Return engagement: Josh Bell & Trevor Williams

[Slateman]

https://x.com/jonheyman/status/1873560132883554311?s=46&t=bqDocN33sQmOz6S1Po7Ygg

Nats sign Josh Bell, 1 year, 6 million.

Straight up dumpster diving

[imref]

.796 OPS with 5 HR after going to Arizona (162 ABs). .885 OPS in the 2nd half. Probably makes him the 2nd or 3rd best hitter on our team. I like the signing as a placeholder until House or YoYo are ready.

[imref]

Where we stand: 12/29 edition:
1B: Lowe
2B: Garcia Jr.
SS: Abrams
3B: Tena
LF: Wood
CF: Young
RF: Crews
C: Ruiz
DH: Bell

Bench: Milas plus pick three of Baker, Lipscomb, Nunez, Call, Chaparro, & Yepez

Rotation: Gore, Herz, Irvin, Parker, Soroka

Bullpen: pick 8 of Willingham, Ferrar, Ribalta, Salazar, Reifert (Rule-5), Law, LaSorsa, Brzykcy, Rutledge

60 Day IL: Adon, Gray, Thompson

40 man at AAA: Adams, three of the six batters who don't make the roster, Lara, Henry, Cavalli, plus the bullpen arms who don't make the cut.

[varoadking]

Ugh sell the team...

[IanRubbish]

.796 OPS with 5 HR after going to Arizona (162 ABs). .885 OPS in the 2nd half. Probably makes him the 2nd or 3rd best hitter on our team. I like the signing as a placeholder until House or YoYo are ready.

Better than Joey Meneses, Joey Gallo, or having Keibert DH, but if he's any good he'll be gone by the deadline.

[rbw5t]

https://x.com/jonheyman/status/1873560132883554311?s=46&t=bqDocN33sQmOz6S1Po7Ygg

Nats sign Josh Bell, 1 year, 6 million.

Straight up dumpster diving

Yup.  maybe they're hoping he can a mentor/good example for CJ, since they weren't planning on making an actual signing to really improve the team anyway?  And of course they're hoping he has a good half year and they can flip him at the deadline.  The never-arriving rebuild has hit permanent status

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Well, we signed one of the vets in the 2022 deadline deal with SD. Just like we hoped.

Sort of.

Imref: what Garcia will be in the bullpen? Not Robert. I think Rico was released.

Also, Adams lacks options. I suspect they don't cut bait on him.

As folks have pointed out in the Natmosphere, if the Gleyber deal reporting is at all true, they seemed to be willing to spend up to $15 million on him, so I think most likely they have more leeway to spend than they've used. The cynic in me suggests they floated that offer with a position switch knowing he would turn it down

[imref]

Well, we signed one of the vets in the 2022 deadline deal with SD. Just like we hoped.

Sort of.

Imref: what Garcia will be in the bullpen? Not Robert. I think Rico was released.

Also, Adams lacks options. I suspect they don't cut bait on him.

As folks have pointed out in the Natmosphere, if the Gleyber deal reporting is at all true, they seemed to be willing to spend up to $15 million on him, so I think most likely they have more leeway to spend than they've used. The cynic in me suggests they floated that offer with a position switch knowing he would turn it down

I forgot to remove Garcia from the list. There are also three minor league / ST invite relievers and probably more to come.

In a fantasy world we sign Santander to play RF and shift Crews to CF where he belongs IMHO. FWIW, Hector Gomez says the Astros, Angels, Mets, Orioles, and Tigers are all interested in Santander. The Blue Jays get mentioned a lot as a good fit for him as well.

[imref]

Trevor Williams is coming back - 2/$14M via The Athletic.

Very very interesting. The rotation is suddenly getting crowded. Maybe Rizzo has some deals up his sleeve?

[Natsinpwc]

Trevor Williams is coming back - 2/$14M via The Athletic.

Very very interesting. The rotation is suddenly getting crowded. Maybe Rizzo has some deals up his sleeve?

Well Soroka can only start for a little while in his first year starting in several years.  Someone like Herz can go to the pen when Cavalli is ready. Injuries happen.

The Williams and Bell signings aren’t great but better than nothing. 75 wins or bust!

[imref]

i'd hate to see Herz go to the bullpen after the year he had, and he got better as the year went on.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Probably Parker or Herz to the bullpen for multi-inning relief. That gives the Nats a cheap 2nd lefty reliever behind Ferrer and ahead of La Sorsa.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Soroka I think gets dealt if he's effective as a starter or gets shifted to the bullpen if he isn't. That lets you bring Parker back into the rotation until Cavalli gets his eventual shot if he's healthy.

