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Archive for the 'taylor hill' tag
Ask Collier 7/21/17
Doolittle has settled right hin. Photo via federal baseball/getty images
Off days seem to be accompanied by mail bags. And that's good, because i'm kind of in a writing lull. I have no interest in looking at the hundreds of players in the game and trying to write one of those speculative, useless "hey we should make this trade" posts. So here's MLB.com nats beat reporter Jamal Collier's latest mail bag and how i'd have answered the questions he took.
Q: With the A's trade and Robertson traded, do you think the Nats still look for a closer? Or do they go for another bullpen piece (ie Neshek)?
A: …. and yet, here we are, needing to look at all 30 teams and all the theoretically "available" closers to write an educated answer. *sigh*
Ok: here's who is for certain selling: Detroit, Chicago WS, Oakland, NY Mets, Miami, Philly, Cincinnati, San Diego, San Francisco. And here's who probably should be selling: Baltimore, Toronto, Atlanta, maybe Texas.
That's 12-13 teams, some of which have pretty good closers. So there's some arms available. But at what cost? Does anyone want to stomach the trading of yet another set of higher-end prospects for a rental "proven closer?" I'm hoping the team goes a different direction, with a trade of lesser quality prospects for another couple 7th and 8th inning guys.
Bullpen now: Doolittle, Madsen, Albers, Romero, Perez, Blanton and Grace. Lefty heavy, and Blanton just cannot seem to get it together. So another righty to replace Blanton could work, given how bad he's been this year. Maybe the return of Glover or a healthy/effective Kelley is what the team really needs instead of another trade (because who else on that current list of 7 do you want to jettison?).
Collier says that the team added a lot of payroll and may not do another blockbuster.
Q: Will the Nats make a push for a fifth starter at the trade deadline?
A: Nope. They'll give Edwin Jackson starts until he gives them a reason to dump him, may try existing internal solutions, and will eventually call up Erick Fedde to try him out too. But they seem likely to cull the veteran 1yr FA market next off-season instead of overpaying now. Of course, that being said seemingly the next available option in AAA (Jacob Turner) just got absolutely shelled (1 2/3rds innings 6 runs) … maybe he had transaction-lag from being activated and DFAd within like a 24 hour period. A.J. Cole seems to have nearly exhausted his effectiveness as a starting pitcher; wow how far has he fallen. Hill and Voth both now demoted to AA, along with Greg Ross.
Q: Who are the tradeable assets on the big league squad & in the minors? Likeliest to be dealt?
A: Hmm. Most tradeable assets (outside the obvious all stars/marquee players we'd never move) on the big league squad might be Taylor and Goodwin thanks to their excellent seasons, and Gio Gonzalez who has pitched great and has two more option years. But now that Ross is on the shelf for a year, we can't possibly trade Gio. Eaton should be back in 2018 so there's no room for both Goodwin and Taylor; i'd guess they'd trade one of them and let the other start in LF after Werth plays out his contract. That is unless the Nats seek to improve offense in LF (like I think they should) and go for a big bopper … then they might have two OF trade assets (I think i'd rather move these guys than have them sit to be the 4th option).
In the minors? Andrew Stevenson comes to mind as someone who might be surplus to requirements in the short term and be someone worth flipping. That is unless we move both TAylor and Goodwin; then he'd make a perfect 4th OF for 2018 behind a LF FA acquisition. Past that? Its pretty empty in AAA and AA, so you'd be looking at guys in Low- and High-A as trade assets. Perhaps even lower; we have a number of high-dollar IFAs in the GCL right now.
Collier doesn't even speculate; i guess he's not a minor league guy.
Q: Will Koda Glover close games when he returns?
A: Lets get him to return first. Is there even a time table for him to return? Honestly I was almost assuming he was done for the year. If he does return … then yeah, absolutely he's in the closer mix.
Collier says the same thing basically.
Q: Any word on Davey Lopes return?
A: didn't even know he was gone. Its been a busy summer. 🙂
Collier has no updates; he's away on personal matter.
July 22nd, 2017 at 10:38 am
Posted in Chat/Mailbag Responses,Nats in General
Tagged with adam eaton, andrew stevenson, austin voth, brian goodwin, edwin jackson, gio gonzalez, greg ross, jayson werth, joe ross, koda glover, michael taylor, shawn kelley, taylor hill
A weekend of injuries, moves and trades
Ross down and out.
Photo Getty Images via federalbaseball.com
As I mentioned in the comments on the previous post, I was away from computer all weekend so I missed the opportunity to comment on all the major things that went down.
So this is a clearing house of thoughts.
Joe Ross to undergo Tommy John; I don't think anyone saw this coming, but then again nobody saw it coming with Stephen Strasburg either. With Stras it seemed to be a one-pitch injury. Ross' pitch f/x data for his last start indicated that he was definitely off his typical velocity; compare his 90mph average on July 9th to his July 4th start, where he started routinely in the 93-94 range, before dropping off a cliff towards the end of his outing. If I had to guess, I'd guess he might have injured his arm somewhere in the 7th inning or so of his July 4th start and tried to give it a go the next outing before his teammate Max Scherzer spotted his distress. Ross finishes a struggle of a 2017 season where he got an amazing 10.55 runs per 27 outs of support; in 6 of his 13 starts the team scored more than 10 runs for him. He clearly had settled down from early season issues, throwing four consecutive quality starts and again looking like perhaps the best #5 starter in the league. Now he's out until the all star break of next year at best, likely until September of 2018. He's only 24, mind you, but this injury comes at a tough time for him; he'll be arbitration eligible for the first time after the 2018 season, one in which he may only make a handful of starts. So this will cost Ross millions of dollars…. and will save the Nats at a time when they may be looking to save pennies for Bryce Harper.
Looking at the rotation for 2018; as we'll soon find out (read on), there's not a whole lotta help on the farm, so the Nats are probably shopping for starters this coming off-season, unless you guys think Erick Fedde will be ready for prime time next April.
In the meantime, it leads to a sticky situation in the near term yet again for this team. They traded away all their near-to-the-majors starting depth last off season, and have had to give starts already this season to three non-rotation guys (Jacob Turner, A.J. Cole and the ill-fated Jeremy Guthrie start early on). Well, now their starting depth in the minors is even weaker; A.J. Cole's AAA era this year is a nifty 6.00 and the only other 40-man roster starter (Austin Voth) is even worse; he's pitched to a 6.38 ERA in Syracuse this year and is either doing a rehab assignment or is being outright demoted to Harrisburg as we speak.
So instead of going with an internal option, the brain trust is enlisting the help of MLFA Edwin Jackson, who eternally owes Mike Rizzo a bottle of champagne for NOT offering him a qualifying offer when he became a FA after his run-of-the-mill 2012 season for us. The lack of the QO enabled Jackson to get a 4 year deal he never would have gotten otherwise, but cost the Nats a pick that they probably could have used … heck a junior college starter drafted towards the end of the first round in 2013 … probably would have been Sean Manaea, currently dominating for the same Oakland As who just sent us our next wave of bullpen reinforcements (more on that in a moment). But I digress.
We plan on giving Edwin Jackson another shot in the majors, despite his giving up 11 hits and 4 walks in 5 innings for Baltimore earlier this year, despite his pitching to a 5.89 ERA in San Diego last year (where everybody looks like a Cy Young winner). I'll say this: if the Nats can score in double digits for Jackson the same way they did for Ross … maybe it won't matter than his ERA sits in the 6-7 range. It'll look like a slow-pitch softball game.
But what choice do the Nats have? Erick Fedde you say? Have you seen his inconsistency in Syracuse? Its like the Nats didn't learn from jerking Tanner Roark around a couple years ago; Starting pitchers are creatures of habit. They eat the same meal 2 hours before they pitch, they do the same running and lifting sessions in-between outings. If you have a successful starter, you don't suddenly decide he's a middle reliever. So it should be of no surprise that Fedde's all over the road right now.
Jacob Turner? Well, he'll be around too; I'm guessing he's option 1-B to Jackson as 1-A. But Turner is no savior; you don't get DFA'd and pass through waivers and accept an outright to AAA as a pitching prospect in the modern game unless the rest of the league really, really doesn't like you. To say there's a lack of quality starting pitching depth in the league right now is kind of an understatement.
Who else is starting for this team in the upper minors? Here's the rest of the Syracuse rotation right now: Sean O'Sullivan, Jared Long, Greg Ross. Her'es their current AAA ERAs respectively: 4.40, 5.29, 6.34. Here's how we acquired them, again respectively: MLFA in May of this year, MLFA in April of last year, and again MLFA in April of last year. So three org guys just eating up AAA innings, none of which are pitching especially well. No wonder Luke Erickson over at www.nationalsprospects.com has given up tracking the AAA team this year.
Maybe we drop down to AA: how's that look? Bleak. Taylor Hill is already demoted once this year and is closer to a release than a promotion. Austen Williams: 6.85 ERA. Matthew Crownover is pushing a 5.00 ERA. They just got Wirkin Estevez off the D/L: he's only got 26 innings of 4.10 ERA pitching above A-Ball. Lastly there's John Simms, the "Ace" of Harrisburg's staff who is pitching there for the *fourth* successive season. He's got solid numbers: 4-6 with a 3.57 ERA but middling K/9 rates and some hittability; would you rather roll the dice on a grizzled veteran with more than 1700 innings on his MLB resume or go with a guy who you refuse to promote even to AAA despite the same decently solid numbers year over year? I think you have your answer.
So lets see how it goes. Jackson's Syracuse numbers for 2017 are pretty nifty; 20 innings, 9 hits, 22 ks. Oh and 10 walks; we'll just say that last part a little more quietly and focus on the positive. As I noted in the comments section in another blog … we're about to see just what the difference is between AAA and the majors.
Meanwhile, after more and more ridiculousness in the late-innings of games (including a 7 run collapse late last week that nearly blew a 10-run cushion), the Nats finally made their move to bolster the bullpen (and hopefully grease the skids for a wholesale shedding of deadweight off the 40-man roster by everyone involved in the latest debacle). Rizzo called up his best buddy Billy Beane and pulled off what I think is a pretty good trade:
Acquire: Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madsen: both mid-30s one inning guys with excellent numbers this year and neither being one-year rentals.
Give up: Blake Treinen, Jesus Luzardo and Sheldon Neuse
Treinen just needs a mental D/L trip; there's nothing appreciably different with his stuff from last year (when he was good) to this year (when he has been awful). Classic change of scenery guy who returns to his drafting team and probably has a solid rest-of-2017. Luzardo and Neuse are good prospects but young and several years away; perfect for what Oakland wants. I'm bummed they're leaving (especially Luzardo, who by all accounts has come all the way back from TJ surgery and had looked solid in his early GCL outings). Prior to 2017, Neuse was generally about our 8th best prospect and Luzardo 12th or so. Both have improved their rankings with their play this year, so this may look more foolish if Luzardo becomes a #2 starter in a few years. But as they say, you have to give up stuff to get stuff.
As others noted, the Nats managed to get these two guys without giving up any of their top ranked prospects (Robles, Soto, Fedde, Kieboom), which is a huge win.
Crazy weekend. Sorry I missed it in realtime.
