- As Washington Nationals’ rookie pitcher Josiah Gray wraps up his 2022 season, the Nationals are keeping a close eye on his innings count and have hinted at the possibility of shutting him down early, as reported by MLB.com. Coming to the Nationals from the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of the Trea Turner and Max Scherzer trade in 2021, Gray has shown flashes of brilliance and growing pains. Cumulatively, Gray has pitched to 5.17 ERA (27 starts) in 142 2/3 innings with an above-average 24.2% strikeout rate and a high 10.4% walk rate. However, these numbers do not explain the whole story, with Gray posting a 1.13 ERA in June (24 innings) and only allowing 13 hits and 3 earned runs. However, in July, Gray pitched to a 6.75 ERA (26 2/3 innings), giving up 30 hits and 20 earned runs. With the Nationals at the bottom of the NL East, they may turn their focus to the 2023 season and give Gray an extended offseason in preparation for his age-25 season.
- In other Nationals news, southpaw MacKenzie Gore, who was acquired in the Juan Soto and Josh Bell blockbuster at the trade deadline, is working back from his left elbow inflammation, according to MLB.com. Gore has been on the injured list since July 26 and is currently continuing his rehabilitation in Triple-A Rochester. The Nationals are hoping that the 23-year-old will make at least one big league start with the team before the end of the season, and plan to have him throw 75-plus pitches in his next rehab start.
Nationals Rumors
Latest On Orioles’ Ownership Situation
An ongoing legal battle among the Angelos family, which owns the Orioles, has hung over for the franchise for a few months. Longtime owner Peter Angelos, 93, is in poor health, and the franchise’s long-term direction has been a point of contention. Angelos’ wife, Georgia, will inherit the team once Peter passes away, while their son John has served as the franchise’s official control person in recent years.
Louis Angelos, son of Peter and Georgia, recently initiated litigation against his mother and brother in an attempt to force a sale of the franchise. Louis alleges a sale is the desired outcome for both his parents and argues in his complaint that “John has been misleading his mother into believing that he has been working to achieve her goal of a sale of the Orioles.” John Angelos then released a statement reiterating his family’s ties to the franchise and firmly rejecting the possibility of the organization relocating from Baltimore. Georgia Angelos, meanwhile, has previously expressed her faith in John’s leadership and filed a countersuit against Louis Angelos last month.
Against that backdrop, Daniel Kaplan of the Athletic now writes the franchise hired financial firm Goldman Sachs a few months ago to look into the possibility of a sale. That isn’t a new development; Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun reported last month Georgia Angelos confirmed in court filings she “had retained Goldman Sachs and Jones Day to provide investment banking and legal services in connection with the sale of the Orioles.” Nevertheless, Kaplan hears that John and Georgia Angelos continue to explore their options for the franchise, even if there’s no guarantee they’ll eventually put the organization up for sale. Barker, meanwhile, wrote last month that John Angelos was interested in selling a minority share of the franchise while retaining the family’s overall control and keeping the team in Baltimore.
Both Barker and Kaplan suggest that any sale of the franchise, if it were to arise, could wait until after Peter Angelos passes away. While Georgia Angelos stands to inherit the franchise tax free upon her husband’s death, Louis Angelos’ court filings suggest a sale while Peter Angelos is still alive would have “a sizable tax hit.”
The nearby Nationals, with which the Orioles are still embroiled in a years-long suit over television rights fees, are currently going through a sales process themselves. The Lerner family announced in April they’d begun to explore a sale of the Washington franchise, and Kaplan hears from a source they’re seeking $2.5 billion in that deal. That same source suggests the Orioles could wait until after the Nationals’ sale is completed to begin any sales process of their own, given the likely market overlap. Angels owner Arte Moreno is also looking into a franchise sale, although that’s obviously in a much different geographical area.
There’ll certainly be more to come as the Angelos’ various litigations develop, likely over multiple months. The Orioles lease at Camden Yards runs through the end of next season. The team has the right to trigger a five-year option, extending the lease through the 2028 campaign, by February 1 of next year.
Kurt Suzuki To Retire After 2022 Season
Longtime big league catcher Kurt Suzuki will retire once the 2022 season concludes, he tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. That comes the day after the Hawaii native’s 39th birthday.
“I feel like it’s time,” Suzuki told Fletcher. “I’ve had a great run, won a World Series, All-Star Game. Played 16 seasons. I’ve accomplished a lot of things I never would have dreamed of. I felt like it’s time for the next chapter. My three kids, all they’ve known is baseball.”
