Juan Soto and the Washington Nationals

[UtahDan]

With addition of Denard Span, who everyone assumes will be the lead off guy, and Michael Morse having left (he and LaRoche alternate clean up depending on left or rand handed pitching) it will be interesting to see where Harper goes in the line up. Johnson has said he like Desmond at 6 and you have to figure Zimmerman and LaRoche will still be 3 and 4 but who knows. The great thing last year about Werth and Harper being one and two is that they are both pretty patient and make the pitcher show a lot of his stuff before getting to the power in the lineup. I would almost like to see Werth at 2 and Harper at 3 with Zimmerman hitting clean up if his shoulder is still healthy. I think La Roche is perfect in the 5 slot. I'm really hoping Harper takes another leap forward in his hitting this year.

Also Werth appears not to have shaved in a good year.

[DrumNFeather]

With addition of Denard Span, who everyone assumes will be the lead off guy, and Michael Morse having left (he and LaRoche alternate clean up depending on left or rand handed pitching) it will be interesting to see where Harper goes in the line up. Johnson has said he like Desmond at 6 and you have to figure Zimmerman and LaRoche will still be 3 and 4 but who knows. The great thing last year about Werth and Harper being one and two is that they are both pretty patient and make the pitcher show a lot of his stuff before getting to the power in the lineup. I would almost like to see Werth at 2 and Harper at 3 with Zimmerman hitting clean up if his shoulder is still healthy. I think La Roche is perfect in the 5 slot. I'm really hoping Harper takes another leap forward in his hitting this year.

Also Werth appears not to have shaved in a good year.

One of the Nats insiders said on the radio last week that he wouldn't be surprised to see either Werth or Harper bat in the middle of the line up. Still expects Zimmerman 3 and LaRoche 4.

[Utah]

Man, enjoy your success, Washington fans...The Phillies are going to be back this year! The impossible will happen: Halliday won't look like he aged 10 years, same for Young, Dom Brown will finally blossom into a superstar, Howard and Utley will be healthy all year, the Phillies will find another Worley/Happ to man the end of the rotation, and the Braves and Nationals will drop down to their rightful place.

Ha ha. It's good to talk baseball.

[UtahDan]

Man, enjoy your success, Washington fans...The Phillies are going to be back this year! The impossible will happen: Halliday won't look like he aged 10 years, same for Young, Dom Brown will finally blossom into a superstar, Howard and Utley will be healthy all year, the Phillies will find another Worley/Happ to man the end of the rotation, and the Braves and Nationals will drop down to their rightful place.

Ha ha. It's good to talk baseball.

I don't think the Phillies will stay down, but I also don't think Washington's success was any kind of fluke. I think we are going to have some great division battles. Our pitching staff was filthy before and added Soriano. We basically lost all of our set up guys on the off season, or more accurately let them go, so that is the area that is a question mark in my mind. I'm not sure anyone thinks we upgraded there, but the consensus I am seeing is that it is not a step backwards.

[Utah]

I don't think the Phillies will stay down, but I also don't think Washington's success was any kind of fluke. I think we are going to have some great division battles. Our pitching staff was filthy before and added Soriano. We basically lost all of our set up guys on the off season, or more accurately let them go, so that is the area that is a question mark in my mind. I'm not sure anyone thinks we upgraded there, but the consensus I am seeing is that it is not a step backwards.

Yeah, I agree with you. Washington is a very, very good team. Unless everything goes perfect for Philly, they will be in third again this year.

Not having a setup guy is what killed Philly last year. There was at least 10 games that the Phillies had the lead in the 7th or later inning and lost it before they could get to their closer.

I hope that doesn't kill Washington this year (who am I kidding, I do hope it is what kills Wash this year, ha ha).

[LA Ute]

I hope the Nats make the World Series.

[concerned]

I hope the Nats make the World Series.

The World series is the Astros v. the Yanks, IMHO.

[Applejack]

The World series is the Astros v. the Yanks, IMHO.

That's impossible! The lcs has to have a loser. And I think the Cardinals are the losers!

[concerned]

The World series is the Astros v. the Yanks, IMHO.

Boy, was I wrong about that. After they booed Trump, the Nats were destined to win.

And as LA Ute noted, Verlander out-Keryshawed Kershaw. What a horrible post season for him.

I never would have guessed the Astro's would lose 3 games started by Cole and Verlander, and a fourth started by Greinke. Nats really stepped up.

[DrumNFeather]

Boy, was I wrong about that. After they booed Trump, the Nats were destined to win.

And as LA Ute noted, Verlander out-Keryshawed Kershaw. What a horrible post season for him.

I never would have guessed the Astro's would lose 3 games started by Cole and Verlander, and a fourth started by Greinke. Nats really stepped up.

I can't believe they pulled Grienke. He was absolutely dominant and, IMO, they pulled him too early. I guess the Astros are a big analytics team and the analytics said pull him, but from a game feel perspective, it didn't seem to me like one homer/walk meant that he was losing it.