Tagged with aj cole, austen williams, austin voth, billy beane, blake treinen, bryce harper, carter kieboom, edwin jackson, erick fedde, greg ross, jacob turner, jared long, jeremy guthrie, jesus luzardo, joe ross, john simms, juan soto, luke erickson, matthew crownover, max scherzer, mike rizzo, ryan madsen, sean doolittle, sean manaea, sean osullivan, sheldon neuse, stephen strasburg, tanner roark, taylor hill, victor robles, wirkin estevez
We miss you: Former Nats from the 2015 team and where they are now
Did we dodge a bullet by allowing Zimmermann to leave? Photo via The Boston Globe.
Next in a series moving backwards. Here was the "We Miss You" for the 2016 team.
Lets go back a year and look at those players gone from the 2015 team. I'm building these partly from the Nats to Oblivion Posts and partly from my own notes using a combination of players gone via FA, trades, DFAs, to include major league players and significant minor league players. If a player is still in the org but was just DFA'd off the 40-man, I'll mostly skip them. I may miss someone; pipe up in the comments if I have a glaring miss.
I'll organize this by roughly by the level of the player; major league players who left via FA or trade, then DFA'd/declined players, then minor leaguers of note who departed.
Jordan Zimmermann; signed 5/$110M with Detroit and left us with a comp pick, used to take Dane Dunning. I think its safe to say that Zimmermann's tenure in Detroit thus far has been disappointing: he had a 4.87 ERA in 2016 and missed half the season, and he's been even worse this year. Detroit has to behaving some buyer's remorse right now. And he's signed for 3 more years past this one, at big money.
Doug Fister: signed 1/$7M with Houston, to whom he gave 32 starts and 180 innings of mediocrity (4.64 ERA) in 2016. Apparently still believes he's worthy of a 25-man spot and refused all offers this past off-season that were not MLB deals. Remains unsigned as of this writing; he may have to swallow his pride if he wants to keep playing and take a MLFA deal.
Ian Desmond signed 1/$11M with Texas after declining Washington's qualifying offer. Desmond became kind of the poster child for all the things wrong with the Qualifying Offer season; after turning down a 5yr/$89.5M deal the previous season, he turned down a guaranteed $15.8M offer to eventually sign for $11M. To add insult to injury, Desmond had to move off of SS for Texas, which was what propped up his value in the first place. He had an up-and-down season with Texas, starting the year incredibly hot and making the All Star team, but slumping towards the end. He got saddled with a second QO, which he again signed, but his 2016 season was enough for Colorado to give him perhaps the most inexplicable contract of last off-season, a 5yr/$70M deal … to play first base. A position he'd never played before. And Colorado gave up literally the highest unprotected draft pick to do so (the 11th pick in the upcoming 2017 draft). Desmond suffered a hand injury this spring, and as a result Colorado has installed slugger Mark Reynolds at 1B; he's done so well that the team is wondering just what they'll do with Desmond when he returns in early May. On the bright side for Desmond; at least he finally got paid. And i'm sure that 100% of Nats fans would take what the team has done at SS since over having a $90M contract on their hands.
Denard Span signed 3/$31M with San Francisco, capping a frustrating year for Span and the team. He only played 61 games for the 2015 team, forcing the Nats to start Michael Taylor and his 30% K rate in CF for a good chunk of the season. Span's first season in SF was similar to his first in DC; he struggled offensively. He's been even worse in 2017, and is currently on the D/L (in an interesting twist of fate; his replacement on the SF active roster? None other than Michael Morse).
Nate McLouth; The team couldn't wait to decline his 2016 option and pay his 750k buyout for 2016 after his disastrous stint with Washington. His contract was ill-advised from the start; did we really need to pay good money to have a "veteran 4th outfielder?" McLouth missed the entirety of 2015, has yet to sign since, and may have played his way out of baseball.
Matt Thornton signed a MLFA deal with San Diego for 2016, got called up after a couple of months in AAA, but struggled. He posted a 5.82 ERA over the next couple of months and was released in August. He has not appeared since and now at age 40 is likely done.
Casey Janssen was so poor for the Nats that they bought his 2016 out for a cool $1.5M buyout for 2016); he also signed a MLFA deal with San Diego for 2016. Ah San Diego; the place where pitchers go to resurrect their careers. He was released in late Spring Training 2016, got picked up with Boston in June of 2016, pitched a bit for their Short-A and AAA teams then was released in early August 2016. Did not pick up with a team for 2017 and at age 35 with little velocity on his fastball, he may be retired.
Reed Johnson got picked back up on a MLFA deal by Washington for 2016 season, but did not make the team out of spring and was released on 4/2/16. He did not pick up with anyone for 2016 and at age 39 may be retired.
Taylor Jordan: After brief stints with the team in 2015, started 2016 in AAA but got hurt in June of 2016, he had a second TJ surgery … and then was released by the club on 6/28/16 to correspond to the Giolito contract addition. Man, that seems kind of cold to release a guy just after surgery, but his odds of making it back to the majors just took a significant hit. As of 2017 has not re-signed anywhere and seems a long-shot to do so, with little major league track record and two arm injuries. Likely out of baseball at this point.
David Carpenter: shoulder injury, DFA'd, elected free agency and quickly signed a ML deal with Atlanta for 2016. However he was cut after just a handful of spring training games; maybe his injury is worse than we thought. He then bounced from Tampa to the Angels system for 2016, and then signed back with Tampa as a MLFA/NRI for 2017, but was cut on 4/4/17.
Emmanuel Burriss: signed MLFA with Philly and lead-off against the Nats in their first visit to Philadelphia in the new season. He was DFA'd and purchased a couple times by Philly last year, but upon his outright after the season he elected FA and signed a MLFA to return to the Nats for 2017. He looked like nice utility infielder insurance until he got suspended for a "drug of abuse" in the spring (his second such offense). He currently sits on Syracuse's restricted list. I have to say; his status as the sole DC-bred baseball player in the pros (as far as I can tell) and his playing for the Washington franchise seems to put him in a great post-career outreach position … but now with two drug suspensions on his resume, I wonder if he's scuttled any such possibility of representing the team in the community.
Craig Stammen: fan favorite had an ill-timed injury late in the 2015 season and was non-tendered instead of guaranteeing him a contract for 2016. He signed a MLFA with Cleveland for 2016 but never made it out of AAA. I had him as a leading "oblivion candidate" until he signed another MLFA deal for 2017 and made the San Diego opening day roster. His april has not been good though, sporting an ERA in the mid 8s as of May 1st. He may be in danger of a DFA, which might spell the end of his MLB career given how the last couple of seasons have gone. He gave the Nats 3 solid years as a bullpen workhorse that may have led to his eventual wearing out.
Tyler Moore never could match the magic of his debut season in 2012, but a series of injuries kept him hanging around in 2014 and 2015 when he may otherwise have been released. His luck ran out though for the 2016 team, when he got beat out for the RH bench bat by Chris Heisey and he got DFA'd at the end of spring training. We negotiated a trade of similar discarded assets with Atlanta, trading Moore for Nate Freiman. Freiman didn't last three weeks with the AAA team before being released (a measure of just how little we got in return for trade), while Moore got injured early and missed most of the year for AAA Gwinnett. He signed a MLFA for 2017 with the Marlins and team out of spring training. He even got a crucial hit against the Nats early in 2017 season, but was soon DFA'd again. He passed through waivers and was outrighted to New Orleans (where, as noted in the previous post, he joins a litany of former Nats).
Xavier Cedeno was the first 25-man DFA of the 2015 season. He was used 4 times in 5 nights in early April, gave up a couple of runs and then got designated with just 3 IP. It was an odd move at the time; why was he getting appearance after appearance if the team was going to DFA him? Why did the team have so little patience with him? After his DFA, he got purchased by the Dodgers, who then sold him to the Rays 5 days later … and he had 61 appearances with a 2.09 ERA for Tampa Bay the rest of 2015. He was a solid bullpen arm for them all of 2016 and remains on their team now. Do you think maybe the team gave up on him too soon?
Taylor Hill: Hill was DFA'd to make room for January 2016 signings and was outrighted to AAA, where he pitched the entire 2016 season. Hill finished out the year for AAA Syracuse with a 4.60 ERA in 27 starts. He is still with the AAA team for 2017 but has been passed on the depth chart by several guys (Cole, Voth, Fedde) and faces long odds of a return to the majors with this organization. Additionally, Hill has started the 2017 AAA season by getting shelled; an 8.14 ERA for April. He may be in serious jeopardy of getting released.
Aaron Barrett: Tommy John in 2015, then in June of 2016, he had a major set-back in his TJ recovery, fracturing his elbow. He has re-signed with the Nats for 2017 and starts the year on the AAA D/L. I was happy to see the Nats give Barrett this gesture of signing him so that he can rehab with the team, and I hope it pays off with an eventual return to the fold.
Matt Purke got his last shot at salvaging a career with the Nats, who signed him for big-time money ($2.75M as a 3rd rounder in 2011, the last free for all non-capped bonus draft). He failed to impress again, and the team let him go to free agency. He signed a MLFA deal with the Chicago White Sox, who assigned him to AAA … and then he earned a call-up by mid May 2016. The nats were looking rather foolish for cutting bait on a guy who made the Chicago MLB team after just a few weeks. But his time in South-Side was short lived; he was optioned back to the minors by the end of June, never made it back, was outrighted over the off-season and started 2017 off the 40-man pitching for AAA Charlotte. He is still wild (8 walks in 11 2017 innings) but he's only 26 so there may still be time. But from a Nats transaction perspective, i'm not sure what else they could have done.
Yunel Escobar: after a productive season with the Nats, where Escobar played multiple positions and covered for infield injuries galore, he was traded to Los Angeles Angels for Trevor Gott and Michael Brady in the off-season. At the time of the trade (mid December 2015) Escobar was considered surplus to requirements, in that the team had its infield already spoken for in Anthony Rendon, Danny Espinosa, and Trea Turner. Two weeks later the team signed Danny Murphy to play 2B, thus relegating Turner back to AAA to save his service clock. Escobar was traded to the team with perhaps the worst farm system in the majors; Gott has yet to throw a pitch for the MLB team and Brady is already gone via MLFA, so the return for Escobar is rather paltry. That being said, I think the league knew we were shopping him, he had just had a career year with a BA 30 points above his career average, and may have been ceiling limited with the expectation of regression. Since the trade, Escobar has played a solid 3B for the Angels and kept his BA above .300, and has been joined in their infield by fellow Nats reject Espinosa.
Drew Storen traded with cash to Toronto for Ben Revere, ptbnl. I think we've litigated the Storen case to death; he was flipped more or less since the acquisition of Jonathan Papelbon and Storen's undeserved demotion seemed to break him; it was as clear of a case of someone needing "a change of scenery" as I've seen with one of our players. We got a player in Revere that filled a point of need (CF) and one that looked on paper like a good deal at the time. I think its fair to say now that this trade didn't work out for either team: Storen put up an ERA north of 6.00 for Toronto, got flipped again to Seattle, and at current sits as the 8th inning guy for one of the worst teams in baseball (Cincinnati). Meanwhile Revere barely hit the Mendoza line for the Nats, forcing the team to put its SS of the future into CF as a make-shift replacement, and got non-tendered at season's end. A crummy end to Storen's career here, where he remains in 2nd place all time (behind Chad Cordero) in career franchise saves.
