Yes, they're 17 games over and likely headed to the playoffs, the Nats were one of the first to be eliminated.
The D-backs refused to the play the contract with Jordan Montgomery, and sent him to the 'pen. DFA'd Mad Bum and ended up in the World Series. Meanwhile, this org plays Keibert, Corbin, and Gallo because of their contracts. The D-backs know when to cut ties or demote a bad player, which is what they did with Floro, meanwhile Mini Me refuses to let such a thing happen here, and we kept a guy in the rotation with a 5.50 ERA. Rizzo can't admit a mistake, the D-backs do that all the time, and look who wins more. They're going to the playoffs this season after making the WS last year, and we're sitting here hoping that the losing season streak doesn't make it to 7. Give me a break.
one trick pony.
They DFA'd Bumgarner because of clubhouse issues. They had three starters in that rotation with ERAs over 5, one of them with an ERA over 7. Also, the 2024 Nats aren't where the 2023 D-Backs were. They are where the 2022 D-Backs were. You know, the team that kept playing Bumgarner, despite the fact that he was washed. Yep, that team that has such amazing culture (according to you) just kept trotting MadBum for 30 starts because they signed him to a big contract. And it wasn't just that he suddenly became bad in 2023. He had a 6.50 ERA in the second half of 2022. He became a fly ball pitcher in a park that is a hitter friendly park. If the D-backs truly knew when to cut ties, they would have done it in the offseason.
On top of the Mad Bum debacle, they are playing the bad contracts now. Oh sure, they sent Montgomery to the pen ... where he has been terrible. Why are they keeping him? Could it be because they owe him a freak ton of money and they need to get SOMETHING out of him?
He's not the only one. Eduardo Rodriguez is making starts for this team. The one they signed to a 4 year, 80 million dollar contract. Well he's starting because he deserves it, right? I should just ignore that 5.50 ERA? Because they couldn't possibly be pitching him because of that contract, right?
Acuna is injured for the Braves, Carroll is struggling, and Tatis has never matched his rookie OPS, never mind missing a whole season due to a non-baseball injury and a PED violation. Paying young players like that can make them too comfortable. The Nats also benefitted from Rendon playing out of his mind during his walk year.
Stras was a big exception for a Boras client and he still ended up opting out of that contract.
So, following your logic, Carroll should have been sent down, if not cut. Carroll had a .635 OPS in the first half. Just so we're clear, that's about 30 points better than Joey Gallo, but they're also on the hook to pay Carroll 111 million dollars (instead of the 5 the Nats owe Gallo). Carroll sucked and was costing his team games in the first half. So, a team with the culture like the D-Backs sent him down or cut him, right? They know when to cut ties or demote a bad player (and I think we can agree, if Jacob Young is out hitting you, you're not a good hitter)
Nope. They let Carroll work through and have been rewarded with a .935 OPS in the second half.
In 2023, the D-Backs kept Jake McCarthy and Alex Thomas on the team in 2023, despite poor performance. They kept Zach Davies until the end of the year. Scott McGough stayed in their pen the whole year, despite having an ERA of almost 5 out of the pen. So, no, the D-Backs don't know when to cut ties or demote bad players. They don't have some magical culture that knows when to let players go.
The 2019 Washington Nationals released Trevor Rosenthal and Kyle Barraclough and ended up winning the World Series. So I guess Rizzo does actually know when to cut ties with a bad player and get good results.
