The Nationals announced that third baseman Nick Senzel has been designated for assignment. Infielder Trey Lipscomb was called back up from Triple-A Rochester in the corresponding move.
It is the second time this week that the Nats have DFA’ed one of their veteran pickups from the offseason, as Eddie Rosario was designated and subsequently released (and then quickly signed by the Braves, his former team). Rosario’s minor league deal carried a $2MM base salary once he was selected to the Nationals’ active roster, and likewise, Senzel signed a guaranteed one-year, $2MM contract with Washington over the winter. If Senzel isn’t claimed or traded during his DFA period and then released, the Nationals will be responsible for the roughly $950K still owed to Senzel, apart from the prorated minimum MLB salary that would be covered by a new team if Senzel signs elsewhere.
The financial element of today’s move is probably secondary to the bigger-aspect of the Nationals pulling the cord early on a veteran player rather than looking to move Senzel in a trade closer to the deadline. As with Rosario, it seems like Washington just opted to move on entirely since Senzel wasn’t producing enough to generate much trade interest. Senzel has hit .209/.303/.359 with seven home runs over 235 plate appearances, translating to a below-average 90 wRC+. Apart from an excellent 11.5% walk rate, Senzel wasn’t bringing much to the table either offensively or defensively as the Nats’ regular third baseman, and he had only 0.1 fWAR over 64 games.
As has often been the case for Senzel, health was a factor. He suffered a fractured thumb right at the end of Spring Training that required a season-opening stint on the 10-day injured list, and though the fracture was slight enough that he missed less than three weeks of action, it is easy to imagine how any kind of lingering thumb discomfort might’ve impacted Senzel’s performance at the plate.
This is essentially the story of Senzel’s career, as a wide range of injuries has kept him off the field for long stretches of time, to say nothing of how his ceiling as a talent has been lowered. Selected second overall by the Reds in the 2016 draft, Senzel battled injuries and a number of position changes over his first five MLB seasons, and he hit only .239/.302/.369 in 1366 PA for Cincinnati from 2019-23. The Reds then non-tendered him last fall, sending Senzel to free agency and for what he hoped was a welcome change of scenery in Washington.
While the Nationals’ 41-47 record still puts them on the outskirts of the NL wild card race, 2024 was always seen as another step in the team’s rebuilding process, as the Nats were looking for more development from their youngsters already on the active roster and those just on their way into the Show for the first time. Star outfield prospect James Wood made his MLB debut this past week in the wake of Rosario’s departure, Victor Robles’ release last month created more time for Jacob Young as the regular center fielder, Joey Meneses was optioned to Triple-A to make more room for Juan Yepez at first base. Lipscomb should be the favorite for the third base job with Senzel out, though top prospect Brady House is the team’s longer-term third baseman of the future.
Impending free agents Jesse Winker and Dylan Floro remain as two of the Nationals’ likeliest veteran trade chips heading into the July 30th deadline. Such players as outfielder Lane Thomas and relievers Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan have also reportedly drawn interest, and while that trio is all arbitration-controlled through the 2025 campaign, one would image the Nats would be open to listening to offers as they look towards reinforcing their core.
It’s amazing how hard baseball is at the MLB level. It almost seems that we see former top prospects DFA’ed/released weekly.
That’s why I haven’t put much emphasis on the prospects list for almost 20 years. Most of the hype around prospects is killed by mismanagement of their time. The MLBPA needs to arrange a different method of these teams sending players back and forth to the minors to manipulate acquired time. It wrecks havoc on the bodies both physically and mentally. Peraza from the Yankees is a prime example. Let these kids play or trade them to teams that will let them play.
Neither Senzel or Peraza are victims of the promotion structure. Both have been either hurt or not playing well. 1400 career PA’s and Senzel’s 92 ops+ this year is actually a career high. Peraza can’t even hit AAA pitching this year.
Prospect lists have gotten better over the years with analytics becoming more used. Definitely see better projections coming close to reality than years before.
Public prospect lists are almost as big a joke as public defensive statistics and public player/team projections.
It’s stuff for clicks on the Internet and fodder for sports talk radio. It’s entertainment and means nothing.
