Accountability is good to see from the top-down in the inverted triangle management theory. The Seattle Mariners’ President of Baseball Operations, Jerry DiPoto, is not a happy man. His team is not scoring enough runs and they are the third worst in both runs scored and OPS. But instead of DiPoto pointing fingers at players, he said it starts with him and straight down to his manager and coaches.
“I can say this: Me, our coaches, our staff, none of us are blameless. We have really struggled to play offense this year. And it’s not just on our players for not doing that. That would be a cop-out.”
— DiPoto said yesterday as quoted by Ken Rosenthal of the NY Times
And there is certainly a parallel to the Washington Nationals in that the Nats offense is 9th worst in OPS in baseball. Yesterday’s chasing of balls out of the zone should be unacceptable at 33.3% which is exactly 1/3 of all pitches. That total yesterday for Nats’ batters combined for a total of 44 swings (chases) out of the zone. For the season, the Nats chase rate out of the zone is 32.4% which is 11th worst in baseball, and that directly affects the amount of walks for which the Nationals rank 9th worst in MLB.
When you celebrate hitting home runs at shoulder height, don’t you think that is part of the problem here? Why are you swinging at that pitch? Sure, the result was great — but it was a fluke that CJ Abrams was able to turn on that ball. Plate discipline and having a plan is a key. Getting on-base and taking what the game gives you is how a team should play and that’s how they win. That is why Juan Soto is so good. He is willing to accept his walks and move the line.
In total, the Nationals worked — or shall we say — accepted three walks last night. In his first game back, Joey Gallo, was in a pinch-hitting role in the 9th inning and took a walk in a 3-2 count. Gallo might have been the most unlikeliest Nats’ batter to take a walk — yet he did. But then Keibert Ruiz stepped in as a pinch-hitter and swung at two pitches that were literally in the right-handed batters box to put himself in an 0-2 count with tying runs on-base. Ruiz then popped up to the catcher. All of the pressure was on the pitcher and Ruiz chased pitches instead of following Gallo’s lead — and accept a walk.
In those situations, Ryan Zimmerman used to say, “All of the pressure is on the pitcher.” In fact, the pitcher, Angel Chivilli, never had a save until last night. He entered the game with a 5.02 ERA and a 6.86 FIP. Come on, what was Ruiz doing? How much longer will Nats’ fans be subjected to watching these amateurish at-bats?
Nats’ starting pitcher, DJ Herz, deserved better than he got also. He got zero runs of support from his teammates, and on top of that some questionable defense. He should have exited with one earned-run but exited with two when his shortstop was once again flat-footed with a slow reaction on a ball that we see good shortstops field all the time (see the 9th inning final out fielded by the Rockies’ shortstop). There is a reason that Abrams is the worst rated defensive shortstop in baseball. Then you have Jose Tena who has not made an accurate throw to first base since he was called up by the Nationals.
While Tena was in Triple-A, I saw him play some defense, and it was not good as two balls weren’t fielded. One was ruled a hit as the ball went under his glove and the other clanked off of it. Yes, you like Tena’s bat. There is some potential there. But that glove and arm is bad. Tena has played all of six games for the Nationals and already is a -2.0 OAA defender. And don’t expect Andres Chaparro to scoop many bounced throws — that ain’t happening “on the regular” as we have seen.
So what are we doing here? At some point, haven’t we seen enough that Tena and Chaparro are not good all-around defenders? Yes, Chaparro can field a groundball — but he can’t scoop enough of the bad throws — and plenty have come his way. By this point, you should be able to play the position that you have played for years in the minor leagues. Is this now a youth try-out team? We deserve to know.
“Right now, [a player] has to fit in — where he get in … This isn’t a try-out camp. This is try to play the best team overall to win the game and win the pennant. …”
— ex-Nats’ manager Dusty Baker said in 2016
One reason that Baker was a winner was because he wasn’t going to allow a player to be in his lineup if he couldn’t play the position well enough defensively — or for that matter, offensively, because we all remember how he threw Danny Espinosa under the bus in the 2016 NLDS. “Who else do I have?” said Baker, certainly frustrated as was evident in his tone. “That’s my answer. I mean, you can give me somebody better, then I can play somebody instead of him.”
Here is the thing — manager Dave Martinez could play Ildemaro Vargas at third base, and Gold Glover, Gallo, at first base for best defense. Then he could rotate Tena, Juan Yepez, and Chaparro at DH. That’s if defense really matters. Unfortunately it is what it is with Abrams at shortstop. He is having an horrific year defensively. ‘Why’ is the question? But then again, why is Abrams in these long cycles of slumps in the batter’s box too?
Where is the accountability on the manager and coaching staff as to why Abrams is struggling like he is? Abrams should be improving. He had a great start to his 2024 campaign and was named as an All-Star. But since the end of the first week of July and just before the All-Star game, Abrams is batting .165 and with his seven hit-by-pitches, his OBP is .234. His OPS in that span is only .544. Couple that with bad defense, and you have a player who has been a drag on the team for well over a month. And his coaches have not been able to get him back on-track. Sure, Abrams hit a solo home run yesterday — but he also had three costly strikeouts at the top of the lineup in his other three at-bats. And people are complaining about Gallo? At least he plays Gold Glove defense.
Remind us again why every coach on this team got a new contract extension for next year? Where is the accountability?
