The Nationals do not intend to allow right-hander Stephen Strasburg reach his innings limit without an alternate plan.


STARTING POINT
A mound of evidence places these pitchers at the top of the heap. Who are the all-time best starters?
The team is exploring trades for starting pitchers, including Cubs right-hander Ryan Dempster, according to major-league sources.

In addition, the Nationals are looking for an everyday catcher, with the Rockies’ Ramon Hernandez among their potential targets, sources said.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo remains adamant that the Nationals will shut down Strasburg after he reaches his prescribed limit, believed to be 160 to 165 innings.

Strasburg, who underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2010, currently is at 105 innings. At his current pace of fewer than six innings per start, he would make approximately nine or 10 more starts, with his season ending in late August or early September.

The addition of a pitcher such as Dempster would give the Nationals a veteran replacement for the pennant race and, if the Nats qualify, the postseason. The team currently leads the Braves in the NL East by 2 1/2 games.

WASHINGTON
On the Fourth of July, I’m prepared to make a patriotic proclamation.
baidu

2012 ALL-STAR GAME
Rosenthal: Goodbye befitting a legend
Verlander: I meant to do that
Photos: Royal treatment in KC
Chipper’s inspirational speech
Melky Cabrera wins MVP award
La Russa gets one last victory
Rookie Trout’s game to remember
The Washington Nationals will win the National League East.

The statement sounds bolder than it actually is. The Nationals have the best record, lowest team ERA and largest division lead in the NL. At a time one might expect them to tire in the summer heat, the Nationals are playing their best baseball yet. The San Francisco Giants arrived here this week as the NL West leader, and the Nationals battered them in the first two games by an 18-7 count.

Ryan Zimmerman and Mike Morse, limited by injuries for much of the season, hit back-to-back home runs in the holiday matinee. A backup catcher named Jhonatan Solano — he’s the fifth player to start at the position for Washington this year — delivered the go-ahead home run. Edwin Jackson, a winner for the fourth time in sixth starts, received a partial standing ovation in the fourth inning — after a fly ball to the warning track.

The Nationals are living right. And I don’t see any team in the division catching them now.

“I don’t think it’s a fluke,” general manager Mike Rizzo said after Wednesday’s 9-4 win when asked about his team’s position atop the league. “We knew with the starting pitching we had, the bullpen we had, the defense we had, we were going to be in a lot of games. Then when the offense would catch up, we would have a chance to go on some streaks.

The Washington Nationals are coming off the best season of their existence, going 80-81. Their pitching wasn’t great, it ranked towards the bottom half of the league, and their offense was middle of the pack as well. Jordan Zimmermann was the best pitcher for the Nationals, and on the offensive side Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa were the leaders. The Nationals made some significant additions this off-season though, so they should be much better.
Michael Morse’s power continued right where it left off from last season. His .303/.360/.50 (147 wRC+) was really impressive, it was even more impressive than the numbers he put up in 2010. He still showed that he had a good eye at the plate, only striking out a little more than 20% of the time. His .344 BABIP may have been of some help, but in 2010 he also had a BABIP of .330. In the field he is somewhat of a liability though. Initially LaRoche will probably start at first, but if he gets hurt or struggles, Morse would step in. For now Morse will play LF though. It’s no secret that the Nationals are looking for a center fielder, until they find one though, Roger Bernadina will start in center. Offensively he’ll be a liability, but he offers some value defensively. Jayson Werth is trying to put his 2010 season in the past. It wasn’t terrible by any means, but it wasn’t up to Werth’s standards. He saw his ISO numbers drop, and his wRC+ was only 103. All in all he accumulated 2.5 WAR. He saw his BABIP take a hit (.324 career, .286 last season) so he should see some improvement, and the Nationals need him to.
At second Danny Espinosa was a nice surprise. He showed that the power that he displayed in the minors was real (.178 ISO), but he struggled with strike outs, striking out over 25% of the time. It’s not known how good he’ll be on defense yet, but as long as he maintains his offensive production his spot in the line-up should be safe. Shortstop Ian Desmond hasn’t been as impressive. He’s posted two straight seasons where he was below average offensively, on defense he hasn’t been terrible though. If he doesn’t take the next step the Nationals could be looking for a shortstop in the near future.
For the time being Adam LaRoche will play first. LaRoche is coming off a season where he missed most of it due to injury. He’s has a history of being a second half player, so if he struggles look for the Nationals to move some players around. Ryan Zimmerman also had an injury plagued season. Before he got hurt he was having a nice season. His .289/.355/.443 (119 wRC+) were almost identical to his career norms. He did see his power take a big hit though, the Nationals need to see that come back this season. He’s also looking for a new contract so he needs to stay healthy and post big numbers. If Wilson Ramos continues his progression he should become a top tier catcher. He’s shown above average power numbers, and a good eye at the plate. With Derrick Norris being traded in the Gio Gonzalez trade, Ramos should feel good going forward with the Nationals.
The Nationals pitching has the potential to be really good this season. Stephen Strasburg will be the ace of the staff, and should be fully healed from Tommy John surgery. Before he got hurt in 2010 Strasburg was on his way to being one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. In 68 innings he struck out over 30% of the batters he faced, while walking only 6%. His ERA was a ridiculous 2.91, and his 2.04 xFIP and 2.20 SIERA say he could have been even better. Remember that 68 innings is a really small sample size though. Assuming he doesn’t have any setbacks, Strasburg should dominate this season. Jordan Zimmermann was coming off Tommy John surgery as well. He doesn’t strikeout guys as much as Strasburg, but he is a great number two pitcher. He had a 3.18 ERA, his xFIP was 3.78 and his SIERA was 3.70 so he should expect some regression, but he should have a really good season. New comer Gio Gonzalez should slide into the third spot. Gonzalez can strikeout his share of batters, but he has a problem with his control. He walks over 11% of batters he faces for his career, so that’s a number he needs to decrease. His ERA should be around 3.60-3.70 making him a very good third starter. Edwin Jackson also joined the Nationals this off-season, and should fit right in at number four. His ERA finally met up with his peripherals, and if he can be just as last year he’ll be a steal for the Nationals. Assuming John Lannan doesn’t get traded, a combination of himself, Chien -Ming Wang and Ross Detwiler should manage to get some starts.
Tyler Clippard is the best reliever for the Nationals, he struck out over 30% of the batters he faced last season, but his ERA should see some decline this year. Drew Storen is the closer, he strikes out roughly 24% of the batters he faces, and his peripherals say his ERA could see a decrease. Craig Stammen and Yunesky Maya are some other names to look out for.
Overall this team could be contend for a wild card spot next season. The pitching should be very good, it has the potential to be one of the best in the league. The offense should see an improvement, and if phenom Bryce Harper gets called up and produces right off the bat (no pun intended) they could be even better. All in all, the Nationals could look at 83-85 wins this season, maybe more if they’re lucky.