[DrumNFeather]

BryceHarperSIcover.jpg

[Going Yard]

Not a Nats fan (Go Giants!), but if I were filling out the lineup card, I'd have Harper in the 1 or 2 hole. He creates so much havoc on the bases that having him near the top of the order would create lots of RBI opportunities for the middle of the lineup. I don't see Werth as a top of the order hitter. I'd rather see him hitting around the 5 or 6 hole to be a run producer. On the other hand, I'm not too familiar with the Nats lineup so I don't know who a better option to lead off would be.

Back to Harper. Don't over look the importance of base running. A good base runner can put a lot of pressure on the defense and creates lots of opportunities for the offense. Of all the things Harper does so well, his base running is the most impressive to me.

[Scratch]

Not a Nats fan (Go Giants!), but if I were filling out the lineup card, I'd have Harper in the 1 or 2 hole. He creates so much havoc on the bases that having him near the top of the order would create lots of RBI opportunities for the middle of the lineup. I don't see Werth as a top of the order hitter. I'd rather see him hitting around the 5 or 6 hole to be a run producer. On the other hand, I'm not too familiar with the Nats lineup so I don't know who a better option to lead off would be.

Back to Harper. Don't over look the importance of base running. A good base runner can put a lot of pressure on the defense and creates lots of opportunities for the offense. Of all the things Harper does so well, his base running is the most impressive to me.

Sorry, but this would be a pretty egregious misuse of assets, at least until Harper improves his OBP and doesn't improve his power (which is extremely unlikely to happen - he has much more projectable growth as a power hitter than as an on-base machine). Werth, on the other hand, has been an OBP machine, the exact type of guy you want hitting in one of the top couple of lineup slots. Werth's OBP last year was .387, compared to .340 for Harper. Over the past 6 years, Werth has posted OBP numbers over .387 3 times, another .363, and another .373. Combine that with the high likelihood that Harper will be a 40+ HR guy very, very soon, and it would be a big mistake to hit Harper at 1 or 2.

[GarthUte]

Sorry, but this would be a pretty egregious misuse of assets, at least until Harper improves his OBP and doesn't improve his power (which is extremely unlikely to happen - he has much more projectable growth as a power hitter than as an on-base machine). Werth, on the other hand, has been an OBP machine, the exact type of guy you want hitting in one of the top couple of lineup slots. Werth's OBP last year was .387, compared to .340 for Harper. Over the past 6 years, Werth has posted OBP numbers over .387 3 times, another .363, and another .373. Combine that with the high likelihood that Harper will be a 40+ HR guy very, very soon, and it would be a big mistake to hit Harper at 1 or 2.

I disagree that it would be misusing Harper at the lead-off spot because of his power. But then, I'm not a conventional thinker when it comes to baseball strategy. I understand why Harper would be good at cleanup or the 5 hole, but as a lead-off, he'd have more of a green light to swing away than in the middle of the line-up. A base runner who can hit with power will cause so many headaches for the defense.

I will say that you are correct that Harper shouldn't be there until he has a better OBP. But he's a smart player and will eventually increase his numbers there. As a rookie, he was just dumb enough to think that he could approach the game against the best in the world as he did at other levels, in which he was the best player on the diamond. It's a rather steep learning curve for rookies, but he'll figure it out sooner rather than later.

[smokymountainrain]

The Nationals #1 overall picks in the 2009 and 2010 drafts are not busts. Just saying.

[DU Ute]

Harper is going to hit 50 this year. There, I said it.

[UtahDan]

The Nationals #1 overall picks in the 2009 and 2010 drafts are not busts. Just saying.

Just wait until Randone gets up to the bigs. Then it will be three straight years of sick #1 picks.

[GarthUte]

Not a Nats fan (Go Giants!), but if I were filling out the lineup card, I'd have Harper in the 1 or 2 hole. He creates so much havoc on the bases that having him near the top of the order would create lots of RBI opportunities for the middle of the lineup. I don't see Werth as a top of the order hitter. I'd rather see him hitting around the 5 or 6 hole to be a run producer. On the other hand, I'm not too familiar with the Nats lineup so I don't know who a better option to lead off would be.

Back to Harper. Don't over look the importance of base running. A good base runner can put a lot of pressure on the defense and creates lots of opportunities for the offense. Of all the things Harper does so well, his base running is the most impressive to me.

Agree completely with your comments about Harper's base running. The kid is fearless - almost reckless - which puts so much pressure on the defense because they have to focus on him and that disrupts what a pitcher wants to do with the current batter. I'm not so sure I'd put him at the lead-off spot until he starts to be more disciplined at the plate. A quick look at his stats from last year showed that he only drew a base on balls 56 times compared to 120 strikeouts. Of course, that has more to do with him being a rookie than impatience.

Harper is one of the few players in the bigs that I would pay money to see. By that, I mean that even if I didn't love baseball, I would go to a game just to see him play. He does it the right way - he has fun. Hopefully he'll be that kind of player his entire career and won't fall into a stage of apathy where too many pro athletes find themselves. They play, but it's for a paycheck, not for fun and that's not the right attitude to have if one wants to win.

[DrumNFeather]

World Series Bound!!!

[DrumNFeather]

World Series Bound!!!

Stunned so far at the results. Can't believe they put up 12 last night. Next 3 in DC.

[DrumNFeather]

Champs!!!!