{"id":6048,"date":"2013-04-02T16:47:17","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T20:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=6048"},"modified":"2013-04-03T09:12:48","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T13:12:48","slug":"dc-ibwa-pre-2013-season-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=6048","title":{"rendered":"DC-IBWA Pre-2013 Season Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"
I took part in the DC-IBWA’s pre-season survey this year (despite this blog being missing from the “participants” page on the result link…) along with many of our fellow Nats bloggers. \u00a0The full results are here<\/a>; I gave both a player and a guess on the totals, and compared my guesses to the poll results.<\/div>\n
<\/a>
\n1) Who will lead the Nats in home runs in 2013? <\/strong><\/span>Bryce Harper<\/strong>, 35hrs. \u00a0Makes sense that Harper takes the lead; Morse <\/strong>is gone, Zimmerman<\/strong> has only shown 30-homer power in one injury-free season and I think Harper is a dangerous bet for a 30\/30 season in 2013. \u00a0(Harper was the poll leader as well).<\/div>\n
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2) Who will lead the Nats in RBI?: <\/span>Adam LaRoche<\/strong>, 105rbi. \u00a0The #5 hitter behind a slew of high OBP guys in front of him is going to get plenty of RBI opportunities. \u00a0Most people said Zimmerman; I just constantly worry about his ability to play 162.<\/p>\n

3) Who will lead the Nats in stolen bases? <\/span>Ian Desmond<\/strong>, 25sbs. \u00a0Most people guessed Span<\/strong>, but he hasn’t been the SB machine that people think. \u00a0Desmond is a better bet.<\/p>\n

4) Who will lead the staff in wins? <\/span>Stephen Strasburg<\/strong>, 20wins. \u00a0As good a guess as any. \u00a0It wouldn’t surprise me to see any of our top 3 pitchers broach 20 wins.<\/p>\n

5) Who will make more appearances for the Nats this season<\/span><\/span>: Rafael Soriano, Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard or Craig Stammen?<\/span> Tyler Clippard<\/strong>, 70games. \u00a0 The addition of Soriano <\/strong>allows Clippard to go back to his work-horse self, and he’ll lead the team in appearances again. \u00a0Soriano will only get save opps, Storen <\/strong>is too close to being the closer to get the workhorse treatment, and Stammen <\/strong>isn’t going to throw unless the starter gets yanked early. \u00a0 (Clippard was the poll leader as well)<\/p>\n

6) Who will get more at bats for the Nats this season: Kurt Suzuki or Wilson Ramos? <\/span>Hmmm.\u00a0 Tough one.\u00a0 I’ll go with Suzuki <\/strong>with 400ab.\u00a0 I don’t think Ramos <\/strong>can stay healthy. \u00a0I could be wrong; Ramos seems to have won the starter role at least from the onset. \u00a0Poll favored Ramos.<\/p>\n

7) Which minor leaguer are you most interested in keeping tabs on this season? <\/span>Matt Purke<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 We know what our top two guys can do for the most part (Rendon <\/strong>and Goodwin<\/strong>).\u00a0 Giolito <\/strong>is basically out all year and Cole <\/strong>needs a full season in A-ball to regain confidence.\u00a0 Purke needs to show us something in 2013.\u00a0 He seems to be healthy, and we need to know if the monetary investment is going to pay off.\u00a0 A close second may be Matt Skole<\/strong>; can he make the leap from over-aged low-A slugger to a legitimate power prospect who could take over 1st when LaRoche’s contract ends?\u00a0 So far from spring training, it seems like the answer could be a yes. \u00a0(Poll winner was Rendon easily).<\/p>\n

8 ) Date of Anthony Rendon’s Major League debut? <\/span>July 1.\u00a0 Long enough to ensure one additional year and avoid super-2.\u00a0 The club gives Espinosa 3 full months to show he’s healthy and can hit better than .240.\u00a0 I could easily see more Espinosa struggles, a DL trip to repair his shoulder and Rendon taking over 2B for the 2nd half. \u00a0I hope not; he’s my fantasy shortstop :-). \u00a0 Poll winner was Sept 1.<\/p>\n

9) How many all-stars will the Nats have? Who? <\/span>4; Strasburg, Gonzalez, Harper and Desmond. \u00a0The Poll results were all over the road, but lots of support for Zimmerman to re-gain his all-star stature. \u00a0Problem is … there’s a few big names at third base in the NL that Zimmerman would have to out-perform to get votes. \u00a0David Wright<\/strong> and Pablo Sandoval<\/strong> first among them, perhaps David Freese<\/strong> and Chase Headley<\/strong> as well.<\/p>\n

10) Total wins and what place in the division? <\/span>100 wins, 1st in division. \u00a0Most people have the team pegged for slightly fewer.<\/p>\n

Essay: What should be the single most important development for the Nats this season?<\/span><\/p>\n

I think the overall health of the Rotation is going to be the biggest factor for the team.\u00a0 We have no starting\u00a0pitching depth to speak of, and a lengthy injury to any of the front line pitchers will affect our win total.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took part in the DC-IBWA’s pre-season survey this year (despite this blog being missing from the “participants” page on the result link…) along with many of our fellow Nats bloggers. \u00a0The full results are here; I gave both a player and a guess on the totals, and compared my guesses to the poll results. […]<\/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":[184,17,185,257,164,1213,98,310,797,482,52,114,1033,852,1677,733,136,1047,1398,36,38,128,147],"class_list":["post-6048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral","tag-adam-laroche","tag-aj-cole","tag-anthony-rendon","tag-brian-goodwin","tag-bryce-harper","tag-chase-headley","tag-craig-stammen","tag-david-freese","tag-david-wright","tag-denard-span","tag-drew-storen","tag-ian-desmond","tag-kurt-suzuki","tag-lucas-giolito","tag-matt-purke","tag-matt-skole","tag-michael-morse","tag-pablo-sandoval","tag-rafael-soriano","tag-ryan-zimmerman","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-tyler-clippard","tag-wilson-ramos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6048","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=6048"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6369,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6048\/revisions\/6369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}