Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re never as bad as you look when you’re losing… Whatever. We knew this team was going to lose
90ish games. They were built to lose. That is no secret, and that it would take a miracle to change that. This roster has more holes than Swiss cheese, and fans are wondering who they should blame. Relax, this is part of what you do when you are in a rebuild. People forget about “The Plan” put into motion for the 2007 season that propelled the Nats from the worst farm system in baseball when they came over from Montreal to a playoff team in just five full seasons after the Lerners took control of ownership from MLB.
The good news, it will not take a five year rebuild this time around. Some of the building blocks are in place, and patience is needed, and yes, a lot of cash will need to be spent. The starting pitching does not look good, and the offense is hitting below their weight. You don’t want to judge everything on just three games.
While losing three games to start the season to the Mets stinks, did you expect a different outcome? Okay, it should have been a gift to face
Tylor Megill on Opening Day, but in the end, it should only hurt at the moment. With
Stephen Strasburg,
Will Harris, and
Joe Ross on the IL, that’s over $45 million in payroll doing nothing. Last year adding
Patrick Corbin to that mix it was like $70 million wasted. That’s more money spent than five teams have invested in their entire teams in 2022. While the Nats are tanking more from circumstance, it goes back to poor player development, questionable drafting, and money not spent wisely. On the money part, it’s easy to say most of that in hindsight, but to be fair, I did write that the Nats should non-tender
Joe Ross and pass on Strasburg in free agency. Yes, I liked the Corbin signing.
Building a winner is tough. The Nats revenue is that of a mid-market team due to their horrific MASN TV contract, but yet they are expected to spend like the behemoths of baseball from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston. Now is the time to stay together, and rebuild. It is a time to evaluate what you have and the system allows for the team to develop players at the major league level — something you normally wouldn’t do when you’re a winning team.
So win like a team and lose like a team, and know that it will be tough. The Nats have
Erick Fedde on the mound today. We will see how this goes in the final game of the opening four game series against the Mets. After the game, it doesn’t get easier as the team flies to Atlanta.
New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN, SNY, MLB app (out-of-market only)
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Lineups (subject to change without notice):
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