What Do You Think is Going Better/Worse than Expected?

[IanRubbish]

Better:
1. last 1-2 weeks starters have been attacking the zone, the confidence of Doo and Mitchell Parker vs. the Hickey Shuffle is starting to win out
2. base stealing - a guy like Lane has been able to make up for a hitting slump with speed, turning singles into doubles...the aggressiveness on the basepaths and Parra as first base coach - so far, so good

Worse:
1. The average age of the lineup is too high for a team that's tanking, rebuilding, rebooting, or whatever PR term the front office comes up with.  Understand some guys might struggle, but think we need more Lipscomb, Wood, even Yepez, less Gallo and Senzel

[GataNats]

Less Rosario, Vargas, and Senzel

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I don't feel like starting a new thread for this, but a fantasy weekly report over in FG has blurbs on a number of Nats. My sense is that much of the roster would have been rated so low going into fantasy drafts that almost all Nats not named CJ Abrams or perhaps Lane Thomas would have been on waivers available for pick up. I would guess that a lot of the reason there are so many  Nats mentioned is that folks have spotted hot starts and are wondering whether to make pick ups.

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/faab-waiver-wire-report-week-4/

I won't quote all of the writeups since the link is above and free, but there's comments on Jacob Young, Jesse Winker, Luis Garcia Jr., Trevor Williams, Mitchell Parker, Jake Irvin and Hunter Harvey.  Most interesting non-fantasy points are below:

Luis García Jr.: The 24-year-old is moving up in the lineup because he’s hitting (.815 OPS, 4 SB). His StatCast HardHit% is up from 36% to 52% and his Barrel% from 6% to 16%.
...
Mitchell Parker: Another guy with a Sunday start that will like set his demand going forward. He debuted with a 92-mph fastball with a curveball (13% SwStr%) and flashed a splitter. His fastball must have a ton of rise with a 0% GB% in AAA and 27% in his first start.
...
Jake Irvin: The 27-year-old is pitching to a mid-3.00’s ERA talent by striking out a respectable number of batters (7.8 K/9) and not walking anyone (2.4 BB/9). The weird thing is that he is achieving his swing-and-miss with just his fastball (11% SwStr%). All of his other secondaries have a sub-8% SwStr%. I could be too low here but his profile rarely succeeds.

Also some praise for Williams suppressing walks and upping his K rate. As the article says, 0 HRs won't continue, but those other numbers are good signs going forward. Mild enthusiasm for Harvey but notes he's a backup closer, which is fantasy-relevant.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://districtondeck.com/posts/a-look-back-handing-out-grades-for-the-nationals-2024-offseason-signings-01j0vmak5f1n

LA Rice weighs in on the off-season signings. Only discusses the ones that have appeared with the Nats, so nothing on the various Zach Davies, Juan Yepez, Robert Gsellman types that didn't make it out of Spring or did not crash the roster from Rochester.

Rated players include the Barneses, Gallo, Senzel, Floro, Law, Winker, and Rosario. Nunez gets an NA or incomplete. Winker, Floro, and Law are his screaming successes (can't argue), JBarnes, Senzel, and Gallo get middling grades (Gallo largely for the D). I would bump JBarnes up or deem the "B" solid to put a little more gap between him and Senzel (B-) and I would probably drop Gallo to at best a C-. Can't  really dispute the Fs for Rosario and Matt Barnes, and like most, Rice is rooting for Wood/Rosarion swapout day to be sooner than later.