{"id":13588,"date":"2017-04-21T13:05:08","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T17:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13588"},"modified":"2017-09-22T09:53:42","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T13:53:42","slug":"from-nats-to-oblivion-updated-for-2016-season-and-2017-early-season-appearances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=13588","title":{"rendered":"From Nats to Oblivion; Updated for 2016 season and 2017 Early Season appearances"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Papelbon<\/a>

Papelbon becomes the most high-profile 2016 Oblivion candidate. He’ll always have this though. Picture via ny daily news<\/p><\/div>\n

Note: this is a recurring post, and large chunks of the older material is recycled.\u00a0 I’ve updated the research for older players as needed (mostly 2015 and 2014’s players), getting 2016 season updates for everyone on this list still playing, plus 2017 assignments and whether or not htey’ve .\u00a0 See here for the 2015 version<\/a>, \u00a02014’s version<\/a>,\u00a0 2013’s version<\/a>, and 2012’s version of this post<\/a>, though honestly everything from those posts that’s still relevant is updated here.<\/p>\n

Even though I know most of this data is repeated from last year, I still find myself reading the whole way down just for a crazy trip down memory lane each time I do this post.<\/p>\n

Background: many years ago (November 2010)\u00a0Mark Zuckerman<\/strong> initially posted a fascinating analysis<\/a>\u00a0he titled “From Nats to Oblivion.” \u00a0It chronicled the astoundingly high number of players that the early incarnations of the Nats were using who, once the Nats released them, never again appeared in a MLB game. \u00a0I thought the analysis was so interesting that I kept up the same data and have been keeping it up-to-date with the whereabouts of Nats-to-Oblivion candidates ever since. \u00a0So with apologies to Zuckerman for stealing his original idea, here’s an interesting visit to the Nats darker past.<\/p>\n

It is nearly impossible for a team to field an entire year’s worth of players who will not fall into this “Oblivion” category. \u00a0Every 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. \u00a0So a 0% oblivion measure isn’t a goal.\u00a0 The best this team has done is 4 players (the 2013 team).\u00a0 I don’t think the 2015 team will get that low, and I’m not sure the 2016 team will get that low either. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For your reminiscing pleasure, here is the summary data updated to the 2016 team:<\/p>\n