The Nationals announced this morning that they’ve placed Nick Senzel on unconditional release waivers. Any team that claims him would assume the remainder of his $2MM salary. It’s likelier he’ll go unclaimed and become a free agent.
Washington had five days to find a trade partner after designating the third baseman for assignment last Saturday. That didn’t come to fruition, making a release the likely outcome. Senzel entered the season with four years and 150 days of service time. He surpassed the five-year mark in April, thereby earning the right to decline any assignments to the minor leagues without forfeiting salary. Since Senzel would likely have elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment to Triple-A, the Nats simply released him.
The Nationals took a flier on the former #2 overall pick last offseason. Senzel never developed into the offensive force that the Reds envisioned when they drafted him so highly. That’s in part because of injury, as the University of Tennessee product missed time because of knee and toe issues. Even when healthy, Senzel turned in middling offensive numbers. He combined for a .239/.302/.368 line in nearly 1400 plate appearances with Cincinnati.
The Reds opted not to tender him an arbitration contract. The Nationals, still at the tail end of their rebuild, guaranteed him $2MM in hopes that a change of scenery could unlock some of the upside he showed in college and in the minors. The Nats also committed to moving Senzel back to his natural third base position after the Reds had bounced him around the diamond in recent years.
Senzel continued to struggle in his new home. He opened the season on the injured list after breaking his thumb in Spring Training. Senzel returned in mid-April and blasted five home runs over his first couple weeks of the season. His production tailed off almost immediately thereafter. Since the start of May, he’s hitting .207/.309/.299 in 188 plate appearances. That wasn’t going to translate to any kind of trade interest.
Washington is giving rookie Trey Lipscomb an audition at third base after moving on from Senzel. The 24-year-old has struggled to a .228/.293/.257 slash line over his first 43 MLB contests. The Nats have dropped 10 games under .500 and are quickly falling from the Wild Card race, though, so they’ve taken the past couple weeks to get looks at younger players. Washington also released Eddie Rosario in conjunction with the promotion of top outfield prospect James Wood.
Once he clears release waivers, Senzel might need to take a minor league contract. If he secures a spot on the MLB roster with another team, that club would only owe him the prorated portion of the $740K minimum for time spent in the majors. The Nationals remain on the hook for the rest of his salary.
all 6 years his career with an OPS+ below 100 with a negative dWAR… how’d he last THIS long???
being a #2 pick goes a long way i guess
Your moniker is hilarious Hardtowalk.
that’s true… teams see bad 1st round pick and think there’s something they can fix
28
Because teams don’t look at OPS+ or dWAR
Senzel has a lot of skills that are needed to be a productive major league player. He just wasn’t able to ever put it together
You have the benefit of looking at this only in hindsight.
I’m sure you’d find that if you kept track of all the players that you had an opinion on, you’d find that you gave up on a lot of players too soon.
Teams undoubtedly look at OPS+ and dWAR, but they look at lots of other factors, many of which we’re not privy to.
GBS
Almost certainly not
I mean, they’d undoubtedly look at wRC+ before OPS+
And something like DRS before dWAR
His career went kieboom in DC
Good one!
Kieboom might get another chance before the season is out. Assuming the Nationals aren’t ready to start the service clock on Brady House.
He reminds me of Clint Frazier.
Many moons ago, Frazier’s name came up in every NYY trade. The Yanks said he was untouchable. The same went for the Cubs with Schwarber.. One day untouchable, the next non-tendered.
Bet one of those teams wishes they could have that decision back
I will trade you Frazier and Andujar, you give me your best player.
Ideal guy for the Chisox.
Just a reminder with the draft coming up that 8-9 of the top 10 picks in any given draft will likely end up like this. Only 15% of top 10 picks ever have a 2 WAR season. Even picking at the top of the draft doesn’t guarantee anything in baseball.
This is pretty accurate.
Since Senzel was drafted in 2016, lets look at that draft 8 years later, and the total production of the top ten.
1) Moniak…0.4 fWAR…bust.
2) Senzel….-0.5….bust.
3) Ian Andersom…3.8…you decide
4) Riley Pint…bust
5) Corey Ray…-0.1… bust
6) Puk…1.9…bust
7) Braxton Garrett…5.0…not bad.
8) Cal Quantrill 7.0…best of the bunch.
9) Matt Manning…2.7…you decide.
10) Zack Collins…-2.1… bust.
I dont know what any GM expects to get out of a top ten draft pick over eight years, but if I was a GM, I would only call two of them a success.
Quantrill, a MOR has been the most productive.
BTW…only Garrett and Quantrill have had a 2 fWAR season.
Ian Anderson is still young and has amazing postseason stats in a fairly small sample obviously. Even that draft isn’t as bad as the 15% figure. But there are no guys that were great. Granted. One draft tho
I’d have to look but that could be on the all time worst top ten draft picks if not the worst , in any of the four sports ( nba nhl mlb nfl) ?
pretty much all those in first round of 2016 have turned out busts or on their way to being bench fodder.
Then you have compensation round and later:
Wil Smith (comp)
Bryan Reynolds (2nd R)
Pete Alonso (2nd R)
Bo Bichette (2nd R)
Zac Gallen (3rd R)
Corbin Burnes (4th R)
Shane Bieber (4th R)
Baseball draft is no where like NBA where anything after 1st is rare to find quality
Thanks. That is very interesting. Almost all of those you list could make a case for number 1.
If we look at more recent drafts that figure isn’t close to accurate. I assume the statistic is going back to the beginnings of the draft. The point is a good one tho. It is hard to judge the most recent drafts (even going back 6 years or so) but the ones before that are usually littered with MLB stars in the top 10 picks. And even some recent ones are already better than 15%. The draft ain’t the same as the old days. Some players used to not even know they were drafted for weeks or months. There would be large areas with very few scouts. Everything is at your fingertips now as an organization.
Yankees should be looking at Senzel. Much better upgrade over JD Davis, especially since Senzel can play the field.
Senzel is an awful defender no matter where you put him…
…or they could be a Piazza, be picked in the 62nd round, 1,390th pick & become a star.
Thanks to the juice like Canseco
Another OF bat that I wouldn’t be totally shocked if the Braves gave a shot
Him being a Boras client no way!