Senzel really shouldn’t even really be in baseball. His pedigree is the only thing that has kept it in it this far. Career -2.1 bWAR and -0.5 bWAR this year.
As a a Reds fan I was shocked he was signed and could’ve told you he wasn’t going to do anything this year. He is a marginal offensive player who is a really bad defender.
He was a Rizzo dumpster dive — a stopgap measure for a team whose hottest 3B prospect, Brady House, still looks to be a year or so away. If you know the Nats and their irregular willingness to spend big money for big talent, then you know of Rizzo’s patchwork approach to building his roster. Some work out (like Winker), others do not.
Senzel was worth the chance for a rebuilding team. If/when the team doesn’t think the player can help them the player gets released.
Took longer than expected.
Kind of sad that a guy like Senzel who consistently under performs gets chance after chance because of his draft pick status meanwhile you have guys like Jake Magnum who have batted over .300 for their whole minor league career and still hasn’t received a chance to play in the big leagues
Didn’t Magnum get accused of something pretty bad a year or two ago?
Don’t see anything about when searching up could be thinking of Jake Sanford who was in the same draft class
“Didn’t Mangum get accused of something pretty bad”..Mangum is a hunter and was out hunting with friends and charged with “illegally baiting ducks” and “lack of a federal duck stamp” in Mississippi, a relatively minor hunting violation. Mangum was fined and paid $687, including court costs and the matter has been resolved for a couple years now.
Mangum’s numbers look good. He is 28 now. Needs a chance!
Yeah, but illegally baiting ducks?! Ducks are nature’s comedians. Jeez!
Teams hold on to status and promise even when it’s proven to be gone prime examples Lewis Brinson and Anthony Banda
I am surprised by this move. Okay, he wasn’t doing great but he was just one or two multi hit games from being league average. And his replacement, from what he has shown this year, is much worse. This is a head scratching move. It’s like when Bud Black was hired but turned down the job when they offered only one year. They went to their second choice Johnnie Baker and gave him two years. Where’s the sense in either situation? Why not only extend a pitcher with a considerable injury history but give him seven years for 245 million? Yes. I am talking about Stephen Strasburg. Was putting him in the bullpen even considered when he was on an innings limit after Tommy John? Why did Davey Johnson bring in Drew Storen in a lopsided game they were losing? Did Davey even know that they were playing the next two days and he would probably be needed? Maybe he didn’t know that it’s hard for relievers to pitch three consecutive days. I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, Davey Johnson ruined Dwight Gooden”s career. He had a habit of abusing pitchers. Don’t forget the one world series he won was because the Red Sox manager wanted Bill Buckner on the field when they won. He was pretty much walking on one leg. A defensive replacement should have fielded Mookie’s grounder.
Shut up, Nick.
You could have stopped at “he wasnt doing great”…and been talking about his entire time in mlb .
Below average replacement player his entire career….very few guys get that long of a rope.
If Buckner fields the ball, the game goes into extra innings. Mets might have won that game anyway.
@paule What this fool fails to realize is that the backup 1B(Stapleton) was even worse with his glove than Buckner by 1986.
Not surprising though. This guy can’t comprehend how drug abuse could harm a career. He also can’t except reality when there’s a link provided that has Gooden himself reflecting on what could have been without his substance abuse issues. Lastly, he ignores the stats which show Gooden went on for 3 more seasons throwing 190+ innings after Davey was gone.
Argument could be made Doc Gooden ruined Doc Gooden’s career. Unless Davey had a side gig pushing weight.
That was pretty amusing to see someone try and blame anyone other than Gooding. Dude’s career was derailed due to drugs nobody to blame but himself.
If however Davey was an entrepreneur and his prices were unbelievable maybe I could see some validity. Unfortunately for such a wonderfully smelling product, it is anything but cheap.
