The Nationals announced after today’s game that they have requested unconditional release waivers on outfielder Corey Dickerson and optioned infielder Luis García to Triple-A Rochester. The corresponding moves haven’t been announced but Talk Nats reports that outfielder Blake Rutherford will be selected to the roster for one of them. Infielder Jeter Downs will be recalled for the other, per Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post.
García, 23, was once a top 100 prospect but has continually struggled to hit in the big leagues. Dating back to the 2020 season, he’s appeared in 302 games and taken 1,169 plate appearances, coming into today’s action. He’s mustered a batting line of .263/.291/.388 in that time, which amounts to a wRC+ of 82. That includes a .260/.294/.363 showing this year, translating to a 74 wRC+.
Those numbers are especially concerning since his hit tool was supposed to be his standout feature as a prospect. Advanced defensive metrics don’t like his glovework at second base much, with García having tallied -2 Defensive Runs Saved there in his career, along with -14 Outs Above Average and a grade of -6.5 from Ultimate Zone Rating. His numbers at shortstop are worse.
The Nats will now send him back to Triple-A to get more work there, though he has little to prove at that level. In 82 games there in his career, he’s hit .306/.368/.554 but hasn’t been able to replicate that at the big league level. He’ll now try to get back in a groove and earn himself another chance.
From a service time perspective, he began this year with one year and 164 days of service. He’s already gone well past the two-year mark but his chances of reaching Super Two status at the end of the this year could go down, depending on how long he’s out. Perhaps more importantly, he has just one option year remaining. Once he spends 20 days on optional assignment, he’ll burn that last option here in 2023 and be out of options going into 2024. The Nats will likely still be rebuilding next year and could give him another shot, though his grasp on a roster spot would likely be more tenuous at that point.
As for Dickerson, 34, it’s hardly a surprise to see him lose his roster spot now. He was one of a handful of veterans that the Nats brought in over the winter on one-year deals to serve as veteran mentors and hopefully become trade chips. Jeimer Candelario showed the best-case scenario as he mashed and was able to be flipped to the Cubs for a couple of prospects. But Dickerson has hit just .252/.285/.357 for the year, producing a wRC+ of 71 that would be a career low for him. Now that the deadline has passed, the club will use his roster spot to give a chance to other players with a greater chance to help in future seasons.
One of those players the Nats will get a look at will reportedly be Rutherford. The 26-year-old was a first round pick of the Yankees, getting selected 18th overall in 2016. He was considered a top 100 prospect going into 2017 before getting flipped to the White Sox that summer as part of a seven-player deal that sent Todd Frazier, David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle to the Yankees.
The Sox added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2019 to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft, but he didn’t hit much in the years to come and was eventually outrighted off the roster, without getting a chance to make his major league debut. He cleared waivers in the process, meaning the other 29 clubs in the league had a chance to grab him and passed.
He reached free agency after last year, signing a minor league contract with the Nats in the winter and has seemingly been back in good form. He’s hit .345/.395/.583 in 62 games split between Double-A and Triple-A this year, producing a 153 wRC+. That’s obviously much better than his combined batting line of .262/.305/.399 from 2019 to 2022. The Nats will now give him a chance to see how he can handle major league pitching. If he succeeds, he still has no service time and can be retained for six seasons beyond this one. He also has an option year remaining, giving the club a bit of roster flexibility to use at some point.
I don’t think this makes much sense
As a Nats fan, I’ve been concerned about Garcia’s decline in production compared to last year. By OPS+ he was about league average last year at 102, and has slipped to 83 so far this year. He’s still only 23 and it doesn’t hurt to option him. I’m surprised the Nats did it, but fine with it in hopes it helps Garcia develop.
Corey hasn’t panned out at all and the Nats might as well give a younger player a shot, or work things so that Meneses can play more on the field.
I’ve been wanting Garcia to be sent down, but wanted Darren Baker to be the call up.
The Cubs should pick up Dickerson, If for no other reason so he doesn’t hit against them anymore. Just pay him to take a long Mexican Vacation and lend him out to some Mexican League team.
I don’t get it where Dickerson is concerned. The guy plays hard nosed in the outfield and has usually been a tough out. Yet he’s still on the world tour where MLB teams are concerned and rarely makes it through a season without either being traded or dropped
Dickerson did not hit this year. Average a little over .250 and OPS in the low .600s. Nats had hoped to flip him at the deadline as they did Jeimer Candelario. Looks like no team wanted him.
This sends the wrong message to players. Do very well and stay in AAA. Suck and get called up. What is this? Jeter Downs has not shown he can handle AAA pitching so I don’t know why they would think he can handle much better pitching. This reminds me of when they hired Bud Black as their manager but offered only a one year contract. He turned it down and went to their second choice. Coincidentally, it was Darren’s father Johnnie. They gave him a two year contract as their second choice but offered a year to their first choice. It is mind boggling how they screw up. They also signed Stephen Strasburg to a seven year deal worth 245 million. That has not worked out too well either. At least I don’t think so. Chime in if you think I am mistaken.
Corey Dickerson = .280 career BA, 136 HRs, 469 RBI. 11 years with 8 teams, and he’s put up good numbers at every stop, only once under .250 and 5 times at .300 or more. By age 29, he was done as an everyday player. Useful guys like that have to find their niche. He deserves better for sure.
Dickerson didn’t look right last year either… such a waste John Mozeliak loves blocking prospects so he can hemmorage talent to the American league and say “we didn’t know any better, Oneil and Bader projected to be better” than fix your equation…
Jeter Downs definitely benefited from the “Juiced ball” campaign of 2019?
Hey how hard would it be to swap humidors for Juiced balls? Or vice versa? Particularly in the playoffs?
