Who Will Be The First Rotation Starter To Be Sent Packing Due To Performance

[JCA-CrystalCity]

The title in the thread stated DUE TO PERFORMANCE

weren't specific about poor performance or outstanding. Griffin performed his way into a deal.

[Slateman]

The title in the thread stated DUE TO PERFORMANCE

Yea, he did well, so we sent him packing to a playoff team. 100% he had a bag packed

[tomterp]

The title in the thread stated DUE TO PERFORMANCE

He had excellent performance, which led to teams offering bountiful baskets of prospects (and an MLB reliever).  Totally performance related!

[aspenbubba]

How about sent packing which connotes poor performance?

[IdahoNat]

We really won't know till Early comes back, but they may even decide to go with a 6 man rotation, who knows.

[bluestreak]

The title in the thread stated DUE TO PERFORMANCE

He performed well and was traded for prospects…

[JCA-CrystalCity]

How about sent packing which connotes poor performance?

under Chevron, you'd win, but under Loper Bright, it takes 5 guys to say what the words you chose meant. Me, Tom, Bluestreak, Slateman, and Idaho as the swing vote

[Slateman]

How about sent packing which connotes poor performance?

Who are you replacing them with?

[welch]

And Mikolas and Littel are still here.

[GataNats]

And Mikolas and Littel are still here.

Littell isn’t

[English Natsie]

Thought Littell might have come good, given time, but alas... 

[Slateman]

NatsChat pod co-host, Mark Zuckerman, noted that Thursday (today) will be the day Mikolas will achieve 10 years service time in MLB

[tomterp]

Thought Littell might have come good, given time, but alas... 

He was a really solid starter last year, in steep decline now.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

He was a really solid starter last year, in steep decline now.

throw out April, Littell was ok, especially after an opener.

[imref]

NatsChat pod co-host, Mark Zuckerman, noted that Thursday (today) will be the day Mikolas will achieve 10 years service time in MLB

that would have been awful to DFA him just before he reaches that. Now though....

[Slateman]

that would have been awful to DFA him just before he reaches that. Now though....

Yep. I could see today being his last game with the Nats

[welch]

Mikolas is a good bunter. Many "modern" players are not. A few years ago, Tyler Kepner, the NY Times answer to Chelsea James, explained why Dom Smith had butchered a bunt, costing the Mets a game. "In the minors, they never taught us to bunt." Kepner asked, aproximately, how can players bunt under pressure if they never practice it?

How many times did we see Victor Robles come up the a runner on third and nobody out, only to bunt hard to the 2B?

Which current Nat can lay down a bunt?

[Slateman]

Mikolas is a good bunter. Many "modern" players are not. A few years ago, Tyler Kepner, the NY Times answer to Chelsea James, explained why Dom Smith had butchered a bunt, costing the Mets a game. "In the minors, they never taught us to bunt." Kepner asked, aproximately, how can players bunt under pressure if they never practice it?

How many times did we see Victor Robles come up the a runner on third and nobody out, only to bunt hard to the 2B?

Which current Nat can lay down a bunt?

Nunez

[welch]

Nunez

And maybe Young, but Jacob Young seems better at bunting for a hit. Tena? I don't remember Vivas bunting.

[welch]

On bunting, Butera made it a focus:

“I look at bunting the same way as CPR,” Butera said. “You don’t really want to do it, but when you do need to do it, you need to be really good at it.”

t’s something the Nationals have improved upon already under this new administration. They have 10 sacrifice bunts through the first 63 games, compared with 18 for all of last season. They also have four bunt hits, on track to beat the nine they pulled off in 2025.

The Nats’ focus on a seemingly lost art matches a trend taking place across the sport. Bunting, generally considered an old-school tactic, has been on the decline for years, as analytics shifted teams’ focus. Adding the designated hitter to the National League meant pitchers no longer had to hit, reducing its prominence even further.

This season, though, the bunt is on the rise as teams use it as a tactic to combat increasingly dominant pitching and unsuspecting defenses. It’s also cheaper for teams to carry speedy, lower-power hitters than to acquire sluggers who require eight- or nine-figure contracts. Before Friday’s games, there have been 195 bunt hits, compared with 139 at this time a year ago.

The three teams with the most bunt hits — the Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks — are also among the three teams with the lowest home run totals. Bunting helps them get production from players who aren’t able to consistently hit the ball hard in the air.