Davey ruined Dwight Gooden’s career because he made him pitch many innings when the mets were ahead by five or more runs. His arm couldn’t handle the unnecessary innings because he was so young. There was an article in Sports Illustrated about this. There is a hardening of cartilage up until the age of twenty five. He pitched so many innings before the cartilage was fully developed. Btw, his drug use actually helped him because he was sent to rehab and got a bit of a break for pitching for the dunce Davey. He should have had a dozen or more dominant years but he didn’t come close to that. How does putting something up your nose affect your ability to get hitters out? Is my position still amusing or maybe you don’t know what you’re talking about? What do you think happened to Valenzuela and Saberhagen? I’ll tell you. The same thing.
You have got to be joking. Gooden and Strawberry both are examples of unrealized potential. They both were limited by drug use. To try and place blame anywhere else is absolutely laughable.
Gooden threw 190 innings the first yr without Johnson and over 200 innings the 2nd and 3rd seasons. So the notion that it was Johnson does not jive with history.
And are you seriously question how cocaine abuse would hinder a pro athletes career?? It is horrible for ones heart and while using causes secere dehydration. Both are absolutely detrimental for athletes. Proper hydration is crucial part of recovery while training. If the body is working to recover from a foreign substance that is lost gains from training.
Gooden
Valenzuela did not really start to regress or miss time til his 30s. I’d chalk him up more towards natural regression.
As for Saberhagen, yes he likely was overused early. Ultimately tho pitching is not a natural movement to be doing so violently and repetitive. Nearly all pitchers will eventually have arm issues. But to try and dismiss someone’s drug use as having no impact on their career is utterly ridiculous.
Gooden and Strawberry have each admitted that drugs and alcohol damaged their careers. Sorry but I’m going to go with Gooden’s word over yours on this one….
Nearly every pitcher blows out. Stop it.
Pitchers also tell managers not to take them out. Back then pitchers had nuts and guts. They lived and died by that code. Managers understood that. If anything they’d let pitchers convince them they’d get the job done late in games.
Your SI article didn’t follow Gooden around to see the demons that destroyed his hall of fame career and his body. Your excuses are noted but not accurate.
I think we both agree that 190 innings one season and then 206 and then 208.2 the next two do not come close to 240 plus. This is what Davey gave him. He was no longer the dominant pitcher that he was. Outside of one very good year in 1993, he just sucked from then on. And I never mentioned Strawberry.
Valenzuela had a whip of 1.506 at 26, 1.532 at 27, 1.439 at 28 and 1.471 at 29. He sucked long before 30. A difference of opinion is one thing. Getting your facts wrong is something else. And maybe Dwight Gooden has received so much therapy where he has heard that an addict should blame himself or herself and not someone else.
Are we living in Russia? So you don’t want to hear something that is not popular. Get over it. I know Davey the dunce destroyed what should have been a great career. The article followed the incredibly high number of innings for a very young and great pitcher.
@believe So youvare just going to continue to acknowledge that he continued pitching 190 innings or more for 3 seasons after Davey?? You are going to ignore that Gooden himself has acknowledged drug use harmed his career??
Yeah because some guy is claiming to have read an article years ago, reality should be dismissed. Also what Gooden himself has said should be dismissed. Seriously get real.
mlb.com/news/dwight-gooden-on-his-recovery-hall-of…
Well-deserved release. Bust.
Wonder if Lane Thomas will want to be traded now. He and Nick Senzel have been friends for many years.
Lane Thomas has had his greatest success and amount of playing time with the Nationals. He has been happy to be in DC, and the signing of Senzel was recent gravy. That said, I do believe that he or Winker, or both, with be traded. The Nats don’t seem they are going to snag the last Wild Card, and it shouldn’t be their main focus this year.
Are you serious?
Thomas looked very happy today as the Nats kayoed the Cards bigtime. I don’t think he was reflecting on Nick Senzel. Instead, I think he was reflecting on the Nats’ sudden influx of really good young starting pitchers, and the big game top prospect James Wood had (1st MLB homer and 5 RBIs). I hope Thomas sticks around. He’s a very steady player who does a lot of good things in every aspect of the game.
With the surplus of OF in the farm, a Thomas trade might be the right move. maximizing the value for the team.
Time for him to hang the cleats and look for another career, injuries derailed it, but not the first and certainly not the last.
Why retire? He’s 29 will bump around for another 3-4 years and collect a few million more dollars whether he’s on the IL or not.
