{"id":15721,"date":"2019-03-27T00:57:05","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T04:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=15721"},"modified":"2019-03-27T00:59:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T04:59:00","slug":"ask-jesse-a-just-before-the-season-mailbag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=15721","title":{"rendered":"Ask Jesse; a just-before-the-season Mailbag"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jake<\/a>

Jake Noll looks to make the 2019 opening day roster. Photo via milb.com<\/p><\/div>\n

In order to move on from my Fantasy Baseball post, here’s a mailbag that WP Nats Beat reporter\u00a0Jesse Dougherty\u00a0<\/strong>posted on 3\/25\/19.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/sports\/2019\/03\/24\/nationals-mailbag-regular-season-is-just-about-here\/?utm_term=.e92f4a56efd8<\/p>\n

Interesting notes here from today: the demotions of\u00a0Adrian Sanchez<\/strong> in particular, which seems to indicate that NRI and 2016 7th round draft pick\u00a0Jake Noll<\/strong> may very well be making this team.\u00a0 Noll signed for $190k in 2016, which definitely wasn’t a senior sign\/throw away pick out of FGCU, but he’s gotten absolutely zero prospect love in his career thus far.\u00a0 He was ranked 26th on 2080 Baseball’s 2019 list, and got an “Honorable Mention” in\u00a0John Sickel<\/strong>‘s post 2016 minorleaguebaseball.com list, but that’s it.\u00a0 And how he’s set to be the Nats primary backup middle infielder until\u00a0Howie Kendrick<\/strong> can return.\u00a0 So great for Noll.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Questions she took and how i’d answer them:<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0What do you think the chances are the Nats extend Rendon? I\u2019m not too optimistic after this most recent report.<\/b><\/p>\n

A: A good question.\u00a0 I’m guessing that at this point,\u00a0Anthony Rendon<\/strong> will head to FA.\u00a0 He better have an action plan though with his agent\u00a0Scott Boras<\/strong>, who has absolutely blown several high profile cases over the last couple of off seasons.<\/p>\n

That being said, I’m hoping Rendon is taking a hard look at the landscape, taking a hard look at the contracts that some of his comparables are signing (Nolan Arenado<\/strong> 8yr\/$260M for $32.5 AAV) and perhaps coming back to the table before he faces an embarassing off-season.\u00a0 Rendon is a year older than Arenado, less accomplished from awards and year end recognition … and will have to eat deferred money to stay here.\u00a0 Can a deal get done?<\/p>\n

Dougherty notes that Rendon has instructed Boras to work on an extension, and they’ll work into the season.\u00a0 So perhaps we’ll see something like a 6yr\/$180M deal in our future with deferred dollars.<\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0How is the team preparing for having AAA players in Fresno instead of Syracuse? Any chatter from likely minor leaguers about the switch?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: That’s a great question, one that fans like us can’t really answer other than noting the obvious: the team has “demoted” the likes of\u00a0Erick Fedde\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Spencer Kieboom<\/strong> to Harrisburg so they can be a couple hours away in case of an emergency.\u00a0 Meanwhile longer-term strategic assets like\u00a0Joe Ross<\/strong>,\u00a0Kyle McGowin<\/strong>, and\u00a0Raudy Read<\/strong> are instead heading to Fresno to get stretched out or further tested against more senior competition.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Spencer and his younger brother, phenom prospect\u00a0Carter Kieboom<\/strong>, are both scheduled to now be in AA.\u00a0 I wonder if they’ll room together \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Dougherty notes the same players that I do, but has little else to offer in terms of player insights.<\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Can you talk about the OF depth issue with Michael A. Taylor\u2019s injury and Kendrick\u2019s? Any insight on the organization\u2019s view of its internal outfield options? Any indications if General Manager Mike Rizzo thinks he needs to go outside the organization to address?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: Well, it certainly didn’t help when exactly one third of the outfielders on the 40-man got hurt (Taylor and Kendrick).\u00a0 So the team is breaking camp with their 3 starters and their one remaining option in\u00a0Andrew Stevenson<\/strong> to start the season.\u00a0 Depth?\u00a0 The next likely guy up probably is\u00a0Rafael Bautista<\/strong>, who was on the 40-man last\u00a0 year and got DFA’d\/assigned to AAA .\u00a0 Our top OF prospect is probably\u00a0Gage Canning<\/strong>, who was in short season last year.\u00a0\u00a0Brian Goodwin<\/strong> just got released by Kansas City; maybe he’s worth taking a MLFA flier on and getting him back into the fold.\u00a0 \u00a0The team has added some MLFA 4-A type talents that are also sitting in AAA; my guess is that they’d go there first for a short-term fix.\u00a0 If it turned out that Taylor was done for the season, may be then we’d go for an outside option.<\/p>\n

