DeJong has been a below average MLB hitter for his career. 93 OPS+. Started very good and has ben steadily going downhill. Some uptik in slugging last couple years. Probably an improvement on Senzel and especially on defense. He was 0.9 bWAR last year. Not moving any needle.
This is pretty close to my description of
"Cheap veteran 3B who should provide solid defense and a mid-.600 OPS with power from the right side while you get a better idea of what you have with your upper minors third basemen".The Nationals have been a disaster at 3B since Rendon left. Negative fWAR every year except for the Jeimer Candelario half season. Of our top dozen or so prospects, four of them -- House, Morales, King, Wallace -- have played 3B and will be in AA or AAA this season. I'm not claiming DeJong moves the needle, I just think he is a good short term solution should the organization not think Tena can field third full time and they need to buy a few more months to see if any prospect can force them to call them up at 3B.
Even if you expect DeJong's bat will crater, adding even major league average defense at a position where the Nationals have been worst in the majors over the past fives seasons is a huge improvement. Especially when this team may at some point end up having a rotation with five 20 something pitchers under team control. Giving them some competency behind them is a big improvement over the sieve of the last few seasons that made Vargas look like a gold glover in whichever he positions was filling in.
If I avoided posting about items not moving the needle, then I probably wouldn't have many posts on this board post-Soto trade in 2022. But I like talking about the Nationals and baseball, so I am happy diving into our bargain bin add at third base.