Imagine being 20 and taking a job where your hired to be good at latin. Then you get to the job and find out that you need to be good at french. Never understood position changes with young players…..
Imagine trying to compare switching positions in a particular sport one is talented at to two different foreign languages. Quite an absolute stretch of an analogy.
Senzel also played some OF in college. I’d also think nearly any middle infielder in MLB can easily adjust to and play OF in time. Judging the ball is much easier than reacting as an infielder does. And if one can get in front of and field MLB grounders the OF should not be much of an issue.
The biggest issue has got to be trying to hit going from AA or AAA pitching to MLB pitching. Many of players have stumbled on the next step and many will continue to in the future. There is no shame in being a “AAAA player”. Most could only dream of going that far in the sport. To succeed at each level is a hurdle most never clear.
Calling Carter Kieboom.
Front offices dictating to the manager and coaching staffs can ruin players.
Last night I watched 29 year-old Miguel Andujar play for the A’s against the O’s. The man is slashing .292 / .318 / .403 / .315 / .270 / 108 this year, and playing a decent LF at age 29. (Stats aren’t sacrosanct, but they can offer a general perspective.)
I saw him come up to the Yankees in 2018 with his buddy Gleyber Torrres. Those 2 youngsters were major reasons the Yankees were in the pennant race that year. Then Cashman and his yes men that know nothing about handling and developing ML players went after them during subsequent years. Andujar got hurt in 2019-20. The Yankees tried this-and-that with him in subsequent years as they did with Gleyber. Nothing really worked for either of them for any length of time. Andujar went to Pittsburgh for a few years – another team that doesn’t know how to bring along players. He got to the A’s and from what I’ve seen – as with Rooker – they coached him up some but pretty much let him be the player he is and accepted that.
Gleyber is another mess. The man is a 2B at a time when due to excessive overmanaging via substitution in game situations, most teams want their 2B to be a “middle infielder”. Do to typical awful roster construction by Hal Cashman, the Yankees stuck Gleyber at SS a few years ago when one awful SS got injured and they literally had no one else. Gleyber couldn’t remotely play the position and was embarrassed to and ridiculed by fans as if he was the problem. The man has been destroyed and looks lost half the time on the field since.
Like Mr. Senzel, neither one of those players was going to be a big star. But they should have been solid ML players that were major contributors to a contending team.
The Red inept FO screwed around with Stenzel his first few years trying this hair-brained idea and that one because they has so few decent players that they’d move him if they though another awful prospect could play the position he as trying to acclimate himself to playing at the ML level.
Organizations are what wins in MLB. The good ones (my current faves for the last 3-4 years – Phillies, Orioles Brewers, and Guardians) bring along players properly and work with them to stabilize and play strong fundaments. That is a win-win for both their careers and the ML teams success. A young player gets with a team like the Yankees. Pirates, Rockies, and even the current Reds and it’s only through a miracle that a decent player will have a productive ML career for at least 5 years.
ClE has shuffled players amongst positions and I believe PHI has their former MVP at 1B even though he’s been a carrer OF.
Sorry but first you use Andujar and A’s as an example then you go on to speak of good organizations. I don’t think many would classify OAK as a good organization. Kind of feels like cherry picking a bit here.
They are playing a kids game and being paid millions. I’m just not seeing the switch as the reason Senzel has not been able to consistently hit MLB pitching in 2 separate organizations. As for Andujar and Torrea with the Yankees, yes I agree that could have been a contributing factor. NYC media is a pressure cooker especially as it pertains to the Yankees.
Tigers3232;
Talk about “cherry picking”…..
Where did I write that Oakland is a quality organization?
This is the 2nd time in 2 days I’ve read you take something I wrote – misrepresent it and then attack what you say I wrote.
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Been watching MLB since 1956. Played the sport. Love it. Know how difficult it is to build, develop, and maintain winning teams….which only last for a while. Been posting here on-and-off for 7-9 years. Am used to social media tricks.
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On one hand you tell me how hard it is tp play the sport – then you write that players should perform at a high level no matter what they’re asked to do – even if they’re unprepared and not fit for the task (Mr. Senzel did not draft himself high and then sign himself). I think you’ve been watching too many Tigers games since Dombrowski left.
