Speaking Candidly About the Apparent Nats Rebrand

 

I hadn't had much of an opportunity to really look at the Nationals' new uniforms, and quite clearly they're trying to bring in a new aesthetic, which is...sort of odd, considering how iconic their 2010s curly W uniforms were. I didn't think there was anything wrong with them. But since 2020 they've been phasing them out, and going for the new straight W emblem, which I don't have much issue with. 

And now this season they roll out a completely new uniform design, with lettering like what you see above, a completely new font, and more emphasis on navy. Now looking at this, which I believe is the away uniform, I'm...reminded of a few things.

The first is the early Nationals uniforms. Like, remember before they really nailed the Curly W thing and thought the way was the DC logo? There were a lot of early uniforms that felt like they weren't quite there yet, and the away uniforms from like 2006 and 2007 were like this, just grey and navy with awkward lettering. And it reminds me of that, just not at all fitting with what I think the Nationals should be. The other thing this reminds me of are the 2003-04 Expos road uniforms. The blue and white stripe on the legs bring me there, as does the lettering. If the helmet color was bluer we'd be there. And I don't think it's a bad aesthetic but towards the end it was getting dull.

But the main thing I'm reminded of are the mid-2000s Reds uniforms, the vested ones with blocky lettering on the chest and patterned greys. I didn't love those but they certainly were distinct. And that's what these feel like, they feel more like Reds alts than Nationals mains. It's confusing because Jesse Winker and Nick Senzel are on this team, both ex-Reds, and both essentially in the same 2017-era rollout. So Winker could be wearing Reds throwbacks for all I know. Though Winker is currently hitting .297, so he may just be throwing back to Cincinnati in general.

It used to baffle me why the Nats would run from their more iconic uniforms, the red-and-white Curly W and distinct jersey designs. And then in the past week or so it became a lot more clear, because this is a team based in Washington, DC, and apparently fans in town didn't like wearing red hats, because from behind somebody could see them wearing a red hat and think they were supporting something other than a baseball team [closer to a USFL team, really]. So since people stopped wearing red caps, the Nats started rolling out different cap designs, and then shifted out of that aesthetic completely, despite it being...their best-looking one. And look, I get it, I totally get it, but...I'd be happier if what they were switching to looked, like...good. And these aren't great. The home ones are marginally better but I'm not in love with it yet. 

I think the other issue is that in order for me to really pin down this uniform era of the team, the team itself needs to do something distinct. And we're not really at that point yet. There are good players, like C.J. Abrams, MacKenzie Gore and now Mitchell Parker, but no good teams yet. It's a lot like the 90s Brewers. That weird uniform aesthetic didn't really become memorable to me because there weren't any legendary or distinct players or teams in them. And that's what the Nats are in danger of becoming at this point.

Maybe in a couple years they'll go back to the red Curly W. Maybe it's just a 'redlegs' thing, just waiting for passing Washington trends to tide over. 

Coming Tonight: Every time I count this guy out he comes roaring back. Now he's an RBI machine with a great team around him.

The Apparent Toronto DH Brigade

 

Last year, the Toronto Blue Jays had an insanely fine-crafted lineup, made up of a ton of great young stars, and some really wise new additions, including Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho, who made the outfield even more of a force. And yet the one oddball, wild card type portion of the lineup that didn't seem especially patterned out was the DH position, which they gave to Brandon Belt, in his first season away from San Francisco. They didn't know if Belt had anything left, they figured they should give it a shot. In 103 games, Belt hit .254 with a 2.0 WAR, 19 homers and 43 RBIs. Not peak numbers, and potentially the last stats of Belt's long career...but he got the job done.

The idea seemed to interest the Blue Jays, because the 'last legs DH' strategy is one they're continuing to go with this year. There are three potential DHs in this Jays system that are people nearing the end of their careers who can still at the very least do some damage at the plate. And funnily enough, one of them has been one of the key performers for the Jays so far.