Kila Ka'aihue, Ian Stewart, Mike Carp: part of the great 2016 RH bat spring training cattle call; didn't make the team and were eventually released.
Tony Renda traded to Yankees for David Carpenter mid-season in an attempt to buttress the bullpen. Didn't work. Renda may have been my farcical "future hall of famer" before Max Schrock, in that they're both basically undersized middle infielders that posted good minor league numbers but seem ceiling limited. Renda got traded to Cincinnati ahead of the 2016 season, had a cup of coffee up there, but got outrighted after the 2016 season and remains on the AAA Louisville roster.
Mitch Lively and Evan Meek: both AAA hurlers released from their contracts so they could sign in Japan and Korea respectively. Lively struggled in Japan and has been pitching in the Mexican league ever since, while Meek also struggled in the KBO and has been playing indy ball ever since.
Jose Valverde opted out of his MLFA contract and was released in July; never picked back up for 2015, or 2016. Kept pitching in winter ball and is now in the Mexican league.
Eric Fornataro the off-season waiver claim never made it out of AAA, posting a mid 5 ERA and got released in July. He picked back up with a MLFA for 2016 with Baltimore, but struggled in AA and was released in May of 2016. He has not signed since and may be done.
Nick Pivetta: traded to Philadelphia for Papelbon. We know the Papelbon story, and now we know the Pivetta story; he debuted in Philly's rotation last weekend in LA after a solid year starting in AA and AAA in 2016 and a hot start in Lehigh Valley for 2017. He may be in a position to haunt the Nats for 6 seasons …. all for a year and a half of tumult out of Papelbon.
Dan Butler was a Catcher we received from Boston for Danny Rosenbaum in Jan of 2015; he was a 40-man spot holder for most of the season but served mostly as catcher depth before being DFA'd in July to make room for Papelbon. He was outrighted to AAA, elected FA after the season and went right back to Boston for 2016. He remains as their AAA backup catcher.
Did I miss anyone?
Player I most miss from this list: From a Nats "legacy" perspective it was tough to wave good bye to Ian Desmond, who gave this franchise 11 years of his life. Same with Zimmermann; he was part of the core that turned this team from a laughing stock to divisional winner.
Player Loss I most regret using unfair "hindsight is 20/20" vision: Pivetta. Even if he's "only" a 4th starter, he represents all that was wrong with the Papelbon decision.
Player Loss that is the most "We dodged a bullet" situation: Zimmermann's contract; we thought he'd get overpaid, but a year and a half in his contract looks awful for an aging team that's moving the wrong direction and has little chance of unseating Cleveland in their own division.
Tagged with aaron barrett, anthony rendon, ben revere, casey janssen, chad cordero, chris heisey, craig stammen, dan butler, dan uggla, dane dunning, danny espinosa, danny rosenbaum, david carpenter, denard span, doug fister, drew storen, emmanuel burriss, eric fornataro, evan meek, ian desmond, ian stewart, jonathan papelbon, jordan zimmermann, jose valverde, kila ka'aihue, mark reynolds, matt purke, matt thornton, max schrock, michael brady, michael morse, michael taylor, mike carp, mitch lively, nate freiman, nate mclouth, nick pivetta, reed johnson, taylor hill, taylor jordan, tony renda, trea turner, trevor gott, tyler moore, xavier cedeno, yunel escobar
Minor League Full Season Staff Review 2017 – Syracuse
Will Cole be getting yet another AAA opening day start? Photo AP
I slacked on minor league pitching analysis this off-season. But i'm as excited as ever to see the four full-season affiliate rosters announced ahead of the beginning of the minor league season this weekend. And i'm ready for another season of tracking minor league arms (kind of the bread and butter of this blog).
So lets take a look at the four staffs, guess the roles, and talk about the changes of the staffs from the end of last year til now. I'll do these in four posts to break them out and get more content/discussion. First up: Syracuse.
Quick links for rosters for each full season affiliate:
Syracuse Roster
Harrisburg Roster
Potomac roster
Hagerstown roster
And don't forget the invaluable work of SpringfieldFan maintaining the Nats Big Board, now in its 12 season!
Note: in the below list, "missing" means that the player was on a 2016 roster, is still listed as active but is not found anywhere on a 2017 full-season roster as expected. Most are still sitting in Extended Spring Training (abbreviated XST throughout) with the intent of getting assigned as injuries or releases occur, but some may be release candidates. Other abbreviations I use often: MLFA == Minor League Free Agent, OOO = Out of the Organization.
AAA/Syracuse 2017:
starters: Cole, Voth, THill, Turner, JRoss
spot starts/swingman:
bullpen: Adams, Gott, Grace*, Martin, Albers, Antolin, Broadway, Cotts,
dl/restricted: Swynenberg (still restricted), Barrett, Collins*, Harper*, McGowin
cut/released/FAs from 2016: Laffey*, Espino, Giolito (trade), RLopez (trade), EDavis, De Fratus, Arroyo, Harmening
missing from 2016: none
As often happens with AAA squads, this group of players is about half home-grown (I count 8 drafted players out of the 17 on the roster) and half MLFA or acquired depth. And this group is missing more than a few names that we know will eventually be here and play major roles; Jeremy Guthrie probably slides into the rotation spot that Joe Ross is temporarily holding. But XST also currently holds players like John Lannan and Josh Outman, both of whom were MLFA signings this past off-season with the intent of providing AAA depth.
And as you often see in AAA, there's huge turnover from last year. Eight guys on the AAA rosters at the end of last year are out of the organization now, 6 by free agency and two by the much discussed Adam Eaton trade. I was kind of bummed to see Paolo Espino go in particular, but I like the potential of former major leaguers like Jacob Turner and the aforementioned Guthrie (who looked pretty good in spring training, for what that's worth).
Rotation guess: not too hard to squint and see this rotation go A.J. Cole, Austin Voth and Taylor Hill at the top. After that i'm assuming it goes Turner-Guthrie (after Ross gets called back up). Perhaps we'll also see 2017 MLFA Kyle McGowin after he returns from whatever ailment has him on the D/L.
Reliever thoughts: I was happy to see the team re-sign Aaron Barrett; he may not ever contribute again but it was a good gesture to bring him back into the fold. Interested to see what Lannan can provide. The four relievers on the 40-man roster all seem to be on thin-ice with the org; are we expecting anything of value from any of Adams, Gott, Grace or Martin any more? I don't mean to sound like a debbie downer, but at this point those four guys are my first four to get cut if space is needed. Its kind of amazing to me that this team has so little reliever depth at the upper level of the minors given the ridiculous amount of pitching they've drafted in the past few years.
Interestingly, Matt Swynenberg remains on the AAA restricted list, where he's been since he retired on 5/1/15. I'm not sure why at this point the team doesn't just release him, if only to clean up the official MILB.com roster on the web page. 🙂
Who am I focusing on: Voth, Turner, Adams and Gott to see if they've got any future value, Guthrie, Lannan when they get there, McGowin when he gets off of the D/L.
April 6th, 2017 at 11:42 am
Posted in Minor League Pitching
Tagged with aaron barrett, adam eaton, aj cole, austin adams, austin voth, jacob turner, jeremy guthrie, joe ross, john lannan, josh outman, kyle mcgowin, matt grace, matt swynenberg, paolo espino, rafael martin, taylor hill, trevor gott
Who will be this year's Chris Heisey? Photo via Washington Times
Third year running for this post: Here's a link to 2016's version and a link to 2015's post.
Every year the team invites a bunch of Non-Roster Invitees (NRIs) to Spring Training, and every year we wonder if any of these guys have a chance to make the team. This post discusses the NRIs and their chances. Through out the winter some NRIs were announced with signings; on 2/11/17 the full list of NRIs was announced.
This is no throw-away post: here's what has happened to Washington Nationals NRIs the last two spring trainings:
So that's six NRIs from 2016 that eventually played for the Nats or got added to the 40-man roster, and six from the year . So odds are a handful of these players will eventually have a major league impact for this team. Lets take a look at 2017's NRI roster. From the mlb.com NRI roster, lets break them down by position.
RHP Jacob Turner: once upon a time he was halfway decent for an NL East team (Miami), but lost his effectiveness somewhere in the 2014 timeframe and hasn't gotten it back. Seems like AAA rotation filler to me.
RHP Vance Worley: an interesting minor league signing; why couldn't he get a 40-man contract after the season he just had in Baltimore? Could be a sneaky effective pickup.
RHP Jeremy Guthrie: 272 career starts but none in the majors since getting dumped from Kansas City's 2015 rotation. In 2016 he posted an ERA north of 7.00 for Miami and San Diego's AAA squads. He'll be 38. I'm not sure he's really any better of a "spare starter" option than what we already have in house.
RHP Erick Fedde: his invite clearly indicates to me that the MLB staff wants to get a look at him, figuring that he's taken over as the next big thing in terms of starting pitcher prospects. With all due respect to A.J. Cole and Austin Voth, its really Fedde that I'd like to see pitching in the majors if/when we have a month long starter injury later this summer.
RHP Taylor Hill; may be up to see if he's got anything left in the tank, or perhaps to eat some split squad innings? Once you're off the 40-man it seems pretty hard to get back, and that's the dilemna that Hill faces.
RHP Kyle McGowin, recently acquired in the Danny Espinosa deal. I'm guessing the team wants to see what they have. McGowin's 2016 numbers were awful … but pitching in the PCL is generally awful, so its hard to scout the stat line here.
FWIW, a couple of these guys who I've called "starters" (Turner and Worley) may actually still be starters, but they're close enough to starting that the team could look at them as such. I could see Worley getting the last spot in the MLB rotation and acting as a swing man/6th starter, not unlike what we used Yusmeiro Petit for last year. The minor league invites mean that the whole AAA rotation will be in camp. Unless the team suffers 3 SP injuries in camp, nobody here is making the 25-man on 4/1.
Right Handed Relievers
RHP Matt Albers; Great in 2015, awful in 2016. Wrong side of 30, losing his swing and miss stuff. Seems like he's just in camp to rebuild value and likely opts out if he doesn't make the team.
RHP Mike Broadway: career journeyman, was formerly with Nats in 2013 time-frame. Little MLB experience, seems like he's AAA insurance.
RHP Joe Nathan: 377 career saves, but he's 42, was last effective as a 38yr old in 2013, and this seems like perhaps an audition for him to take a role on a coaching staff here.
RHP Dustin Antolin: longtime Toronto farm hand who spent 3 straight years in their AA team and was a part-time closer for their AAA team last year with good results; seems like a safe bet to close in AAA and serve as middle relief insurance.
RHP Derek Eitel; similar to Antolin; long time farm hand who finished a ton of games in AAA for San Diego last year. Averaged a K/inning but had a ton of walks.
RHP Wander Suero: a long-serving middle relief option for the team, Suero has grown up in the system. He's entering his 8th pro season and I'm guessing the team wants to see if he's a MLB middle relief option and/or an option to eventually add to the 40-man roster ahead of his pending MLFA deadline.
Left handed Relievers
LHP Tim Collins: hasn't pitched in 2 years thanks to a failed TJ surgery that cost him a second season, but was pretty effective for Kansas City to that point. I think he has to think he's heading to AAA to prove to teams that he's ok.
