There's been a domino effect from the injuries in a way that even Dusty didn't have to deal with in 2017:
- A healthy Zimm had 36/108 last year and hit over .300
- Adam Lind had 14/59 and hits .303
- A healthy Daniel Murphy had 23/93 and hit .322
- Howie Kendrick was a huge pickup at the deadline hitting almost .300 and was versatile
- Rendon had another huge season last year while staying healthy all season
- Wieters was healthy and drove in 52 runs
- Stras only missed 4 starts last year, has already missed 4 this year
- Bryce hits 100 points higher than he is now
- Guys like Brian Goodwin and Stephen Drew were significant contributors off the bench - 97 hits, 14 homers, 47 RBI between them
2018:
After a slow start Zimm has missed 2 months, and while Adams is a good player he hasn't put up the numbers Lind did last year and after a hot start Mark Reynolds has regressed to what he's been for the past several years - some homers and a ton of strikeouts. Murphy missed the 1st 2 months of the season, didn't have a spring training and still doesn't look right. Rendon missed almost 20 games earlier this year. Howie is done for the year. Goodwin has missed significant time and Drew is gone so the bench has been thinner with the injuries added in. Wieters did a great job with the pitching staff last year and has missed 60+ games so far. With him out, there's been no offense production at all from the C position and Sevy can't seem to handle a pitching staff at this point which has especially caused problems for both Gio (who easily could have won over 20 games last year when Wieters caught him) and Tanner getting on the same page with him. The Nats were 36-26 when Stras went down, 6-17 since. Hellickson had pitched well then he goes out. Injuries to the rotation mean the guys who are taking their place aren't as good and therefore aren't going to be able to go deep into games, thus coupled with close games do to a lack of offense has lead to burning out the pen. And many of these injuries have occurred simultaneously, whereas last year the injuries were much more staggered during the course of the season. They have had virtually no solid offensive production from C, 1B or 2B so far. And on top of all of this the Braves and Phillies are both vastly improved over what they were last year.
Not saying Davey is blameless in this mess, he's made mistakes, but I don't care who the manager of this team is he wouldn't be able to overcome all of that and have this team in 1st place right now or more than a few games over .500.
