The Nationals announced that first baseman Joey Meneses has been optioned to Triple-A Rochester after today’s game. Additionally, outfielder Eddie Rosario has cleared unconditional release waivers and is now a free agent. The corresponding move for Meneses has not been announced yet.
Meneses, 32, will head to the minors for the first time in almost two years. The rebuilding Nats cleared out some lineup space at the 2022 deadline, trading away Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Ehire Adrianza.
They selected Meneses to the roster at that time. He had always hit well in the minors but was a 30-year-old with no major league experience and the transaction was largely buried, with Meneses expected to simply play out the string on a lost season.
But Meneses went on to demolish major league pitching in his debut. He got into 56 games as 2022 was winding down, crushing 13 home runs in that time. He slashed .324/.367/.563 for a wRC+ of 157.
Though it was a magical couple of months, he hasn’t been able to carry it forward. He added another 13 homers last year, but in a fair larger sample of 154 games. His .275/.321/.401 batting line in 2023 wasn’t disastrous, translating to a 96 wRC+, but he doesn’t offer much else. He’s not a burner on the basepaths and isn’t considered a strong defender at first base or in an outfield corner. Here in 2024, the results have been even worse. He has just three long balls so far and is slashing .235/.294/.310 for a wRC+ of 72.
The Nats have clearly decided that it’s time to move on, but they will need to figure out how to cover first base now. Harold Ramírez could be an option but he’s also considered a poor defender and isn’t hitting much this year either. Joey Gallo got a bunch of at-bats there earlier in the season but he’s on the injured list with a hamstring strain and it doesn’t appear his return is imminent. Jesse Winker has never played first in the majors but has a small amount of experience there in the minors. Trey Lipscomb is on the 40-man but he’s more of a glove-first utility guy. Juan Yepez is in Triple-A on a minor league deal and not on the 40-man at present. The open market features players like José Abreu and Mike Ford, though they were let go due to their own struggles.
From a service time point of view, Meneses came into this season with one year and 65 days, putting him 107 shy of the two-year mark. Today is the 99th day of the 2024 season, meaning he’s still just under that two-year line. He’ll still have a chance to cross it if he comes back up at any point, but he’ll likely need to produce more offense in the next few weeks in order for that to come to fruition.
As for Rosario, it was reported yesterday that the club had requested release waivers on him. No other club was going to claim him, given that he’s making $2MM this year while having slashed .183/.226/.329. Now that he’s a free agent, he’ll be free to sign with any other club. That signing club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, which would be subtracted from what the Nats owe him.
Surprised it didn’t happen earlier. Nationals farm must be thin at first base
Very thin.
168 hits last season with 36 doubles and no errors all year at first base = 0.5 WAR.
Errors are pretty much irrelevant. He had a.722 OPS, which is not good for a first baseman. This year he has 3 homers and a .604 OPS, which is terrible. I don’t know why they kept him in the lineup this long.
Also, last years numbers were based on 657 plate appearances. 36 doubles isn’t that super, and he only had 13 homers for that many plate appearances.
He had a DRS of 0 and an OAA of -1. His defense was nothing special for what is generally considered the easiest position to play.
First baggers tend to have pretty low WAR’s due to the ‘easy’ position on defense.
@Canuck 36 doubles is pretty good. He was top 20 in MLB for doubles last season. And he was only 6 behind 2nd place. Nobody was close to Freeman’s 59.
He stayed on the roster this long because of his RISP numbers. His OPS is .597 (blech). But with RISP, his OPS coming into today’s game was .823 (90 plate appearances). And with two outs/RISP his OPS was 1.082 (!). That’s why he’s tied for the team RBI lead.
OTOH, just imagine how bad in his other 222 plate appearances had to be to get his OPS under .600.
Ha ha, well, when your team is the Nats, you tend to keep your leading RBI guy around! He is the current RBI leader (tied with Abrams) and led the team in ’23 with 89. He also is a perfectly respectable 1st baseman. He makes all the expected plays and a little more. Joey’s abilities just kept dwindling, I guess. Yet he still had a knack for driving in some runs.
Another reason that WAR is a useless stat
Or maybe NRI made a useless comment that ignores the fact he rarely played first and hit like Jeff Blauser as a DH.
Jeff blauser, I haven’t heard that name in 20 years probably.
Maybe 30.
its silly to say one stat is useless Its a base to be used in context with other stats.
Its like saying the number 1 pick in the draft is going to be the best player. (jamarcus russel, kwame brown etc etc)
Or the pitcher with the most wins is the best pitcher (check out degrom cy young awards seasons)
A team with 100+ wins is the best team and will win the world series. (if anything seems the opposite)
A reliever with a low ERA is a great reliever. (you will see a ton of middle relievers with a low era but have a ton of inherited runners score so they dont get hit but the person before them does)
someone that hits 25+ homeruns but strikes out 200+ times to get there and have a below 200 average and leave average ops+
Roll14 hours ago
its silly to say one stat is useless
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Spot on correct. I seriously doubt scouts and GMs use only one single stat. For me, it all depends on whether I want to be quick or thorough.
He played 19 games at first.
19 games was good enough to win Rafael Palmeiro a Gold Glove back in 1999
Raffy had 28 games. Show some respect
About time
He had it coming. It’s time for Joey and senzel to pack up. The future is now Brady House, and Dylan Crews are coming
Are either MLB ready now?
No. House is still in AA, Crews just got the call to AAA last month. Both have had decent seasons but not the kind that warrants a fast track to the majors.
