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Krol's stay in Syracuse won't be long; manager Davey Johnson said the reliever will return when rosters expand September 1.
"He's going to be back in 10 days with the expanded rosters," Johnson said. "I hate to miss him, because he's still learning up here. But he's got a heck of a future."
The 22-year-old burst onto the scene in June, going 10 appearances before allowing his first major-league run and posting a 1.72 ERA through his first 15 outings. But Krol (the player to be named in January's Michael Morse trade) began to struggle after that. Over his last 12 games, he owns a 5.79 ERA, putting 18 men on base in only 9 1/3 innings.
Krol's demotion leaves the Nationals with a six-man bullpen and only one left-hander Fernando Abad, who has also struggled in recent weeks.
"I'm not real comfortable with it, but it's the best thing for right now," Johnson said. "We've got some other things with some players that need to get some playing time and make some judgements on them."
Johnson revealed that the club's original plan was to release Roger Bernadina to clear space for Ohlendorf, who has missed the last three weeks with shoulder inflammation. But Monday's surprise acquisition of outfielder David DeJesus via a waiver-claim trade forced the release of Bernadina a day early.
It also left the Nationals in a position where they had to either send a reliever down Tuesday night or option outfielder/first baseman Tyler Moore, who is 4-for-7 since his return from Class AAA and is expected to receive more playing time at first base against left-handers.
Thus, Krol became the odd man out.
"We were going to use Bernadina's spot for Ohlendorf," Johnson said. "So when we picked up another player [DeJesus], we had to do something with the pitching staff. [Krol] is going to Syracuse, and he's still learning. It'll help him to get in a bunch of games and work on a few things. He'll be back, but he's got a heck of a future here."
23 comments:
I'm glad Tyler Moore is raking again.
Krol has been good, glad it will be a short stay in Cuse. Good to know we have an option for 2014 with him.
Krol did pretty well for his first stint.
E will be back soon.
MNF,
I agree but he's not a finished product yet. He could use some more seasoning in the minors.
And so many believed the Nats would be better off with this true AAAA pitcher instead of Haren:
From the MLBTR: "Assistant GM Scott Proefrock said that he believes John Lannan"ruptured [a] tendon" in his left knee. Already a non-tender candidate, the 28-year-old struggled to a 5.33 ERA over 74 1/3 innings in his first year in Philadelphia and could be left looking for a minor league deal for 2014."
Starters go six -- Storen, Clip, Sori ( well....). We also have Stammen and Row-Ark in case the starters have an epic fail or injury ( gasp!). Use Abad sparingly. It's only for 10 days. Krol could use some minor league time to tighten things up a bit. By the looks of Storen, someone in Syracuse knows what they are doing with the pitchers.
So this isn't because of his gushing over Chicago and The Cubs? ;-)
Hard to think Johnson will continue for long w/ a six-man BP, even for 10 only days. As soon as some starter leaves after five and four guys have to pick him -- could be anyone, starting w/ today -- up someone (Tracy? Now that DeJesus is here to bat LH) will go on the DL and Krol (probably) will be back.
The downside of opening up the roster September 1 is that some guy -- Espinosa, Mattheus, Duke, Garcia -- comes up, plays lights out, and convinces mgt. they've got the answer to their problems for next season. Then, when April rolls around, not so much.
I don't see any such phenoms on the 40-man roster at the moment; other than Krol, maybe Espinosa, there's no compelling reason to call anyone up. The one wrinkle might be a guy on whom they've already burned, by my count, three options and who needs to be force-fed a bit -- Matt Purke. Surely -- espec. w/ this team -- there'll be a few blowouts in which he can stretch out his season.
My reading into Johnsons quote is "this is a tryout for next year"
is anyone interested in buying off RZ, Morse, and SS bobbleheads and for how much?
before I put it on ebay, NIs can have a shot at this.
"By the looks of Storen, someone in Syracuse knows what they are doing with the pitchers."
Some of the baby Nats have had great seasons, especially the younger guys in the lower minors, e.g. Giolito, Mooneyhan and Johanson. Kobernus has earned another call-up, as well. Here is Giolito's take on the great season that the GCL Nats have had this year:
http://bleacherreport.com/tb/db4bM?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=washington-nationals
Natitude. The big club could use some of that.
Theophilus, only Zach Duke's ghost could be recalled from Syracuse---he was released by the Nats and is now throwing in the minors for some other ML team.
In other news, at a recent Davey presser, our esteemed manager noted that not hitting with RISP is the result of some of the players having a 'slow learning curb'--now we know the real story!!!!
Heck I thought that it was the Rick Brothers'(Eckstein & Shu) fault. How do you trade for smart players????
With Taylor Jordan shutdown, if the Nats do deal Dan Haren (he cleared waivers) or if Ohlendorf is not able to get over "dead arm", do not be surprised if the Nats pick up Dice-K. He was just released by the Indians, but pitched well in AAA for them. Also, his agent is... Scott Boras.
Laddie, just read tweets that Mooneyham just got called up to the PNats and Johanson from Auburn to Hagerstown.
Hope Jake is pitching this Saturday night as I'm going up to H-town with my 12 year old. But I guess he'll fill in Mooneyham's spot in the rotation.
If they get Dice K it will definitely prolong the season. He works so goddam slow. I vote for Andrew Dice Clay instead.
I say no dice
Peric has a crystal ball to know that if John Lannan stayed with the Nats he would have injured his knee as a Nat. Sorry, it wasn't a pre-existing condition.
Ghost,
From a previous post:
Scott Hairston hit 1 home run every 7 at bats last year, this year in a bad year he only hit a home run once every 9 at bats. You say he's bust, I say he hasn't had enough playing time to be called that.
JD, he's a bust because a HR is great but he's a Mendoza hitter. We needed singles from him last night and just got his typical O-fer. Still hard to get past that .152 OBP this year vs RHPs with that .285 OPS which is worse as an aggregate than the Nats starters.
His .183 BA vs LH starters is the biggest problem and the .235 OBP.
He's not good.
Hairston strikes out too much, is a poor defensive player and is, at best, a mediocre platoon option against LHP (and he has not excelled in that role either). He is a bust.
With that said, he had a decent year in 2012, and the Nats were still in the race when he was acquired and the Nats bench was awful. So, not hard to uunderstand the rationale for bringing him on board. So, with the benedit of hindsight, bringing him on board was a mistake.
I personally can sleep very well at night even with the thought of the Shark wearing a Phillies uniform. Last year was an aberration. He obviously can be pitched to. Great guy, just not a very good baseball player.
Barbaro Dept.
I was just struck (so to speak) by how emphatically Girardi backed A-Rod, a guy he maybe doesn't even like much, compared to Davey and Harper.
Dempster suspended, fined
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