MANFRED give me back my SPORTS ALMANAC!!!
Garcia with 0.4 WAR so far this season. Seems odd to get demoted.
Probably trying to light a fire under him. His play has been underwhelming for a couple of months now
0.4 WAR after two-thirds of the season is not that good. It signifies a less than replacement level player.
Maybe I’m missing something but I believe it signifies 0.4 Wins Above Replacement for the season so far.
0.4 is below, not above, replacement. Ergo, not reaching a replacement level player in performance.
I’m presuming 1.0 is replacement and I guess I could be wrong about that.
Here is how Baseball Reference puts it: “8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Replacement"
What? 0.4 is above replacement.
My guess is they meant “less than average” rather than “less than replacement.”
Garcia has not hit and his fielding has often been butcher-level
Contending teams are facing roster crunches after their recent acquisitions. Nationals are getting ready to claim a couple.
Makes sense.
– Dickerson is been a weak link. He is Mark Canha with .100 less in OPS. Both are 34. Nobody wanted Dickerson, so the Nats can give Stone Garrett a month of starts.
– Garcia has been flailing for more than a month or two. He can hit, maybe, but hasn’t. This gives Garcia a chance to work on hitting without being on MLB.TV every night. Someplace quiet to figure it out.
The Nats have Darren Baker at 2B in AAA. Baker gets no “prospect buzz”. The “experts said that the Nationals only drafted him as a favor to Dusty, his dad. Experts said he would be exposed in Low A, and then at AA, and that he certainly could not manage AAA. All Darren Baker has done is hit .300 at every level.. The latest Fangraphs expert criticizes his fielding, saying that he “merely” makes acrobatic plays. Garcia is often clumsy, and never makes acrobatic plays. This is a good move. So here’s hoping the Nats prom,ote Darren Baker, who is much more than “Dusty’s son”.
Agreed. If the Nats are willing to promote Alu, Baker certainly deserves a shot. He looks like a Luis Castillo type of player.
The Dodgers only drafted Mike Piazza as a favor to his godfather Tommy Lasorda and that turned out pretty well…
Darren Baker owes his life to J.T. Snow.
Biggest bang-bang play of J.T.’s life
Indeed he does! It is amazing that the same little kid has grown up to be a good ballplayer.
Dickerson might be done in the majors. Still had a really good career with over 1000 hits. Maybe he makes it back next year on a minor league deal in ST with someone though.
Let’s note that Dickerson got a pinch-hit and scored the tying run in today’s Nats walk-off win over the Brewers. It was a strange play to score two runs on a bad throw home, but Dickerson got the hit that started the rally. He has not had a good season, but that was a pretty good send-off.
That .173 Batting Average on Downs must must have enticed the front office…
Yes that’s a head scratcher.
He’s batting .165/.319/.308 in 166 minor league plate appearances this season.
So glad that the White Sox waited 5 years on Rutherford, then the second they FINALLY give up on him it all clicks and he figures it out. Yeah – that’s awesome.
I didn’t know anything about Rutherford until someone of Washington Nats Fan Forum asked, “Who is that Rutherford who seems to be hitting in Rochester?”
Quoting Gerardo “Baby Shark” Parra, “That’s baseball”.
And I’m sad to see the White Sox get broken up.
Sucks for luis but I hope it helps him. I am a big fan of his a thought that he would have a better year than he has been having. He can hit anything, he has great bat to ball, but just thought he would have more power with his size.
How did Jeter Downs make it back on a big league roster? Figured Baker would’ve been a better callup or someone like that
I’m not sure what Jeter Downs has done to deserve a recall. He is hitting .175 in AAA & hasn’t looked good at all at the plate.
Baffles me. Baker got hurt about a month ago, so maybe he is not fully healed. Otherwise, Baker is batting .296 at Rochester, while Downs is batting zero.
This has to be Downs’ last shot in the bigs. That’s all I can figure. He’ll have a few final weeks to figure it out. I hope he does, but based on his complete futility up until now, it’s not likely.
Optioned with a .260 batting average on a pretty bad team?? I know average isn’t everything but thats more than Ruiz, Abrams, Call, and probably a lot of other nats players.
Amen, brother.
Garcia’s hitting has gotten worse and worse over the season. He is being optioned to work on things — hitting and fielding — in AAA. Best I can guess, the Nats want a look — probably a last look — at Jeter Downs. Darren Baker has proven to be a good 2B and a .300 hitter at AAA. Unless a miracle hits Downs, I expect the Nats to release him and to promote Baker while Garcia does his work in the minors.
Elated to see Rutherford get a shot finally.
Dickerson has not hit much. He has been OK in LF. He was signed to be traded at the deadline, but teams must have looked at his hitting and chosen not to offer anything. Baseball Reference rates him a minus .5 WAR.
If we are talking Dickerson, he has a negative WAR. If it’s Luis Garcia, he needs to work on his hitting and his fielding, and to work on them someplace where his mistakes will not be big news.
More unexplained roster moves, from the team with no farmhands to be confident about. Garcia’s .260 BA in MLB is worrying them? What about Downs’ .175, in Triple A?? Downs is a bust with the bat, better with the glove but don’t see him helping at the problem positions of 2b and 3B. A placeholder with no stick. Great. Since June 24, the Nats are 18-16. For a collection of dumpster dive FAs and some promising youngsters and a few wizened vets, that is not bad at all. And if they had any kind of legit minor league help, they’d have DFA’d Dickerson long ago. And probably Alex Call, too, God love him. The real disappointment is Dom Smith, whose lack of production reaffirms why the Mets gave up on him. More baling wire and string trying to hold it together. But why not let Garcia hit his way out of his slump? It almost sounds punitive. Go Nats, anyway.