{"id":14447,"date":"2017-10-04T09:51:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T13:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=14447"},"modified":"2017-10-04T09:51:39","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T13:51:39","slug":"ask-chelsea-post-seasonpre-playoffs-mailbag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=14447","title":{"rendered":"Ask Chelsea – post-season\/pre-playoffs mailbag"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Farewell<\/a>

Farewell Jayson Werth; its been a good 7 years. Photo via getty images<\/p><\/div>\n

Lets bang out a mailbag, this time with WP beat reporter\u00a0Chelsea Janes<\/strong> at the WP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’ll do a Playoffs prediction piece once tonight’s WC game is settled; no point in speculating until we know who the Dodgers are facing.<\/p>\n

\n

Q:\u00a0Is any contract extension for Dusty contingent on getting the team past the first round?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I wouldn’t think so, honestly.\u00a0 I think\u00a0Dusty Baker<\/strong> has done an excellent job with this team, turning it around starkly from the\u00a0Matt Williams<\/strong> regime.\u00a0 Yes its curious that he hasn’t been extended … but then again, the inevitable extension for\u00a0Mike Rizzo<\/strong> seemed to be a little late coming too.\u00a0 Maybe this team has told him privately that they’ll get it done this off-season and just focus on winning for the time being.<\/p>\n

Janes has reported several times that everyone plans on Baker being back, that Rizzo wanted to do it in ST but ownership did not, and that’s the Nationals MO.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Is Stephen Strasburg going to start Game 1?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: As of the point of this writing, it definitely seems like it.\u00a0 This gives\u00a0Max Scherzer<\/strong> one more day to recover, and gives the team the choice of selecting either guy for Game 5 thanks to multiple off-days in the playoff schedule.\u00a0 I’d be up for this scenario honestly; Scherzer may be the Ace but\u00a0Strasburg<\/strong> has been the best pitcher in the last two months.<\/p>\n

Janes does not know but pointed out Strasburg’s unbelievable numbers since returning from the D\/L in August.\u00a0 He definitely merits a 2-game NLDS if it comes to it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Chances Anthony Rendon gets an extension this off season?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Hmm.\u00a0 Good question.\u00a0 Rendon is going to be due a sizeable arbitration raise this off-season and still has another Arb year, so I could see the team doing a 2-year deal now to avoid the arguing.\u00a0 Perhaps 2yrs\/$25M or something (with salaries of $10 and $15M?).\u00a0 I’d take that for cost certainty for a guy who doesn’t get near the credit he’s due but is putting up MVP numbers.\u00a0 As far as longer-term extension?\u00a0 I dunno; is Rendon a lifer in Washington?\u00a0 What will it take to sign him long term?\u00a0 In this respect, his under-ratedness works to the team’s benefit.\u00a0 I see him kind of in the\u00a0Adrian Beltre<\/strong> mold; good defensive player, not as flashy, solid offensive contributions.\u00a0 Beltre is getting $18M per right now and just finished a 5yr\/$80M deal before that, so that’s a good benchmark.\u00a0 Maybe Rendon can be had for something like a 5yr\/$90M deal which would take him through his age-32 year, so we’d get his best years but he’d get another shot at the FA market at 32.<\/p>\n

Janes agrees with my assertion that they’ll likely buy out his Arb years, but notes that he’s a\u00a0Scott Boras<\/strong> client and likely hits FA.\u00a0 Fair point.\u00a0 But our read on Rendon is not the hyper-aggressive big character\/ego guy, so maybe in the asme vein as Strasburg (also Boras client) he’ll sign an extension to stay comfortable.\u00a0 He’s also a Houston guy born and bred (HS and college) and would make a ton of sense heading back there.\u00a0 Houston has a log-jam of good infielders right now … but a lot can change in a couple years.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Q:\u00a0Would you start Jayson Werth or Adam Lind in LF for playoffs Game 1?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Werth<\/strong> absolutely.\u00a0 Especially since\u00a0Jon Lester<\/strong> is likely to go Game 1.\u00a0 Maybe you could get more clever in games 2-4 when RHP starters go for Chicago… but I still doubt it.\u00a0 Unless Werth is hurt, he’s\u00a0 your starting LF.\u00a0 And if he was hurt … i’m not sure I’d go with\u00a0Lind<\/strong> out there in lieu of\u00a0Howie Kendrick<\/strong> honestly, given the defensive liabilities.<\/p>\n