LHP Braulio Lara: seems like a lottery ticket based on performances from a few years past; he got shelled in Korea, shelled in AAA recently.
LHP Neal Cotts: long time reliever who has had some bouts of success over the years, but who didn't make it out of AAA last year. Can't see him supplanting the 40-man guys ahead of him on the Loogy pecking order.
LHP Nick Lee, who like Hill before him was on the 40-man and then passed through waivers to get removed from it. He was good enough to protect in 2015 (putting up good numbers in a closing role for AA) but really struggled with his control in 2016 (42 walks in 50 innings). Perhaps a mechanical tweak can put him back on the radar to being an effective reliever.
Tangent: The recent addition of optionless Enny Romero may complicate a 25-man path for these guys. Or perhaps not; the arm they gave up (Jeffrey Rosa) was so insignificant that I had to look him up because I forgot who he was. In case you were wondering, Rosa was the "ace" of this year's GCL team, getting 11 starts and posting a 4.91 ERA. As a 21 year old. So that means he was a 19-yr old IFA signing from a land where most players of note sign at 16 and only the rare cases make it to 18 and still have a minor league impact. So perhaps the team isn't entirely wedded to Romero making the roster/challenging his no-options status. That trade was more about Tampa shedding a 40-man spot and getting something (anything) in return.
Discussion: So, no real "closers" in here, even if you somehow think Nathan can still produce (I don't). I think a couple of these guys will exercise opt-outs and the rest will sign up in AAA. I can't see any of them seriously challenging any of the existing 40-man arms for a spot. The one exception could be Collins for me; he was good, had bad luck with his injury and could very well come back and be effective; is he a better Loogy option than our current set of lefties (Perez, Solis, Romero and Grace)? I doubt it. I like the call-up of Suero and Lee; i think its a good idea for the team to see what they have here.
Catchers:
Jhonatan Solano, who probably reprises his role as AAA backup for Syracause and is in camp mostly to help with all the warm-up duties.
Infielders:
Emmanuel Burriss: we are quite familiar with Burriss, who is a Washington DC native and was with the org two years ago. I see little chance of him breaking with the team but he'll do exactly what he did for us in 2015: toil in Syracuse, wait for an injury in the infield and bide his time until he can get some MLB at-bats. In 2015 he was up by June 26th; what are the odds that the Nats infield holds up without injury again in 2017?
Grant Green; primarily a 2B, but can play like a utility guy around the field. He's a former 1st round pick and a highly regarded prospect; don't see much of a position for him though. Will he stick around if he doesn't make the team?
Corban Joseph: owns a grand total of 7 MLB at-bats, and that was in 2013. He has toiled in the minors for the last four full seasons, bouncing around organizations. He plays 1B and 2B and seems like the backup to the backup for Daniel Murphy. In other words, if Joseph is playing, we've really suffered some serious injuries.
Neftali Soto: the 2016 MLFA signing had such a solid year for the organization that they re-signed him and gave him the NRI invite this year. I suppose he's Ryan Zimmerman insurance … but like Snyder is a RH hitter who is more or less limited to 1B. Hard to see a pathway for him.
Drew Ward: this NRI seems a bit premature; he was in A-ball a year ago this time. But Ward also faces Rule-5 protection this coming off-season and is one of the few remaining hopes of the 2013 draft class of producing much in the way of MLB talent for the home team. He could be a replacement for an Anthony Rendon injury at some point too.
Its hard to see any openings here, especially given the Stephen Drew re-signing. Are any of these guys beating out Wilmer Difo? Doubt it.
Brandon Snyder: another local product (Westfield HS in Chantilly) and another 1st round pick who has sputtered out. He has some pop, but he bats right handed … and the RH bench spot is already committed (along with $1.4M) to Chris Heisey. Snyder seems like AAA "spare parts" insurance for 2017.
Andrew Stevenson: I know he was a high draft pick, but based on what I saw of him in college i'm still kind of shocked he's advanced so quickly. He joins several other CF-capable players in camp and signals to me at least that the team clearly thinks he's got a role going forward.
Note that there's really nobody invited to compete with the likes of Michael Taylor/Brian Goodwin for 5th outfielder spot. Yes Stevenson is a CF … does anyone think he's MLB ready? Snyder seems to be competition with Clint Robinson/Matt Skole/Chris Heisey for bench bat/corner spots. He had good numbers in small sample sizes for Atlanta last year; maybe he's an option. Problem is that he bats righty and the team already guaranteed money to Heisey, so there's no direct competition for Robinson/Skole as a "corner lefty bat with some pop."
Conclusion/predictions: I predict no NRIs make the team out of spring training right now. But I could see several of these guys head to AAA and get call-ups in the case of a 60-day D/L trip. And a number of the minor league invite guys will feature eventually.
Post-publishing update: indeed, no NRIs made the opening day 25-man roster, but clearly the plan was in the works to bring in NRI Jeremy Guthrie to make a spot start early into the season and perhaps stick around as the long man…. Except that Guthrie got absolutely battered in said start (10 runs in 2/3rds of an inning), leading to his immediate DFA and the subsequent call up of a second NRI Matt Albers (over, it should be noted, four other 40-man roster relievers). Then, thanks to two quick infielder injuries the first week, a third NRI Grant Green was called-up to provide some cover.
So technically zero NRIs made the team but several were used inside of the first week.
By the end of 2017 season, here's the final list of ST NRI invites who appeared for the Nats: Guthrie, Albers, Green, and Stevenson
Tagged with aj cole, andrew stevenson, anthony rendon, austin voth, brandon snyder, braulio lara, chris heisey, clint robinson, corban joseph, dan uggla, daniel murphy, danny espinosa, derek eitel, drew ward, dustin antolin, emmanuel burriss, enny romero, erick fedde, grant green, jacob turner, jeffrey rosa, jeremy guthrie, jhonatan solano, joe nathan, kyle mcgowin, lucas giolito, matt albers, matt grace, matt skole, michael taylor brian goodwin, mike broadway, neal cotts, neftali soto, nick lee, oliver perez, pedro severino, rafael martin, ryan zimmerman, sammy solis, sean burnett, spencer kieboom, stephen drew, taylor hill, tim collins, vance worley, wander suero, wilmer difo, yusmeiro petit
Collier's Inbox 1/4/17
Is this the best we can do for backup infielders? photo via offtherecordsports.com
Nats Beat reporter Jamal Collier posted another inbox; here's how I would have answered the questions he took.
Q: The Nationals and A's have proven to be strong trade partners over the years, and I believe the A's have a few players to fit the Nats' needs. Do you think Washington could trade for Sean Doolittle and Stephen Vogt?
A: We mentioned this in passing in the comments discussion recently; it does make sense to try to acquire Oakland's closer Sean Doolittle. Acquiring Stephen Vogt makes less sense right now, given that the Nats have guaranteed Jose Lobaton money for 2017 and have signed Derek Norris to be the starter. For similar reasons as to why the "Nats are still interested in Matt Weiters" arguments make no sense, acquiring Vogt wouldn't make much sense either. If you acquire Vogt, you tell the league that you need to trade either Lobaton (no options/5-year veteran who cannot be sent down and who has a guaranteed 2017 contract) or Norris, and it isn't exactly the best way to go about maintaining a player's value when the whole league knows you need to make a deal. That's why we got very little in return for Danny Espinosa, and that's why signing a third catcher to a guaranteed deal wouldn't make any sense.
The one issue that may be blocking a Doolittle deal is the farm system; as in, we've gutted it this off-season already. Billy Beane knows how valuable closers are; he just watched Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen cash in and he has seen what the likes of Andrew Miller and Wade Davis fetch in trade. I'm not saying Doolittle is in that class of pitcher … but he's not chopped liver. The price tag just may be too high for Mike Rizzo to consider.
Collier says Doolittle would be a good fit, but that Oakland isn't shopping its players right now.
Q: Wilmer Difo is the only middle infielder on the 40-man roster, other than the starters. It seems to me the Nats need another infielder on the bench. Emmanuel Burriss seems to be the only other option. What do you think?
A: Yes, the Nats definitely need another MLB quality backup infielder. Emmanuel Burriss is not that; he's a 4-A guy who only played last year because Philadelphia isn't really trying right now. Wilmer Difo is not the guy you want to be injury option #1 either. This is why I want Stephen Drew back, as discussed ad naseum in the comments recently. But I also admit Drew may have priced himself out by virtue of his 2016 performance, and it may be an outlier season. Who else is out there? Not much at this point. I think the Nats are kind of thin right now all the way around; if we lose any of these key players for any length of time, the alternatives are pretty poor. Imagine giving 400 ABs right now to Difo or to Michael Taylor? I mean, what does this team do if Anthony Rendon, not exactly known for being a rock heathwise, misses 2 months? Who plays 3B for that time? Matt Skole?
I think the team needs a bit more depth both in INF and OF right now, honestly.
Collier says the Nats are comfortable with Difo as a bench option, as evidenced by his presence on the NLDS roster. But I don't buy that; i think he was on that roster as basically a 25th man/pinch runner guy, not because he had earned it.
Q: The offseason trades seem to point to the Nats believing Stras is going to be healthy, why would they think that?
A: Because he's not the first player to suffer a Strained Flexor Mass, because its not nearly as severe an injury as other arm injuries, and because the team is probably hyper-monitoring Stephen Strasburg's recovery. Its basically a 1 month injury, 2 if you're being really cautious. Had the Nats made the World Series i bet he woudl have pitched. I can't imagine any reason he won't be ready to go by 4-1.
Collier notes that both he and his agent have said multiple times there's no issues, plus Strasburg was throwing bullpen sessions in the post-season…. he'll be fine.
Q: With the trade to the White Sox, I'm concerned that the Nats have denuded their farm system of Major League-ready top prospect pitchers. In case of injury to any of the top six Major Leaguers, it seems that there will be no "next man up" to fill in.
A: Me too! The Nats gave no less than 20 starts to pitchers outside the opening day rotation in 2016. That same number was 28 in 2015, 13 in 2014, 25 in 2013 and just 12 in 2012. So that's an average of 19.6 "extra" starts per year thanks to injuries and unplanned absences. You're absolutely right; the first two likely candidates to take those starts in 2017 (Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez) were both flipped for Adam Eaton. Now we're looking at those starts going to A.J. Cole and to Austin Voth initially, and the pickings get slimmer from there. "Slim" as in, there's only really 7 starters on the 40-man at all, so if you really get stuck you're looking at Oliver Perez getting stretched out, or putting someone like Blake Treinen back on a starter routine. And past that? We're talking a MLFA type like Jacob Turner or our own already-outrighted-once Taylor Hill. In reality we'd never get that far; we'd promote Erick Fedde or maybe hope that reformed knuckeballer J.D. Martin has something in the tank. But those are not really confidence-inspiring options. Here's hoping for a healthy 2017 from the rotation!
Collier acknowledges the same and thinks the team may sign some starter depth before spring training starts.
Q: Perhaps the Nats could bring in some veteran starters to Spring Training, like they did last year with Bronson Arroyo, to compete for rotation spots and as insurance in case of an injury. What will it take to get Trout? Sure he would like to play for a winnèr.
