediocre? Try again big fella. I’m sure you thin everyone that gets traded from the Padres are mediocre
tsolid 2
My bad .306 Avg
padresfan
I said that half
Not the turner half
Injediwetrust
By the time Jake Bauers is up Wil will have better than 3 seasons so that has to be factored in. The Padres needed a face to sell and to show the fan base the revolving roster will stop somewhere.
Jose Castillo and Gerardo Reyes are both showing promise at high A ball, Castillo showed well early this year on the big stage in the WBC for Venezuela
Not saying the Pads win the trade but let’s not make it out like an easy win for the Nats and Rays.
kylelohse
With Steven Souza’s solid play this year and Bauers potential, this trade hurts a little less now than it did previously. If Brendan McKay decides to be a hitter then I think you will see Bauers move to the outfield so I am interested to see what he can do.
outinleftfield
Saw Bauers try to play OF in spring training. That is a recipe for disaster. He is a 1B or a DH and if the power doesn’t develop he is an afterthought.
friar19
Although Cahill is coming off a stint on the DL, I’m curious to see what inerest the Nats have for a Caill/Hand package.
I understand Cahill is nt the second coming, but fills a need.
bbatardo
Cahill is intriguing for the Nats since he has relief experience too. Could start until playoff time and be long man in pen
max l
1) There’s only room for 4 starters in the playoffs, and with their lead and how bad the rest of the division is, they will cruise to the division title even if they fill Ross’ roster spot with fill in from the terrible AAA team. So, wasting what minimal prospects this organization has left after the Eaton deal, for basically what is a useless fill in, is really not smart.
2) Relief pitching is more of a concern for Rizzo, and the fact they should acquire more than one reliever and not just one they’ll put all their eggs in that basket.
3) With the injuries to Turner at SS, Taylor & Eaton in CF, and Werth’s slow and nagging rehab IF Rizzo does something else besides adding a reliever, it’ll be for one of these positions, and I could see Rizzo doing a package deal: Maybe a Cozart/Reds bullpen arm, Aybar & Hand/Mauer from the Padres, or what I’ve been pushing ever since Eaton got hurt a Herrera/Cain package from the Royals.
outinleftfield
Have to wait to see if the Royals are in the hunt in 2 weeks. Padres won’t trade Aybar since he is their only shortstop. Cozart plus a reliever from the Reds might be the best bet, but it is going to be costly in terms of prospects.
armsiderun14
Cardinals could also be a potential match (if STL decides to sell). Could offer Lynn and Rosenthal/Oh for a prospect package.
kaido24
Agreed, Rosenthal and Lynn would probably be cheaper than some of the other options available out there.
Medias Blancas
The Nats could pick up any of these 3: James Shields, Derek Holland or Miguel Gonzalez along with Robertson in a trade with the White Sox. Not that any of them are great, but they could fill a 5th starters role for the rest of the season. Come playoff time they won’t need a #5.
mike.gordon34
Verlander and Wilson would be preferred
Priggs89
Player-wise, I think everyone would agree. But that’s because we aren’t the ones paying Verlander’s contract.
leprechaun
With all the great young prospects in the minors would the White Sox consider moving Rondon with Robertson if it got them Robles +
Priggs89
That would be interesting. It’d suck to see Rodon go so early, and I don’t think they are looking to move him at all, but if they got offered an elite talent like Robles, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them do it.
ray_derek
Way to go Dusty, overworking pitchers again.
davidcoonce74
Seriously? Joe Ross has thrown 255 innings in 3 seasons. That’s 85 innings/year.
CubsFanFrank
Wait, somebody’s still paying Edwin Jackson to throw a baseball? Will they never learn?
citizen
Creepy comments from Baker. Is dusty suggesting Tjs should be a regular thing? Maybe if baker didn’t wear out his pitchers..
davidcoonce74
If allowing a starter to pitch 85/innings a year is “wearing them out” then I don’t know what the answer is. Ross has thrown 255 innings in 3 seasons.
bearsfan49055
The White Sox have James Shields & Derek Holland available.
panickingcalmly
Rizzo must be cursing the Rays. They picked a bad time to contend.
the.sophisticant
i heard tommy john didnt even need the sergury but his wife said hey why not and then he did get it, just some intrestng history for you guys