By fWAR, Bell and Williams project to add a win and half. Since they were around a 75 win projection, these moves may make than closer to 77 wins.

I would think Bell and Chappy / Yepez get some ABs against lefties with Bell playing some 1st and Lowe getting time off, even without big splits.

[nobleisthyname]

I'd prefer Williams in the pen than Herz.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I'd prefer Williams in the pen than Herz.

I don't think it'll be Hertz, at least initially. It should be a lefty, so I expect Parker. Figure the backend has a closer by committee initially of Law and Ferrer, then some combo of Ribalta, Salazar, and Parker as the set up guys, with Reifert starting in lower leverage middle innings. That's something like 6 guys, with Brzykcy a probable and La Sorsa unless they decide to convert Rutledge and put him in the majors right away.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/12/29/nationals-josh-bell-return/

while Bell is streaky, Golden points out he's had 17 or more homers each year since 2021 (27, 17, 22, 19).

Bell can be an extremely streaky hitter, as evidenced by his OPS+ splits after being traded each of the past three seasons: 152 vs. 73 in 2022, 93 vs. 114 in 2023 and 89 vs. 121 in 2024. Many of his advanced numbers — including walk percentage and hard-hit percentage — trended in the wrong direction in 2024.

But the Nationals know from experience that, when Bell is on, he can provide power in the middle of the lineup. Of his 171 home runs, 41 of them came in 247 games with the Nationals. Last season, he hit 19. And he has hit at least 17 in each of the past four seasons.

Even with the BB rate regression, he still walked about league average (8.5% vs 8.2% MLB avg) with a low K rate (19.9% vs 22.6%).

The Nationals still need someone to man third base, where they have struggled to get consistent production over the past few seasons. With Bell and Lowe in the mix, that could mean one of Juan Yepez or Andrés Chaparro — the team’s first basemen to end last season — will get squeezed out. Whoever remains is likely to face left-handed pitchers or give Bell and Lowe a day off. The remaining bench spots seem likely to go to a backup catcher — probably Riley Adams or Drew Millas — along with a backup outfielder and a backup infielder.

[skippy1999]

I love Josh Bell but this just makes me sad

[imref]

Sign Bregman for third and Santander for RF and this team would be interesting next season.

[aspenbubba]

Sign Bregman for third and Santander for RF and this team would be interesting next season.

Santander will cost too much. I want Bregman for at least 2 years at 3rd and then he can replace Lowe at 1B. I don't see House up until a brief appearance in September if then. I wouldn't count on Morales in 2026.

[OfftheBat]

Ugh sell the team...

Amen lol

[zimm_da_kid]

I think it’s a bad idea to bump one of our promising young guys for a vet who’s not a legit needle-mover. Dodoma was fine because we still had room for gore, Irvin, Herz, and Parker, but now someone has to go to the pen. Don’t like it. Herz probably profiles best in the pen, but he sustained a 10.8 k/9 over 88 innings starting with a bb/9 under 4. I really want to see what he can do over a full season. Odd man out should be Parker. He’s probably got the lowest upside of the bunch

[Slateman]

Probably Parker or Herz to the bullpen for multi-inning relief. That gives the Nats a cheap 2nd lefty reliever behind Ferrer and ahead of La Sorsa.

No, that's a waste. Particularly after what both showed last season. Put them in Triple A and have them work on other pitches.

Trevor Williams spent like five seasons worth of starts as a 4.56 ERA, and then makes an adjustment, gives you 11 good starts and suddenly gets an arm injury that is caused by velo/spin increases. There is so little chance of him duplicating it. There's only three options for Trevor Williams: On the IL by deadline. Back to being a crap  starter at the deadline, or traded at the deadline while they can get something for him. And the same can be said for Soroka. If he's actually healthy and productive at the deadline, he's gone. Hell, he should be gone before that. Or they move him to the pen.

On top of that, we're averaging about one TJS a year. You currently have four hard throwing starters in Gore, Irvin, Parker, and Herz, none of which have had TJS. So its pretty much a lock that one of them is going down with it. The point is that by May 30th, Williams and Soroka could easily be injured and one of those four could already be down for TJS. So we really don't have any pitching depth to spare here.

[English Natsie]

I must admit to have always liked JB - he looked so miserable as a Marlin..Hopefully, he'll continue his childrens' reading initiative...

[imref]

with the move to bring back known names, and our big gaping hole at 3B...could a deal for Rendon be in the works?

[zimm_da_kid]

Could Parker be packaged with either young or Tena for a young controllable hitter better than either young or Tena? That would be my ideal outcome here.

Cavalli and lord are going to need mlb innings this year as well