A: See above, yes. 2016 Syracuse had some decent alternatives: Paolo Espino and Aaron Laffey both seemed to be good alternatives. Espino signed with Colorado, Laffey is still a FA. But there's a slew of veteran FA starters out there who would probably take a non-guaranteed deal. I could see Mat Latos coming back b/c of his Dusty Baker connection. I could see an injury-case like Kris Medlen or Matt Harrison look at the SP depth and say to himself, "gee, I can probably beat out Cole and Voth for the 6th starter job!" So yeah you never know.
Trout trade; that's just internet click bait. He's not going anywhere. Owner won't trade him, and putting together a package of prospects to acquire him could never work out; it'd either be not enough for the Angels, or too much for the acquiring team.
Collier tries to speculate on a package for Trout, coming up with Turner, Robles, Ross and perhaps Fedde. Think about that trade, what it would do to the current team, and what it does for the future of the team versus what you acquire, and ask yourself if its worth it.
Posted in Chat/Mailbag Responses,Majors Pitching,Nats in General
Tagged with aaron laffey, adam eaton, aj cole, andrew miller, anthony rendon, aroldis chapman, austin voth, billy beane, blake treinen, bronson arroyo, danny espinosa, derek norris, dusty baker, emmanuel burris, erick fedde, jacob turner, jamal collier, jd martin, jose lobaton, kenley jansen, kris medlen, lucas giolito, mat latos, matt harrison, matt skole, matt weiters, michael taylor, mike rizzo, oliver perez, paolo espino, reynaldo lopez, sean doolittle, stephen drew, stephen strasburg, stephen vogt, taylor hill, wade davis, wilmer difo
2016 Season Statistical review of the 2011 Draft Class
Rendon leads the 2011 class. Photo Nats Official via espn.com
Sixth and last in our set of Draft class Reviews for the 2016 season. First was the 2016 class, then the 2015 class then the 2014 class, then the 2013 class, then the 2012 class.
There's no point going past the 2011 class because anyone prior is already a 6year MLFA. Its barely worth discussing these draftees since all the college-aged players are 6 year MLFAs after this season, but we'll strive on anyway, especially since one guy in particular has been somewhat of a lightening rod in this space.
Web links to use while reading:
Stats are pulled from milb.com and/or fangraphs.com; put the player name into the search bar to get his seasonal stats
The 2016 MLB.com Draft Tracker (which I believe is the best draft tracker out there) is the best place to get draft class information.
The 2016 Bonus Tracker
The Big Board and the Draft Tracker are the goto resources for prospects for any Nats fan.
More obscure stats on players are sometimes found at places like thebaseballcube.com, perfectgame.org, their college websites, twitter accounts for the players, and good old fashioned deep-dive googling.
My historical list of Nats prospect rankings, updated for all 2016 mid-season rankings.
It is also worth reminding everyone that the 2011 draft was the last of its kind before new CBA rules went into effect. So what you see in 2011 isn't what we see now. Specifically:
There used to be 50 rounds; after this draft it went down to 40. And looking at the rounds 40-50 picks, you can understand why there was little need for those additional 10 rounds.
There used to be no caps on bonus spending; after this draft, no more massive bonus spending to sign HS prep kids in lower rounds to 1st round money.
And because of the new caps and the tracking of limits up to the 10th round, we now see teams often making "throw away" college senior signs in the 6th-10th picks to save on bonus dollars to go over-slot for high profile picks or later draft steals. In 2011, these same guys were getting drafted in the 20th-30th round range instead.
Without further ado:
Round 1: (#6 overall) Anthony Rendon, 3B Coll Jr from Rice: Slashed .270/.348/.450 and was a Gold Glove finalist while rebounding to put together a 4-win season for Washington. Had an awful NLDS series, failing badly in the clutch especially in the Game 5 loss. Still is a significant and important player for this team. Has accumulated 11 career bWAR through four seasons/age 26, which isn't on pace for Hall of Fame levels by any means but is still pretty solid. If he puts together two more years like his 2016, he'll be inline for a pretty hefty contract. Matriculated to Majors.
Round 1 (#23 overall): Alex Meyer, RHP Coll Jr from Kentucky: Traded straight up for Denard Span in Nov 2012. The Twins could never get him productive at the Major league level, so they flipped him in Aug 2016 to the Angels for Hector Santiago. The Angels immediately put him in the rotation; he went 1-2 in five starts with a 4.57 ERA. Likely in their rotation in 2017 since they're starved for starting pitching.
Round 1-S (#34): Brian Goodwin, OF Juco from Miami Dade CC South: Slashed .280/.349/.438 in AAA, earned a call-up to provide some OF coverage and more than held his own in 42 MLB at bats (.286/.318/.429). Goodwin salvaged his career and my opinion of it in 2016; I thought he had peaked as a AA/AAA washout. Now is he a realistic 4th OF candidate? He played mostly CF for Syracuse but mostly corners during his MLB stint (that's because of course Trea Turner was manning center). We've talked a lot about what this team should do at CF; is Goodwin an answer? For 2017 I see him competing with Michael Taylor for the 4th OF spot but not starting; the loser of that competition will head back to AAA or get traded. Writing this analysis made me immediately update my "Options Worksheet" to see if Goodwin was in trouble there: he still has one option remaining (as does Taylor), meaning no mandatory 4/1/17 decisions on either guy. Matriculated to Majors but may also be a "peaked at AAA" type. 2017 will be illustrative.
Round 2: Pick given to Philadelphia as compensation for Jayson Werth signing. The Phillies used the pick to take a HS SS out of Florida named Roman Quinn. Quinn matriculated to the majors this year, giving Philly 57 ABs and hitting .263 along the way.
Round 3: Matthew Purke, LHP draft eligible sophomore from TCU: Released/elected Free Agency 11/5/15 after being released and then re-signing in Nov 2014 in a pre-arranged deal to get him off the 40-man. He signed with the White Sox, and immediately did for them what he never could do for us: pitch well above A-Ball. They assigned him to AAA, where he posted a 3.26 ERA and then they called him up to the majors. For the MLB club he struggled (5.50 ERA in 20 innings with an awful K/BB ratio), but the bigger question maybe why he didn't perform like this for his drafting team. Is this a failure of player development? Why couldn't this team get value out of this big-bonus pick like the White Sox did? Mid Dec 2016 update, just prior to publishing: Purke was DFA'd by the White Sox to make way for all their new acquisitions; i'm guessing he'll pick up with another pitching-starved team though and at least start 2017 in AAA.
Round 4: Kylin Turnbull, LHP juco from Santa Barbara CC: zero IP in 2015; on the Potomac D/L the entire year. Missed the entire 2016 season, after missing the entire 2015 season. He has a career 4.53 ERA and i'm not sure what the team still saw in him to not just release him when he got hurt again. Peaked at High-A
Round 5: Matt Skole, 3B Coll Jr. from Georgia Tech: Slashed .244/.337/.437 in a full season at AAA. 119/66 K/BB, 24 homers, 2 SB in 499 ABs. We definitely have some Skole fans in this space, and we've litigated his position enough. That slash line actually represents a regression from his 2015 partial season in AAA, even with the rise in homers. The team did not bother to add him at the 9/1 expansion date even with Clint Robinson hitting at the Mendoza line, as good of an indication as any that Skole has peaked at AAA. He's playing winter ball in an attempt to showcase his skills; he's hitting .236 through 89 ABs as of the time of this writing on 11/10/16, dampening his MLFA prospects a bit. Post-Writing Update: the Nats did put Skole on the 40-man in Nov 2016 … so perhaps he has not yet peaked. They wouldn't have put him on unless they wanted him to potentially compete for a 25-man spot, so we'll see what happens in 2017.
Round 6: Taylor Hill, RHP Coll Sr from Vanderbilt. 6-13 with a 4.60 ERA in a full season starting for Syracuse. 97/38 K/BB in 154 IP. He was outrighted off the 40-man and passed completely through waivers, an indictment of his career chances at this point. Peaked at AAA.
Round 7: Brian Dupra, RHP Coll Sr from Notre Dame: Released on 3/16/16 after (presumably) failing to make the AA bullpen. He just never succeeded above High-A and was an easy release candidate heading into 2016.
Round 8: Gregory Holt, RHP Coll Sr from UNC: Released 3/20/14.
Round 9: Dixon Anderson, RHP Coll Jr. from UC-Berkeley: Retired 5/14/14.
Round 10: Manny Rodriguez, RHP Coll Sr. from Barry (FL): Released 9/28/15.
Round 11: Caleb Ramsey, OF Coll Sr from U of Houston: slashed .265/.320/.361 in a full-season playing RF for AAA Syracuse. He was never on anyone's radar to get a call-up in 2016 but soldiers on. Peaked at AAA.
Round 12: Blake Monar, LHP Coll Jr from Indiana: released 3/20/13.
Round 13: Casey Kalenkosky 1B Coll Jr From Texas State: did not sign, returned to Texas State for senior season. Drafted in the 30th round in 2012 by Atlanta, lasted two years and released/retired.
Round 14: Cody Stubbs: LF Juco from Walters State CC (TN): did not sign, transferred to UNC and was drafted in the 8th round of 2013 by Kansas City. Retired in July 2015.
Round 15: Zachary Houchins, SS Juco from Louisberg College (NC): did not sign, transferred to ECU, drafted in the 13th round of 2014 by Los Angeles Angels. Hit .262 in High-A in 2016.
Round 16: Deion Williams, SS from Redan HS (GA): Released 3/26/16 after struggling with the conversion to the mound. No surprise here; he had a career ERA of 6.12.
Round 17: Esteban Guzman, RHP Coll Jr from San Jose State University: did not sign, returned to SJSU for his senior year and was never drafted again and, as far as I can tell, never played professionally.
Round 18: Nick Lee, LHP Juco from Weatherford (TX): 3-1 with a 4.32 ERA in 50 relief innings in AA. 55/42 K/BB. Lee was outrighted off the 40-man in July of this year and passed completely through waivers. His wildness just has not been harnessed, and its tough to see a path forwards for him. He has one more season in our system to try to turn it around; we definitely have needs for additional lefty relievers. But for us so far, he Peaked at AA.
Round 19: Hawtin Buchanan, RHP from Biloxi (Miss.) HS; did not sign, honored commitment to Ole Mis/Mississippi. Drafted in the 20th round in 2014 by Seattle and put up a 4.14 ERA in low-A in 2015. Was released, missed all of 2016 but then was recently picked up by Cincinnati on a MLFA contract.
Round 20: Josh Laxer, RHP from Madison (Miss.) Central HS: did not sign, also honored commitment to Ole Mis/Mississippi. Laxer pitched well in Short-A in 2014 but missed all of 2015 with an injury. Released mid-2016.
Round 21: Todd Simko, LHP Coll Jr. from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: retired 7/12/13.
Round 22: Travis Henke RHP Coll Sr from Arkansas-Little Rock: released on 1/6/14.
Round 23: Khayyan Norfork 2B Coll Sr from Tennessee: slashed .218/.313/.256 splitting time between High-A and AA. Norfork's role as a backup middle infielder for the lower rungs of the farm system may have come to an end. Peaked at High-A/AA.
Round 24: Kyle Ottoson LHP Coll Jr from Arizona State: did not sign, returned for senior season and was drafted by San Diego in the 34th round in 2012. Pitched one season of short-A ball and was released.
Round 25: Erick Fernandez C Coll Sr from Georgetown: Released on 7/23/13.
