The Washington Nationals have been unable to string together wins so far this season. After losing Anthony Rendon to free agency and Stephen Strasburg to injury, the reigning champs are in a weakened state. Newly-extended GM Mike Rizzo – who accomplished the rare feat of getting ejected from the club box on Sunday – didn’t see enough progress to make a move at the deadline, especially considering their limited scouting capabilities. Rizzo, a former Scouting Director in Arizona, values scouting input more than most of his contemporaries. In his words, per NBC Todd Dybas of NBC Sports, “So, the combination of where we were going into the trade deadline, performing on the field, and the fact I didn’t feel really comfortable about making trades kind of blind where you haven’t seen one of these prospects play in a year or so, impacted us in our decision-making.” Rizzo also didn’t want to give up the possibility of going on a run and getting back into the playoff race, so the Nats stood pat rather than deal upcoming free agents like Asdrubal Cabrera and Adam Eaton. While we’re here, let’s grab some injury updates…
- Blue Jays’ top prospect Nate Pearson took a big step to returning to the mound yesterday…by returning to the mound. Pearson threw off a mound for the first time since going on the injured list on August 19th with elbow soreness, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). The 6’6″, 250-pound hurler is an intimidating presence on the hill when he’s pumping 96 mph heaters. After a couple of solid starts to begin his major-league career, Pearson struggled over his last two before going on the injured list. He’s currently the owner of a 6.61 ERA/7.62 FIP brought on largely by dodgy command (6.6 BB/9) and 5 home runs surrendered in 16 1/3 innings. The Blue Jays would love to give Pearson an opportunity to right the ship before the season runs out.
- The Red Sox could get a couple of pitchers back from the injured list soon. Nathan Eovaldi threw a bullpen session on Sunday and could return as soon as this weekend in Tampa Bay, per The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. Darwinzon Hernandez also has started throwing. He could be ready for a bullpen session on Tuesday. Hernandez, 23, made three scoreless appearances out of Boston’s bullpen before hitting the injured list with a shoulder strain. The Red Sox have patched together their pitching staff for most of the season. Eovaldi and Hernandez could bolster a staff that’s last in the majors by measure of fWAR (-1.4) – by a fair margin.
Mike Rizzo, one more vote for robo-umps.
What do robo umps have to do with ejections?
Umps won’t be ejecting people for insulting the computer’s strike zone judgement. Although perhaps we can come up with a feature to parse the game audio and issue ejections to simulate a genuine umpire ego.
what causes the most ejections and frustrations? disputed balls and strikes. Robo umps = cant really argue since it is computerized and take away the human element.and yelling at a computer usually doesnt get you anywhere.
I kick my computer to get it to work.
Another vote here for Robo-umps.
Less disputes, more consistent strike zone and more than likely faster games
Why not shut down Eovaldi? Only reason not to that I can come up with is to try to showcase him the remainder of the month to then try to deal him before next February.
Eovaldi will be most likely be moved in
the off season so yes he needs to be showcased since he is over priced.
I think that’s a plan. I feel badly for Nate cuz he’s got amazing talent n I’ll feel bad when they trade him.
Many like him today and in the past. Judge and Stanton today come to mind and years ago, the Bird, Fidrych. As to trading him, depends n the return which right now won’t be much. To me with the team resetting the threshold, he’s worth more to keep for next year than anything they’ll get back. If he stays and returns to 18 playoff form, he could end up being the most sought after player at next year’s deadline. Right now that’s a pipe dream but his contract and risk means the return this November will be minimal unless the team pays down the contract (and at that point, why deal him?).
The plan, allegedly, is to have Pearson in the bullpen. If that means dropping Font, why not. Pearson could be an x-factor out of the ‘pen. Come 2021 he needs to be one of the starters.
Pearson could throw 104 MPH out of the pen, like he did in the Futures game. Hopefully it’ll be in the right direction.