r/Nationals

We're 23 games in and the Nats have 1 Quality Start. 1! Also 29th/30th in every other category listed here: ERA, BAA, WHIP, and I'm sure there are more that could be added to the list. How can this organization have such a terrible eye for pitching talent? Not to mention almost every top pitching prospect in the Nats farm system is on some sort of injured list. If you bet on the other team every time the Nats have taken an early lead this year I'm sure you would be making pretty solid money right now.

https://preview.redd.it/km7s5f0r6kwg1.png?width=309&format=png&auto=webp&s=e164f14925b5b51072017ee45d4f21b824d80f1b

Good news! Your radio lanyard can still pick up the game! They haven't taken down the stadium's radio station yet.

Lanyard broken? Well for like $20, you can go online and get a "World band (64-108MHz)" radio. Tune it to station 68.5. 68.5 is the stadium's radio station, which all the radio lanyards used. 68.5 has almost no lag compared to the game that's happening in front of you, it's only about 1 second behind. This is compared to the official 106.7 broadcast, which is 20-30 seconds behind.

Again make sure your radio can receive the 64-88MHz band, not just the normal 88-108MHz bands. The listing will tell you if it does, saying "64-108MHz", or it will say "world band" "international band" or something like that.

Also please wear headphones. Can't believe I have to say that.

As of today, the Nats have scored more runs than every other MLB team except Atlanta. Let that sink in. More than the Yankees. More than the Dodgers.

But we’ve allowed more runs than any other team.

Excellent offense. Horrendous pitching. That’s all you need to know to understand this team.

Only in the decade of "nothing matters anymore" could this clown -- who quit baseball amid a federal investigation into him giving less bonus money to young Dominican players than the Nats intended -- have a job on a channel with the name of the league in its title. Maybe if his voice weren't long nails on a chalkboard and he had some charm or wit -- but it's just a crook every day talking baseball.

I was planning to go but my friends are all busy + it's a bit chilly out today. They're decent seats, sec 134. Not asking for any money, just pay it forward and buy a good soul a beer. Two tix, first come first serve

I'm seeing a bunch of people on here/twitter mad about this move, which is reasonable because it seems ridiculous at first. The truth is the FO is just using options in a way we haven't seen before, and this is similar to moves we've seen with Ribalta and Schultz. There are two different reasons for this move specifically:

1. We're optioning pitchers to expand our roster, not based on performance.

Between Cade coming back from injury, Litell being a bit unreliable, and Miles Mikolas, we need to use our bullpen way more than most teams. The 13 pitchers on the 26-man roster aren't enough.

So, we're not just using options based on performance. We're using them to get guys rest, and bring up rested guys from Rochester. Rutledge was sent down because he sucked, but Paxton Schultz and Orlando Ribalta were sent down just because they couldn't pitch tomorrow. They're also almost certainly going to come back up pretty soon.

Alvarez went around 70 pitches, so he can't pitch for the next five days. He has 3 option years left, so we'd rather bring in a fresh bullpen arm against the braves. If I had to guess, that's going to be Luis Perales, but they'll probably be sent down after a couple starts.
Essentially, because our bullpen is somewhat overused we're using options to essentially have more than 13 pitchers on the roster.

2. Player development:

A starting pitcher is way more valuable than a reliever. Obviously, it would only make sense to have Alvarez up permanently if he can start. He'd be wasted in the bullpen.

The FO isn't trying to make the playoffs this year, or even end this year with the most wins possible. We're trying to develop young talent and be good in the future. And a pitcher in the majors can't mess around with different pitches, or just ask to be taken out of the game if their arm doesn't feel 100%, the same way that someone in AAA can. This FO seems really hesitant to rush that process (see Dylan Cruz/Harry Ford), and they probably have things they want to build on. That's hard for us to speculate about, but five more wins at the cost of Alvarez being a bit worse next year isn't a trade they're willing to make

I am always going to be positive about this team no matter how much they fail. As much as their have been negatives this year we are still in second place and I genuinely believe that if we can have a good series against the Braves who are currently in first, it's gotta put the league on notice that the nats could actually do something this year.

Does anyone else think we have a chance in this series? Or am i just delusional.