The same goes for the Nationals. A player such as James Wood, who has 16 home runs already, won’t be asked to bunt. But someone such as Nasim Nuñez, who has an OPS of .498 and no home runs, probably will be.


Nuñez says bunting can be scary: "You're in a vulnerable state." (Lynne Sladky/AP)
“I just think you need to be well-rounded and be able to do a lot of different things, especially when you are facing good arms and runs are hard to come by,” Butera said. “If we’re going to lean on doubles and home runs, that’d be awesome, but I don’t think every night we’ll be able to do that. When times call for it, you need to be able to do it.”

For the Nationals, it all began in the offseason. When Butera was hired in October, he met with every player on Zoom. Each one, he said, expressed a desire to get better at the little things that can make a difference between a win and a loss. Bunting, in Butera’s philosophy, is one of those things.

That’s why, when the team gathers early on game days, bunting is often a priority. On Monday, half of the hitters were on the field getting work in around 2 p.m., more than four hours before the game against the Miami Marlins. It’s not mandatory, but the expectation of the new coaching staff is that players will participate more days than not.

Some players, such as Jacob Young, are comfortable bunting. When he was coming up through the minors, the Nationals told him he would be expected, given his profile, to bunt. He practiced it and continues to refine it, four to five days a week.

His first Major League hit in 2023 was a bunt, and he has one sacrifice this year.

“I’ve messed up in big situations on the bunt,” Young said. “I’ve been smoked in big situations on the bunt, and I’ve succeeded on them, too. I always say it’s easy to bunt the machine, that’s, you know, throwing it right down the middle, it’s harder when the guy is throwing different pitches at a lot harder speeds.”

There’s also the fear factor. Bunting requires the hitter to turn their body toward a ball that’s often traveling over 90 mph. Nuñez leads the team with five sacrifice bunts, tied for fourth-most in MLB, even though he admits it scares him.

When he was in Class AA, he was hit in the foot by Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe when attempting a bunt. The umpire didn’t think it hit him, so Nuñez, now with a sore foot, had to square up again.

“I think bunting is hard,” he said. “They say it’s easy, but you’re in a vulnerable state.”

Luis García Jr., who has never been hit but was almost smoked in the face once, said he has seen more players emphasize the skill this year. As he has learned first base this year, defending bunts made him uneasy at first. Now, he said, he’s much more comfortable with bunting, both offensively and defensively.

“I think it’s really important, especially in today’s game,” García said through an interpreter. “I don’t think a lot of defenses are expecting teams to build, or they’re not ready for it, so that’s why I think it’s really important to have that skill.”

Danielle Allentuck, Post.

[Slateman]

Is there anyone to call up if we DFA Mikolas? Is this just a case of call up anyone, regardless of how they perform?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Is there anyone to call up if we DFA Mikolas? Is this just a case of call up anyone, regardless of how they perform?

Perales is on the 40 man and out of options after this year, but he hasn't earned a call up. Cornelio is also on the 40 man.

At this point, I would not bring up Kent. He doesn't have to be added to the roster this off-season, and with the lockout coming, he's better off being off the MLB roster and throwing through the spring. Can call him up after the season starts.

Beyond those 3, there are Andry Lara and Chandler Champlain. Frankly, both are just AAAA. Frankly, might as well go with Mikolas behind and opener at this point. He's no more likely to get lit up than these jabronis.

If Mikolas is really intolerable (why the "if"), then probably the best path forward is to fill in with Williams until somebody is healthy and just rotate through the AAAA relievers in Rocchester like Zack Kent, Varland, Schultz, etc...

 

[imref]

Is there anyone to call up if we DFA Mikolas? Is this just a case of call up anyone, regardless of how they perform?

Kent is lined up to take Mikolas' next start. He's earned the call IMHO.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Kent is lined up to take Mikolas' next start. He's earned the call IMHO.

I would not like that for his development, TBH. The lockout and the high likelihood he's not a difference-maker in terms of the playoffs would make me think that's a waste. He's already jumped 2 or 3 levels this year.  I'd rather start Williams and just rotate the AAAA relievers through the vacant bullpen slot until Herz or Early is healthy.

[welch]

Nussbaum writes today as if the Nats should call up Perales. I'll try to post some snippets...