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Road Trip Notes: The Nats Blog Takes to Cincinnati

2017 Articles 1 Comment

Like myself, the average Washington fan likely watches 98% of Nationals games either on MASN with the beautiful and eloquent F.P. Santangelo and Bob Carpenter calling the game or at Nationals Park itself (that two percent discrepancy being those cursed Sunday nights on ESPN during which Aaron Boone and company talk about is the Strasburg Shutdown for three hours). While that is normal for any particular fan base, you can often end up somewhat stuck on certain narratives and ideas about your team. I had to opportunity to become quite attuned to this when I was able to go to Cincinnati to watch the first three games of the recent Nats-Reds series.

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What to Watch for in the Second Half, Minor League Edition

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With the All-Star break a week behind us we’ve entered the dog days of summer, and the second half of the baseball season is in full swing. Most minor leagues are already well into their latter halves, but the beginning of the major league second half is nonetheless extremely significant for therm. The trade deadline is fast approaching, and the number one commodity moved at the deadline is of course prospects. Additionally teams will typically promote prospects around the time of the All-Star break, and when you consider September call-ups, minor leaguers are always a couple of phone calls away from a life-changing event. For an organization with as many major league needs and impact prospects as the Nationals the second half is especially uncertain; and so with that said I hope to give you a picture of what to look for and expect out of the Nationals farm over the course of the second half.

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Nats Get Great Help for Cheap in Doolittle/Madson Deal

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Mike Rizzo finally made the deal every single person in any way affiliated with the Nationals had been clamoring for since April, landing a pair of proven late-inning relievers in Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle from Oakland in exchange for proven not-late-inning reliever Blake Treinen and prospects 3B Sheldon Neuse and LHP Jesus Luzardo.

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The Nats Bullpen: Survivor Island Edition

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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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Joe Ross’ Tumultuous Season Ends in Surgery

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On Saturday, it was announced that Joe Ross, who left his last start after 3.1 innings due to an injury, would have season-ending Tommy John surgery to fix the tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his right elbow. Ross had been experiencing some declining velocity in his pitches through his starts all season, so an arm injury isn’t all that surprising. But this sudden surgery will end his season and likely set him back for most of 2018 with no current timetable for return. This puts a pin into an up-and-down season for Ross, puts the Nationals down a fifth starter, and adds another item to their midseason wish list.

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Just How Bad Has The Nationals’ Bullpen Been?

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The Washington Nationals are doing impressive things in the first half of the 2017 season. The offense has been particularly dynamic, with standout performances from Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, Daniel Murphy, and Anthony Rendon placing the Nationals in the top five in multiple offensive categories such as wRC+ (4th), wOBA (2nd), average (2nd), on base percentage (2nd), runs (2nd) and stolen bases (5th).

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The Biggest Over- and Under-Performers of the First Half

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The Nationals kick off the second half of the 2017 season tonight on the road against the Reds sitting 9.5 games up in the NL East. While the squad has sat in first place for practically the entire season, it hasn’t been an easy road getting there. Some players have outplayed their expectations while others have been disappointing so far this season.

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The Calm Before the Storm: How Mid-July Shapes Up

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The All-Star festivities are over and the league is settled into a lovely break until July 14th, but there is no rest for fans, media, and team decision-makers. This week you will see plenty of think pieces on what “Team X” or “Team Y” needs to do in the second half to find themselves playing October baseball. While many are looking ahead to the end of the month and the ever-interesting trade deadline, here we will look at what the next two weeks or so have in store.

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Bryce Harper and the Justin Bourmance

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Aaron Judge fought his way to the Home Run Derby title and further into our hearts like Rambo with a baseball bat for a machete or even like a Great Dane puppy. Maybe both. Gary Sanchez, Cody Bellinger, Miguel Sano — all contestants put up a fight and contributed to the night-long meteor shower of baseballs. God bless the long ball, each and every one. That includes the dingers from Justin Bour, who put up 22 dazzling home runs only to be beaten by Judge’s 23. Bour’s was a joy for Miami faithful on its own, but the most important discovery of the derby, out of all the bombs and celebrations, is the previously undisplayed relationship between Bour and Bryce Harper.

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Daniel Murphy is the Best Deal in Baseball

2017 Articles 1 Comment

What’s the best free agent signing the Nats have ever made? That’s the question @TheNatsBlogJoe asked on Twitter a couple of weeks ago and the resounding answer he received was Max Scherzer. But those respondents are wrong. Lots of folks argued that the Jayson Werth signing was more important because of the culture change his addition brought. They are wrong too. In third place on the Twitter poll was the correct answer — Daniel Murphy. It’s hard to argue too vehemently against Max, who’s already rung up 16.4 WAR in 2 1/2 seasons, equaling $131.7M (of his $210M 7-year contract) in value according to Fangraphs, and a Cy Young Award. And while Werth hasn’t quite earned all of his $126M contract, he’s come close enough to justify his signing when you consider the Nats haven’t had a losing season since they signed him. But Daniel Murphy has been one of, if not the best, free agent bargains in all of baseball.

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