The Nationals will enter the season with Starlin Castro as their everyday third baseman. Josh Harrison will get most of the starts at second, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Veterans Jordy Mercer and Hernan Perez will back them up. The latter duo had just 28 plate appearances between them in 2020. This wasn’t exactly the plan as designed for how to replace Anthony Rendon, who is finally recognized as one of the best in the game at the hot corner.
Unfortunately, Carter Kieboom hasn’t totally turned the corner after tying for the 10-lowest ISO mark (.010 ISO) among batters with at least 100 plate appearances in the past twenty seasons. Among those in the bottom-10, three promptly retired, while others continued on as rarely-used bench players. Take it for what you will, then, that a Kieboom resurgence still likely presents the highest possible ceiling of the options available. For now, the Nats will trudge forward with their cadre of veterans. This might not be a short-term solution, however. Manager Dave Martinez said he wants Castro at third because he’s going to play everyday and he doesn’t want to move him around, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Martinez prefers Harrison’s range at second. Meanwhile, we’re just three days from opening day…
- Former Nationals Wilmer Difo and Brian Goodwin were reassigned to minor league camp along with right-hander Steven Wright, the Pirates announced today. Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb has also been optioned to the minors. That means Anthony Alford likely starts the year as the starting centerfielder, notes Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, with Dustin Fowler backing up all three outfield spots. Alford, 26, jumps right into a regular role after experiencing mere cups of coffee in the four years prior. Going back to his debut with the Blue Jays in 2017, here are Alford’s season totals for plate appearances: 8, 21, 30, and 29.
- Tommy Edman will be the Cardinals’ backup centerfielder to start the season, per Jeff Jones of MLB.com (via Twitter). Tyler O’Neill will line up after him. Harrison Bader’s injury has certainly thrown a bit of a wrench into the Cardinals defensive alignment. With Bader, St. Louis was preparing an otherworldly defensive unit: Paul Goldschmidt is a three-time Gold Glove winner at first; Yadier Molina is a nine-time winner and the consensus best defensive catcher of his generation; Paul DeJong has been frozen out of award season, but he’s been easily among the NL’s best defensive shortstops in recent seasons; ditto for Bader in center, while O’Neill posted 9 DRS in left last season; Nolan Arenado, of course, has never not won the Gold Glove. Not mentioned there, Carlson and Edman, who are, apparently, capable of shifting to centerfield at a moment’s notice. No matter who mans center, it seems, the Cards plan on catching the baseball.
Anthony Alford did well in Spring Training. I want to see what he can do given regular playing time. Hasn’t really been given a chance to prove himself in the majors.
Agree. I am so happy that they chose him over Goodwin.
Now….if he can just stay healthy!
yeah if he got his arm strength back from the injury.. throw him out there. Before injury he looks pretty darn good out there.
needs to play everyday for a larger sample to get a better idea.. nows the time to do it… if it fails or he gets injured.. we have a few other young guys to test out.
Hey mlb1225, I was just curious if you’ve heard anything from Pirates’ personnel about their affinities in this year’s draft. I saw that BA had them taking Lawlar with the 1.1 in this year’s draft, and I was wondering if you could add on to that.
As a Nationals fan: yuck.
It was Wong to let him go?
Well, that certainly didn’t end up where I wanted it, lol.
LOL! Hate when that happens!
Imagine if the Cards had kept Wong.
It was Wong to let him go?
They want an excuse to keep carpenter on the roster.
The value of Carter’s baseball cards just plummeted!! Ouch
Do people still speculate in rookie cards? I know Bonds funded a vacation or two for me 15-20 years ago.
Anyone interested in some 1989 Fleer Update Todd Zeiles? No?
’89 Fleer Update Todd Zeiles? Who wouldn’t want them?!?!? Do you have any Mark Grudzielaneks?
I’m rather relieved I got rid of almost all of my late ’80s cards a few years ago.
check out how Ohtani RCs increased the price of Topps Heritage 2018 and how much Jasson 2020 Bowmans are going for
89 Upper Deck Extended was everything good and bad in life in one pack. Nothing was better.
Haha so good. I love this conversation!
Cardinals have a great defense but no offense besides Goldschmidt and Arenado.
I think O’Neill is going to take a step forward this year and Carlson could be a real threat, though he’s still a rookie.. Edman will be fine.
Whoever the third outfielder is on a given day will be a big question mark offensively. DeJong will get super hot for three weeks at some point but will otherwise suck. Molina is about average for a catcher now.
Reds would have 100% took Keiboom and change if Nats woulda took Iglesias (signed hand anyway) and Suarez. I like the upside of Bell, but Nats endless strategy of trying to catch average players best years will fail more times than not. Suarez fills a big hole on that team. Guess they still have sellers remorse from the Eaton trade 5 years ago….
Eaton was the 3rd (arguably the 2nd) most productive hitter in their World Series series games against Houston, so I doubt Rizzo shares your view about buyer’s remorse. Flags fly forever.
Also doubt that Rizzo is going to hit the Panic button on a highly regarded 1st round draft choice like Kieboom after 169 AB’s. Since they gave the lesser talented Danny Espinosa a million chances to earn a starting job, they’ll do the same for Kieboom.
With Harrison, Mercer and Josh Bell, the Nats are getting the band back together again. Unfortunately, the band is a Nickelback cover band.
Yeah, It looks like Mercer and Harrison are following each other around. From Pittsburgh to Detroit to Washington.
I smell a buddy movie.
How is it that Starlin Castro has a starting job at 3B and Jake Lamb can’t even hook on with a club as a bench piece?
Martinez has a history with Castro (DC and Chicago) and reportedly loves his game. Devil known better than devil unknown, etc. But aside from that, nothing about Jake Lamb makes me believe Rizzo should acquire him. Unless as a backup.
why not just reverse Harrison and Starlin? arent they each more experienced at 3B and 2B, respectively?
Perhaps, but Harrison is more of a defensive liability than Castro is, so stash Harrison at the least valuable defensive spot (second) while having Castro positioned at the hot corner.
“Frozen out”? Makes it sound like MJ during the NBA all-star game with Isiah Thomas. Cards may have some solid defenders but let’s remember that the Cubs were the top defensive club in all of baseball last season.
I can forget that.
O’Neill won a Gold glove last year, too
st. louis could have had a better defense by keeping kolten wong. wong at second, tommy in center, carlson in right. bader comes back, tommy goes to left
Or Bader comes back and you keep him on the bench because he can’t hit.
True, so very true.