{"id":14715,"date":"2018-04-19T09:34:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T13:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=14715"},"modified":"2019-01-14T12:55:15","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T17:55:15","slug":"from-nats-to-oblivion-updated-for-2017-season-and-2018-early-season-appearancesassignments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=14715","title":{"rendered":"From Nats to Oblivion; Updated for 2017 season and 2018 Early Season appearances\/assignments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Guthrie<\/a>

Guthrie newest member of the “Oblivion” club. Photo via si.com<\/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 (the 2015, 2016, and 2017 players; none of the earlier players had any updates\/changes), getting 2017 season updates for everyone on this list still playing, plus 2018 assignments and whether or not they’ve already removed themselves from this list.\u00a0 \u00a0See here for the 2017 version<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a02015 version<\/a>, \u00a02014’s version<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a02013’s version<\/a>, and\u00a02012’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.\u00a0 And that remains true today, in 2018, reading back to some of the crazy names from our team’s past.<\/p>\n

Background behind this post: many years ago (November 2010)\u00a0Mark Zuckerman<\/strong>\u00a0initially\u00a0posted 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