Suzuki began his professional career in 2004. A second-round pick of the A’s out of Cal State Fullerton, he made it to Oakland three years later. Suzuki debuted in June 2007 and cemented himself as the A’s primary catcher from essentially that point forward. The right-handed hitter topped 130 games every year between 2008-11, generally hitting at a slightly below-average level overall but better than average for a catcher. Suzuki’s high-contact approach made him a solid offensive backstop for much of his time in Oakland, and the A’s dealt him to the Nationals in the summer of 2012.
After finishing out that season in Washington, Suzuki wound up back in Oakland via trade in August ’13. He qualified for free agency for the first time after that year, signing with the Twins. Suzuki bounced back from a couple down offensive years to hit .288/.345/.383 and earn an All-Star nod that year, and Minnesota signed him to a two-year extension that summer. His production dipped during his final two seasons in Minnesota, but he rebounded with one of the best years of his career after signing with Atlanta going into 2017. He popped a career-best 19 home runs and hit .283/.351/.536 through 81 games, earning a midseason extension for a second season with the Braves.
Suzuki didn’t quite replicate his 2017 production, but he posted another above-average offensive season to wrap up his time in Atlanta. After hitting .271/.322/.444 with 12 longballs, he landed another multiyear deal in free agency. Heading into the 2019 campaign, the Nationals inked Suzuki to a two-year, $10MM deal to pair with Yan Gomes behind the dish. That contract paid off in year one, as the veteran hit another 17 homers with a .264/.324/.486 line in 85 regular season games. Suzuki saw his most extensive playoff action during the Nats run a World Series title that year. That included a go-ahead homer off Justin Verlander in the seventh inning in Game 2 of the World Series, the biggest play in a win that gave Washington a 2-0 series lead.
After another solid showing with Washington during the shortened 2020 campaign, Suzuki has played the last two seasons on successive one-year pacts with the Angels. He’s had a couple down years to wrap up his career, working primarily as a backup in Orange County.
Suzuki’s career totals won’t be finalized until the season concludes, but he’s not likely to change his ledger all that much over the final two weeks. As he noted, Suzuki has played in 16 consecutive big league seasons and surpassed 1600 games. He owns a .255/.314/.388 line with 143 home runs, 729 runs batted in and 594 runs scored. Suzuki made an All-Star game and played a key role on a World Series team. Baseball Reference values his career around 20 wins above replacement. FanGraphs, which factors in Suzuki’s below-average pitch framing metrics, pegs him around nine wins.
Independent of that discrepancy in value, there’s little doubt about the impressiveness of a major league career that lasted more than a decade and a half. It’s possible he’ll continue his baseball career in some capacity, as Suzuki indicated he’d be happy to discuss the possibility of assuming a non-playing role with Halos general manager Perry Minasian (with whom he’s also familiar from their overlapping stints in Atlanta). MLBTR congratulates Suzuki on his lengthy career and wishes him all the best in his post-2022 endeavors.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Maury Wills Passes Away
The Dodgers announced today that three-time World Series champion Maury Wills has passed away. He was 89 years old.
Wills had an incredibly impressive career, spanning 14 different big league seasons. He debuted as a shortstop with the Dodgers in 1959 at the age of 26. He played in 83 games that season and then six more in the World Series, with the Dodgers hoisting the trophy after defeating the White Sox. In 1960, Wills’ got to play a full season for the first time, stealing 50 bases. That was the first of what would eventually wind up as a six-year run as the top basestealer in the National League, with at least 35 in each year of that period and a whopping 104 in 1962. That 104 mark was the modern era single-season MLB record at the time, which stood until Lou Brock swiped 118 in 1974. It wasn’t just the running game that was impressive that year. Wills also batted .299, hit 13 doubles, 10 triples, six long balls and scored 130 runs. He was voted the National League Most Valuable Player that year, just ahead of Willie Mays.
Wills was with the Dodgers through the 1966 season, winning two more titles in 1963 and 1965. He also grabbed Gold Glove awards in 1961 and 1962 and played in seven All-Star games over five seasons, as there were two games in each of 1961 and 1962. He then went on to play two season for the Pirates, before being selected in the expansion draft for the newly-formed Montreal Expos. He was traded back to the Dodgers in June of 1969 and stuck with them through the end of the 1972 season.
After his playing days were over, Wills spent some time as a broadcaster before trying his hand as a manager. He was hired to manage the Mariners partway through the 1980 season, though his time as skipper was not very successful and ultimately brief. The M’s went 20-38 over the remainder of the 1980 campaign and then started 6-18 in 1981. He was fired at that point and wasn’t given another shot in the dugout, leaving him with a managerial record of 26-56.