Round 26: Shawn Pleffner OF Coll Jr from Univ. of Tampa: slashed .262/.332/.352 while repeating AA Harrisburg. His 2016 AA numbers were nearly identical to his 2015 AA numbers; there's just no room for a non-homer hitting 1B in the modern game. Peaked at AA.
Round 27: Bobby Lucas LHP Coll Sr. from George Washington: released sometime in 2013 .
Round 28: Kenneth Ferrer RHP Coll Sr. from Elon University: Released or retired prior to the 2012 season.
Round 29: Sean Cotten C Coll Sr. Tusculum College: did not sign, or if he did he never appeared or played.
Round 30: Bryan Harper LHP Coll Jr from South Carolina: 3-2 with a 2.18 ERA splitting time (again) between AA and AAA. Odd that he never got a shot, especially when the team got squeezed on lefty relievers and had to flip a decent prospect to acquire 5 weeks of Marc Rzepczynski at the end of 2016. Especially odd considering the relationship that Harper has with the team. I wonder if the team will lobby him to stay in the system. For now, Peaked at AAA. Post-writing update: Harper just went under the knife for Tommy John surgery, probably the reason he didn't get called up. He also wasn't protected from Rule-5 as a result; his career goes on hiatus at a tough time but I'm guessing the Nats stick with him. And why wouldn't they? His brother is here for two more years so I'm guessing so is Bryan.
Round 31: Josh Tobias SS from Southeast Guilford HS (NC); did not sign, honored his commitment to Florida where he played four years and was drafted in the 20th round of 2015 by Philadelphia. Hit .291 while moving from low- to high-A ball in 2016.
Round 32: Billy Burns OF Coll Jr. from Mercer Univ. (GA): traded in Dec 2013 straight up for Jerry Blevins. After a nice 2015 season (he finished 5th in Rookie of the Year voting), Burns struggled in 2016, getting traded to Kansas City and struggling for playing time.
Round 33: Trey Karlen 2B Coll Sr from Univ. of Tennessee-Martin: Released on 6/17/13.
Round 34: Calvin Drummond RHP Coll Jr. Univ. of San Diego (CA): did not sign, returned to U San Diego for his senior year. Looking up Drummond's draft and collegiate history is interesting. Per his baseballcube and baseball-reference pages, Drummond was drafted no less than four times; once out of HS, once as a draft-eligible sophomore (when the Nats drafted him in 2011), then again as a junior and again as a senior. But the odd part is his history: he went to Orange Coast Juco, then transferred to San Diego where he red-shirted, pitched two decent years as a starter, then transferred again to the baseball powerhouse Arizona Christian University, where he pitched his senior year and was drafted in the 6th round by Detroit. In 2016, he split time between High-A and AA.
Round 35: Alex Kreis RHP Coll Sr Jamestown College (ND): Released or retired after the 2012 season.
Round 36: Ben Hawkins LHP Coll Jr from Univ. of West Florida: Released in mid-2013.
Round 37: Derrick Bleeker RHP Juco frm Howard College (TX): did not sign, transferred to the U of Arkansas and was drafted in the same 37th round the following year by Baltimore. He struggled for Baltimore's low-A affiliate in 2015 and retired in March 2016.
Round 38: Brett Mooneyham LHP Coll Jr from Stanford Univ. (CA): did not sign, stayed at Stanford for his Senior year and then the Nats picked him in the 3rd round of 2012. See the 2012 post for more.
Round 39: Peter Verdin OF, Coll Jr from Univ. of Georgia: did not sign, returned to U Georgia for his senior year. Was undrafted and went unsigned after his senior season. Smells like a "favor pick," as he was a local kid: hails from Alexandria, went to Paul VI HS in Fairfax.
Round 40: Stephen Collum OF from Cartersville HS (GA); did not sign, presumably (per baseballcube) went to Cleveland State Community College but has no college stats and was never again drafted.
Round 41: Bryce Ortega 3B Coll Sr. from Univ. of Arizona: had a decent season in 2012 for Hagerstown then either was released or retired.
Round 42: David Kerian SS from Bishop Heelan HS (IA): did not sign, honored his commitment to U of Illinois. Signed by the Nats as a 9th round senior sign in 2015; see the 2015 post for more.
Round 43: Mitchell Morales SS from Wellington Community HS; did not sign, went to Florida Atlantic University and was drafted 3 years later in 2014 by San Diego in the 29th round. Struggled in lower A leagues in 2015.
Round 44: Matt Snyder 1B Coll Jr Univ. of Mississippi: did not sign, returned to Ole Miss for his senior year and was a 10th round pick the following year by New York Yankees. Hit .371 for High-A this year to push his way to AA.
Round 45: Richie Mirowski RHP Coll Sr. from Oklahoma Baptist Univ: Released on 3/19/15.
Round 46: Tyler Thompson OF Coll JR from Univ. of Florida: did not sign, returned to Florida for his senior year. Got hurt (presumably) and was not drafted after 2012 and never played professionally.
Round 47: Timothy Montgomery LHP from Rockmart HS (GA): did not sign, took a year off, played one year at Berry College and was out of the game.
Round 48: Michael Bisenius OF Coll Jr from Wayne State College (NE): did not sign, returned to college for his senior year, never again drafted. Played on year with the Sioux City Explorers in the American Association.
Round 49: Hunter Cole OF from Dorman HS (SC), did not sign, honored his commitment to the U of Georgia. 26th round pick in 2014 by San Francisco. Hit .271 in a full season for AA Richmond in 2016.
Round 50: Anthony Nix OF Coll Sr from Univ. of California-Riverside: Released in Jan 2013.
Trending Summary:
Matriculated to Majors (6): Rendon, Goodwin, Meyer, Purke, Burns, Hill
Peaked before Majors (8): Turnbull, Skole, Hill, Ramsey, Lee, Norfolk, Pleffner, Harper
Did Not Sign in 2011 (21): Kalenkosky, Stubbs, Houchins, Guzman, Buchanan, Laxer, Ottoson, Cotten, Tobias, Drummond, Bleeker, Mooneyham, Verdin, Collum, Kerian, Morales, Snyder, Thompson, Montgomery, Bisenius, Cole
Released/Retired (18): Purke, Dupra, Holt, Anderson, Rodriguez, Monar, DWilliams, Simko, Henke, Fernandez, Lucas, Ferrer, Karlen, Kreis, Hawkins, Ortega, Mirowski, Nix
Traded (2): Meyer, Burns
Well, now you know why we don't need 50 rounds anymore. Of the original 51 total picks (three 1st rounders and a lost 2nd rounder total 51 total guys in this class), fully 21 didn't even sign. That's more than 40% of the draftees. The "success" list is light; Rendon is obviously a win, but not one other player out of this draft is looking like a solid major leaguer right now. Three of them are doing it for other teams; if Goodwin turns into a valuable piece that makes this draft look a bit better.
Tagged with alex kreis, alex meyer, anthony nix, anthony rendon, ben hawkins, billy burns, blake monar, bobby lucas, brett mooneyham, brian dupra, brian goodwin, bryan harper, bryce ortega, caleb ramsey, calvin drummond, casey kalenkosky, clint robinson, cody stubbs, david kerian, deion williams, denard span, derrick bleeker, dixon anderson, erick fernandez, esteban guzman, gregory holt, hawin buchanan, hector santiago, hunter cole, jayson werth, jerry blevins, josh laxer, josh tobias, kenneth ferrer, khayyan norfork, kyle ottoson, kylin turnbull, manny rodriguez, marc rzepczynski, matt skole, matt snyder, matthew purke, michael bisenius, michael taylor, mitchell morales, nick lee, peter verdin, richie mirowski, roman quinn, sean cotten, shawn pleffner, stephen collum, taylor hill, timothy montgomery, todd simko, travis henke, trea turner, trey karlen, tyler thompson, zachary houchins
From Nats to Oblivion; Updated for 2015 season and 2016 Assignments
Uggla will always have 13-12. Photo TV screenshot via natsenquirer.com
Note: this is a recurring post, and large chunks of the older material is recycled. I've updated the research for older players as needed, getting 2015 updates for everyone on this list still playing. See here for 2014's version, 2013's version, and 2012's version of this post.
It is nearly impossible for a team to field an entire year's worth of players who will not fall into this "Oblivion" category. Every MLB team has guys playing out the string or near retirement, and every MLB team calls up guys through out the season from the minors who eventually show themselves as unable to compete on the MLB level and who never make it back. So a 0% oblivion measure isn't a goal. The best this team has done is 4 players (the 2013 team). I don't think the 2015 team will get that low.
2015: 20 position, 24 pitcher, 44 total. 10/44 = 22.7% candidate ratio right now
2013: 23 position, 21 pitchers, 44 total. 4/44 = 9% candidate ratio right now (thanks Natsochrist for the edit)
Total players used: 20 position, 24 pitcher, 44 total. 19/44 = 20.4% candidate ratio right now.
Here's my entirely too early list of Nats to Oblivion candidates from the 2015 Nats. Odds are that this list will be halved by June 1 of 2016 season. The candidates are listed from most likely to least likely to stay on this list.
Names recently removed: Fister (signed a $7M deal with Houston for 2016). Thornton (MLFA deal with San Diego and made 25-man roster). Burriss: signed MLFA with Philly and lead-off against the Nats in their first visit to Philadelphia in the new season. Added Stammen when he failed to make Cleveland's 25-man roster in 2016. Removed Solis when he got called up to cover for injury to Belisle. Removed Martin when he got called up briefly on 6/27/16. Removed de los Santos when he got waived, picked up by Cincinnati and appeared for them mid Sept 2016. Removed all our 2015 prospect-types who all got 2016 call-ups: Turner, Difo, Severino, Grace, Cole.
Dan Uggla: The Nats were probably his last stand chance in the majors; hit just .183 and was given just 17 ABs the last two months of the season. Seems unlikely to pick up with a team in 2016 and may be done professionally.
Reed Johnson: Got picked back up on a MLFA deal by Washington thanks to his utility capabilities, especially since he did show he was recovered from his 2015 injury. But age is working against him, and the team signed several utility guys to 40-man deals, making it hard on Johnson to get back onto the roster. Johnson did not make the team out of spring and was released on 4/2/16. He did not pick up with anyone for 2016 and at age 39 may be retired.
Casey Janssen: Signed a ML deal with San Diego for 2016 but was released in late Spring Training. Picked up with Boston in June of 2016, pitched a bit for their Short-A and AAA teams then was released in early August 2016. At age 35, he may be done.
Taylor Jordan: passed on the depth chart by guys getting signed (Scherzer), acquired in trade (Ross), and guys just being in the right place at the right time (Roark). Just like he saw time in 2015 in brief spurts, he likely will again in 2016, but seems like a long shot to be a permanent part of this franchise' rotation. In June of 2016, he had a second TJ surgery … and then was released by the club on 6/28/16 to correspond to the Giolito contract addition. Man, that seems kind of cold to release a guy just after surgery, but his odds of making it back to the majors just took a significant hit.
David Carpenter: shoulder injury, DFA'd, elected free agency and quickly signed a ML deal with Atlanta for 2016. However he was cut after just a handful of spring training games; maybe his injury is worse than we thought. Picked backup on a ML deal with the Los Angeles Angels in May 2016 (which makes sense since they've lost most of their pitchers). Was released from AAA Salt Lake in Mid June 2016 and did not pick back up. May be finished.
