Biggest Offseason Additions
Doug Fister: A deal which literally came out of nowhere, the Nationals may have made the biggest score of the offseason in acquiring Fister from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Steve Lombardozzi, Ian Kroll and Robbie Ray. Since being traded to the Tigers at the trade deadline of the 2011 season, Fister has dazzled in Detroit with his amazing arsenal of breaking pitches, his 32-20 record (which actually looks worse than it should be), his 3.29 ERA and 353 strikeouts, which is 135 more than he tallied in the exact same amount of time with the Seattle Mariners. Fister really should have never left the Tigers’ reigns, but his presence alongside the likes of Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann will make the Nationals’ rotation one of the most dangerous in the Majors. And if you need more convincing, his numbers against the National League East (excluding the Nationals) are: 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA and 22 strikeouts. Yes, it is a small sample size, but it’s still pretty consistent with the rest of his career numbers.
Jerry Blevins: It’s not often that a General Manager will pull a fast one over on Oakland Athletics’ GM Billy Beane, but for now it appears that Nationals’ wheeler and dealer Mike Rizzo took the cake when he sent outfielder Billy Burns to Oakland in exchange for left-handed relief specialist Blevins. Blevins, originally a draft selection of the Chicago Cubs, has played all seven years of his Major League career with the Athletics and has compiled a 13-6 record with a 3.30 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 267 innings of work out of the bullpen. Aside from being a fan favorite, Blevins’ sidearm-style slider is one of the deadliest in the game, and certainly a welcome addition to the Nationals who have been struggling to find adequate help in the bullpen over the last two seasons.
Biggest Offseason Loss
Steve Lombardozzi: This is a bit of a stretch, only because the Nationals have yet to lose anyone of dire consequence, but Lombardozzi was certainly a fan favorite in our nation’s capitol. In three seasons as a perennial backup/platoon Lombardozzi hit .264 with five home runs and 50 RBI in 755 plate appearances. While his stats weren’t exactly top tier, he certainly filled-in nicely when the team needed him.
Name to Watch in Spring Training: Matt Williams
2014 will mark the rookie season for Williams as the manager of a Major League Baseball team. For the last four seasons Williams had been the right-hand man for Arizona Diamondbacks’ skipper Kirk Gibson, serving as his first and then third base coach; however, Williams has no managerial experience whatsoever at any level of the professional baseball realm.
Rookie managers have been a common trend around the ballpark over the last few years as Robin Ventura (Chicago White Sox), Bo Porter (Houston Astros) and Mike Redmond (Miami Marlins) have proven.
The only difference between Williams and everyone else is that Williams has a loaded amount of talent at his disposal that most veteran managers would lick their chops over to lead into battle. So it will certainly be interesting to see how he handles things in the upcoming season.
Biggest Spring Training Battle: Nate McLouth and playing time
This isn’t meant to be cryptic as it is more of a question as to why Rizzo thought it would be a good idea to spring a two-year $10 million contract on a guy who has no place on the Nationals’ roster.
This isn’t to dog McLouth by any means, but Rizzo clearly pulled the trigger way to early one this one as the Nationals are already perfect on outfield talent with Denard Span, Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth leading the show.
Also, while McLouth had a great 2013 campaign with the Baltimore Orioles, Rizzo apparently forgot the other eight seasons he played in the National League with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves in which he only registered one truly noteworthy season in 2008 (Pirates) when he hit a career-high .276 with a league-leading 46 doubles, 26 home runs and 94 RBI. He also made his only trip to the All-Star Game and won his only Gold Glove Award that season, but he has yet to hit above .258 ever since.
What Went Right in 2013
Only two players really stood out in 2013 and they will certainly be the ones that need to rally the troops in 2014: Werth and Zimmermann. With the exception of eight-games-played infield platoonist Zach Walters, Werth was the ONLY player to hit over .300 (.318). Not only that, he was the only person to scrape .400 for an on-base percentage (.398) as he was once again bested by Walters (.444). Zimmermann on the other hand led the NL in wins with 19 and outshined everyone else in the Nationals’ starting rotation with the exception of Strasburg who finished with a slightly better WHIP and lower ERA.
Biggest Areas of Improvement in 2014
The Nationals needed to do two things:
1. Get rid of Dan Haren.
2. Fix their bullpen.
The addition of Blevins was a great move by Rizzo, but still not enough. Originally they were set to sign former Athletics’ closer Grant Balfour, but he opted to return to the Tampa Bay Rays instead. Drew Storen really needs to dig deep and find the player that was lights out back in 2011 if the Nationals are to have any shot of winning close games late, unless of course they take the easy route and take leads of 10 or more runs into the seventh inning every night.
Overall Spring Training Preview
It’s going to be interesting to see what Williams has in store for his players and the city of Washington, D.C. After failing to reclaim the NL Eastern Division title, the Nationals will be hungry to take down the rightful heirs to the throne and their biggest nemesis, the Braves. Werth is certainly showing his worth on the $126 million contract he signed back in 2010 and the pitching woes by Gonzalez and Strasburg in 2013 are more than likely just flukes. There is way too much talent on this ball club to not be able to compete for not only a spot in the playoffs, but to stay on top of the mountain as the best team in the NL East. Spring Training will help shake out the cobwebs and get them back to playing top tier baseball. Making the playoffs in 2014 won’t really be much of an issue as much as whether it will be for as a Wild Card spot or not.