Justin Turner, though not a Hall of Famer, has to be one of the most crucial supporting players of the last 10 years of baseball. I cannot imagine those Dodger teams without him, he could hit .300 and drill you when you thought you were safe. He was also a respected leader in a clubhouse that needed a stable, reliable figure like that. Last year in Boston he continued the strong degree of play, despite being 38. He still hit .276 with 23 homers and 96 RBIs, the latter of which, if you can believe it, was a career high for Turner. So, despite the Mets putting a word in, the Blue Jays signed him and plugged him in as their starting DH.

So far, Turner's been pretty excellent, hitting .319 with 12 RBIs and 2 home runs. He's been one of the team's best hitting performers so far, which is weird considering that the team also has Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer on it. The slow starts of the younger guys does let somebody like Turner, or IKF or Varsho, who may not be the central figure ultimately, be a hero early on. And isn't it wild that Isiah Kiner-Falefa can be seen as a hero again? Not much offensively but look at what he's doing at short.

Behind Turner in the DH brigade is Dan Vogelbach, for his 2nd time in Toronto. Vogey was essentially run out of New York on a rail after pissing off all the Mets fans, and this season was to be his redemption. It's...taking a bit, as he's yet to hit any home runs. This isn't like Pittsburgh where he can just find his swing again, I think because he's mainly a backup, he hasn't really found his footing yet, and I don't really know if he will.

And then there's the third man. I have no idea when he'll show up, as he's nursing an injury from Spring Training, but Joey Votto is somewhere on this roster, and I think he intends on making the team at some point. This will probably be his last MLB action, whenever it happens, and he wants to play close to home. Votto getting to be the Jays' DH, perhaps down the stretch, could be pretty awesome, and would be a wonderful sight, no matter the quality of the play. 

The Jays' overall approach may be hazy this year, but at the very least this DH strategy seems to be a hit. I hope they keep at it.

Coming Tomorrow- A guy I saw walk-off back in Cincinnati. He's...a long way from that season, to say the least.

The Short Answer

 

Mookie Betts is at a point where if he retired today, he'd be a Hall of Famer. 2 rings, a 7-year run of ASG appearances, an MVP, and someone who has been routinely listed among the best players in the game. The closest thing he's had to a down season was his 4.0 WAR year in 2021, which was, at the very least, followed by two consecutive years where he hit 35+ home runs. 

Mookie Betts, at 31, has done it all, performed to the highest level, and cemented his status as one of the foremost figures of his era of baseball. And now, 10 years into his career, he's switching from outfield to shortstop.

This isn't completely unwarranted, he's played 2nd base the last couple years for LA, but this season began with Dave Roberts naming Betts the starting shortstop. Now, I can kind of see why, seeing at, in the absence of Gavin Lux last year, both middle infield options, Miguel Vargas and Miguel Rojas, underperformed. Lux is back this year, but he's still not a proven option, and Rojas seems to be shifting into a depth backup option, which cannot help his self-esteem considering the smack Jazz Chisholm has been talking. And then you have to figure that they wanna leave room not only for Teoscar Hernandez but for Andy Pages, who is up, even if he's not 100% killing it yet. And seeing that Betts can definitely play 2nd, even if he isn't a gold glover there, shortstop wasn't exactly out of the question.

So far, the 'Betts at shortstop' era of Dodgers baseball has been going well, mostly due to the fact that Betts is still an outstanding hitter. Dude's hitting .347 with 19 RBIs and 6 homers. His 2.2 WAR, before the month of April is even over, is a league high. To give you an idea, Shohei Ohtani is hitting .264 with 6 homers and 14 RBIs and he isn't even the most valuable Dodger right now. Betts' defense seems to be higher quality at short than his 2nd base material, just from what we've seen already. It is wild to see a player widely considered one of the best in the game evolve yet again defensively, but here we are.

Betts is the showiest of the Dodgers' Big 3 right now, but he's certainly not the only noisemaker. Ohtani of course makes the news by breathing, and Freddie Freeman's still hitting .297 with 13 RBIs, even if they're a little below his peak. What's been worrying has been the number of games where the heart of the lineup can't do anything, hence the 11 losses, as well as some of the troubles of having a rotation besieged by injury, but this is still a 1st place Dodgers team with their biggest players performing to high degrees, so they at least have that.