Taylor Hill: Hill was DFA'd to make room for January 2016 signings and was outrighted to AAA, so he faces longer odds to get back to the majors at this point. If it comes to it, would you rather go with Hill or the likes of Voth or Giolito at this point? Hill finished out the year for AAA Syracuse with a 4.60 ERA in 27 starts, but I'd have to say he's just an innings-eater/org guy now.
Tyler Moore; hit just .203 in 2015 yet stayed on the active roster the whole year thanks to our ridiculous number of injuries. A DFA candidate who never has come close to his rookie year production and now has a career .228 BA in 649 PAs. Signed for 2016, but then waived, outrighted to AAA and traded to Atlanta towards the end of spring training. Moore missed most of the 2016 season for AAA Gwinnett with injury and did not appear in the majors.
Craig Stammen: non-tendered after injuring his arm and missing most of 2015; signed a ML deal with Cleveland in 2016 and did not make the team out of camp. Immediately sent to the AAA D/L list. He missed a couple of months, rehabbed in AA and spent the rest of the year for Cleveland's AAA team in Columbus.
Aaron Barrett: the odds of him turning into Cole Kimball seems small; an elbow is not a shoulder. But until he recovers from his 2015 surgery, he's an Oblivion candidate. He'll sit on the 60-day D/L for most of 2016. In June of 2016, he had a major set-back in his TJ recovery, fracturing his elbow. This will require another visit to Dr. James Andrews and another surgery.
Outlook for 2015 Oblivion candidates: Most of these guys seem like they have little shot of re-gaining a MLB spot; the first 5 guys are likely retired at this point, the next three (Hill, Moore, Stammen) are off 40-mans and not really pushing for a promotion with their AAA stats, and Barrett faces another year of elbow surgery recovery.
Nate Schierholtz: FA after 2014, signed w/ Texas but did not stay with club out of spring training. Played 2015 in Japan, then signed as a MLFA with Detroit in Dec 2015. Starting in AAA for Detroit 2016 but not a 40-man player. Subsequently released on 5/23/16 after hitting .246, did not pick back up for the rest of 2016. He's only 32, so he may still give it a shot in 2017.
Outlook for 2014 Oblivion candidates: after a rough 2016 for all these players, only Schierholz really seems like he has a shot at even a ST invite for 2017. The rest are likely done.
Total Players used: 23 position, 21 pitchers, 44 total. 4/44 = 9% candidate ratio right now (thanks Natsochrist for the edit)
Yunesky Maya; MLFA with Atlanta AAA for 2014, then went to Korea where he got pounded for two seasons. Just signed a MLFA deal with Los Angeles Angels for 2016 and is pitching for AAA Salt Lake. He strained his elbow and missed a big chunk of the 2016 season, which was a missed opportunity for Maya as the Angels had very little SP depth.
Chris Marrero: MLFA, signed w/ Baltimore AAA 2014, played briefly for the White Sox's AAA affiliate in 2015. He's still out there, playing in the 2015 Venezuelan winter league. Signed back with Boston's AAA affiliate for 2016. He had a strong 2016 season for Pawtucket, hitting 23 homers but did not get called up.
Erik Davis; Nats AAA 2014 60 day D/L Tommy John surgery 2014, still on Nats D/L 2015. Outrighted off the 40-man in January 2016, assigned to AAA. Posted a 4.13 ERA in a full year of middle relief for Syracuse, with excellent K/9 ratios, but did not merit a 9/1 call up.
Updates since last post: removed Jhonatan Solano went 1-20 for Miami in 2015 and may be a "Marlins to Oblivion" candidate going forward.
Outlook for 2013 Oblivion candidates: The 4 remaining guys face uphill climbs; only Davis remains with the Nationals but none are on 40-man rosters. Maya and Marrero are hanging on though and may get shots based on decent 2016 seasons in AAA.
Updates in last 12 months: Updates for Maldonado, who I can't believe is still playing in the bus leagues at age 37. Added Christian Garcia after Justin noticed he was missing in the comments.
Changes in the last 12 months: none other than 2016 assignment updates; nobody's gotten off this list in a while.
JD Martin; in MIA org AAA 2012, in TB AAA 2013, in Korea 2014 but struggled, no 2015 stats. 2016 MLFA signing back with the team and re-making himself as a knuckleballer. Why not right?
Willy Taveras; played AAA for Col in 2011, retired prior to 2012, back with KC AAA 2013. Mexican league 2014, 2015, Indy ball in 2015. He re-signed with Pueblo in the Mexican league for 2016 and played a full season, hitting .325.
Outlook for 2010 Oblivion candidates: Two active players in the minors; Taveras and Martin. Martin seems likely to get another MLFA contract in 2017 to see if he can pan out as a knuckleballer.
Tony Blanco; Nats minor leagues 2006-7, Colorado AA in 2008, in Japan from 2009-present. Hit 41 homers in 2013 for Yokohama but struggled in 2015, but got picked up by Orix and is on their 2016 roster.
Outlook for 2005 Oblivion candidates: Tony Blanco is still playing in Japan, entering his 8th pro season there in 2016.
Tagged with aaron barrett, alex cora, aroldis chapman, atahualpa severino, brad lidge, brett carroll, brian broderick, carlos maldonado, casey janssen, chad tracy, chris marrero, cole kimball, dan uggla, david carpenter, doug fister, emmanuel burriss, erik davis, greg dobbs, ivan rodriguez, jeff kobernus, jerry hairston, jesus flores, jhonatan solano, kevin frandsen, mark zuckerman, matt stairs, matt thornton, mike rizzo, nate schierholtz, rafael martin, rafael soriano, reed johnson, roy halladay, ryan mattheus, ryan perry, sammy solis, scott hairston, taylor hill, taylor jordan, tony renda, trea turner, tyler clippard, tyler moore, xavier cedeno, yunesky maya


text:
#100: Ripley making its move; New Site, Aberdeen rolling – 01/31/18
January 31, 2018 by Brad Locke Leave a Comment
There is a whole lot of basketball to talk about on this week's episode.
Brad and Dalton start by looking back at the Hotbed Classic (1:42), where Saltillo's boys suffered a rare loss. Ripley's boys, meanwhile, are heating up (4:23). Iverson Smith played the hero Friday at Senatobia with a game-winning heave at the buzzer, and that was followed by another big division win Tuesday versus Byhalia.
New Site's boys, led by Ramsey Ivy, knocked off Baldwyn last week (6:34) and are rolling along at 23-2. Aberdeen's girls are also having a strong season, and they moved one step closer to clinching a division title by beating Houston on Tuesday (8:13).
Ingomar, the Daily Journal's No. 1 girls team, beat Spain Park (Ala.) on Saturday but then had to squeak out a two-point win against Belmont on Tuesday (9:41). Up next for the Lady Falcons is a visit from Jackson Academy this Saturday.
And while it's still January, baseball is starting up as teams hit the practice fields this week (12:41). News broke on Monday that TCPS coach Will Lowrey will leave after this season to become athletics director at Blue Mountain College (11:51).
#99: Kossuth girls keep rolling; Corinth boys getting hot – 01/24/18
A couple of the hottest basketball teams in Northeast Mississippi hail from Alcorn County.
On this episode, Brad and Dalton look at Kossuth's girls (2:12), who remain undefeated after picking up a big win against Belmont on Monday. On the boys side, Corinth has caught fire with eight consecutive wins (4:29), including an upset of No. 3 Ripley on Tuesday.
The guys also look back at the Mid-Mississippi Challenge (6:24), where several local teams were in action, including Ingomar's girls and East Webster's boys.
Coming up Saturday are two big events: The Hotbed Classic in New Albany (7:45) and the Robertson Sportswear Classic in Booneville (9:50). The Hotbed matchups include Ingomar-Newton County, Saltillo-Arlington (Tenn.), and Columbus-Cordova (Ala.). The Robertson event has several notable games matching up area teams, including New Site-Kossuth, Tupelo-Belmont, and Lafayette-Booneville.
The guys also have soccer updates on Tupelo's boys (12:31) and Corinth's girls (14:22). Plus, Athletes of the Week (15:49).
#98: Basketball teams work around winter weather – 01/17/18
January 17, 2018 by Brad Locke 2 Comments
Winter weather wreaked havoc on basketball schedules this past week, but several county tournaments were able to work around it.
On this episode, Brad and Dalton look at how the weather has affected schedules (1:43), including those county tournaments. Dalton recaps the Prentiss County Tournament (5:44), where Booneville's girls topped New Site behind the play of Shmia Williams. The guys also take a glance at the Alcorn, Monroe and Union tournaments (8:56).
Brad recaps last week's big Class 1A showdown between Houlka and Okolona (10:24), which the host Chieftains won thanks to a fast start. In looking ahead (14:51), the guys preview Belmont-North Pontotoc, South Panola-Tupelo, and the Mid-Mississippi Challenge.
And, of course, we have Athletes of the Week (17:02).
#64: Baseball, softball playoffs in full swing – 04/26/17
We're into the second round of the baseball and softball state playoffs this week.
On this episode, the guys look at some key matchups this weekend on the baseball diamond (1:44), including New Site-Nettleton, Ripley-Amory, Corinth-Houston, and Tupelo-Warren Central.
As for softball, the second round began Tuesday and concludes Thursday (7:47). Among the Game 1 results Tuesday were DeSoto Central over Tupelo (9:00) and Mooreville over South Pontotoc (10:36).
There's also football to discuss, with the coaching carousel continuing to turn (13:08). John Keith has left Mooreville after one season, while Michael Campbell has been hired to lead Smithville. Plus, Blake has an update on a pair of Pontotoc football players drawing interest from Division I schools (15:45).
And the guys present Athletes of the Week (19:41).
http://media.blubrry.com/preprally/p/dwsrjtia639.cloudfront.net/preprally/2017/04/26115307/Prep-Rally-4.26.17.mp3
#62: TCPS, Tupelo rolling along in division play – 04/05/17
Area baseball teams are locked in division races, and today Brad and Blake look at a couple of squads that are in good shape to finish in first.
TCPS remains unbeaten in 1-1A after blowing out Biggersville on Tuesday (1:27). But even in victory there were points of concern, and coach Will Lowrey is wanting to see more consistency from his players.
In 2-6A, Tupelo boasts an unblemished mark (5:31). The Golden Wave beat Columbus three times last week and took down Hernando on Tuesday, and the division success is owed in part to a tough non-division schedule.
On the softball front, Mooreville is – no surprise – having another strong season (7:38). Led by Abby McDonald, the Lady Troopers swept New Site in a Division 1-3A matchup on Tuesday.
Blake was out at the Daily Journal Relays track and field event on Saturday, and he recaps a strong day by both of Tupelo's squads (9:33).
Also on this episode, a quick word about All-Area basketball (11:45), Smithville football's head coach vacancy (13:43), and Athletes of the Week (15:17).
#59: Late heroics place Baldwyn among state finalists – 03/08/17
March 8, 2017 by Brad Locke Leave a Comment
The MHSAA state basketball tournament continues in Jackson, and Tuesday night brought us the highlight of the week.
