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Tag Archives: Enny Romero

The Bullpen’s Back, and There’s Gonna Be Trouble…

2017 Articles Leave a Comment

…Hey-na, hey-na, the bullpen’s back!

With the addition of Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson, the bullpen has started to take shape and has been very effective. Two of the Nats most reliable starters faltered on this recent road trip — Max Scherzer surrendered five runs in the first two innings, on back-to-back-to-back home runs to lead off the game. Yesterday, Nats fans everywhere collectively held their breath as Stephen Strasburg left after just 51 pitches with some forearm stiffness. What happened next will blow your mind!

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The Nats Bullpen: Survivor Island Edition

2017 Articles 1 Comment

Finally… bullpen help is on the way. Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle immediately become the best two relief pitchers on the Washington Nationals, despite neither being their former team’s closer. The two only have 4 saves between them this year, but so what? The Nats needed help and they got it. But are these two enough? (Probably not.) And who on the team is worth keeping around and who needs to be voted off the island?

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Who Would the Nationals Protect in an Expansion Draft?

2017 Articles, Features Leave a Comment

Today is the NHL’s expansion draft. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s a quick primer of the NHL expansion rules: each team is allowed to select a certain number of its players to protect. Any others are eligible to be selected by the expansion team, which must select exactly one player from each team.

So, in the spirit of keeping things topical, I decided to take a crack at seeing who the Nationals would protect in an expansion draft. MLB had its own expansion draft 20 years ago when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays joined, and therefore has its own set of rules.

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Nats Power Rankings: June 19

2017 Articles Leave a Comment

Welcome back to the latest in a series, in which we review the previous week in Nationals baseball and power rank the players according to their performance. This is an extremely unserious exercise; at no point should it ever be confused with actual baseball analysis. Don’t worry, I will do my best to make sure that is obvious. Without further ado: your Washington Nationals, ranked according to power.

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A Comprehensive Look at the No-Longer-Horrible But Not-Exactly-Great Nationals Bullpen

2017 Articles Leave a Comment

As the Washington Nationals’ bullpen is no longer the baseball equivalent of the RMS Titanic, now seems like a fine time to look at the bullpen roles moving forward and if there are any glaring holes that Mike Rizzo needs to address. In today’s advanced statistics era, I would rather not have to discuss set roles for the reliever. With a highly traditional manager at the helm, however, it is unavoidable that that is how this pen will be designed. Starting with the highest leverage situations, let us begin.

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Nationals Recent Losing Streak Highlights Deficiencies

2017 Articles 1 Comment

Pain. As we reach the quarter point of the season, the Nationals have hit their first real rough patch, losing four of six to teams that are a combined 12 games under .500. The Pirates, who have the second-worst offense in MLB, scored 20 runs over the three-game series. The Braves were one of the most power deficient offenses in the league—especially so without Nat-killer extraordinaire Freddie Freeman. Atlanta hit six home runs in their two victories before Strasburg dealt them the Ace of Spades and shut them down over 7.2 IP. For all the good the Nationals have, there are some cracks in the foundation. For the starting pitching, the bullpen, lineup, and bench, we will look at the areas of concern, and how significant they are.

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Nats Power Rankings: April 24

2017 Articles, Features Leave a Comment

Welcome back to the latest in a series, in which we review the previous week in Nationals baseball and power rank the players according to their performance. This is an extremely unserious exercise; at no point should it ever be confused with actual baseball analysis. Don’t worry, I will do my best to make sure that is obvious. Without further ado: your Washington Nationals, ranked according to power.

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It Can’t be THIS Bad, Can It?

2017 Articles Leave a Comment

By Dan Zaudtke

Hey, remember Opening Day? Stephen Strasburg pitched seven solid innings, and Sammy Solis and Blake Treinen retired all six batters they faced. Blake made both Justin Bour and Marcell Ozuna look dumb with some nasty filth. Those were good times. It was also the last time the bullpen went without giving up an earned run, before holding the Phillies scoreless before Daniel Murphy’s walk-off.

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