Wood/Crews Debuts

[CoryTheFormerExposFan]

Is there any real incentive to bring them up prior to September?  Don’t you want them to preserve rookie eligibility to potentially gain draft pick compensation?  They could be ready after a few months, but that’s likely too late to earn draft pick compensation this year with ROY awards. 

[Senatorswin]

It seems in baseball there are a handful of players you are fairly confident are going to be impact players at the top of the draft. After that it's a crapshoot. I'm not sure you make decisions on the chance a player might get ROY and give you an extra pick.

[CoryTheFormerExposFan]

It seems in baseball there are a handful of players you are fairly confident are going to be impact players at the top of the draft. After that it's a crapshoot. I'm not sure you make decisions on the chance a player might get ROY and give you an extra pick.

True, but that potential plus preserving service time when you aren’t contending…is that enough to keep them down?  Obviously if they’re absolutely dominating AAA you have too much egg on your face keeping them down.  If it’s not overwhelmingly obvious they’re ready, what do they do?

[Slateman]

There is no incentive to bring them up before September. Whatever comp pick you MIGHT get does not outweigh the potential extra year of all star play from a player.

[imref]

Yamamoto is the betting favorite for NL RoY this year, though the defense behind him yesterday was atrocious.  Maybe if he gets off to a bad start teams get more aggressive with call-ups?

Crews and Woods aren't even in the top 10 right now:
https://www.covers.com/mlb/rookie-of-the-year-odds

[Natsinpwc]

Calling up someone in hopes you can get a comp pick for ROY is just lunacy.  Like many of my parlay bets. 

[rileyn]

Is there any real incentive to bring them up prior to September?  Don’t you want them to preserve rookie eligibility to potentially gain draft pick compensation?  They could be ready after a few months, but that’s likely too late to earn draft pick compensation this year with ROY awards. 

No.

[PowerBoater69]

Is there any real incentive to bring them up prior to September?  Don’t you want them to preserve rookie eligibility to potentially gain draft pick compensation?  They could be ready after a few months, but that’s likely too late to earn draft pick compensation this year with ROY awards. 

What I'm looking for is a decisive strategy from this team rather than just making it up as they go along. Based on the lack of free agent signings this off-season it appears that the goal is to tank for a top draft pick in 2025 while extending the service time window for the top prospects. I hate it, but at least it's a Plan.

What I expect is that pressure from the performance of Wood & Co and popular demand from the fan base lead to the Nats calling up the farm and winning more games while not quite contending for a playoff spot. The worst possible outcome, lose a year of service time for Wood and Crews, no playoff race, and no top 5 pick.

One thought on extending the service time for Wood and Crews is that another year of them in the minors is a year closer to free agency for Abrams, Gore, and Gray.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

You can extend service time to 6+ years by calling them up in late April. Holding off to late August lets them keep rookie status for 2025 and avoid super 2  status.

[Natsinpwc]

Unless Crews does poorly in the minors he is up by May.  First pick.  Still would have shot at rookie award.  Helps sell tickets.  Wood very late this year or 2025. 

[Senatorswin]

What I'm looking for is a decisive strategy from this team rather than just making it up as they go along. Based on the lack of free agent signings this off-season it appears that the goal is to tank for a top draft pick in 2025 while extending the service time window for the top prospects. I hate it, but at least it's a Plan.

What I expect is that pressure from the performance of Wood & Co and popular demand from the fan base lead to the Nats calling up the farm and winning more games while not quite contending for a playoff spot. The worst possible outcome, lose a year of service time for Wood and Crews, no playoff race, and no top 5 pick.

One thought on extending the service time for Wood and Crews is that another year of them in the minors is a year closer to free agency for Abrams, Gore, and Gray.

In baseball you don't spend a whole year tanking for a good draft pick. When Strasburg was going to be the first pick in the draft years ago, when there wasn't a lottery, and it came down to the last weekend and Seattle swept their opponent and the Nats got swept, the Nats were the worst team by 1 game. Then with no lottery and a weekend to go it would of been wise for Seattle to tank, but not a whole season and especially not with a lottery.