Ultimately, Wills will surely be remembered for his incredible base stealing prowess. Across 1,942 career games, he stole 586 bases, a mark that puts him 20th on the all-time list of basestealers. He also scored 1,067 runs and notched 2,134 hits, including 177 doubles, 71 triples and 20 home runs. He earned three World Series rings, seven All-Star appearances, two Gold Glove awards and an MVP award. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.
Stephen Strasburg Discusses Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Stephen Strasburg has made just eight appearances over the past three seasons, which have all been derailed by injury. An ongoing battle with thoracic outlet syndrome has seemingly been at the root of it all, as the nerve issue has continually plagued him despite numerous attempts at mounting a comeback.
In a candid chat with Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post this week, Strasburg conceded he’s uncertain if he’ll ever regain his pre-2020 form. “I feel like every time I’ve had an injury, I felt like I was going to be the best there is coming back,” the three-time All-Star told Dougherty. “This is the one that’s still definitely a big question mark. I realize the clock is ticking. It’s been almost three years since I’ve been able to pitch competitively, and it’s not like I’m getting younger.”
Strasburg suggested he believes he’s battled complications of thoracic outlet syndrome since at least 2018, when he lost a month on the injured list due to what the club termed a cervical nerve impingement. A Botox treatment the ensuing offseason initially worked wonders, and he returned to post arguably the finest season of his career. The former first overall pick posted a 3.32 ERA across 209 innings in the 2019 regular season. He continued to excel during Washington’s run to a championship and collected World Series MVP honors that year.
After the season, Washington re-signed Strasburg to a seven-year, $245MM free agent deal. That, of course, looks like a major misstep in retrospect. Strasburg made just two appearances during the abbreviated 2020 season. He was shut down that August and underwent surgery to address carpal tunnel syndrome, but Strasburg now tells Dougherty he believes the actual issue was thoracic outlet syndrome.
Strasburg returned from the carpal tunnel procedure and opened the season on the 2021 roster, but he lasted just two starts before coming down with shoulder inflammation. He was reinstated a month later, made three more appearances, then was shut back down with nerve irritation in his neck. Last July, he finally underwent TOS surgery that brought an end to his season. He opened this year on the injured list and missed the first two months before debuting on June 9. He made one start, threw 4 2/3 innings, then landed back on the IL with a stress reaction in his right ribcage. Yet again, it brought an end to his season.
The 34-year-old tells Dougherty he’s done “very minimal exercises” in the three months since then. He hasn’t thrown at any point, and he noted that despite feeling “some improvements” in his shoulder, he still “(feels) like the strength is not quite there and (is) not really sure what the future holds.”
It’s obviously not an ideal update for a player who’s both cemented in Nationals franchise history and could theoretically still be a part of the future. Strasburg remains under contract through 2026 at $35MM annually and expressed a continued desire to get back on a big league mound if he’s physically able. Dougherty also speaks to some former MLB hurlers (including current Rangers GM Chris Young) who’d battled TOS themselves in a wide-ranging piece that’s worth checking out in full.
Unfortunately, Strasburg isn’t the only Nationals hurler trying to battle back from TOS surgery. Veteran reliever Will Harris hasn’t thrown a major league pitch since undergoing his own procedure in May 2021. He’s spent the entire season on the injured list, and he continues to battle lingering effects of the condition. Dougherty’s colleague at the Post, Andrew Golden, tweets that Harris recently suffered a setback and is headed for an MRI.
The 38-year-old Harris is in the final season of a three-year, $24MM free agent deal signed over the 2019-20 offseason. That investment didn’t pan out, as injuries kept him to 23 2/3 innings in a Washington uniform. It seems all but certain he won’t pitch this season, and he’ll hit the open market this winter.
Cade Cavalli Unlikely To Pitch Again This Season
- Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli has been out for the past two weeks after being diagnosed with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. That seems likely to end his season, as manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com) that Cavalli is unlikely to make it back to game action this year. With three weeks remaining and the Nationals virtual locks for last place, there’s no reason for the club to take any chances with the prized young hurler. Martinez indicated that Cavalli has been cleared to start throwing after a brief shutdown period and the team feels he’ll be able to work from a mound before the season is out, but it seems that’ll be in a bullpen session rather than in-game work. Cavalli, generally regarded as the top pitching prospect in the organization, made his first MLB appearance on August 26. He’s likely to compete for a job in the season-opening rotation as Washington continues their rebuild next year.
