The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A key piece for Nats ’pen
Kelvin Herrera is another top-end late option.
One mark of an excellent baseball general manager is that he consistently surprises you by fixing the leaks in his boat with sheet metal rather than tin foil.
For two months I have said the Washington Nationals needed to trade for one, or more likely two, decent middle-inning relievers. Solid journeymen would suffice. As example of the type, I cited ex-Nats Matt Albers and Craig Stammen. How hard can it be to acquire similar gentlemen? Was general manager Mike Rizzo asleep?
On Monday, the Nats did not trade for a useful middle-reliever of advancing years and uncertain prospects. Instead, Rizzo traded for Kelvin Herrera, a star in two World Series, a two-time All-Star and, this year, at only 28, owner of a 1.05 ERA as a closer for the 22-50 Kansas City Royals. Herrera is not quite as fast as he once was (96.4 mph now vs. 98.1) but he has two other quality pitches and should be a major upgrade.
Now, the Nats have four relievers who’ve proved they can be closers in Sean Doolittle, Herrera, Ryan Madson and Brandon Kintzler. Finally, they may have the kind of dominant bullpen depth that has proved so essential in recent postseasons. The Nats may not match the Yankees’ and Astros’ pens, but, with Herrera added to the potent mix, they can compete.
In addition, just three weeks ago, the Nats brought up from Class AAA a baseball boneyard project named Justin Miller, whom they’d identified at a workout, pounced on and signed before other teams had a chance to discover him. Kintzler, who did some offseason training with Miller, helped tip off the Nats.
Miller retired 27 of the first 28 men he faced, including 17 strikeouts. No one is as good as Miller’s current numbers: 4-0, 1.42 ERA with 22 strikeouts and no walks in 12⅔ innings. But now, in the best shape of his career, challenging hitters and working with a back-to-the-hitter delivery from the far right-hand side of the rubber, his deceptive sinker-slider stuff plays as if it were several miles an hour faster than the radar gun reading of 92 to 94.
Unforeseeable disasters can unhinge any season.
Instead of focusing on gloomy improbabilities, isn’t it more likely that the Nats just created a bullpen — including lefty Sammy Solis
and promising reclamation project Tim Collins — that puts them significantly closer to a deep playoff run if they can get their everyday lineup reasonably healthy?
The Nats traded three minor leaguers for Herrera, including their 11thand 12th-best prospects. They have one thing in common: I’ve never heard of any of them. Nonetheless, Kansas City probably will be glad someday that they have Blake Perkins, Yohanse Morel and Kelvin Gutierrez — yes, a Kelvin-for-Kelvin trade.
Under Rizzo, the Nats’ scouting, teaching and ability to project the future of young players has become so excellent that teams assume they will get value-for-value — though perhaps deferred value — when trading with the Nats. The Diamondbacks, White Sox, Phillies and Rays didn’t complain about getting Robbie Ray, Reynaldo Lopez, Nick Pivetta and Steven Souza.
While many would have jumped at the first trade that promised a bullpen upgrade, Rizzo waited until he got his primary target — a player who looks a perfect fit. Herrera, who has a 1.26 ERA in 22 postseason games, has pitched in various back-end roles and with Doolittle deservedly entrenched at closer, can shift to an earlier role.
The Nationals’ other top relievers don’t mind — at all. All spring they’ve been ridden hard, perhaps outright overworked, because rookie manager Dave Martinez couldn’t trust his “bridge” to his back-end trio. They’ve all given off signals that they needed some help, please.
That middle-inning weakness has also, at times, tempted Martinez to leave his starters in games a bit too long. You can’t prove cause-and-effect, but the disabled list stints of Madson, Stephen Strasburg and Kintzler are probably connected to that middle-inning flaw. Also, the recent slumps by Tanner Roark and Gio Gonzalez may be from slightly-too-high
pitch counts.
“Let the old horse rest a little bit. He can let me pitch once in a while and I’ll be fine,” said Madson of himself, saying he’d be OK with Herrera moving into his set-up spot if asked. In fact, the biggest asset of the new Nationals’ ’pen may be its flexibility. “You look at postseason teams, there’s a lot of quality arms out there,” added Madson, a teammate of Herrera’s on the Royals’ 2015 World Series champion roster.
In the short term, the Nats have plenty of annoying problems. Bryce Harper looks lost at the plate — which has happened before. With Matt Wieters out for a few more weeks, catcher Pedro Severino is playing, and hitting (.190), on fumes. Ryan Zimmerman, out for 40 days with a supposedly minor oblique injury, has become the Invisible Face of the Franchise. And when will Daniel Murphy’s knee allow him to play hard, and well, at second base on a regular basis?
For now, the operative assumption about the Nats is that none of their important pieces, except utility man Howie Kendrick, is hurt too badly to return by the all-star break, at the latest. Meanwhile, emergency duty has unveiled brilliant 19-year-old rookie Juan Soto far ahead of schedule, allowed Miller a chance to shine and given Matt Adams playing time to show his high value.
What we see now is a Nats farm system that was barely dented by the Herrera trade, plus excess outfielders everywhere you look. That means a trade for a starting pitcher by the deal deadline is feasible, if needed.
More important, with decent health, the Nats may soon have a bullpen with so many proven arms, plus depth and matchup potential, that for the first time in the team’s history fans will be delighted to see the bullpen gate open.
The foe in the opposing dugout, however, will not.