{"id":14372,"date":"2017-09-12T10:26:46","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T14:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=14372"},"modified":"2017-09-12T10:29:49","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T14:29:49","slug":"congrats-on-4th-title-in-6-years-and-a-mailbag-to-kick-off-discussions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=14372","title":{"rendered":"Congrats on 4th Title in 6 years and a mailbag to kick off discussions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Can<\/a>

Can Harper come back from this unnatural-looking injury? PHoto via si.com<\/p><\/div>\n

The subject says it all. \u00a0This is easily the earliest the team has ever clinched; normally its like the 2nd to last game of the year. \u00a0 (Previous clinch dates in order: 10\/1\/12, 9\/17\/14, 9\/25\/16). \u00a0I will be adding the 2017 clincher to my running\/ever growing list of notable Nats games, to be republished this off-season after we win the World Series ;-).<\/p>\n

From a content generation standpoint I have started (after not doing them in 2016) the pitching staff reviews for the minor leagues … but they’re slow to develop because we ran through SO MANY pitchers in AAA and AA. \u00a0So those are coming eventually. \u00a0Its been a challenging couple of months for me personally, hence the lack of content.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, with the off-day comes a mailbag from Nats beat reporter<\/a>\u00a0Jamal Collier<\/strong>. \u00a0Since i’ve been struggling with content generation lately, lets do a response to kick off some conversation.<\/p>\n

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Q:\u00a0What does your beat reporter’s gut tell you about Bryce & October? If Werth can’t get his timing either… OF is looking tough<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: \u00a0Well, this is the million dollar question isn’t it? \u00a0I read somewhere and will paraphrase someone’s research about the Nats offense with and without\u00a0Bryce Harper<\/strong> … and its about a run\/game less. \u00a0That’s significant. \u00a0His knee injury was worse than we originally thought and includes a calf strain too. \u00a0He’s got about 3 weeks left to get back. \u00a0My prediction is that Harper makes it back but is hobbled\/not 100%. \u00a0 Meanwhile\u00a0Jayson Werth<\/strong> has fewer at bats in June\/July\/Aug\/Sept combined than he had in April alone, and now he has a shoulder issue. \u00a0No wonder the team called up its #1 prospect\u00a0Victor Robles<\/strong>. \u00a0I’m also beginning to think that Robles is part of the post season discussion, since these two guys are struggling and\u00a0Alejandro de Aza<\/strong> isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire.<\/p>\n

OF prediction for October: Werth,\u00a0Michael Taylor<\/strong> and Harper starting but struggling, with the team turning to\u00a0Howie Kendrick<\/strong> as needed and carrying\u00a0Andrew Stevenson<\/strong> as its 5th\/defensive replacement\/pinch runner. \u00a0Robles comes into play if there’s another injury over de Aza or\u00a0Rafael Bautista<\/strong> or anyone else we can think of.<\/p>\n

Collier thinks Harper will be there in October but doesn’t speculate any further on the OF<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Q:\u00a0Right now, I have no faith Kelley won’t give up hard hit balls whenever he comes in. Odds he makes the playoff roster???<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: We may have to revisit our post-season roster predictions, published on 8\/26\/17<\/a>, given what’s been going on. \u00a0At that time I went with\u00a0Doolittle, Madsen, Kintzler, Albers, Glover, Perez, Grace, \u00a0Romero\u00a0<\/strong>as the bullpen, leaving out\u00a0Shawn Kelley<\/strong>. \u00a0However, it does not look like\u00a0Koda Glover<\/strong> is making it back, so we need another name up there. \u00a0That could be a lefty like\u00a0Solis<\/strong>, or one of struggling vets in Kelley\/Blanton, or perhaps more likely\u00a0Edwin Jackson<\/strong>. \u00a0Nonetheless, I think Kelley has pitched himself out of contention.<\/p>\n

Collier agrees; he does not think Kelley merits a spot on the post-season roster either.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

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Q:\u00a0Will\u00a0@<\/span>EJ36<\/span><\/a>\u00a0be on the postseason roster?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Well, speaking of. \u00a0Yeah I think he makes sense as the 8th man in the bullpen right now. \u00a0He can spell a starter if they get into trouble early and he’s certainly pitched like he deserves it. \u00a0He also has experience relieving and could come in and throw middle innings if need be. \u00a0I like him as the Glover replacement in the above question.<\/p>\n

Collier completely agrees.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

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Q:\u00a0Based only on the Nats Park locations: what’s better, Ben’s or Mike Isabella’s?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I don’t know how anything can ever top Ben’s Chili Bowl for ballpark fare.<\/p>\n

Collier is a huge fan of the subs at Mike Isabella’s. \u00a0Maybe he doesn’t like getting chili all over his game notes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

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Q;\u00a0Will some of the vets who don’t make the playoff roster still travel with the team?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Oh yeah, they’re still part of the team and will want to take part. \u00a0They know how things go; you can get onto the NLCS foster even if you’re not on the NLDS roster. \u00a0You aren’t going to just give up on your season’s accomplishments because you got squeezed out of the roster.<\/p>\n

Collier says the same.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Q;\u00a0Since Goodwin looks like he is not returning, who do you think will be our backup CF for the playoffs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I kind of answered this above, but I do think its going to be Stevenson over Robles or others. \u00a0Primarily because I think he’s more of a CF than other options, he’s sufficiently fast to pinch hit, he’s older and more experienced, and he’s projecting to be a very good defensive CF (24.5 UZR\/150 in his limited time there).<\/p>\n

Collier goes with Stevenson too.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The subject says it all. \u00a0This is easily the earliest the team has ever clinched; normally its like the 2nd to last game of the year. \u00a0 (Previous clinch dates in order: 10\/1\/12, 9\/17\/14, 9\/25\/16). \u00a0I will be adding the 2017 clincher to my running\/ever growing list of notable Nats games, to be republished this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,5],"tags":[1951,2814,164,253,1940,3391,115,2827,708,2758,19,3277,2757],"class_list":["post-14372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chatmailbag-responses","category-natsgeneral","tag-alejandro-de-aza","tag-andrew-stevenson","tag-bryce-harper","tag-edwin-jackson","tag-howie-kendrick","tag-jamal-collier","tag-jayson-werth","tag-koda-glover","tag-michael-taylor","tag-rafael-bautista","tag-sammy-solis","tag-shawn-kelley","tag-victor-robles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14372"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14380,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14372\/revisions\/14380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}