The Nationals have signed infielder Dee Strange-Gordon to a minor league contract, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). Strange-Gordon is a client of Rep 1 Baseball.
Minor league deals can be signed during the lockout, as so Strange-Gordon will now turn to Washington as the hopeful landing spot for his return to the majors. Strange-Gordon signed minors contracts with the Reds, Brewers, Cubs, and Pirates in 2021 but none of those deals materialized into any big league playing time, thus leaving Strange-Gordon on the sidelines of a MLB season for the first time since 2010.
The 33-year-old is very familiar with the NL East, achieving some of his greatest successes over three seasons with the Marlins from 2015-17. Strange-Gordon won the 2015 NL batting title and led the league with 205 hits and 58 stolen bases that same season, then going on to capture another stolen-base crown in 2017.
Unfortunately for Strange-Gordon, 2017 also marked his last season as a productive regular. After being traded to the Mariners in December 2017, Strange-Gordon posted only a combined 0.2 fWAR over three seasons in Seattle, batting .266/.293/.343 for a 74 wRC+. While still an excellent baserunner, Strange-Gordon’s difficulties in getting on base largely neutralized that skill, and he was also hampered by a position switch from second base to center field.
The Nats inked Cesar Hernandez to a one-year, $4MM free agent deal prior to the lockout, making him their leading candidate for the everyday second base job. As Hernandez is coming off a lackluster year himself, however, Strange-Gordon represents some veteran depth at the position, not to mention a utility piece that could also chip in as a left fielder or shortstop in a pinch. With the experienced duo of Hernandez and Alcides Escobar tentatively penciled in as Washington’s starting middle infield combo, Strange-Gordon will look to join youngsters Luis Garcia and Lucius Fox in the competition for bench roles.
Strange signing.
Seems like every year there’s at least 6 articles about him either being let go or signed. I give him much credit for persevering over tragedy as a kid, but I remain skeptical that he’ll ever be a productive ML’er again with or without PED’s.
Players Association and owners better realize that steroids aren’t going to fix the damage that a lockout will cause this time like in the 94 strike. Tony Clark and Manfred both should be fired.
Owners learned from the last one by locking the players out during non-playing months. if they choose to wait until February before they get serious, I’ll then agree that at least one should be gone. Unfortunately, negotiations take two sides. In my pre-COVID professional world, many times serious negotiations didn’t take place until we got to “the courthouse steps”. Let’s hope the networks who have the money leverage read through their contracts to use what muscle they have to force both sides to sit down if not now, then 01/02/22 for serious discussions.
Agreed. Doesn’t seem player or owners want this. Everyone is making money. Other then hammering out playoffs and service time tweeks should be but and dry.
Problem is, who fires them? Clark works for the players who will applaud him for standing firm. Manfred works for the owners who will be glad he’s playing hardball. Who stands for the fans? For the game itself? Answer: no one. This is the problem.
That’s why I believe if there’s a third side with money power like the networks or possibly the league’s gambling partners who potentially will lose big money if there’s no baseball (until July some but not all will be found by increases action on other sports).)
He signed with every NL Central team but the Cards last season
Was wishing that he would have ended up with the Cards to complete the sweep. Maybe this will be the first stop of a NL tour. Would be fitting to end it with the Marlins for the natural sweep.
The Nationals look like they will be a last place team again next year. They really need to go ahead and start the rebuild. Juan Soto is incredible but the idea that any team should consider themselves competitive because of one player is foolish. This is baseball. It’s not the NBA where one great player can make a team relevant.
Washington’s biggest problem is all the bad money tied into players like Steven Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. They would compete for an actual world series a lot sooner if they traded Soto for a ransom and figured out how to unload those 2 contracts at the same time. Offer all three of them in exchange for a bunch of prospects and more bad contracts that are shorter than Strasburg and Corbin. The Angels, Yankees, Padres, Mariners, Cubs maybe even Phillies make sense.
