Nationals acquire Doug Fister from Tigers

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Walters has played most of his minor league career at SS.  either he can cover 3d and 2d or Kobernus can.

The bench might line up this way:

Hairston
Walters
Backup Catcher
2 of Kobernus / Moore / Brown

[lastobjective]

OOoooooo all I can say is that I'm really excited! I know very little about Fister but I'm glad Rizzo managed to pull this trade off.

[skippy1999]

So seeing that cutie Zach Walters more often is never a bad thing, I like this trade more and more now that I think about it

[Slateman]

Saw this on mlbtr:

Angels probably wanted Sanchez or Smyly. They're pretty desperate for starting pitching right now. They non-tendered Hanson. I wonder if Roark or Taylor Jordan would be enough to pry CJ Cron away from them . . .

[PC]

How is that relevant to this trade?

Nothing.  It just means that Fister's drop wasn't noteworthy unless you wanted to cast the trade in a positive Tigers favor/negative Nationals disfavor.

[Jedgi]

Nothing.  It just means that Fister's drop wasn't noteworthy unless you wanted to cast the trade in a positive Tigers favor/negative Nationals disfavor.

Why isn't it noteworthy? It's like saying because (for a random example) Samardzija's velocity dropped (which it didn't, I don't think), Fister's can drop and it doesn't matter.

[PC]

Why isn't it noteworthy? It's like saying because (for a random example) Samardzija's velocity dropped (which it didn't, I don't think), Fister's can drop and it doesn't matter.

Well, I don't judge it to be noteworthy because it's not uncommon and it's not necessarily indicative of anything.

[Slateman]

Especially with a guy who wasn't a strike out pitcher or reliant on velocity. Fister is similar to Tim Hudson or Andrew Cashner

[mitlen]

Rizzo 106.7 in 5 minutes.

[imref]

Rizzo 106.7 in 5 minutes.

http://natsinsider.com/2013/12/03/rizzo-on-fister-trade-5th-starter-and-more/

[houston-nat]

http://natsinsider.com/2013/12/03/rizzo-on-fister-trade-5th-starter-and-more/

Highlight for me:

“We really had identified Doug as our primary acquisition target as far as starting pitchers go, thought he was an undervalued asset. We thought that we had really strong scouting reports from our scouts in the field, we had extremely strong sabermetrics reports from our analysts here in the office. A guy that I’ve seen pitch over the years and I’ve scouted personally at times and fit the criteria that we were looking for for one of our rotation starters: a big, physical pitcher that takes the ball and logs innings and has had success at the most crucial times in a team’s season. So, we like the entire package with him. We also liked that he had multiple years of control and a guy that we think can grow with the Nationals.”

Q: Does Fister’s reputation as a groundball pitcher fit well with new manager Matt Williams and defensive coach Mark Weidemaier’s philosophy?
“Again, I think that’s going to play into his success here. Because of the advanced techniques that we’re going to employ this year will be an aid to that.”

“We feel that we’d like to tweak the bullpen a little bit. We’d like to help the bench a little bit.”

[Optics]

I wish the other D.C. teams had a guy like Mike Rizzo running the show.

[mitlen]

"A team that was already one of baseball's 10 best got better Monday night, acquiring right-hander Doug Fister from the Detroit Tigers for three young players, including highly regarded 22-year-old left-hander Robbie Ray."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/richard-justice-doug-fister-a-fantastic-trade-for-washington-nationals?ymd=20131202&content_id=64346394&vkey=news_mlb

[Optics]

One of the 10 best? Doesn't Vegas still have us as the 2nd or 3rd best chance to win the whole thing?

[Terpfan76]

Heeman needs to get the Beer Fist signed by Fister... DO IT!!

[PebbleBall]

One of the 10 best? Doesn't Vegas still have us as the 2nd or 3rd best chance to win the whole thing?

The other side of that coin is that they are coming off of a season where they didn't have one of the best 10 records.  Time for them to earn the respect.

[aspenbubba]

Walters has played most of his minor league career at SS.  either he can cover 3d and 2d or Kobernus can.

The bench might line up this way:

Hairston
Walters
Backup Catcher
2 of Kobernus / Moore / Brown

A little disagreement here . I think it is Espi over Walters and one of Kobernus/ Moore and Brown. Rizzo gets us a veteran lefty bat  that should have been David Dejesus. Walters is a liability in the field and Moore is probably LaRoches back up

[Slateman]

Why do we need a veteran lefty bat? How about someone who can hit instead?

[Squab]

Re: Fister's velocity being "down"

4 Seam Fastball
2012:
Avg Velo: 89.1
Zone %: 53.6
Swinging Strike %: 2.9%
SLG%: .478
2013:
Avg Velo: 88.6
Zone %: 57.3 %
Swinging Strike %: 4.3%
Zone %: 57.3
SLG%: .383

2 Seam Fastball (His bread and butter):
2012:
Avg Velo: 88.8
Zone %: 58
Swinging Strike %: 3.7%
SLG%: .405
2013:
Avg Velo: 88.8
Zone %: 57.3 %
Swinging Strike %: 4.7%
Zone %: 56
SLG%: .390

Groundball rates improved in 2013 too.

It looks like his fastball got better last year to me, even if in the most technical sense the velocity was down.

[HalfSmokes]

so basically he lost almost nothing off a pitch that never relied on speed and in doing so increased his swinging strike rate and decreased the slg? yeah, that has me worried

[mitlen]

One of the 10 best? Doesn't Vegas still have us as the 2nd or 3rd best chance to win the whole thing?

Wondered the same thing but Justice probably took the finishes from last year's final standings.    He probably ignored Vegas' odds like we should have last year.

[HalfSmokes]

Are vegas' odds based on who they expect to win or how the game it out to make sure they get enough action spread around?

[NJ Ave]

I think the most amazing thing about this is that Rizzo managed to pay so little for the one player he targeted as his number one target. Says a lot for his negotiating skills and how close he keeps things to the vest.

I'm really starting to get the impression that we have something in Rizzo, hopefully a long-term Cashman/Sabean/Beane type relationship. I have complete faith in (a) his ability to target people who are likely to improve the team, and (b) his ability to come out at least even, but often on the better end of trade transactions. I don't know what else you could ask for in a GM.

[Squab]

so basically he lost almost nothing off a pitch that never relied on speed and in doing so increased his swinging strike rate and decreased the slg? yeah, that has me worried

Essentially. I'll admit that in 2011 his velocity on the two pitches was 89.6 and 89.9 respectively. So it's fallen since then. But that was a rise from his previous two years. So it's essentially remained the same, and the pitches seem to have gotten better.

[mitlen]

Not only does Rizzo target people who can improve the team but has an uncanny nack of targeting people who will trade them to us.    He reads people and their needs really well.