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Everything starts from the Baseball Ops head down. While players need to be challenged to be better, they should be working off their strengths – which give them traction to base off of. Players under contract to an MLB organization are it’s largest assets. Competitive organizations understand that (in any pro sport). Management exists to acquire those players and maximize their abilities.
You seem to feel that players owe you something because of the salaries management agrees to pay them. That’s fine. Have you ever run a successful business or managed employees in one?
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The #1 problem on this board is that people think that MLB is Rotisserie League, and no matter what team a player dresses for each day he’ll perform the same for – as if every organization is run and managed the same.
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I’ve not only seen players ruined by MLB teams, I’ve known players that have been. And every player and agent knows full well that it happens. The current Reds FO was not responsible for the Senzel situation…but the one that drafted and moved him around from position to position is.
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When the Twins wanted to impress their fans by making a splash and bringing in Carlos Correa to play SS, that was understandable (Correa is one of my favorite SS’s of the past 10 years). But they didn’t think about how that would affect top prospect Royce Lewis. Figured they’d stick Lewis somewhere. And they did – to play the OF when Buxton got hurt. A position he hadn’t played and was unprepared for…..he got injured. He came back, and boy – can he hit. But those injuries acted up again. and he’s currently out.
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I’ve found in life that doing the right thing works in the long term. Doing what’s expedient and not thinking about the ramifications are what children do – not successful adults.
The Phillies??
Who have they “brought along”?????
They been trying to buy a Championship for years(Harper-Turner-Schwarber) without these guys their a Bottomfeeder in the East!!!!
iceman8133 ho;
Suarez, Sanchez, Hoffman, Kerkering, Soto, Dominguez,
Strahm, Alvarado, Stubbs, Marchan, Bohm, Stott, Edmundo Sosa, Marsh.
Harper, is a far better al-around player thn he was with the Nats; Castellanos is a decent RF – he was a disaser with Cincy, Schwarber is a better hitter than he’s ever been.
Ever watch any Phillies games? Play any baseball?
Some in your list don’t make sense. Soto was an Allstar with Detroit. Alvarado was a closer in Tampa. Sosa was a Cardinal and Marsh was traded for Moniak (whom the Phillies absolutely didn’t “bring along”). While I’m at it, I’m sure Hoffman and Strahm also had success elsewhere.
Soto was an All-Star because Detroit had to have rep in the game. Alvarado stunk when Dombrowski took over the Phillies – in fact, not brining him along was one reason Gerardi was fired as manager. Sosa never produced for the Cardinals like he has for the Phillies (both offensively and defensively). Marsh was traded for O’Hoppe and has become a better hitter (along with Sosa because Kevin Long is point-blank the best hitting coach in MLB).
Get your head out of the spreadsheets and narratives. Then either watch some Phillies games or speak to someone – like me – that does.
Senzel should sue the Reds for ruining his career. I saw it with my own eyes.
“Reds for ruining his career”…So, Senzel’s lack of baseball skill is not what cost him, it’s the way the Reds used him? Even if that were true, how do you explain his face plant with the Nats? Baseball is the ultimate game of constant adjustments. Guys that can’t make adjustments or handle change really have no chance to survive(or thrive)in MLB and Senzel is quite fortunate to have ever been given so much rope to try.
It’s true I saw it happen. I watched the game where he ran into the wall playing centerfield and he was never the same. He’s damaged goods at this point.
There is no other player past or present I have ever said this about. But I saw it happen with Senzel he was a 3b they had tons of 3b already and he had no place to play so they put him at other positions where he wasn’t comfortable and he got hurt.
Plenty of OFs run into walls. Plenty of players are also switched from position they re drafted at.
I can’t say with any certainty that Senzel ever was comfortable playing in the OF. Nor can I see with any certainty he was uncomfortable.
I just have a hard time buying into an organization being at fault even if he was uncomfortable. Many players will end up switching from the position they were drafted at. Many including Senzel have also played other positions then what they were drafted out. Senzel played a few games in OF in college.
