Welcome to nationalsarmrace.com!
Not that the moribund Washington Nationals necessarily needed another blog, but I couldn’t resist.
Ever since the Nats rolled into town in 2005, I’ve developed an unhealthy obsession with the team, and more interestingly its rotation, bullpen, farm system and player development. Over the past couple of years specifically, I’ve begun to track the pitchers (mostly the rotations) of our various farm systems and take interest in the development of pitching talent as it rises through the ranks. Hence the name of the blog “Nationals Arms Race.” I do periodically write for Brian Oliver and his standard-bearing natsfarm.com blog and do not wish to replicate what he does in the least. But periodically i do like to talk about the major league rotation instead of the prospects and never felt comfortable with those topics on a prospect-centric blog.
I hope to have a pitching-focused blog that talks about the current Nats MLB rotation, the 40-man spotholders, prospects and who may be coming up next month or next year. I’ll talk about pitching in general, some observations and some advanced stats. I will post random musings about the Nationals in general and hope that my close friends with whom I regularly converse about baseball will chime in and offer their 2 cents about their own favorite teams (generally, the Phillies, Yankees and Dodgers). I’ll talk about pitchers around the majors and baseball in general here and there.
I hope you find my writing interesting and topical. You can always unsubscribe I suppose 
Thanks, todd
Greetings Todd–
I was looking at your Nationals Arm Race blog and it is well-written. You clearly have a great knowledge of the game and the Nationals future. I liked your analysis of the draft and the enthusiasm you have about it.
Best Regards,
Kurt Smith
Kurt Smith
12 Jun 11 at 8:57 am
Todd, when do the cuts to the pitching staffs (or bloodbath as you refered to it) in the short season start? And how many pitchers do teams keep on their rosters once things settle out?
tk
1 Jul 11 at 11:03 am
I think after 5 passes through the rotation you’ll see some changes. It took the Nats 5 starts to promote Selik and 6 to promote Meyers earlier this year after both completely dominated their levels. Most of the short-A guys have had 3 starts now and some trends are forming. Meanwhile there’s 3 guys in the GCL who look fantastic. I can see Mieses and Meza replacing Encarnation, KLopez. I could see Karns getting bumped up to low-A to replace Grace. We’ll see.
Todd Boss
1 Jul 11 at 4:17 pm
Does short A keep 15 pitchers on roster all season?
tk
2 Jul 11 at 3:06 pm
From what I can gather (based on roster management on our teams plus google postings on the topic), the active roster limits per level are:
http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/suggestions-next-version-ootp/189904-minor-league-roster-size-limits.html
mlb: 25
AAA, AA: 24 with some adjustments down to 23 based on the time of year.
High and Low-A: 25
short-A: 30
rookie: 35.
So, theoretically the short-A and rookie can carry as many pitchers as they want, but an even split of 15/15 in short-A and perhaps 18/17 in GCL makes sense. Right this moment short-A has 16 pitchers and 13 players with 2 on 7-day DL so they’re actually 3 guys short, while GCL seems to have 18 pitchers, 19 outfield players rostered but 1 is restricted and 2 are rehab so they don’t count, giving them 34 of 35. I get the impression though that these spots are being kept open for signees.
Todd Boss
2 Jul 11 at 3:53 pm