If this is what Mookie Betts is playing like after 10 years, I cannot imagine what he'll have done by the time he retires.

Coming Tonight: Ironically a former Dodgers infielder, who's been off to an excellent start for a new team.

That's Certainly a First Place Rotation

 

There was a stat the other day, that was like 'only four many teams have only started 5 guys so far this season', which is absolutely wild considering it's only April. And on that list, there are teams you'd expect. Y'know, the Phillies are on there, that's pretty likely. The Mariners, even without Bryan Woo, are on there, they've held up. A few unlikely ones in there, uh, the Athletics. Yeah! They started the year with Sears-Wood-Boyle-Blackburn-Stripling, they've kept it going. More power to 'em. The Royals, nobody expected Alec Marsh and Michael Wacha to hold up their end of the bargain but here we are. 

But, considering what the Mariners were going with heading into the season, not really surprising that their rotation has held up. Maybe not all 100% excellent right now, but this is an insanely strong unit that might be the deciding factor for the M's this year.

As he has been since coming up, Logan Gilbert has been the top performer here. So far he's 2-0 with a 1.87 ERA and 35 Ks, one short of Luis Castillo. Gilbert might be one of the most underrated pitchers in the game, because he's been insanely consistent in his 3 years in the bigs, always relied upon, always has a low ERA and always gets you out of trouble, and he's never really gotten much credit for it. No All-Star nominations, no Cy Young voting, nothing. I mean, last year Luis Castillo was the crowdpleaser of this group, and George Kirby had flashier numbers, but Gilbert might be the better bare-bones pitcher, and he's helped this team go from a middle of the pack wannabe to a more respectable competitor. He came up the same day as Jarred Kelenic, and one of them's not here right now. 

I mean granted he's....doing really well for a better team but that's not important right now.

The other strong arm so far for the Mariners is Bryce Miller, and after his incredible start last year it's a welcome presence. Miller's 3-1 with a 1.85 ERA and 24 Ks, he's perhaps a quieter presence than Gilbert but it's important that he does well. So far, the two biggest names, Castillo and Kirby, are having mediocre seasons buoyed by disappointing starts. They're still great pitchers with excellent technique, they're just trying to come down from rough outings. Emerson Hancock is the only pitcher who's truly struggling in this rotation, and I think the team's counting down til Woo gets back, but he's still got the occasional perk. Again, with the way they built this unit, mostly with homegrown arms, even the lower-tier guys can still give you good stuff.

The pitching has been the main saving grace for the Mariners, but the hitting is just taking off. Julio Rodriguez just hit his first homer of 2024, and is at least using that to heat up. Cal Raleigh's having another awesome year with 6 homers and 13 RBIs so far. Mitch Haniger's picking up where he left off a year ago, and is a great power bat still. There's a ton of holes in this lineup, and Polanco seems to be telling me that 2nd base is cursed in Seattle, judging by what it did to Adam Frazier and Kolten Wong. But this is a 1st place Mariners team, by the grace of the pitching, and they're gonna try and hang onto that for as long as they can, even if the Rangers might be the better team.

I hope Logan Gilbert can keep it up, he just might be the force that keeps the Mariners in the conversation.

Coming Tomorrow- The most versatile player in the game just adds another position to his resume.

Waiting for Paul

 

This is Jared Jones. He throws really hard and plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jones currently has 39 strikeouts, which is the second most in all of baseball. It might also be one of the highest strikeout totals in someone's first 5 games or something like that, bottom line is he's doing things that not a lot of rookies have done, and he's doing it in Pittsburgh. 

However, the Pirates, who were 11-5 last week, are now 12-11, meaning the Pirates have once again squandered a huge start by being the Pirates. They're currently in fourth place in the NL Central, and a lot of the pieces that were delivering in week 1 are now barely hitting for average and don't have more than 10 RBIs to show for it. The team has series against the Brewers and Giants, two tough teams, before a much gentler batch of games against the Rockies and A's, and with the more tepid tides pulling into Pittsburgh, fans are growing worried. They saw this team's potential, and even with someone like Jared Jones, or even the last three powerful rookies, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Henry Davis and Oneil Cruz, they're still not playing as well as they should be.