Nationals, Juan Minaya Agree To Minor League Deal
The Nationals and righty Juan Minaya agreed to a minor league pact over the weekend, as first indicated by Rochester Red Wings director of communications Morrie Silver (Twitter link). He’s actually already made a pair of scoreless ppearances after quietly joining the organization. Minaya was passed through waivers by the Twins earlier this summer and accepted an outright at the time, in early July, but he was released back on Sept. 4.
Minaya, 32 next week, spent the first four seasons of his big league career (2016-19) with the White Sox organization and has been with the Twins since 2020. He gave Minnesota 40 sharp innings out of the bullpen in 2021, pitching to a 2.48 ERA with an above-average 25.8% walk rate but a bloated 12% walk rate as well. The Twins and other organizations were apparently somewhat skeptical of that performance, as Minaya was passed through outright waivers unclaimed last winter and returned to Minnesota on a minor league deal.
The 2022 season has been nightmarish for Minaya. The 6’4″ righty has pitched just 9 2/3 innings in the Majors, during which time he’s yielded six runs on eight hits and five walks with 11 strikeouts. Things actually went worse for Minaya with the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul, where he was clobbered for a 6.98 ERA with a 19.3% strikeout rate against a 10.7% walk rate while yielding an average of 1.35 homers per nine frames.
This year’s rocky showing notwithstanding, Minaya carries a 3.69 ERA in 178 big league innings. He’s averaged 94.7 mph on his heater — though that was down to 93.8 mph in 2022 — fanned just over a quarter of his opponents (25.2%) and walked batters at a 10.7% clip. If the Nats select Minaya to the big league roster before season’s end, he’d technically be controllable for several more years via arbitration, although given his struggles to this point in the season, that seems unlikely. Rather, the final stretch of games could serve as a minor league audition for the 2023 campaign, when a rebuilding Nats club will surely need plenty of veteran bullpen depth of this nature to vie for jobs next spring or to stash in the upper minors.
Nationals Sign DJ Peters To Minor League Deal
The Nationals signed outfielder DJ Peters to a minor league contract, and Peters played his first game with Triple-A Rochester yesterday. The 26-year-old was a free agent after being waived by the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants back in July.
Peters’ time in the KBO League resulted in a .228/.299/.402 slash line over 354 plate appearances, with 13 home runs. The Giants paid Peters a $600K base salary — well above what the outfielder would’ve earned on a minor league salary, and there was no guarantee Peters would’ve landed a big league deal as a free agent. Of course, Peters couldn’t have signed anywhere last winter due to the lockout, and thus he opted to take some guaranteed money with the Giants rather than face the unique uncertainty of the 2021-22 offseason.
Power has been Peters’ calling card since the Dodgers selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. Over his minor league career (and counting last night’s game with Rochester), Peters has hit .266/.359/.488 over 2197 PA, but after the canceled 2020 minors season, he returned and struggled at Triple-A in 2021. However, Peters also made his MLB debut last season, hitting .197/.242/.422 with 13 homers over 240 combined PA with the Dodgers and Rangers.
The rebuilding Nationals can offer plenty of opportunity for players who might have late-breakout potential, with 30-year-old rookie Joey Meneses serving as a prime example of how unheralded players can unexpectedly blossom. Peters’ power bat and strong throwing arm give him a couple of plus tools, and the best could be yet to come if he can cut down on his strikeouts and become a more polished overall hitter rather than just an all-or-nothing slugger.
Edwin Jackson Announces Retirement
Former All-Star Edwin Jackson took to Instagram this evening to officially announce his retirement from Major League Baseball. The right-hander pitched parts of 17 seasons in the majors, getting to the highest level every year between 2003-19. Jackson suited up for 14 different MLB teams, setting the all-time record for most uniforms donned.
“19 years ago today I was blessed with an opportunity to tie up my laces and step on the field to make my debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Jackson wrote. “Today I am happily hanging up my cleats and closing a 22-year baseball career.” Jackson went on to thank his wife, parents, sisters, children and the rest of his family before expressing his gratitude to various coaches, trainers and doctors who assisted him. “This game has taught me many life lessons and allowed me to evolve into the person I am today! I will forever have memories that will live within me from the game I love and dedicated my life to. Thank you baseball for an amazing life experience I will never forget,” he concluded.
A sixth-round draftee of the Dodgers out of a Georgia high school in 2001, Jackson emerged as one of the sport’s best pitching prospects not long thereafter. He broke into the big leagues exactly 19 years ago on his 20th birthday, starting three of four appearances down the stretch. He bounced on and off Los Angeles’ active roster for the next couple seasons before being traded to the then-Devil Rays over the 2005-06 offseason.