[Slateman]

Its pretty obvious we're tanking. Not sure why anyone is confised or questioning that. A top 3 pick is better than a 5-8 pick.

Fan pressure should have absolutely no bearing on calling up players. You absolutely do not call them up until they have reached the threshold to maintain rookie eligibility.

[Senatorswin]

What would be the advantage to try to not win in 2024, in other words tank? There's a reason not to bring Wood, Crews and House up until the time when the Nats get another year from them before they can go to free agency, other than that it's all about progress in the rebuild.

This year is about the young prospects progressing, Abrams and to a lesser extent Ruiz taking that next step, seeing if Robles and Garcia are keepers and see if the guys like Gore and Gray can win consistently.

To say they are going to try to not win so they can move up in the draft is just not going to happen. No way.

[GataNats]

Halting the positive development of star players for tanking purposes is not the route to go.  Service time BS is just that.   The players remember that.  Why would a player ever want to resign with a team that cost them money?

[imref]

The Nats have never been shy about calling players up when they are ready.

[Slateman]

Halting the positive development of star players for tanking purposes is not the route to go.  Service time BS is just that.   The players remember that.  Why would a player ever want to resign with a team that cost them money?

Crews and Wood are Boras clients. They aren't signing here long term. There is no reaaon to give up a year of a "superstar" in a meaningless season.

[HalfSmokes]

Crews and Wood are Boras clients. They aren't signing here long term. There is no reaaon to give up a year of a "superstar" in a meaningless season.

This. The lesson from Soto should be to keep them in the minors longer so that their peak coincides with team control.

[Natsinpwc]

Crews and Wood are Boras clients. They aren't signing here long term. There is no reaaon to give up a year of a "superstar" in a meaningless season.

That’s a good point.  And ownership may change by then.  Just do what makes sense baseball wise.  Don’t rush but don’t hold back if ready. So do they start in Double A or Triple A?

[PowerBoater69]

The Nats have never been shy about calling players up when they are ready.

Right, they have brought up plenty of 19 and 20 year olds, so why are they slow playing the current group who are 21+?

[PowerBoater69]

This. The lesson from Soto should be to keep them in the minors longer so that their peak coincides with team control.

Soto was an accident. The entire MLB, AAA, and AA outfield were all injured. He was supposed to be a short term replacement but he was too good to send back down.

[PowerBoater69]

What would be the advantage to try to not win in 2024, in other words tank? There's a reason not to bring Wood, Crews and House up until the time when the Nats get another year from them before they can go to free agency, other than that it's all about progress in the rebuild.

This year is about the young prospects progressing, Abrams and to a lesser extent Ruiz taking that next step, seeing if Robles and Garcia are keepers and see if the guys like Gore and Gray can win consistently.

To say they are going to try to not win so they can move up in the draft is just not going to happen. No way.

Then why didn't we spend money of free agents? Why does it seem like our future stars are in extended development mode? I agree that tanking for draft picks is different in MLB than the NBA and NFL, in baseball you really need the top pick or two to have a high probability of an impact player. I'm not saying I support tanking, I hate it, but that's sure what appears to be their plan.

[CoryTheFormerExposFan]

We aren’t “tanking” as in trying to lose.  There simply wasn’t reason to spend big on free agents until probably another year when the young core is pushing being ready to start competing with a few additions.  I’m sure they would love Abrams, Gray, Gore, Ruiz, etc to progress and some of the vets surprise and exceed expectations, like last year.

The goal this year is development of the core future guys.  Perhaps some older guys can be used as some form of trade assets.  Next year should be when they stop filling the lineup with stopgap bodies and it’s all talented young guys and outside free agents.

[Slateman]

Right, they have brought up plenty of 19 and 20 year olds, so why are they slow playing the current group who are 21+?

The team was competing for the playoffs then. They aren't now.

[OfftheBat]

Can someone remind me how this works, I kinda forgot. So let's say if they call up Crews this year and he doesn't win ROY, what's the consequence? (vs calling him up in 2025?)

[imref]

Can someone remind me how this works, I kinda forgot. So let's say if they call up Crews this year and he doesn't win ROY, what's the consequence? (vs calling him up in 2025?)

His clock starts ticking earlier toward arbitration.