{"id":16643,"date":"2020-06-29T10:39:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T14:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=16643"},"modified":"2020-06-29T10:39:38","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T14:39:38","slug":"nats-28-man-40-man-and-60-man-announcement-observations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=16643","title":{"rendered":"Nats 28-man, 40-man and 60-man announcement observations"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_14064\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/RomeroSeth-Houston-via-uhcougars.com_.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14064\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14064\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14064\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/RomeroSeth-Houston-via-uhcougars.com_-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Romero back in consideration.  Photo via UHcougars.com\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/RomeroSeth-Houston-via-uhcougars.com_-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/RomeroSeth-Houston-via-uhcougars.com_.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-14064\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Romero back in consideration. Photo via UHcougars.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Nats have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2020\/06\/nationals-announce-initial-60-man-player-pool.html\">announced their 60-man roster<\/a> for the new, weird 2020 season, and the announcement has all sorts of new and weird names.<\/p>\n<p>As I&#8217;ve updated the Big Board for all these moves, here&#8217;s some observations about those names added surprisingly, and those equally surprisingly left behind.<\/p>\n<p>First off; the team has named their &#8220;28-man&#8221; roster and we have some telling facts as to who did and did not make it<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SP: Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin, ASanchez, JRoss, Voth<\/li>\n<li>RP: Doolittle*, Hudson, Harris, Rainey, Suero, Elias*, Harper, AWilliams<\/li>\n<li>C: Suzuki, Gomes<\/li>\n<li>INF: Turner, Cabrera, Kendrick, Castro, Thames, Zimmerman, Difo, CKieboom<\/li>\n<li>OF: Eaton, Robles, Soto, Taylor<\/li>\n<li>60-day DL: Sanchez (achilles)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, we first see the end of the original spring training &#8220;battles.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Austin Voth<\/strong> has indeed beaten out\u00a0<strong>Erick Fedde<\/strong> for the 6th starter spot.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Austen Williams<\/strong> has held off other 40-man guys like\u00a0<strong>Aaron Barrett<\/strong> and newly acquired\u00a0<strong>Kyle Finnegan<\/strong> for the last bullpen spot.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Wilmer Difo<\/strong> was gifted the last utility man spot over\u00a0<strong>Adrian Sanchez<\/strong>, who apparently has torn his Achilles Heel and probably mises the entire season.\u00a0 And lastly (no real suprise here but)\u00a0<strong>Michael Taylor<\/strong> has apparently beaten out\u00a0<strong>Andrew Stevenson<\/strong> for the 4th outfielder spot.\u00a0 No other real surprises here.<\/p>\n<p>This leaves the remaining 10 players who are on the &#8220;40-man&#8221; but not on the active 28-man roster:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SP:\u00a0Fedde, McGowin, Braymer*<\/li>\n<li>RP:\u00a0Finnegan, Barrett, Bourque<\/li>\n<li>C: Read, Barrera<\/li>\n<li>INF: Noll<\/li>\n<li>OF: Stevenson<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So right now the 40-man sits at 38 players.<\/p>\n<p>Next, we have this new list of players now on the &#8220;60-man&#8221; roster.\u00a0 \u00a0Here&#8217;s a nice primer on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2020\/06\/explaining-the-2020-mlb-roster-rules.html#:~:text=Each%20team%20can%20establish%20a,to%20fill%20all%20sixty%20slots.&amp;text=All%20teams%20will%20operate%20an,the%2060%2Dman%20player%20pool.\">how the 60-man roster will work<\/a>, but in essence the 60-man pool defines who can and cannot play on the major league team in 2020, and 60-man additions\/removals now involve waivers as if they were already 40-man players.<\/p>\n<p>So, who is now on the Nats&#8217; 60-man roster?\u00a0 A whole slew of original 2020 Spring Training NRIs plus a bunch of new ones.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the list by position:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SP:\u00a0Cate*, Crowe, Espino, Fuentes, Irvin, Romero*, Rutledge<\/li>\n<li>RP:\u00a0\u00a0Abad, Adon, Bacus, Cronin*, Eppler, Freeman*,Guerra, Quackenbush, Wells*<\/li>\n<li>C:\u00a0Castillo, Reetz<\/li>\n<li>Inf:\u00a0Garcia, Snyder<\/li>\n<li>OF:\u00a0Bonifacio, Hernandez<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So that&#8217;s another 22 players on top of the 38 40-man guys, equaling exactly 60 players.\u00a0 Nine of these players had to be newly-invited to spring training (see the <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/mlb\/transactions\/#month=6&amp;year=2020&amp;team_id=120\">june transactions<\/a> for these players), and they all happened to be arms.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s some thoughts on these 9 newly invited players.