Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content

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[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Ben Rice's dad has him looking more off balance than the entire Nationals relief corps.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Definitely both/and!

Pen needs to hold leads, but stranding runners/not scoring more than 3 runs in a single game three straight times is asking for it against a good offense (especially when your pitching is bad). Blowing the lead becomes almost inevitable at least 1-2 times.

I get everyone wants to point the finger somewhere, but there was enough blame to go around to the lineup (other than Wood) and the pen this weekend.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

I won’t pretend I’ve studied the video much to see any real differences, so I’m admittedly not the right guy to ask.

The most encouraging thing to me is really just that he’s been taking his walks even going back to when he was struggling big time. Tells me his approach overall hasn’t changed drastically, other than that he’s now swinging less than he ever has, which has been common thing they’re having guys do in the Nats org this year.

But point being, makes me feel better than the struggles were injury related more than him just flailing out there or suddenly falling off post trade. Was still the same guy in the box, just injured.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Harry Ford is hitting .292 with a .486 OBP and a .542 slug in the month of July.

This coming on the heels of a June where he hit a then-season best .244/.426/.415 for the month.

Looks like the effects of the injury are wearing off and he's coming back into form 👀

[Nats Of The Future @NatsOfTheFuture]

Harry Ford HR #4

97.3 EV | 392 ft.

Heating up👀

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

@betsbrayden Been working through an injury most of the year - I’m really just looking for signs he’s starting to get past it. So far, some signs!

For catcher, good defense requires you to be at your physical best. Will likely be the last thing to get there.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

And he's only 23 and it's not like he's having no success at all at AAA. I've not watched him enough to know but it could be as simple as adding a new timing mechanism that changes everything/etc.

Still plenty-interesting as a prospect. Just not a guy at this stage I'm hunting as the headliner on a CJ deal or anything like that.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

As the Nationals continue to slid heading into the final few weeks pre-deadline, the Rays are reportedly set to be aggressive hunting left-handed pitching and a middle infield bat.

The team Blake Butera used to run player development for.

I'd keep a real close eye on this one.

[Just Baseball @JustBB_Media]

The Rays plan to be very aggressive buyers at the trade deadline with their eyes on Tarik Skubal, per @BNightengale.

Tampa has also shown interest in whether the Diamondbacks would move Ketel Marte, with Luis Arraez as a potential backup plan.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

@Iain_M1rilovich I'm not really sure I want him that badly to be honest. 92 Ks in 66 AAA games is pretty jarring.

Obviously I'd take a guy like Williams in our system but I'm not actively seeking him out that badly either.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

I think the challenge is, and I think Toboni's tried to say this as diplomatically as he can several times, but it's not really his job/would be dumb of him to lean into "the Lerners wasted a half decade of baseball" thing at the expense of building a team that can win championships.

Young ambitious front offices guys get into this because they're hyper competitive. So the reason he wants to sell/rebuild isn't because he doesn't care about winning, it's because he wants to build something that's leaps and bounds better than what we have right now (and that can do it for a long time).

He's just level headed enough and rational enough to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

But to your point, fans are real people and the time it takes to make that happen is real time we miss out on, so he gets put in a really tough/unfair spot of honoring the vibes vs. doing the thing that's actually best for helping us win as many games as possible in the bigger picture.

I don't envy that position because it's one where you're flamed no matter what. If he gets more aggressive to help this roster it would require overpays for guys that aren't true difference makers big picture, and he'd get trashed for that. If he doesn't make those moves, he "doesn't care about winning he just cares about prospect maxing".

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Also explains the lack of real enthusiasm we’ve heard from Toboni around pushing chips in for this group.

To build a roster that could sustain what’s happened thus far (in the positive sense), you’d need to add a lot more than just a closer.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

One of the ways the Nationals have been able to dance around a team with no pitching and a lineup that’s not super deep this year is random guys getting hot.

Lile heaters. Nunez hitting like .400 in June. Vivas or Tena gets hot for a couple weeks. Crews wakes up for a week or two.

Same on the pitching side: guys like Varland, Lovelady, Mikolas randomly stringing together good stretches.

But it is impossible to live that way for an extended stretch, and we’ve started to see that rear its head the last few weeks in a massive way.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

RT

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Yeah so I'm excited to see the haul they add to this draft class at the trade deadline

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

One of the ways the Nationals have been able to dance around a team with no pitching and a lineup that’s not super deep this year is random guys getting hot.

Lile heaters. Nunez hitting like .400 in June. Vivas or Tena gets hot for a couple weeks. Crews wakes up for a week or two.

Same on the pitching side: guys like Varland, Lovelady, Mikolas randomly stringing together good stretches.

But it is impossible to live that way for an extended stretch, and we’ve started to see that rear its head the last few weeks in a massive way.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Lol. Lmao, even.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Love Luis Garcia but can we stop pretending he needs to face more lefties?

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

When the bullpen blows this, don’t let the bats off the hook for not adding on for the third straight day.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Some teams could fall out sooner.

But while everyone’s saying “Why haven’t they traded for someone yet?”, you can look at the market and see no one’s moved, and it’s not because no one wants pen help! The teams that have it just aren’t selling yet shy of getting unreasonably stupid offers

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

As far as trades go, there's been essentially no relievers traded at this point.

Teams aren't selling yet because almost everyone is in same spot as the Nationals.

Unless you want Toboni trading top talent to force a team's hand, all you can do is throw darts until teams start to budge.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

Yeah so I'm excited to see the haul they add to this draft class at the trade deadline

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

So now that we've seen the leverage guys shit the bed I think we can say this isn't on Blake Butera 😂

Can't win games when no one can pitch.

[Stars and Strikes - Daily Nats Content @starsstrikesbb]

I won't pretend Luke Williams was on my radar heading into the draft.

But his profile is the exact kind I hated taking under Rizzo when we couldn't develop, but am super excited about with this group.

Massive ceiling, and a fun "big swing" to take after a more conservative pick in Round 2 with Brunson.