On this episode, Blake joins Brad from Jackson and breaks down the heroics of Calvin Harris, whose shot from beyond half-court vaulted Baldwyn into the Class 2A state title game (1:45). The Bearcats will face a tall, athletic Coahoma County squad on Friday (8:28).
Several other area teams will be playing for a championship, including the Ripley and Lafayette girls, who meet for the 4A crown (10:27). Ashland's boys have a chance to defend their 1A title (15:37), while West Point's girls look to cap a Cinderella run in 5A (18:55).
There was plenty of heartache for local teams, too, with both the Booneville and New Site girls falling in the 3A semifinals on Wednesday (12:48). On the boys side, Ripley, Okolona, Shannon and Oxford all lost tough ones (20:24).
One thing this tournament has affirmed is Northeast Mississippi's strength in basketball (24:33), with 22 area teams reaching the quarterfinals and 16 making the semis.
And finally, Blake presents the Athletes of the Week (26:13).
#57: Booneville girls, Shannon boys among first-round winners – 02/22/17
Round 1 of the MHSAA state basketball tournament is in the books, with several area teams advancing. On this episode, Brad, Gene and Blake break down some of the key results.
On the girls side, reigning 3A champ Booneville bounced back from its division tournament loss to beat Ruleville Central (3:16). Pontotoc's girls cruised behind the play of Jatyjia Jones (5:04), while Gara Beth Self led Ingomar while playing with a broken nose (6:25). Belmont's girls, usually a factor in 3A, did not make it out of the first round (8:09).
As for the boys, Shannon rode the play of Rance Champ to victory (9:01), while Ingomar survived a tough test from Leflore County (11:03). Other notable winners from Tuesday include Calhoun City, Okolona and New Site (12:28).
The second round will be held Friday and Saturday, and the guys take a peek at some of the more interesting matchups (14:05). Also, Gene and Blake award Athletes of the Week (19:13).
#55: Oxford sweeps at state; previewing division tournaments – 02/08/17
Soccer, hoops and football are all on tap in this week's packed episode.
On the pitch, Oxford's boys and girls capped strong seasons by taking home the Class 5A state crowns (1:20), with the Lady Chargers finishing with a 20-0 mark. South Pontotoc's girls weren't so fortunate, losing in the 1A/2A/3A final for the fifth straight year (4:52). So now it's time to pick the Daily Journal's All-Area team, which the guys are doing now (5:46).
On the basketball court, Tupelo's boys and girls both picked up non-division wins against rival Shannon and New Hope (6:42). On Tuesday night, Ripley's Dewayne Cox out-dueled Ashland's DeAnthony Tipler (9:48), while Booneville's girls clinched the top seed for the Division 1-3A tournament by beating New Site (11:39).
And speaking of division tournaments, those start next week. Gene offers a preview of some of the more intriguing tourneys (13:43).
In football news, East Webster has tapped former New Albany head coach Ron Price to lead the program (16:01). And finally, the guys present the Athletes of the Week (18:36).
#52: County tournament recaps; in praise of Joiner – 01/18/17
A slew of county basketball tournaments were held last week, and the guys recap them on this week's episode.
In Prentiss County, Baldwyn's boys and Booneville's girls took home the titles (2:09), but Wheeler's boys and New Site's girls made strong impressions. Ingomar swept the Union County trophies (5:26), while Saltillo's boys and Mooreville's girls were mild surprises as Lee County champs (7:17).
Also, Blake took in Tuesday's game between Okolona and Calhoun City (9:02), in which Cam Smith went off for 33 points to lead the Chieftains. And Gene covered Tupelo's sweep of Hernando (14:13).
This week's packed episode includes talk of Oxford star Jarkel Joiner (16:21), who despite putting up gaudy numbers is getting almost no recruiting attention. The guys also look ahead to some of this weekend's big hardwood matchups (24:02), and they present Athletes of the Week (26:43).
#49: Taking a look at area's top basketball teams – 12/21/16
December 21, 2016 by Brad Locke Leave a Comment
As the calendar year winds down, several area basketball teams have established themselves as forced to be reckoned with. On this episode, Gene looks at which teams have made good impressions thus far (6:30).
Two of those teams are Tupelo's boys and girls squads. On Tuesday, the girls knocked off reigning Class 3A state champ Booneville (1:20), while the boys bounced back from their first loss (3:04). Gene also has praise for New Site's teams (4:09) and the Ingomar boys (5:31), who are led by the scoring tandem of Kelton Hall and Jay Pickens.
Also this week, Gene has an update on Tupelo bowling (9:55) and Athletes of the Week (12:28).
http://media.blubrry.com/preprally/p/dwsrjtia639.cloudfront.net/preprally/2016/12/21152425/Prep-Rally-12.21.16.mp3

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We know the coordinates of the rear wheel. We need to find the coordinates of the front wheel. To do this think about the instantaneous direction of travel of the rear wheel of the bike at any moment in time as it travels along its curve. How far away and in what direction is the front wheel located?
For the conjecturing, always relate back to the physical experience of riding a bike.
Chemistry. Maclaurin series. Physics. Biology. Mathematical modelling. Trigonometric functions and graphs. Logic. Investigations. Engineering. Maths Supporting SET.


Print Home » News » Trico Wiper Blades/Windscreen Wiper Additive - Top Five Driving Roads.
2018/2019 - Top Five Driving Roads Australia.
Along with owning a house, going on a great drive has to be one of the great Aussie dreams. But, much like the pub discussion over which sci-fi franchise is best or is AFL better than NRL, the best Australian roads to drive can be a subjective list. Here's five, both classic and perhaps a surprise or two.
1. The Great Ocean Road, Victoria.
Known for a combination of long sweeping corners, spectacular views, and holiday traffic, the Great Ocean Road, all 244 kilometres of it, is a walk up start. Commencing at Torquay, the home of the legendary Bells Beach surf classic, head west and passing the stunning Cape Otway lighthouse, taking in the remaining pillars of The Twelve Apostles, and terminating near the picturesque seaside town of Warrnambool, this is regarded as one of the world great drives.
2. Caves Road, Western Australia.
Western Australia is home to the world's most isolated capital city, Perth, and a world renowned wine region in the south. Margaret River is truly one of the country's loveliest areas and is a lazy three or so hour drive south of the city.
Caves Road runs north/south in the state's far south west, between the historic seaside town of Busselton (with its kilometer long jetty) and the peaceful village ambience of Augusta. It provides easy access to the stunning coastline, the friendly towns, and of course, the fabulous wine region.
By now the driver would be thinking, well, if there's all this to see, what can I do to make sure I see it? A first thought should be to clean the INSIDE of the windscreen. This is an area that suffers the effects of human breath, air-conditioning, and perhaps even cigarette smoking. A good clean with a chosen glass cleaner is a great start but on the other side?
Let's presume the trip is undertaken in good weather, so although windscreen wipers should always be checked (speak to Trico for advice) Trico's Windscreen Wiper Additive is available to clean and remove windscreen dirt and scum.
Although short in distance, at between ten to fifteen kilometers in length, this is a road that will bring a knowing smile to those that have driven it. Located west of Australia's cheese capital, Bega, Brown Mountain itself is the highest peak in the Monaro region at 1243 metres above sea level. There's Cooma, the gateway to the northern snowfields, and the Snowy Mountain Highway that winds its way across the stark landscape, a drive in itself. There's a sudden change from plains and cleared land to forest before the sharp descent to almost sea level down this tricky, tight, yet offering vast views east, road.
4. Border Range Loop, Queensland.
Picking one from Queensland is, like all other states and territories, a hard one. But perhaps for sheer value, the Border Range Loop drive, that takes in 530 kilometres of beautiful roads and views southwest of Brisbane and the Gold Coast, is the choice.
This is one where Trico's Windscreen Washer Additive will really pay off. Stretching over a recommended three day drive, a clean windscreen will showcase the road to the Queen Mary Falls near Killarney. There's the ranges that are home to Mount Tamborine as well, a view not to be missed.
Why this one? Simple. Who could pass up the opportunity to drive through Australia's fabled outback towards The Red Heart of this magnificent area, and see the imposing monolithic red rock rising majestically out of the plains ahead. Stretch the view a little and there's the incredible jumble of The Olgas, or Kata Tjuta, glowing various shades of red and orange, just forty kilometers further on from the wonder that is Uluru.
Trico offers a range of windscreen wipers and options to help drivers see their way clear. Our windscreen cleaner additive is especially formulated to lift dirt and grime away from the glass, and engineered to deal with Australia's unique lifestyle.
Tell us your favourite driving road and let us know on our blog or by writing on our social media outlets.


NorthShore Kellogg Cancer Center invites the community to an exciting series of educational programs highlighting the latest advances in cancer care.
Kellogg's nationally recognized oncology experts will share the newest findings and research initiatives in their specialties.
These seminars provide an opportunity to learn about the most up-to-date information and cutting-edge treatments for a wide variety of cancers.
Free parking and food at all events.


alaTest ha raccolto ed analizzato 9 recensioni su Pantech Reveal. La media della valutazione per questo prodotto è 3.0/5, confrontata con la media della valutazione di 4.1/5 per altri Cellulari. Gli utenti sono impressionati da ricezione e qualità suono. In aggiunta, portabilità e navigazione GPS ottengono buone recensioni ma la connettività e la dimensione hanno lamentele.
Abbiamo analizzato differenti valutazioni di esperti ed utenti, età del prodotto ed altri elementi. A confronto con altri Cellulari, Pantech Reveal ha ottenuto un alaScore™ complessivo di 81/100 = qualità Molto buono.
The Pantech Reveal is a light and spry phone, but its multimedia capabilities are substandard.
The Pantech Reveal shows how far the company has come in building quality handsets, but its software design was a letdown.
Quality construction. Clear voice quality. Excellent reception.
Cramped keyboard. Proprietary headphone jack. Poor app and camera performance.
The Pantech Reveal has a roomy number keypad, a full QWERTY keyboard, a full HTML Web browser based on Opera, plus 3G, GPS, and multimedia features.
The Pantech Reveal's QWERTY keyboard feels a bit cramped, and though we like the HTML browser, the small screen size meant we had to scroll though Web pages a lot more.
Despite a few design issues, the Pantech Reveal is a good midrange messaging phone with the added bonus of a full HTML Web browser.
Phone Scoop goes hands-on with the new dual-keyboard messaging phone from Pantech. This device gets solid ratings for fit and finish, but the keyboard didn't set us on fire.
I think it is ok, but it is a little small. But I love the features.


Publisher and Owner of this Video is ITN TV. Venasa The Change ITN I T N Program Wednesday, April 10th 2019 On this website you get the facility to view most of the entertaining and interesting programs which are telecast on television. in particular, you don't have to worry about your favorite program sometimes you miss watching as our site has provided the capability for you to watch all the previous episodes which have already been telecast Today 2019/04/10 , Yesterday and more.


Badger Industrial Supply and Equipment, LLC will meet customer needs by distributing high quality, affordable solutions for material handling equipment, storage and safety needs. We will manage our business with integrity and the highest standards emphasizing on customer service.
a distribution company supplying industrial equipment and material handling equipment to a growing list of markets such as: industrial, shipping, manufacturing, electrical, painting, commercial, universities and U.S. military operations/facilities.
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