And I know that things aren't great. I know they just lost like 6 in a row. And I know that Quinn Priester doesn't seem like a very sturdy fifth rotation option. But it is wild to me that a Pirates fan can look at a rotation where Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, Bailey Falter and Martin Perez are all performing extremely well, and have each contributed excellent starts throughout April, and go 'this needs Paul Skenes'.

I think it is fairly understandable that the Pittsburgh Pirates are being extremely careful with Paul Skenes. They're making sure he only pitches a few innings in Indianapolis, spacing his starts out, and they're definitely ensuring he has enough time in the minors, even if Wyatt Langford can do what he's doing. The state of pitching right now is dire, and everyone's been throwing so hard in developmental leagues that they're at risk of blowing a gasket by the time they hit the majors. Paul Skenes throws hard, and nobody can hit him. But at any point, he could wear out his arm and need surgery. It happened to Andrew Painter last year and we still haven't heard from him.

Rushing Skenes and injuring him minutes into his rookie campaign is the worst thing the Pirates could do. After what happened to Jasson Dominguez, it's a possibility, and not one they want on their conscience right now. So I get why they haven't promoted him. If they're doing well enough right now, and if Priester and Falter can still at least keep runs down, we don't need Paul Skenes. And might I also add...the Pirates HAVE a rookie who can throw smoke right now. Jared Jones. Remember him, top of the post? So like, it says a lot for a fanbase to see someone playing beautifully and pitching like a god and immediately go 'WE WANT BETTER'. Skenes and Jones in the same rotation is a great idea, but we will get there naturally, otherwise it'll be like the 2010s Mets rotations where they're never healthy at the same time and the moment they are is like the moment in This is the End where Michael Cera is being really mean to Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, like this is what we wanted all along only now it's nowhere near as happy.

The Pirates could be slowly on the upswing, though. Andrew McCutchen's getting hot again, that's always a good thing. Aroldis Chapman can still hit 100, he's been useful. Nobody's really hitting for power but you can see people starting to. So maybe it won't be all bad. 

What I'm saying is, Pirates fans...have a tiny bit of faith. They may not need Skenes. The O's didn't necessarily need Holliday, did they?

Coming Tonight: Speaking of people from strong rotations that can throw really hard...

Subtlety in First

 

The best record in baseball right now belongs to the Cleveland Guardians, and if you didn't know better you'd assume it didn't. So much of baseball media has been showcasing the Yankees and Dodgers and Orioles and Braves and Rangers, and they're all doing fine, but the Guardians are 16-6 and still looking as good as they did at the start of the season. And they're doing this without big players and huge performances and a big newsmaker. No, they're just...playing really good baseball. And right now, that's enough.

Right now the Guardians are without Shane Bieber, they're only getting a .239 average out of Jose Ramirez [despite 18 RBIs and 3 homers], and only Ramirez and Carlos Carrasco remain from the 2016 World Series squad [though Carrasco famously skipped town for a couple years]. So a lot of the great players they're relying on are just statistical favorites without a lot of brand recognition. 

But, to be fair, Andres Gimenez and Steven Kwan might be among the best bare-bones players in the game right now. Gimenez is an excellent defender, and he's hitting .293 so far this year with 14 RBIs. Gimenez is one of the players this season who's yet to hit a home run, but seeing as Gimenez is best known as a contact hitting defensive guy, it's not a huge loss. Meanwhile Steven Kwan, much like he did to start off the 2022 season, is on an absolute tear right now, with a .358 average and 34 hits. Kwan has become one of those guys that rarely has dull moments, and can do something awesome either at the plate or in field, whenever he wants. Kwan has that x-factor, and in a year where Jose Ramirez is taking a longer period to get up to 100%, he'll do just fine in that role.

And then you have Josh Naylor, who I'm so happy has worked out in Cleveland, hitting over .300 with 20 RBIs and 6 homers already. Naylor just needed the space to become a XBH machine, and though he couldn't find it in San Diego he's been a fixture of the Guardians' lineups ever since the 2020 playoffs. Naylor's coming off a .300 hitting year for Cleveland, and he's still in that headspace. Plus, his brother Bo is up in the majors and is hitting alright, at least compared to Austin Hedges. 

I'm also bewildered by the fact that, while the Cleveland rotation is perfectly fine, the bullpen might be the real reason this team is 16-6. Not that any starter's doing particularly badly right now, they've just all got ERAs over 3. The bullpen, which I need to clarify is without James Karinchak, Eli Morgan, Trevor Stephan and Sam Hentges right now, is still phenomenal. Emmanuel Clase already has 6 saves. Hunter Gaddis has yet to give up a run. Tim Herrin and Nick Sandlin have been excellent. Hell, they may have even fixed Peter Strzelecki after his poor finish with Arizona last year. This is a strong unit, and it's helped the starting pitching, which still isn't...terrific, get a ton of wins so far.

The Guardians are this good not because they have the biggest stars, but they're an excellent technical, and statistical, team. Stephen Vogt is an excellent fit for this system because he's clearly been on a stats-driven team or two, and the team already seems to respect him as a savvy manager. It's still early, but the Guardians have enough to keep ahead of the showier competitors below them in the standings, and it'd be cool if they did.

Coming Tomorrow- A Pittsburgh rookie who throws smoke. Surprisingly, not the one you may be thinking, at least not yet.

Better Beard

 So far we've got a guy with an XBH streak, a bunch of pitchers who go deep into games without allowing runs, several relievers with very low ERAs, and a few games Bryce Harper will be missing not due to injury, but because he's expecting a kid. And all the while we're 5+ games over .500 earlier than we have been in either of the years we made the NLCS. So suffice to say, great time to be a Phillies fan.

The way all of Trea Turner, Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm are all playing is what we'd been wanting for them for a while. Turner has this insane extra base hit streak, in addition to an amazing .348 ERA and 31 hits. This is the Turner we signed up for, and this is the kind of season he gave to the Nats and Dodgers willingly. Turner has a place right in the heart of the Philly lineup, and I love seeing him come into his own. Marsh is equally dominant right now, hitting .288 with 13 RBIs and 5 homers. This is the more well rounded, contact-friendly season that I'm guessing the Angels wish they'd gotten to see more of. And then Bohm's actually mixing solid offensive play with some halfway decent defensive numbers this year, so he's on our good side for the moment. Could use something a little more from Bryson Stott, but he'll get there, probably.

The single most impressive thing about this Phillies team, to me, has been the degree of excellence coming from the starting rotation. I worried about Aaron Nola, as I think I have a right to at this point, but even he's evened things out to a 3.16 ERA, 3 wins and 26 Ks. He still gives up more runs that a lot of the rest of them, but when he's on, he's extremely handy. Wheeler's only 1-3, which is weird, but he's in peak shape, and is coming off a start where he went 7 or so innings without allowing a run. Cristopher Sanchez has been a pretty strong 5 man in the absence of Taijuan Walker, he's got a 2.53 ERA. And then you've got...y'know, Ranger Suarez and Spencer Turnbull, who've both been incredible through their first 4 starts and have ERAs lower than 2. I really hope both of them can keep it up, especially Turnbull, who's really good at being excellent for a good 10 starts and then getting injured.

The Phillies have been doing a lot correctly, but a lot has been thanks to an easy stretch of opponents. They've had the White Sox in town, and they're easy to make quick work of. The Rockies were in town before that, they were easy to beat. Now the Reds and Padres, who are a better degree of opponent, have to square up. And here is where things may get trickier for the Phillies, especially with the Mets creeping up. I do think the Phils have more to work with this season, and will eventually triumph, but it's going to take a lot of strong play in tougher matchups. Considering how long it took for the Phillies to even out, I do worry for the team, but with the degree I've seen from people like Ranger Suarez, Trea Turner and Brandon Marsh, I'm somewhat optimistic. 

Coming Tonight: The Mets passed on one of the best defensive players in the game to get a guy who's hitting .210 for them right now. That must smart, I think.