The Angels could take on Soto, Strasburg and Corbin while unloading Upton at the same time. The Yankees want to get rid of Britton. The Phillies could dump DiDi Gregorius. The Cubs are dying to convince Heyward to accept his not trade clause. The Mariners probably want out of that Evan White deal. Arizona might do it if they can dump Bumgarner at the same time. The Dodgers can afford it and could get rid of David Price. The Padres might be the best fit if they can get rid of Hosmer in the process. Even the Mets should be considered because they would love to dump the last 2 years of Cano.
The Strasburg deal is the worst of all of them but taking on more shorter term bad money would force the acquiring team to still give up the best of the best prospects to get Soto. The Nationals would also completely clear their payroll in much less time and fill up the farm with studs.
I know that no teams want to touch the Strasburg or Corbin contracts or give up a bunch of great prospects but the ability to dump other bad contracts while adding a generational player like Soto just might get it done. The fact Soto is inexpensive and under multiple years of control only sweetens the pot.
I know DC fans don’t want to see Soto leave. I’m afraid if he doesn’t get traded he is going to be one of those great players who doesn’t matter because he is always on a bad team. Then he will eventually leave in free agency for nothing. Even if they have to take on a shorter bad contract, getting rid of Strasburg and Corbin will really help the Nationals payroll. Rebuilding the farm system will help them even more. They should win a world series sooner this way than they would by keeping all of them. Acquiring Soto would also help a team in win now mode do just that and win now.
It will probably never happen. I was just putting it out there. What do you guys think? Did any of that make sense?
Dude, Give it a rest. 7 paragraphs?? You don’t work here.
You count paragraphs, so.
Yeah get out of your basement sometimes. A dissertation in a comment section is unique indeed ⚾️
Lol
Lmao word
How are you going to have a comment longer than the article? foh.
He’s melatonin with words
The worst part is that this essay is not a new comment, but a response to someone else’s 2-word comment.
Britton is on the books for 2022 at 14 million, then he’s gone. I can’t see the Yankees taking on ~60 million between Strasburg (through 2026) and Corbin (through 2024) and only shedding Britton. Hal would never do that, even for Soto.
I don’t know if the Yankees want to trade Stanton, but that is the kind of contract they’d need to move to take on Strasburg and/or Corbin.
I agree with Hammer. Soto should be traded. To date all the notable Nationals additions in the halted offseason is adding Cesar Hernandez. They control Soto for only 3 years and he probably walks unless they give him a 400 million extension. Get the kings ransom and move on. Trade Strasburg and Corbin as well. It’s time for a rebuild.
Fred – The Rays locked up Franco for a decade, the Nats should do the same with Soto. He’s a guy you build around, and the one guy that will put fans in the seats until they become competitive again. That’s important because you can’t just get rid of every good player all at once. You end up losing fans that you’ll never get back.
Agreed. If Juan Soto really is a generational talent, you lock him up for ten years and ride out the downturn. The Nationals need to give the fans a reason to show up.
@fever. I agree to they will lose fans if they trade Soto. Problem is he is a Boras client and a young superstar. He will command probably the highest contract ever at this point on a extension. They are paying Corbin and Strasburg quite handsomely already for years and it seems they are both in decline. I don’t think the Nationals can afford to pay Soto/Strasburg/Corbin about 100 million a year for the foreseeable future and compete. They should have locked Soto up earlier. Corbin/Strasburg combine for 60 million a year over the next 3 years and the only scary bat in that lineup is Soto.
Locking up Soto now would be nice but there’s no rush. Even if they end up trading him they can still have in around for a few years.
Fred – If you were the Nats, would you offer $254/10 with an opt-out after Year 6?
And if you were Soto, would you take it?
I think the answer from both sides would be yes.
A lot can go wrong for Soto over the next three years. He could get a major injury, or his numbers could drop especially with hardly any protection in the lineup. Hard to imagine his numbers going up.
Jeez, Lincoln gave shorter speeches. Lame soliloquy dude.
Nats are not trading Soto to the Halos as part of any deal to acquire Upton. As much a I would like it to happen. The Mets have a better chance of winning the WS in 2022.