True but they are going to get better by getting a taste of the big leagues. Senzel thus far is a waste. Brady can’t be any worst
They don’t want to start that service time I’d imagine.
Agreed. That’s the only reason I see
Brady, honestly, hasn’t been that great in AA. Crews hasn’t shown he is ready for the majors.
What kind of simp makes their anti-vax status their username lololololol
They said that about Adell and Torkelson and Senzel when they brought them up. Getting a taste doesn’t always work that way.
Not that he’d be any upgrade but what’s up with Joey Gallo?
Hamstring injury
He’s next.
Do you mean the Joey Gallo with a 40+% K rate this year?
Gallo is a $5M MISTAKE! Rizzo went dumpster diving and thought he was on Rodeo Drive when he plucked Gallo out of an alley for this year. Really, did he not look at Gallo’s metrics? Or his career numbers? Or his recent precipitous drop in every stat??? I understand the attraction of home run hitters with horrible batting averages — well, actually, I don’t — but Gallo had THAT profile about 7 years ago. Oh, but he is good defensively. He can stay on the IL as far as Nats fans care. Welcome, Yepez.
Poor guy lost all of his best years at the plate in the minors! He should be in year 6-7 as a major leaguer by this point. He hit consistently at every single level.
If he was that good I imagine that he would have gotten the call to the majors earlier than at age 29.
That’s what you would think for sure. Check his minor league numbers out. Thats all I’m going off of. Normally a line like his gets you called up way earlier.
The Nats had Juan Soto in right and Josh Bell at first, his two main positions. They didn’t have the DH till 2022, Meneses’ first year in the bigs.
He was simply blocked.
He wasn’t the first, nor will he be the last to suffer that fate
Meneses was blocked by the Braves, Phillies and Red Sox organizations for years before the Nats got him in late 2021. In 2018, with Phillies’ AAA team, he hit ,311/.360/.510, with 23 HRs and 82 RBIs. His career minor league numbers are in line with those. Expect to see him at least re-emerge in the Mexican League. Joey is a good guy. Hope he can recapture his swing.
It’s hard to get the call to the show when Freddie Freeman was the 1st Base.
He was in ATLs system for a long time. He wasn’t going to play with Freeman in front of him. Then he was behind Hoskins. Was also behind Bell for awhile as pointed out bu others above.
If he was more capable with his glove one of the teams he was with would have fit him into lineup.
He was average. Not terrible, average. That means half the first basemen were worse.
He hit consistently at every single level.
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I’m not seeing it. His first good year in the minors was when he was 26. Then he flunked out in Japan and returned to Mexico. It’s kind of remarkable that he ever got to the MLB.
Out of his 9 minor league seasons before he reached the majors, he hit over .284 6 of those years.
Here I thought that was a good batting average, and generally indicative of a guy needing a look at the major leagues before he hits 29. I must be crazy? Or is this just arguing for the sake of arguing?
Gallo is hurt. Adams has had a few minor league starts at first. Winker has practiced at first, no game experience. Harold Ramírez played 1 game at first in 2021, 32 games in 2022, 6 games in 2023. The Nats need a first baseman the kid infielders can trust. So who plays first?
Vargas?
Probably would be Yepez then yeh? Only real option.
No, they need a first baseman who can hit.
I would use James Wood at some point
Some point this season? Hah! No.
really hard to have only 3 Homers (12 doubles) yet drive in 43 RBI’s , .235/295/311. How’s he do that? .324/400 with RISP. You’d think they’d keep him on the roster to pinch hit….
Good point.
Luck in a small sample of at bats
Look at his RISP numbers from last season. It’s more than luck.
100% still luck. What’s keeping a guy from getting lucky twice in a row? There’s been tons of research on this. There’s no inherent skill in hitting with RISP.
He had an .890 OPS but with a .420 BABIP. That stuff always reverts.
The dream ended.
Finally this went from a potential greatest comeback of all time to one of the comebacks of all time
Joey Meneses was exactly what we needed for the lean times. The team is improving, but he hasn’t been. We love him, but it is time to move on. It will be even harder to move on from Lane Thomas, a crazy great trade return and fan favorite. However, whether the Nats are near a Wild Card or not, take an advantageous trade to complete the circle and look to the future.
Meneses was a nice story but has shown over the past couple of seasons why he was a career minor leaguer into his age 30 season.
You don’t see these type of journey men make the MLB much. I’d like to see if expansion increases stories like this and other quirky players like knuckleballers and different specialists.
If this ends up being the end of the line for him in MLB, hats off to Joey. Great story and he got to live out the dream, however brief it was. I’m sure he could end up playing overseas and have a nice second act.
I don’t really understand this. He’s their top RBI guy, even if not much else. Who fills those shoes? No one in the org…
Winker, Thomas, Garcia, and Abrams all can drive in Rs. Menseses was only leading Nats do to position in lineup.
Look at his RISP numbers
LOL. Yes, everyone celebrating that he has finally been “found out,” but Meneses is the current team RBI leader and led them last year with 89. I’m the first to say his production has fallen off but no one else can make more out of a long fly ball than Joey! Seems they would’ve waited till they had a legit replacement before letting him go. Ramirez and Yepez are most likely not the answer, either.
We will always have Mexico , Joey
Joey had some exciting time. Maybe he’ll have another comeback.
This should have been a clear trade “high” at the deadline guy year one. Thirty year old rookie superstars only happen in the movies.
I guess they must tried but it was too difficult to trade a 30 year old with years of control. No one pays young prospects for him. Why don’t they hope for a breakout year from their own younger prospects?