Dougherty says that since Taylor’s injury is short term, nothing will happen, and that in-house options like Wilmer Difo<\/strong> and Matt Adams<\/strong> can cover.<\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Jake Noll has been tearing it up in spring training, Nats\u2019 OF depth is thin, does Jake have any experience in the OF? Could his success translate to the big leagues soon?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: This question was a day early, given today’s press reports of Noll’s likely making the team.\u00a0 \u00a0So his hot spring training has definitely paid off.<\/p>\n

I see no evidence of his playing the OF: he spent his first two pro seasons playing 2B, then split time between 1B and 3B last\u00a0 year.\u00a0 Conventional wisdom would seem to indicate that this level of athleticism on the dirt would translate to at least a passing ability to play LF in a pinch.\u00a0 But it doesn’t seem like that’s his path for now.<\/p>\n

Dougherty notes that Noll played some OF in high school, but he only played the three positions in which he has pro experience this spring.<\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Do Nats fans boo Bryce on April 2?<\/b><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 I’ve been asked this many times by my\u00a0Bryce Harper<\/strong> hating friends.\u00a0 His first AB will be a video tribute and a standing ovation.\u00a0 Perhaps by the 3rd or 4th AB he may get some boos.\u00a0 He’s slated to face\u00a0Scherzer<\/strong> in the 4th game of the season on regular rest, unless the team decides to keep its rotation intact.<\/p>\n

Dougherty seems to think the reception will be chilly.\u00a0 We’ll see!\u00a0 Maybe the team should sell out the stadium to traveling Philly fans to make a buck like they used to in the old days.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

In order to move on from my Fantasy Baseball post, here’s a mailbag that WP Nats Beat reporter\u00a0Jesse Dougherty\u00a0posted on 3\/25\/19. https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/sports\/2019\/03\/24\/nationals-mailbag-regular-season-is-just-about-here\/?utm_term=.e92f4a56efd8 Interesting notes here from today: the demotions of\u00a0Adrian Sanchez in particular, which seems to indicate that NRI and 2016 7th round draft pick\u00a0Jake Noll may very well be making this team.\u00a0 Noll signed […]<\/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":[3684,2814,185,257,164,3186,2425,3872,1940,3345,4024,2691,590,3380,2772,1037,708,129,1947,2758,2760,180,2759,2650],"class_list":["post-15721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chatmailbag-responses","tag-adrian-sanchez","tag-andrew-stevenson","tag-anthony-rendon","tag-brian-goodwin","tag-bryce-harper","tag-carter-kieboom","tag-erick-fedde","tag-gage-canning","tag-howie-kendrick","tag-jake-noll","tag-jesse-dougherty","tag-joe-ross","tag-john-sickels","tag-kyle-mcgowin","tag-matt-adams","tag-max-scherzer","tag-michael-taylor","tag-mike-rizzo","tag-nolan-arenado","tag-rafael-bautista","tag-raudy-read","tag-scott-boras","tag-spencer-kieboom","tag-wilmer-difo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15721","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=15721"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15725,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15721\/revisions\/15725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}