This makes sense. But the fans will go crazy Harper, Rendón, now Soto. Ouch
Hammer:
I disagree. Nationals should keep Soto. Just like Angels were right to keep Trout.
The Nationals have a good fan base. Soto is one of the best players in the game. They can afford to give him a Tatis-like extension after 2022 if he stays healthy and performs well.
I do agree Nationals will likely finish in last in NL East in 2022.
Manny: completely agree. Soto is a generational player. Pretty unlikely they’ll luck into another one by trading him, no matter how high the prospect rankings for whatever haul they receive. The Corbin contact comes off the books in a few years. A Soto extension plus the Strasburg contract leaves plenty of payroll space to build a roster.
I don’t think the Patrick Corbin contract is an anchor contract if he pitches well. The Stephen Strasberg contract was just plain irresponsible. However, after Corbin, Joe Ross and Erick Fedde, the Nats entire pitching staff is dismal. There is NO pen. Other than OF Juan Soto and 1B Josh Bell, the lineup is in flux too. Worse news is that the Nats MiLB system appears old and barren. What have they been doing? Is there a worse and more neglected system?
Carter Keiboom and Victor Robles have been disappointments. SS Luis Garcia should take on a full time role. 2B Jake Noll, OF Cole Freeman and SP Cade Cavalli might come up and stick but that is still a weak team.
Trading away Soto for prospects isn’t the answer. The MiLB system won’t know what to do with them.
You really need to get a freaking life….my God….. pathetic
Second Chim. That’s a lot of words for a not very relevant franchise
The Nats should start the rebuild? I think they did that already, when they traded Scherzer, Turner, Schwarber, Gomes, Harrison, Hudson, Lester, and Hand. I guess maybe you didn’t notice?
The “strange” comments are getting lame.
Stranger in the night. Love that song ⚾️
Strangers in the Night
Exchanging rubbers
This one feels so tight…
Doo bee doo bee doo…
Championship
This dude back in 2018 walked 9 times in 588 plate appearances……….9 times! For someone with his speed, you need to be on base more & on the bench less.
It’s actually kinda impressive how little he walked. Among all seasons of all time where the player had at least 500 plate appearances, Gordon’s 1.5% walk rate that year is the 7th lowest mark of all time. Him, Virgil Stallcup at 1.5% in 1949, Ivan Rodriguez in 2007 at 1.7%, Carlos Pena also in 2007 and a 1.9%, and Ozzie Guillen in 1996 also at 1.9% are the only seasons post-WWII where a player had a sub-2% BB% in at least 500 PA’s.
Maybe everyone afraid to walk the dude
His father’s girlfriend was weird, in a Steven King kind of way.
Nice reference.
Except misspelling the author’s name….
You should see what I do with Dostoyevsky…..just no Redemption…(but Rita Hayworth was gorgeous)….
Your reading preference does explain a lot, however.
A Dee Strange-Gordon/Alcides Escobar double play tandem would have been incredible, circa 2015.
Dee Strange-Gordon didn’t exist in 2015.
Cjik- what are you on? He was on of the fastest most effective lead off hitters in the league in 2015.
BB Fan – Don’t ask Cjik what he is on, ask what Gordon was on in 2015. Agreeing with Cjik, Gordon didn’t exist, steroid Gordon did.
Fair enough, but steroids or not Dee Gordon was still a very good ball player in 2015… not sure if you were aware but he was still an MLB player which means he must be pretty dang talented…
BB Fan – Agreed.
Dee STRANGE Gordon did not exist in 2015
Dee Gordon Strange. ⚾️
Actually, Devaris Strange-Gordon is his legal name. Early in his minor league career, he opted to go by Dee Gordon after a PA Announcer pronounced it incredibly wrong. But then in 2020 he decided to go by Dee Strange-Gordon professionally as a tribute to his late mother. So I take your “joke”, and I raise you some facts.
Interesting that the article mentions his achievements during the 2015 season without mentioning that he was suspended 80 games prior to the start of the following season. Given the appeals process, he likely tested positive well before the actual suspension occurred, and probably cheated his way to those 2015 accomplishments. His production was not close to thar prior to 2015, nor has it been since he got caught.
