With the Season opener only three days away for the Washington Nationals, it is time to break down their winter moves. Coming into the off-season, Washington needed to add a lot of pieces due to the fact that they had 103 losses last season. Washington first main acquisition was relief pitcher, Brian Bruney, from the New York Yankees. Bruney, is an average pitcher from the bullpen. His numbers with New York weren’t eye popping, a 3.92 ERA in 39 innings pitched. Also, Bruney has had a history of injuries, as he has been placed on the Disabled list three times the past two seasons, so we will have to see how this roles out for Bruney.
One of the newer faces you will see in the line-up, is catcher Ivan Rodriguez. Rodriguez, is the type of veteran presence Washington has needed. Rodriguez has won 13 gold gloves and has a World Series ring and is the type of leader Washington needs. From the 13 gold gloves alone, you can tell Rodriguez is defensive guru and is 99.2 career fielding percentage proves it. But the problem with Rodriguez is his offense. Ever since he hit .300 for the Detroit Tigers in 2006, his batting average has declined each year (.281 in 2007, .276 in 2008 and .249 last season). But Pudge has a chance to start off on the right foot. In the opening game against Philadelphia, Rodriguez will be going against Roy Halladay. Yes Halladay is one of the best pitchers in the league but Rodriguez has a .379 career batting average against Halladay, so he can get on base against him.
After surprisingly being non-tendered by the Pirates, Washington made a hard run at closer Matt Capps and they were able to sign him to a one year, 3.5 million dollar contract. Capps had 27 saves with Pittsburgh but had five blown saves. Capps is slated to be the closer this year but in Spring ball, he has struggled. Capps has allowed at least one run in six of his ten appearances and has struck out six, while walking seven. Capps must be able to turn it around from this sloppy spring and get to be the consistent closer Washington needs.
Washington signed two starters this off-season with Jason Marquis and Chien-Ming Wang. Wang was non-tendered by the Yankees and will be out until May, as he recovers from shoulder surgery. If Wang can get back to his 2006 or 2007 form, then Washington will have spent the best two million dollars this off-season. Now let’s go to Jason Marquis. Marquis is nothing special. as he has always flirted with being a .500 pitcher during the season (15-13 last season, 11-9 in 2008 and 12-9 in 2007) and he is always prone to giving up runs, as he has not had an earn run average below four since 2004. So expect Marquis to be about a .500 pitcher this year.
The final piece Washington added to their starting line-up, was Adam Kennedy. After signing a minor league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays last season and then getting traded to Oakland, Kennedy put up excellent numbers and was considered one of the best minor league signings from last season. Kennedy posted a .289 batting average, his highest since 2005, 11 home runs, his highest total since 2003 and 63 RBI’s, his highest since 2000. Now that Kennedy has come to the National League, Kennedy has the chance to produce those numbers again.
Washington’s key minor league signings include Outfielders Jerry Owens, Chris Duncan and Willy Taveras, Pitchers Ryan Speier, Joel Peralta, Tyler Walker, Chuck James, Miguel Batista and Livan Hernandez and second baseman Eric Bruntlett.
Now for the upcoming season, Washington was by far the worst team in the league last season and their first month during the season will be brutal. Washington has 23 games in April and 17 of those 23 games will be against teams that had over .500 records. Jim Riggleman has a tough road ahead of him. His starting rotation had a combined 39-55 record from last season and it seems that it could be the same this year. With Jordan Zimmerman out due to Tommy John Surgery and Chien-Ming Wang out until May, Washington faces vulnerability with Livan Hernandez and Garrett Mock as their fourth and fifth starters.. So for Washington to win, John Lannan and Jason Marquis must have strong Aprils.
As for the starting line-up, they have two threats in Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn. Dunn is a huge bat in Washington’s line-up, as he hit 38 home runs but the risk his the chance he strikeouts, as he struck out 177 time last season. Zimmerman also has a bat (33 home runs and 106 RBI’s last season), which got him the silver slugger in the National League. If these two can produce the offense at the three-four batting positions, then you can expect more wins for Washington this season.
Now here are the questions for Washington this season. First, when is Stephen Strasburg coming to the majors? After an excellent showing in Spring Training, the Nationals want Strasburg to get seasoned in the minor and get some starts in AA Harrisburg (Their minor league affiliate) and probably expect them to call him up in Late May or Early June.
Next, what are they going to do with Christian Guzman. Guzman lost his starting shortstop job to first year, Ian Desmond, who came down in the stretch for Washington after getting called up on September 8th of last season (.280 batting average, 4 Home Runs and 12 RBI’s in 21 games.) Guzman, is scheduled to make eight million dollars this season, meaning his contract will be very difficult, if not impossible, if Washington won’t eat up a majority of that eight million he is owed. Washington will probably give Guzman a couple of starts at shortstop but most likely will platoon him with Adam Kennedy at second, so they can showcase him to teams and find a trade partner.
Finally, why did the Nationals release Elijah Dukes. Dukes, who was a highly regarded prospect with Tampa, was projected to be the starting rightfielder this season but now finds himself looking for work. General Manager Mike Rizzo said he tried to find a trade partner for Dukes but wasn’t able to find one and since they thought Dukes was an everyday starter, they released him. And so far, no one has shown interest in Dukes and remains a free agent.
So for the season, I expect Washington to finish last in the National League East. They still have a lot of holes to fill. They need to find another bat for their line-up to help Dunn and Zimmerman, they need to find an ace to go along with Strasburg and they need to find a consistent closer if Capps struggles. I project Washington to improve their record from last season, getting into the mid-60′s to low 70′s for wins this year and finally not lose over 100 for the third year in a row. Washington has pieces but it will take about four to five years before Washington can even be considered a threat to win the National League East.
