{"id":750,"date":"2011-03-06T13:48:42","date_gmt":"2011-03-06T18:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=750"},"modified":"2011-03-06T14:07:09","modified_gmt":"2011-03-06T19:07:09","slug":"nats-pitching-so-far-the-good-the-worrisome-and-the-incompletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=750","title":{"rendered":"Nats Pitching so far; the good, the worrisome and the incompletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_752\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/ZimmermannJordan2009_0810_zimmermann.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-752\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-752\" title=\"ZimmermannJordan2009_0810_zimmermann\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/ZimmermannJordan2009_0810_zimmermann-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/ZimmermannJordan2009_0810_zimmermann-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/ZimmermannJordan2009_0810_zimmermann.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-752\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Is this the year Jordan Zimmermann makes the leap?  Photo dcist.com\/(AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Nats spring training games so far have certainly seemed more promising this year than last.\u00a0 Beat reporters talk about a more professional attitude, they talk about there being more talent in camp, and <strong>Riggleman<\/strong> talks specifically about having to &#8220;cut major league pitchers&#8221; when 25-man decision time rolls around.<\/p>\n<p>At the risk of over-analyzing the first 6 spring training games, lets talk about some of the good, the worrisome and the &#8220;yet to be determined&#8221; performances of some key members of the pitching corps.\u00a0 For reference, here&#8217;s a quick link to the <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/stats\/sortable_player_stats.jsp?c_id=mlb&amp;baseballScope=mlb&amp;subScope=teamCode&amp;teamPosCode=MON&amp;statType=2&amp;timeSubFrame=23&amp;sitSplit=&amp;venueID=&amp;Submit=Submit&amp;timeFrame=1\">Grapefruit league pitching stats<\/a> for the team.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Good<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Livan, Zimmermann, Marquis<\/strong>: our 1-2-3 rotation members all looked decent to good in their first ST starts.\u00a0 Marquis faced a weaker lineup but got lots of ground-outs (good indication for his sinker).\u00a0 Zimmermann faced a tougher lineup of first-stringer Cardinals but worked his way out of jams.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Maya<\/strong> and <strong>Detwiler<\/strong>: starters-in-waiting both had decent first outings.\u00a0 Maya has looked crisp, Detwiler&#8217;s new mechanics are giving him more bite on his fastball, and both may very well muscle their way into the rotation discussion.\u00a0 Detwiler contined his good work today, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.masnsports.com\/the_goessling_game\/2011\/03\/ross-detwiler-is-dealing---again.html\">getting 5 K&#8217;s in 3 innings<\/a> against a strong Braves lineup to continue to put himself in the discussion for the rotation.<\/li>\n<li>rule 5 pickup <strong>Broderick<\/strong>: 3ip and only two hits to show for it, albeit pitching later in games against scrubs.\u00a0 Still, one has to wonder if Broderick can muscle his way into the bullpen discussion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Chad Gaudin<\/strong>: I realize that a 27-yr old hard-throwing player on a minor-league deal would be like found-gold if he pans out (sorry for that pun), but I don&#8217;t get testing him out at the expense of other arms in camp.\u00a0 That being said, Gaudin has not looked great so far.\u00a0 He&#8217;s had two up and down sessions, possibly undone by some untimely errors in the field.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Garrett Mock<\/strong>: I am not the only blogger in the Natmosphere who cannot quite understand the obsession the coaches and managers have with Mock.\u00a0 Again this year, we&#8217;re hearing statements like, &#8220;2nd best arm in the organization&#8221; [behind Strasburg].\u00a0 Here&#8217;s Mock&#8217;s first outing: 2\/3 of an inning, 2 hits, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts with his vaunted &#8220;arm,&#8221; and 5 runs (only 1 earned because of an error in the field).\u00a0 At some point you have to disregard the potential and focus on the results, and make a decision on those results.\u00a0 Mock has been disappointing fans and coaches for years, and I hope we don&#8217;t overlook some other prospect to give Mock his next opportunity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Drew Storen<\/strong>: Two outings, two innings pitched and two shellackings for our closer-in-waiting.\u00a0 Not a good start for Storen, who needs to show some dominance to wrest control of the closer job away from 103-mph throwing <strong>Henry Rodriguez<\/strong> (who appears in the next section).\u00a0 I&#8217;ve read someone postulating that Storen may start the season in the minors; i doubt that based on his 113 era+ figure and\u00a0 8.9 k\/9 numbers last year.\u00a0 But if he wants that closer job, he needs to step up.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chien-Ming Wang<\/strong>: *sigh*.\u00a0 Another multi-million dollar contract on 100% spec, another spring training where it looks like this poor guy is done.\u00a0 He&#8217;s reportedly only reaching the low 80s and had to cut his last session short because of &#8220;tightness&#8221; in his surgically repaired shoulder.\u00a0 This may be more good money after bad.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Incomplete\/Unknown\/Concerning because we don&#8217;t know anything yet<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tom Gorzelanny<\/strong>: I guess I can understand when a guy gets sick and it sets him back.\u00a0 But when your two main competitors for the 5th rotation spot are showing up for ST with crisp stuff and a good work ethic, and you cannot make it into a game because you&#8217;re so far behind &#8230; well you better step it up when you do get some innings.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Elvin Ramirez<\/strong> and <strong>Henry Rodriguez<\/strong>.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve gone off on this rant before in various comment sections.\u00a0 But here goes again; how in the hell do these baseball players possibly suffer from these Visa issues year after year?\u00a0 It really seems simple to me: if you know you need to be in another country, FOR YOUR JOB, on Feb 1st, aren&#8217;t you preparing all your paperwork and getting everything in line to make said trip on time?\u00a0 It boggles my\u00a0 mind that guys are delayed for weeks.\u00a0 Spring Training is only 2 months long; if you are a pitcher and you miss the first two weeks, there is NO way you can catch up in time to really show what you have.\u00a0\u00a0 As far as the team goes, it is doubly insulting since Rodriguez has no options and HAS to make this team, so in reality he could have pulled a <strong>Brett Favre<\/strong> and skipped the entirety of spring training and basically still had a job.\u00a0 Meanwhile, rule-5 pickup Ramirez might as well be returned to the Mets now.\u00a0 How can he possibly out-pitch one of Storen, Clippard, Burnett, Coffey, Rodriguez, Slaten or Balester right now to make this team?\u00a0 Plus, in reality he also has to outpitch Broderick (another rule5 guy) and Gorzelanny (out of options if he loses out on the 5th rotation spot) to make this team.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;\">http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/stats\/sortable_player_stats.jsp?c_id=mlb&amp;baseballScope=mlb&amp;subScope=teamCode&amp;teamPosCode=MON&amp;statType=2&amp;timeSubFrame=23&amp;sitSplit=&amp;venueID=&amp;Submit=Submit&amp;timeFrame=1<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nats spring training games so far have certainly seemed more promising this year than last.\u00a0 Beat reporters talk about a more professional attitude, they talk about there being more talent in camp, and Riggleman talks specifically about having to &#8220;cut major league pitchers&#8221; when 25-man decision time rolls around. At the risk of over-analyzing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlbpitching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750","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=750"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}