Ultimately adapting is part of the game. These athletes will be paid to play a game and paid quite well. They are being taught by some of the best in a game that most of them have been playing for a huge portion of their lives leading upto being drafted. Just have trouble faulting an organization when position changes are a regular occurrence for young players.
Most big leaguers played shortstop at one time because they were the best athlete on their team.
I have yet to see a team with 13 shortstops, though I have accused the Reds of working on it in recent years.
As long as you are moving down the defensive spectrum you are usually OK. Centerfield specifically is the one you shouldn’t mess around with. As a Cardinals fan I saw Rick Ankiel play there get hurt and was never the same. His situation was a bit more complicated but that still happened.
Billy Hamilton was a shortstop who converted to center field and despite his woes with the bat, was one of the best defensive center fielders I ever saw. Eric Davis was a shortstop in the minors at first as well.
Anyone can get hurt anywhere, anytime.
I have yet to see a team with 13 SS’s either. Thatvwas the exact point I was getting at. Moving from SS to CF is also moving down the defensive spectrum.
Yes Senzel did get hurt playing OF. I don’t think the position change is what has led to his failure. I think it’s just a matter of ability. Senzel is a fine ball player, but even most fine ball players don’t make it in MLB. No sport washes out top prospects like baseball. To me Senzel looks like a classic AAAA talent.
San Diego is on their way to 13 SS’s though! Cronenworth (1B), Kim (SS), Machado (3B), Bogaerts (DH), Profar (LF), Merrill (CF), Tatis (RF) and Tyler Wade (bench)!!! ♂️
No one ruined Senzel’s career….
Ironically, I was at that game. But let’s look at opening day this year where Senzel is in the lineup playing third base and he has to get taken out of the game during warmups because a groundball hit him in the hand or something. I think he went on the IL after that too. Some people are just more injury prone. Look at Spencer Steer. The Reds have moved him around the diamond and he stays healthy.
At this point he’s damaged goods. He’s not the same. Maybe he would have been injury prone all along who knows but this is the Reds fault for drafting a 3b when they didn’t need one.
Just last year they drafted another shortstop when they obviously didn’t need one.
Matt McLain and TJ Friedl are learning from Senzel unfortunately…
About time. He hasn’t done much Brady House cannot come up soon enough
House is in AA and not performing all that well there.
He’s 21 years old in AA and showing some power with strong defense. Which is more than can be said about Nick, Vargas and Trey.
House has potential but he’s absolutely not ready for the big leagues yet. That was my point.
#2 overall pick. ranked as high as #6 as a prospect. showed promise in his rookie year
just never found his footing in the majors
Many never do. Baseball can be a very humbling sport, especially for players who have to contend with the best in the world armed with scouting reports on how to best attack their weaknesses.
Yep, leave them all where they’re comfortable Every team in MLB would have 6 guys standing at SS. The most talented kids I’ve ever seen play, were 99% SS or pitchers going into college or the minors.
The Nats Report had this story first at 9:05 AM this morning; here is the link to the tweet for proof.
x.com/TheNatsReport/status/1809574379300245665
Wouldn’t be surprised if there was some sort of clubhouse culture element to this move. On paper Lipscomb taking over for Senzel is kind of a wash in the field and at the plate, and it certainly thins out the Nats’ infield depth.
There was that in-game dust-up a while back between Senzel and Mackenzie Gore that seemed to be related to Senzel’s lack of effort. Publicly everyone quickly moved on but it’s possible there was more of an ongoing issue.
As a Reds fan, this signing seemed really off to me to begin with. Senzel was marked as an offensive force since he was picked second overall in 2016 and put up below average numbers in GABP since his major league debut in 2018 or 2019. Obviously the Nats were the only MLB team who offered him an everyday job.
I agree with you but Boras is his agent, and the Nats have always seemed to give his clients an extra look.
It’s called desperation and trying to get lucky with a bargain.
Sad to see Nick Senzel designated for assignment by the Nationals. Injuries and underperformance have marred his career, and this move underscores the challenges he’s faced. Here’s hoping he finds stability and success elsewhere.
Maybe selling Insurance
As much time as he has spent on the IL, he is probably already an expert in the medical field.