Jackson worked primarily as a reliever for his first season in Tampa Bay, but he took a full turn of starts by the 2007 campaign. That kicked off a stretch of seven consecutive seasons in which he surpassed 30 starts and 160 innings. Jackson pitched in Tampa Bay through 2008 before being dealt to the Tigers for outfielder Matt Joyce. He tossed a career-best 214 innings the next year, posting a 3.62 ERA. Jackson earned an All-Star nod with a 2.52 mark through that season’s first half.
The next offseason, his nomadic career continued. Detroit flipped Jackson to the Diamondbacks as part of a three-team blockbuster that netted Detroit Max Scherzer and sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees. His stint in the desert was rather brief — he’d wind up traded again at that summer’s deadline — but it provided one of the more memorable moments of his career. On June 25, 2010, he tossed a no-hitter against his former team at Tropicana Field. He threw a staggering 149 pitches in the outing, striking out six but issuing eight walks. Then-manager A.J. Hinch stuck with Jackson despite his high pitch count, and he completed one of the more remarkable single-game performances by a player in recent memory.
Not long after, the last-place club dealt Jackson to the White Sox in a trade that landed Arizona Daniel Hudson. Jackson pitched well in 11 starts down the stretch, and he got off to another solid start in 2011. The White Sox fell out of contention the latter season, though, and he was on the move again. The Blue Jays acquired Jackson from the White Sox on the morning of July 27, but his stint in Toronto lasted only a few hours. Toronto promptly flipped him to the Cardinals in a deal that sent Colby Rasmus north of the border.
Jackson played in St. Louis for the second half, pitching to a 3.58 ERA through 12 starts. He made four starts in the postseason, and while his playoff numbers weren’t great, the Cardinals secured the World Series title in a dramatic series win over the Rangers. Fresh off winning a title, Jackson signed with the Nationals during his first trip through free agency. He spent the 2012 campaign in the Nats rotation, helping Washington to their first playoff appearance since moving to D.C.
The next winter, Jackson inked a four-year, $52MM pact with the Cubs. He continued to soak up innings but didn’t post especially strong numbers in Chicago. After two and a half seasons, he was released. That kicked off an even more rapid trip around the league, as Jackson suited up with the Braves, Marlins, Padres, Orioles, Nationals (again), A’s, Blue Jays and Tigers (again) over the next four years. He alternated between the rotation and the bullpen throughout that time, generally serving as a depth option.
While Jackson signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks in 2020, he didn’t make it back to the majors. He did appear on the U.S. Olympic team last summer and expressed a desire to get back to the big leagues, but he didn’t get another opportunity with an affiliated organization.
Altogether, Jackson pitched in 412 major league games. He tossed 1960 innings with a 4.78 ERA, striking out a bit more than 1500 batters and winning 107 games. According to Baseball Reference, Jackson banked upwards of $66MM in earnings and incredibly logged some action for almost half the league. MLBTR congratulates Jackson on his lengthy, accomplished career and wishes him all the best in retirement.
Nationals Designate Jake McGee For Assignment
The Nationals have designated Jake McGee for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the roster will go to catcher Israel Pineda, whose previously reported selection to the big league roster has now been announced by the club. Catcher Keibert Ruiz was placed on the injured list, as expected, after taking an unfortunately placed foul ball to the groin during yesterday’s game. The Nationals announced that Ruiz has a testicular contusion.
It’s the third time this season that McGee has been designated for assignment. He opened the year with the Giants, the second season of a two-year free agent deal. After posting a 2.72 ERA across 59 2/3 innings in year one, the veteran southpaw only managed a 7.17 mark in 21 1/3 frames before being cut loose in mid-July. McGree cleared waivers, leaving the Giants on the hook for the bulk of this year’s $2.5MM salary while giving other teams a chance to add him for only the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum.
The Brewers took that opportunity, signing McGee to a major league deal. He allowed four runs in only 5 2/3 frames with Milwaukee before being DFA, and the last-place Nationals surprisingly added him off waivers. The 36-year-old spent a month in D.C., working 10 innings through 12 outings. He allowed another seven runs, including a pair of homers, while striking out ten and issuing five walks.
It’s been a tough go for McGee at all three stops, and he owns a cumulative 6.81 ERA through 37 innings. His 15.3% strikeout rate and 8.5% swinging strike percentage are each below league average, and they’re markedly down from last year’s respective marks. McGee has continued to average a solid 94.4 MPH on his four-seamer, but his results have taken a major step back.
The Nationals will place McGee on outright or release waivers within the next few days. The veteran would have the right to test the open market if he goes unclaimed, so there’s little distinction between the two in his case.
