It is safe to say that the Nationals really sucked last year, and were one of two teams to have one hundred or more losses. Things won’t be any different this time around as the Nationals will be expected to finish at the bottom of the NL East for another year. Last season, the Nationals really didn’t get any good pitching, and offensively they had trouble getting runs across the plate. Management did make a few improvements to the roster, with the most significant move being the signing of Adam Dunn.
With the Cincinnati Reds, Adam Dunn posted monster season after monster season. Including last season, Dunn has now posted four straight forty homerun seasons, and in three of the four seasons, Dunn has batted in over 100 RBI. In the one year he didn’t bat in 100 RBI, he still managed to get 92. So he will vastly improve the Nationals batting order, that’s if and only if, the batters ahead of him can get on base. Even that was a tall order for the Nationals of last season.
Batters that will probably bat ahead of Adam Dunn are centre fielder Lastings Milledge or short stop Christian Guzman. With Milledge, he has great speed, can bat lead off, and is a good defender. In two seasons with the New York Mets, he wasn’t given a lot of playing time at all as he only got into 115 games, and playing time was all he needed. In 138 games, which was a career high, Milledge hit fourteen homeruns and batted in 61 RBI. This season, Milledge will have more of an expanded role and will be one of the keys to the offense.
As for Christian Guzman, he really hasn’t provided that spark or some sort of offensive flare. Defensively, he gets the job done and is really good at short. The most suitable position for him is to bat in the top half of the lineup, but he could be a liability, and that would most certainly hurt the Nationals. If Guzman can hit for power, in the range of twelve to fifteen homeruns, than that will be acceptable.
At third base is Ryan Zimmerman, who has played all four of his big league seasons in Washington so far. Zimmerman is the future of this team, and so far he has impressed having had two twenty homerun seasons, with ninety or more RBI. Last season was an off year with fourteen homeruns, but injuries also played their part in him missing 56 games. Zimmerman, if he can get back to hitting twenty homeruns that will make the middle of the lineup a legit threat with Adam Dunn.
One player that can breakout for a big season, and probably the best choice to bat lead off is Elijah Dukes. With the Tampa bay Rays, Dukes had a limited role, and saw limited action in only 52 games. In his first year with the Nationals, Dukes played in 81 games and had thirteen homeruns with 44 RBI. Imagine what he will be able to accomplish if he could play the whole season, and according to the Nationals’ depth chart, he is listed as the starting left fielder.
The first and second base positions are a bit weak for the Nationals. Nick Johnson is finally healthy after not playing in a major league game the three seasons before last. Then again, Johnson only played in 38 games last season. At second base, Anderson Hernandez and Ronni Belliard are hardly the offensive threats, and still need to perfect their defensive game.
In the catcher’s position the Nationals may just have a player in Jesus Flores, who really improved his numbers from his rookie year in 2007, where he played in 79 games, hit four homeruns and had just 25 RBI. Last year in only 90 games, Flores managed to hit eight homeruns with 59 RBI. This season, Flores should be the opening day and everyday catcher, because he has taken big strides in two years.
Pitching is going to be a big weak point for the Nationals this season, because they really don’t have reliable pitchers that have posted legit seasons. Right now to lead off the rotation will be John Lannan who went 9-15 last season. Give him credit; this will only be his second full year in the Major’s. Still, to lead off the rotation every team needs a strong pitcher, and the Nationals don’t have that yet.
Going second in the rotation will be Scott Olsen, whose Major League development was rushed with the Florida Marlins. He has posted a twelve win season in his career, and he is also young and the Nationals are hoping that Olsen is all ready for a big season.
Third in the rotation will be Daniel Cabrera, who is very wild and has major control issues. In the last four seasons, Cabrera has compiled a weak record of 36-51, and has only once reached the double figure mark in wins, which were ten in 2005. Cabrera needs to control his pitches or else he could bring down the Nationals’ pitching.
Going fourth and fifth are rookie Jordan Zimmerman and sophomore Shairon Martis. Overall, the Nationals’ pitching staff will have only one pitcher with three or more years of experience in the Big Leagues and he has yet to prove himself. This season will most definitely be a rebuild season for the Nationals and a chance for them to see who they have on their roster that is worth keeping.
POSITIVE --> ADAM DUNN WILL BOOST THE BATTING ORDER, AND IF RYAN ZIMMERMAN CAN HIT TWENTY HOMERUNS, THEN THE THREE AND FOUR SPOTS WILL BE SOLIDIFIED.
NEGATIVE --> PITCHING STAFF IS VERY YOUNG WITH BARLEY ANY EXPERIENCE. BATTING ORDER IS UNBALANCED.
X-FACTOR --> THIS EASILY WILL BE ADAM DUNN BECAUSE HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TEAM COULD AT LEAST KEEP THE NATIONALS FROM LOSING ONE HUNDRED GAMES AGAIN.
SLEEPER PICK --> CATCHER JESUS FLORES OR ELIJAH DUKES SHOULD HAVE BIG SEASONS WITH INCREASED PLAYING TIME.
PREDICTION --> THE NATIONALS WON’T MAKE THE PLAYOFFS AND WILL PROBABLY FINISH LAST IN THE DIVISION.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment