Is there space and time to recover?
The Washington Nationals, Detroit Tigers and reigning champions Atlanta Braves began the campaign with high expectations, but for one reason or another, things have not gone their way.
There is still a long way to go in the season, but these teams must start pondering decisions if they want to salvage the campaign. Will they look for reinforcements in the market to try to make a run, or will they become sellers at the trade deadline?
Our experts Enrique Rojas, José Bartolomei and Juan Arturo Recio examine each set, and give their diagnosis of what moves they could make to stay alive in the 2022 season.
Washington Nationals
Injuries and a terrible performance, especially from their makeshift pitching staff, have put the Washington Nationals in a deep hole through the first 10 weeks of the 2022 season.
Washington (21-38) fights the worst record in both majors with the Kansas City Royals (19-37), Cincinnati Reds (20-37) and Oakland Athletics (20-39), is 17 games out of first place in its division and 10.5 games out of a postseason wild-card spot.
Stellar right-handed starter Stephen Strasburg, who is supposed to improve a staff with a 5.39 ERA (only better than Cincinnati and its 5.40), allowed eight hits and seven runs in 4.2 innings against the Miami Marlins in his debut Thursday after a 12-month absence due to thoracic outlet surgery.
The reality is that the Nationals need too many things to be fixed to at least play for a positive record the rest of the year. Just to mention a few isolated cases:
In pitching, have Strasburg and Patrick Corbin (2-8, 6.71) assume in the role of pitching horses and leaders in manager Dave Martinez’s stable. On offense, may Dominican superstar Juan Soto (.225/.368/.819) improve his line to the MVP candidate we expect every year and may compatriot Nelson Cruz (.247, 5 homers, 29 RBIs) look like the offensive force of years past.
Basically, Washington is a team at the stage of identifying the pieces that could return the most value, to be a seller, not a buyer, once the mid-season market opens.
Detroit Tigers
At this point in the month, I still question: were we wrong to expect much this season from the Detroit Tigers? For months, we fueled the rumor that a superstar like Carlos Correa would sign there, to join forces with compatriot and ‘wizard’ of the game, Javier Baez.
Wrong.
Not only did Correa eventually not arrive, but Baez seems to have ‘not arrived’ either, as his poor .200 in 45 games does not do justice to the $140 million investment the franchise made for his services. His lumber is missing.
But not only that. The team’s offense in general has also disappeared. Prior to Thursday’s game, the Tigers were in fourth place in the American League Central division, nine games back of the leading Minnesota Twins. They play below .500 at .411 percent.
On Wednesday, the Tigers won consecutive away games for the first time since mid-April. That’s how inconsistent their tournament has been. They had a 30.8 percent away win rate, second-worst in all of the majors. Likewise, Detroit had scored 158 runs, ranking last in MLB in this category.
How can you win like that?
They have also failed to capitalize on pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, for whom another $77 million was invested for five seasons, and who has a 1-3 record with a 4.38 ERA.
The Tigers need to shore up the lineup, the relief and the rotation, so what does that solve? Yes, it’s true that his 0.2 WAR is frustrating. But now you have to hope he has a better second half. They need another bat. Here’s an idea: Miguel Andujar. The Yankees could trade him and he would be a good option.
The Tigers are known for their good pitching staff. Well this is the perfect time to brag about it and move up prospects, both for relief and for the rotation.
AJ Hinch has his hands full heading into the trade market. If he gets there. But he’s not the total culprit. General manager Al Avila is.
Atlanta Braves
The reigning major league champion Atlanta Braves have been playing like anything but champions.
Certainly the team is on a solid eight-win streak right now, but the only reason they are in second place in their division is because the Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals have been complete disasters.
What has happened to the Braves? The team’s initial problem has been plate discipline. Despite leading the National League in home runs (76) and doubles (115), their hitters lead MLB in strikeouts received with 557 and they are the fourth team in the National League with the fewest bases on balls (173). To that we must add a poor batting average of .244, eighth in the “Old Circuit”.
These numbers worsen in the last innings of close games, where they are hitting just .211 with an OPS of .602, showing that the timely hitting has not appeared.
The other problem has been their starting pitching, a key tool for the team during their championship run in 2021. Max Fried and Kyle Wright have done an impressive job as starters, but after them it hasn’t been the same story. Between Ian Anderson, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder they have a combined ERA of 4.97.
This has forced the bullpen to be used early, making it one of the hardest working bullpens of the season with 243.2 innings of work among relievers.
The return of Ronald Acuna Jr. has obviously helped offensively, but if we want to see immediate improvements, the Braves have to think about the possibility of incorporating another starter into their rotation.
Names like Luis Castillo (Cincinnati Reds) and Frankie Montás (Oakland Athletics) could be solid options, as long as the price is not too high.