Chief – I am glad you mentioned this. If I were the first to say something about his substance abuse, people would call me a troll and tell me to go away.
So, THANK YOU.
Gordon’s rise and fall were all due to performance enhancing drugs. He got his big fat contract and has been laughing all the way to the bank ever since. Did he have to pay Seattle restitution for his lying, cheating and misrepresenting himself through free agency? No! So all of you crybabies who blindly side with the players can blow it out your nose. Like I always cry and pout about – the owners pay for everything and the players want more. Any player who is doing well in modern sports will always have a shadow of doubt crawling up their backside, IMHO.
I don’t think some of you guys understand how steroids work. They sure don’t teach you how to hit a curve (or throw one for for that matter.)
They allow you to work out longer, harder, & more frequently. Help you rehab from injury quicker too. & that’s about it.
I also find it interesting all the consternation they cause amongst baseball fans, many of whom are also football fans. Steroids – within reason – are standard fair in the NFL.
Yeah steroids only help in almost every physical aspect of an athletes’s production. That’s about it…no big deal. Also, your football comment is completely irrelevant regarding MLB. It’s not like anyone here said it’s unacceptable for baseball players to take steroids but it’s perfectly OK for football players to do so. Guys get caught in the NFL, too. Again, though, that is not relevant here.
Whoops. *standard fare.
Anyway.
They help with training, @Two Hands. They do not provide any actual ability. I guess we differ on “every physical aspect of an athlete’s production.”
Also: the part on the NFL – I felt – was clearly a side note. & you “get caught” in the NFL only when your T count exceeds 25(!), incidentally.
I guess what I was pointing out is that if you watch the NFL, it’s incredibly hypocritical to condemn MLB players for running gear too. Which does seem relevant as I see a lot of the same posters here as well as over at Pro Football rumors. Perhaps you don’t think it is. Which is fine. It was a leap. But a really short one.
Ducky – I have to agree with Chief. Steroids help much more than you give credit. Reaction time is much better, so that curveball is not quite as deceptive as it once was. The additional strength doesn’t come from just working out, the juice adds muscle and strength as well. Look how Bonds and McGwire instantly lost a ton of weight once they were out of baseball. No juice. No PhD here, but it is terribly obvious the affects of steroids is a 100% performance enhancer.
Other than this one, I really do enjoy your posts.
Look.
I’m closing in on 500 career grouse & 3K career geese. So I don’t want to tarnish my legacy. Ahem.
But: I played football & baseball in the late 80’s. Steroids were ubiquitous. You could find them in the gym, weight room, park, nutrition stores, or call the kid on his bike, wearing a backwards baseball cap, with a backpack full of them. They were – quite – simply everywhere. After college, I enlisted. Steroids were all over the place there too.
Now. I am not saying I ever did them.
I will say, however, that anyone I knew who did them wasn’t doing them in order to “cheat”. Rather they were all trying to just simply be the bast ballplayer or strongest version of themselves they could possibly be.
So I’ve a least a modicum of experience with them. Which is – at the very least – peripheral. So. No. They definitely do not increase your “reaction time”. Maybe you can take more batting practice, which would increase your reaction time. But they do not – in & of themselves – make you a better athlete.
Steroids are not magic.
I will simply agree to disagree, Our opinions on steroids will always be opposite. You are a good man.
Hey, it’s the internet. Differences of opinion abound. I know it’s a fairly unpopular take. I just see it differently.
& thank you for the kind words.
I’ma go with the physicist on this one.
Tufts University physicist Roger Tobin is a big baseball fan and recently did some calculations to evaluate just how much of an impact steroids could actually have on power hitting.
“When he crunched the numbers, he found the following: steroids might bring about a 10 percent increase in muscle mass. That extra muscle could help a batter swing five percent faster. And that extra bat speed could cause a ball to jump off the bat 4 percent faster. Better bat speed gives the hitter more time to wait on a pitch, to read it and follow it”
Just looked at it. Thanks for the info, Guy.