After sixteen games into the 2012 season there have been some great stories in major league baseball. Everything from Matt Kemp and the Dodger’s stellar start, to Bartolo Colon’s impressive start. Depending on where you stand as a baseball fan, none may be better than the start that the Washington Nationals’ pitching staff is off to. As of this morning they rank number one in FIP, xFIP and WAR. In terms of FIP and xFIP no team is very close. The Rangers aren’t too far off in terms of WAR though.
Stephen Strasburg:
Through 25 innings Stephen Strasburg has been nothing short of sensational. He’s continuing to show that he is fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, and looks like the Strasburg from 2010. His FIP- is 49, and his xFIP- is 81, meaning his FIP should expect an increase. He’s striking out over 25% of the batters that he’s faced, while walking less than 7%. He’s stranding batters at an uncanny 87% of the time, that’s something that will eventually regress, it’s likely it’ll eventually be closer to the 70-73% range. His average fastball velocity is still around 95 MPH, so Tommy John doesn’t look like it affected his velocity. His swing strike percentage is 9.3%, meaning that’s the total amount of pitches that batters are swinging and missing on. His BABIP is a little low, so he probably isn’t as good as he’s doing, but he’s darn close. As long as Strasburg continues to get batters to strikeout, and remains healthy he should finish the season as one of the games best pitchers, if not the best pitcher.
Jordan Zimmermann:
Like Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann is off to a strong start. He’s not nearly the strikeout pitcher that Strasburg is, he’s only struck out 12.8% of the batters he’s faced, but has walked less than 3%. He’s yet to have given up a home run this year. In total he has a 67 FIP-, and 96 xFIP-. He’s stranding batters at a 75% clip, which is right around league average. He’s inducing groundballs 51% of the time, it’s still early, but if he can keep that trend going he’ll be in good shape. At the end of the season his FIP will probably be closer to the 3.20-3.30 range, but that’s still a really good pitcher.
Gio Gonzalez:
Gio Gonzalez, one of the newer additions to the Nationals has adjusted very nicely so far to the National League. He’s always been a strikeout pitcher, and so far he’s struck out over 30% of the batters that he’s faced. Walks have always been a problem for Gonzalez, but so far he’s walking less than 10% of the batters that he’s faced for the first time in his career. Like Zimmermann he’s getting a ton of groundballs, and is stranding runners at a 75% rate. A lot of his success is coming from the fact that his SwStr% is above 10%. With everything taken into consideration Gonzalez has a FIP- of 39, and an xFIP- of 58. If Gonzalez can keep the walks under control, he could be in line for the best season of his career.

Edwin Jackson:
Like his counterparts, Edwin Jackson has also done a really good job getting strikeouts, and limiting walks. He’s striking out over 27% of the batters that he’s faced, while walking less than 5%. One interesting thing though is that he’s only stranding 51.3% of the batters that he’s faced, which is certainly a factor in his high 121 ERA-. He has a SwStr% of 14.3%, so he’s getting batters to swing at a lot of pitches, that might not be entirely sustainable, but it’s nice to see. He does have a low BABIP, but he has a 60 FIP-, to go with a 81 xFIP-. Eventually his ERA should correct itself, and he should be a very nice fourth pitcher for the Nationals.
Ross Detwiler:
Ross Detwiler rounds out the Nationals’ starting five, and so far he’s looked really impressive. He strikes out over 24% of the batters he faces, and walks less than 7%. His groundball percentage is an uncanny 64%, as the season goes on that should decrease by a good amount. He’s getting pretty lucky with his .238 BABIP, so his success is probably short lived, but right now he has a 60 FIP-, and a 81 xFIP-. He’s probably not as good as he’s been right now, but the Nationals will obviously take it.
After taking a deeper look at the numbers, it’s not unreasonable to say the Nationals could have the best rotation during the whole year. Strasburg does have a 160 innings limit, so it will be interesting to see how they are after he gets shut down. Until then the Nationals are no joke, and shouldn’t be treated as such.