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Joan Adon<\/strong>; may seem like a curious choice, but he&#8217;s Rule5-eligible this coming off-season (a 2016 IFA) and showed some promise as a full time starter last year in Hagerstown.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tim Cate<\/strong>\u00a0has impressed so far, forcing a promotion last year to high-A.\u00a0 He&#8217;s only ever started for the team, but as an undersized lefty may be a bullpen piece at some point going forward.\u00a0 He&#8217;s the kind of guy who could feature in the MLB pen this year before returning to the rotation next summer in AA.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tyler Eppler<\/strong> was a MLFA signing who was pretty effective as a starter in AAA in 2018, then missed all of last year.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll bet he could be a spot starter or middle relief guy right now in the majors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jake Irvin<\/strong> could be a bit of an aggressive invitee; he only pitched at Low-A last year and I&#8217;m not sure he&#8217;s ready for MLB hitters.\u00a0 He&#8217;s not in rule-5 jeopardy for another year; a curious call-up.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jackson Rutledge<\/strong> is another perhaps pre-mature call-up; he was our 2019 1st rounder and only threw 37 pro innings last\u00a0 year.\u00a0 Do they really plan on featuring him in the majors this year?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Matt Cronin<\/strong>\u00a0was basically unhittable last year, giving up just 2 runs in 22 innings in his pro debut at Low-A &#8230; but it was Low-A.\u00a0 Of course, he is a reliever and may be able to feature in short stints effectively, but he is some what surprising to see called up here.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Steven Fuentes<\/strong> is a favorite among Nats prospect-watchers, who missed time last summer thanks to a PED suspension but still put up stellar numbers and somehow passed through rule5 after showing some pretty dominant stuff there.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Seth Romero<\/strong>\u00a0is who he is; we&#8217;ve all drawn our lines in the sand with him.\u00a0 He&#8217;s likely here because of the investment the team has made in him, and the fact that he&#8217;ll be rule5 eligible this off-season.\u00a0 I sense the team is rapidly attempting to figure out just what they have with the guy before they consider whether to protect him on the 40-man roster next fall.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nick Wells<\/strong>\u00a0is another interesting call up; he&#8217;s through six pro seasons now and has yet to get out of A-ball.\u00a0 But he&#8217;s a lefty and perhaps the team sees some lefty reliever in him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, here&#8217;s some of the players who did NOT get added to the 60-man (at least not yet; If i understand the rules correctly they can be added later, but someone else on 60-man then has to correspondingly be dumped):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Original 2020 NRIs like\u00a0<strong>Jacob Wilson, Carlos Tocci, Taylor Gushue, Brian Bonnell<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Jhonatan German<\/strong>: most of these guys are still under contract, but a couple (Tocci and Bonnell) were MLFAs and might be on the cut line.<\/li>\n<li>Other MLFA signings who didn&#8217;t make the cut, guys like\u00a0<strong>Jecksson Flores<\/strong> and rule5 addition\u00a0<strong>Manuel Geraldo<\/strong>; wonder where they stand going forward.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mario Sanchez<\/strong>; after all the consternation of whether to protect him, and whether he was a MLFA or not &#8230; he&#8217;s not on the 60-man<\/li>\n<li>A slew of long-serving minor league farm hand hitters, guys like\u00a0<strong>Cole Freeman<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Nick Banks<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Rafael Bautista, Rhett Wisemann<\/strong>; what does the future hold for these guys?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jackson Tetreault<\/strong>; he was so good in high-A but struggled in AA, and is passed over for guys who didn&#8217;t even make it to high-A last year.\u00a0 He&#8217;s also rule5 eligible; not that I think he&#8217;s in jeopardy of being taken, but I wonder where he stands with the org now.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Drew Mendoza<\/strong>: he&#8217;s gotta be loving the new DH rule; if he&#8217;s the hitter he&#8217;s supposed to be, why isn&#8217;t he in camp somewhere?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Good to have some moves to analyze.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nats have announced their 60-man roster for the new, weird 2020 season, and the announcement has all sorts of new and weird names. As I&#8217;ve updated the Big Board for all these moves, here&#8217;s some observations about those names added surprisingly, and those equally surprisingly left behind. First off; the team has named their &#8220;28-man&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16643","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=16643"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16646,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16643\/revisions\/16646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}