However. First: he is building his case from the conclusion & reasoning backwards. Now deductive reasoning is certainly a thing. But I also disagree with how he established his baseline moving forward. I’m not questioning the math. I am – however – questioning at least one of his postulates. It reminds me of those physics problems in college that always started out with, “two ideal spheres in a vacuum…”
Lot of assumptions being made.
Man.
We kinda need some real baseball stuff to talk about around here.
Ducky – Agreed on the baseball stuff. The writers have done a great job keeping the content coming, but full articles for each minor league transaction might be a bit too much. I think most of us prefer how they used to condense them to 3 or 4 minors transactions within the same article.
What…you don’t want to discuss the physics problem? Heh. Yeah, I get it. Haven’t looked at something like that in quite some time.
& to top it all off, I spent my Sunday morning (hey – different Cathedrals for different Communions for different fellas) being thoroughly outfoxed by a turkey with a brain smaller than a walnut. Ergo, I am not feeling all that bright.
Personally, I don’t mind the individual write ups. They are trying to give us something close to the regular volume of articles. So: I get it. Not much to them, however.
Have a great Sunday, @FPGuy.
Go Big Blue.
Steroids have helped me. I can mow my yard in 5 minutes now instead of the normal 30⚾️
I opted for a riding mower instead of the traditional push mower. Improved on time. The money I save from not buying steroids goes towards the mower.
Jerry birds mouth is on steroids….he’s talking a lot of garbage
Steroids help baseball players in several obvious ways:
1) faster recovery from injuries. No small thing for a sport with 162 games.
2) have lasting effects on building strength compared to people who don’t use them.
3) give players enough extra umph to drive the ball further to a significant degree—more power.
4) impart a psychological edge during their use of extra confidence, again an edge in a sport where failure rates are higher than success rates.
MLB should never have turned a blind eye to the damage steroids did to the integrity of the sport (much less the long-term health of its players) for as long as it did. It’s also detrimental to try to gloss over the issue in retrospect.
As a Nats fan, I’m disappointed they signed this guy, low cost acquisition as he may be.
I agree with #1 & #2. Although 2 is stretching it a bit. Once you stop cycling, the results evaporate fairly quick. But. For real. What exactly is wrong with those things? I don’t see why they would be considered bad.
However – once again – steroids are not magic. So in re #3, they will help you maximize your workouts, thus adding more strength. But – in & of themselves – they would really add nothing. Certainly no extra “oomph”. This is fact. Not narrative.
As far as #4…well, that’s a little hot takey for me. Seems – at best – a stretch.
There is just a whole lot of incorrect narrative about what steroids actually do that always arise during these type of dialogues. You & I could take every steroid in the world for a year & we still wouldn’t make an A ball roster.
This is a great thread – relatively peaceful- about a somewhat controversial topic. However, I agree with Ducky’s point , and here’s why – Ducky is citing these two facts, I’m taking to the extreme to complete the illustration:
1- A player taking steroids that doesn’t train (workout) will not get an automatic strength increase. The increases come from training the tendons/muscles post-steroids & maintaining his skill set, ie, hitting.
2- We have all seen huge ‘roided body builders that don’t have a lick of athleticism. Put a bat in their hand and the guy with the most horse steroids in his system can’t hit any better than he could pre-steroids. That’s a specific skill
He’s saying Bonds was a great hitter before, and with steroids + training he built size, added weight, and gained strength, but it didn’t make his hitting skill better, it made the training easier.
What happens to a fat guy on steroids who doesn’t work out? He stays a fat guy.
It has been an entirely reasonable dialogue about something that is typically pretty controversial. Ever the optimist, I am taking it as a sign that all the inflammatory argumentation on the board is coming to an end.
& yeah. The fat guy stays fat.
Go Big Blue.
Steroids really wouldn’t help a player like Gordon, at least in terms of performance. Staying healthy and on the field? Yes, but Gordon’s entire game is built around making contact, avoiding K’s, and putting the ball in play.
mlb1225 – And when he wasn’t juiced, he did not possess the abilities to make contact, avoid K’s, and put the ball in play. He was practically helpless at bat. Steroids helped him a lot. His statistics makes this undeniable. Look it up.