Janes agrees, thinks it would take an injury to get someone besides Werth out there, and points out that Werth was a rock in the playoffs last year.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Q:\u00a0How worried should we be about the recent performances of Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Slightly worried, but not overly so.\u00a0 The Nats have really had so little to play for for weeks that its possible that these guys just mentally relaxed enough to have bad games, especially in the season finale (which was emotional for it being Werth’s likely final regular season game in a Nats uniform).<\/p>\n

Janes thinks Gio was a bit under the weather, and that Roark admitted to not being totally focused during the grind of the final week.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Q:\u00a0Will Victor Robles make the major league roster out of spring training in 2018?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Oh, that’s a good question.\u00a0 Something tells me he will not for several reasons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Adam Eaton<\/strong> will be back and starting in CF<\/li>\n
  2. Harper<\/strong> is in RF<\/li>\n
  3. The team still has\u00a0Taylor<\/strong>,\u00a0Goodwin<\/strong> and\u00a0Stevenson<\/strong> all in the mix, all pre-arb, all with more service time than Robles<\/li>\n
  4. We still could buy ourselves a bigger bat to play LF and have these guys all jockeying to be the 4th OF.<\/li>\n
  5. We still could see a trade in the off-season, flipping some of this sudden OF depth (along with\u00a0Wilmer Difo<\/strong>) for the answer.<\/li>\n
  6. Robles needs to be playing every day, not sitting on the MLB bench, and makes sense to be in AAA against near-MLB quality guys<\/li>\n
  7. Robles needs, in the same vein as\u00a0Trea Turner<\/strong>, to have his service time managed a little bit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now, I could be wrong, and the team could find itself in a dogfight early in Harper’s last season.\u00a0 They could get hit with injuries again and he’d be right back up.\u00a0 But to start, i’d have him in AAA.<\/p>\n

    Janes repeats practically everything I wrote.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n

    Q:\u00a0Who will be the last man on the bench? What will the bullpen look like? Will Robles make the playoff roster?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    A: I think …. if it were me i’d put Robles on the roster.\u00a0 But Mr, Baker probably wants a more veteran player, so don’t be surprised if the kid is left off in lieu of some .200 hitting last man.\u00a0 We’ll see.<\/p>\n

    We talked about this in the last post so we won’t do it again, and Janes posted a whole 2,000 word article on it … so we’ll defer to those discussions.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

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

    Lets bang out a mailbag, this time with WP beat reporter\u00a0Chelsea Janes at the WP. I’ll do a Playoffs prediction piece once tonight’s WC game is settled; no point in speculating until we know who the Dodgers are facing. Q:\u00a0Is any contract extension for Dusty contingent on getting the team past the first round? A: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3142,689,796,2814,185,257,164,2990,845,385,1940,115,221,1314,1037,708,129,180,38,77,2426,2757,2650],"class_list":["post-14447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chatmailbag-responses","tag-adam-eaton","tag-adam-lind","tag-adrian-beltre","tag-andrew-stevenson","tag-anthony-rendon","tag-brian-goodwin","tag-bryce-harper","tag-chelsea-janes","tag-dusty-baker","tag-gio-gonzalez","tag-howie-kendrick","tag-jayson-werth","tag-jon-lester","tag-matt-williams","tag-max-scherzer","tag-michael-taylor","tag-mike-rizzo","tag-scott-boras","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-tanner-roark","tag-trea-turner","tag-victor-robles","tag-wilmer-difo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14447","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=14447"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14454,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14447\/revisions\/14454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}