And the numbers dwindle …
The Washington Nationals today re-assigned left-handed pitcher Gustavo Chacin, infielders Brad Eldred and Pete Orr, and outfielder Ryan Langerhans to minor league camp. The Nationals also optioned catcher Luke Montz and outfielder Roger Bernadina to Triple-A Syracuse. Nationals Vice President of Baseball Operations and Assistant General Manager Mike Rizzo made these announcements. After today’s moves, the Nationals’ spring roster stands at 41.
As with round two, really nothing surprising here. Bernadina was an intriguing option as a left-handed option who can play all three OF spots, but he loses out to the numbers game (and the fact he has option years). Montz’ options and the presenece of Wil Nieves and Javier Valentin make his assignment to Syracuse understandable.
The other guys are all the “extra part” options most teams have in Triple-A. It will be interesting to see who sticks around.
UPDATE: For those interested, here is my account of who is left in major league camp …
- 40-man bats (16): Flores, Nieves, Johnson, Belliard, Hernandez, Zimmerman, Casto, Guzman, AGonzalez, Dunn (at WBC), Milledge, Dukes, Kearns, Willingham, Harris and Pena
- 40-man arms (14): Lannan, Cabrera, Olsen, Bergmann, Beimel, Rivera, Hanrahan (at WBC), Shell, Mock, Balester, Chico, Hinckley, Martis & TYoung
- Non 40-man bats (5): Valentin, Castillo, Cintron, Patterson, DYoung
- Non 40-man arms (6): Zimmermann, Colome, Wells (note: good catch in the comments, Wells is with the minor leaguers but on a STI), Glover, Ledezma, and Wagner (Tavarez/Sosa are still not officially a part of the camp)
#1 by Pilchard - March 19th, 2009 at 17:31
Of the 30 roster player players (16 bats and 14 arms) left in camp, who still has options?
Also, are the Nats at the 40 man roster limit? If so, I can see at least 2 players (Pena and Casto), who can be taken off the 40 man with little risk that someone else will take them. If they do, neither would be a huge loss. Looks like Colome is close to a lock to going north.
Still think the Nats will kepp Zimmerman off the roster until late April to save a FA year.
#2 by Brian Oliver - March 19th, 2009 at 17:33
The Nats are at 40/40 … that I know
Option status is a good question. I know Casto and AHernandez are out of options. AGonzalez and Martis have option years left.
#3 by BinM - March 19th, 2009 at 17:56
The longer Corey Patterson stays in camp, the more it scares me. Good glove in CF, but he can’t even hit his weight.
#4 by BinM - March 19th, 2009 at 18:28
I’m also concerned that unless the Nationals’ FO/staff is certain that Flores will be healthy enough to go on opening day, they just burned an option on Montz that they didn’t have to.
#5 by Brian Oliver - March 19th, 2009 at 18:36
They have 20 days to call him back up and not use the option
#6 by joNAThan - March 19th, 2009 at 20:02
Isn’t O’Connor on the 40 man? He surely won’t be missed…
#7 by rjs - March 19th, 2009 at 21:51
Larrison is on your list, but he was sent to minor league camp on 3/10 according to nationals.com
Kip Wells is also around but I think he is staying with the minor leaguers.
#8 by Alan Herman - March 19th, 2009 at 22:33
I am happy to see Corey still there. I think his bat will warm up and that he could always be used as a pinch-runner for an otherwise slow lineup.
#9 by Steveo - March 20th, 2009 at 00:09
@BinM: Unless Flores misses the entire year and Montz could be our every day catcher we were gonna use an option on him anyways. Remember you can bring some one up and down from the minors as many times as you want in one option year. Also since Montz just attained 40 man status he has a few options left. If he does need 3 more years in the minors than he’ll never be even a solid back-up catcher.
#10 by Jeff E. - March 20th, 2009 at 00:10
Corey could not hit in the crackerbox along the Ohio River. actually I would love to see Casto avoid waiver claim by his home area team- SEA. there has to be a team out there whoi could use a RH bat for the OF and surrender a serviceable starter. The Chisox could use a more mobile RF to replace Dye. The Reds? LOL!!! bring back Daryl Thompson? Harry Carey’s Irish luck must be floating down from “field of dreams” since Corey has to be one of the more over hyped talents of my lifetime. Perhaps he could have been Charlie O. Finley’s pinch runners ala Herb Washington. where is that guy these days now?
#11 by Jeff E. - March 20th, 2009 at 00:13
Anyone know the health and progress of Noah Lowery in SF????
#12 by Marc - March 20th, 2009 at 07:49
I’m hoping - just hoping - that Bernadina went down before Patterson did because they want Bernadina to start getting a regular 4 ABs every day, where Patterson stays up with the majors to fill in for split-squad games, pinch-hitting, etc.