Eh, idk. Gordon actually struck out less post-suspension. pre-suspension Gordon had a 15.6% K-rate and post-suspension Gordon had a lower 14.2% K-rate. Maybe in terms of putting the ball in play, but pre-supension Gordon had a 87.2% contact rate and post-suspension Gordon had a 85.7% contact rate, which is only a 1.5% difference. I think it was more of a helps him stay healthy, on the field, and with more energy than his actual performance. There really isn’t enough pre-suspension Gordon statcast data to go off of to make a definitive statement about that though, which might show a difference.
Jerry your points make a lot of sense, but could it be that post-steroids he didn’t train properly from the inherent damage he did to his T-production, which would’ve made him sluggish, tired, & not able to train nearly as well? Seems plausible.
steroids would help anyone motivated to get better
bonds/macguire/sosa would NOT have been able to get those HR numbers based on just increased training that steroids provide
saying steroids ‘doesn’t help with the skill of hitting’ is like saying steroids won’t help the skill of swimming, afterall the steroids dont help with the strategy of it, right?
of course being stronger, more confident and brimming with testosterone is going to help with just about anything competitive…
the combination of testosterone with adrenaline can have incredible, inhuman results that arent even well understood by the scientific community, so i’d think its pointless for us armchair managers to make claims like we know how much it helps
@mlb1225 Gordon’s game is based on him beating out infield hits. Those steriods definetly gave him an edge while running to first. I don’t know the difference between pre and post steriod use running times (could be affected by age so theres no real point in even trying to use numbers)
Thought for sure he sign with a Japan or Korean team this off season
When you’re Strange…
Strange brew, kill what’s inside of you…
Everyone on this site makes fun of the Orioles infield but the National’s infield is definitely the worst.
Season hasn’t started yet, you know. Still time for moves. Granted, Nats so far haven’t moved the needle at all. Some of us still hopeful though.
This guy needs to be running like a rabbit everytime he is on base along with bunting more when infield is back.Doing that stuff just helps your team a lot. The hitters batting when he is on will absolutely benefit because they will see more fastballs. It makes teams have to stay away from shifts too. Running and stealing needs to become important again in the game. Guys like Rickey Henderson and Harold Reynolds would change the game when they were on base. Made it a lot of fun to watch. I’m a big believer that a bunt and 2 stolen bases are just as good as a triple
Gordon turned down the Mets manager job I hear
LOL
DEE STRANGE contract for GORDON !!
Now that seems very Strange.
His name takes up way too many letters on the back of a jersey is why he can’t get another opportunity in MLB. No owner is willing to foot that bill.
Anybody else getting r rated advertisements on this site?
Could be a virus from an adult site you visited.
That’s what happens when you put 69 twice in your username.
Google ad algos are next level
Time to hang em up, Dee.
There’s always Japan. Lots of almost-MLB talent going over there this offseason.
steroids would help anyone motivated to get better
bonds/macguire/sosa would NOT have been able to get those HR numbers based on just increased training that steroids provide
saying steroids ‘doesn’t help with the skill of hitting’ is like saying steroids won’t help the skill of swimming, afterall the steroids dont help with the strategy of it, right?
of course being stronger, more confident and brimming with testosterone is going to help with just about anything competitive…
the combination of testosterone with adrenaline can have incredible, inhuman results that arent even well understood by the scientific community, so i’d think its pointless for us armchair managers to make claims like we know how much it helps
National’s really want the Dee
Give the guy credit for banging out 200 hits twice, juice or no juice.
Rafael Palmeiro, El Stanozolol, only got over the 200 hits once.
Cano did it twice, another Stanzolol guy.
Like Jose Canseco said in his book, “juice makes good players, great”.
But it is so incredibly difficult just to be good in MLB.
Dee needs about a year and change to get his 10 year pension. He better be in the shape of his life. Good luck Dee.
Dee needs to pack it in. He has played for all MLB teams.
He was absolutely terrible his last two years in Seattle!