I’m not a huge fan of Bernadina, but there is NO sense to put Patterson on the 25 man ahead of Bernadina. Neither one will start, both can field, both have questionable abilities to actually strike the ball while holding a hunk of dead tree. But Bernadina’s young, cheap and could potentially get better with the twig.
#13 by VladiHondo - March 20th, 2009 at 08:29
So with Chacin in Syracuse, that leaves rotation candidates Balester/Martis/JZimm fighting for the 4/5 slots.
Unless, Bergmann re-enters the picture - tho can’t find ANY spring stats for him on the MLB site???
PS - Noah Lowry has had this spring: a: tightness in back of shoulder b: sore elbow c: injection for ailing shoulder
This after not pitching at all last year. Looks like a DL start of the year.
#14 by Brian Oliver - March 20th, 2009 at 08:37
Just conjecture on my part, but I am going to guess that Bergmann is the #4 starter for the Nats out of spring with Martis, Balester, & Zimmermann all starting the season in Syracuse. The Nats don’t need a #5 starter for the first couple of weeks and I imagine they’ll get the three young arms regular turns down in the minors and then make their determination of who to recall when a #5 is necessary.
#15 by Tom - March 20th, 2009 at 09:35
Sounds like the Nats are holding their cards really close to their vest. Lot’s of conjecture going on. too many possibilities. . .
#16 by Wally - March 20th, 2009 at 11:26
Brian - I hope that is right, because they each could use more development time, but I have a hunch that they are bringing Zimmermann north with them, unless he messes up from here on. He has so much buzz around him that I think it will be hard for them not to (but maybe you have some inside scoop?). They could really use another seviceable veteran. Too bad Odalis behaved so poorly, he would be good insurance. My biggest worry with starting off with the kids is that they get off to bad starts and the nats really have no other choice but to continue to send them out there while they are getting beaten up. It could mess with their heads, hindering their development.
#17 by Mark L - March 20th, 2009 at 13:50
Don’t forget about the arbitration clock. If they keep Zimmermann at Syracuse for (I Think) 6 weeks, he’s one year later from free agency. Happens all the time and I sure wouldn’t blame the f/o for doing this.
#18 by Pilchard - March 20th, 2009 at 15:28
I think that the date for Zimmerman is April 17th. Pretty sure that Zimmerman and Weiters are both what the call “super two’s” because they were both drafted in 2007. If the Nats wait until after April 17th to put him on the roster they gain entire season before he is free agent eligible. There is a different clock for arbitration. Pretty sure that Nats would have to wait until much later in the season (June?) to cause another year to be tacked on before JZ would be arbitration eligible.
If April 17th is correct, the decision to delay Zimmerman’s arrival is a no-brainer as the Nats will have only played 9 games by April 17th, and have 2 off days before that date meaning they would not even need a 5th starter.
#19 by Brian Oliver - March 20th, 2009 at 15:58
It’s later than April 17th. The back of the envelope for Super Two is 2 years and approximately 100 days of service time.
A major league season is 172 days (by MLB CBA definition). A player needs to miss roughly 60 days to miss Super Two status. That puts it closer to June 1st
#20 by Sue Dinem - March 20th, 2009 at 16:19
If the general consensus is that the Nats are going to draft two college pitchers in June, one of whom will command an eight-figure signing bonus, is there really that much worry about starting the arbitration clock too early?
Any of these pitchers should still be cheaper than your average FA #4 or #5 starter.
#21 by Brian Oliver - March 20th, 2009 at 16:26
Teams try to control contracts for as long as they can. I know this is not a popular sentiment among fans of the big league club, but I’d prefer the Nationals not start the season with Zimmermann in the starting rotation. I see value in bumping their arbitration out one year. It frees up more of the major league payroll in the upcoming seasons where ideally they are going to be legitimately competing for the World Series.
#22 by Mark L - March 20th, 2009 at 16:42
Thanks Brian, starting pitching, whether it’s yours or somebody else’s, is incredibly expensive on the free agent market. I can wait till June 1st to see Zimmermenn at Nats Park.
#23 by Sue Dinem - March 20th, 2009 at 17:28
Brian - I agree, and was more referring to Balester and Martis than Zimmermann. I’d hate to see Collin “win” based on his longer track record (~600 IP) because I think Martis has had an excellent spring, but you’d have to handicap it that way.
#24 by Ronny - March 20th, 2009 at 21:14
Brian ? Who is this HS OF prospect I keep hearing about by the name of Ronnie Mitchell. How good is he because I’ve seen on some website that had him the second best prospect in this upcoming draft?
#25 by Andrew Lang - March 22nd, 2009 at 06:24
Here’s Baseball America’s ranking on Ronnie Mitchell:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/high-school/events/baseball-factory-preseason-tournament/2009/267520.html
#26 by Freda - March 22nd, 2009 at 16:41
Minor league roster cuts are coming on Tuesday which is a camp day.