The Washington Nationals made a mess of their bullpen last year when they acquired Jonathan Papelbon and demoted Drew Storen to the setup role even though Storen was pitching very well in the closer role. Storen went into a funk and pitched horribly the rest of the season and Papelbon infamously got into a dugout fight with Bryce Harper. The fallout continues as the Nationals shipped out Storen to the Blue Jays for CF Ben Revere.
The Blue Jays needed to bolster their bullpen and had too many CF's so this is a great trade for them. Storen has 1 year of arbitration eligibility left and is projected to make about $8 M this year. Here is his pitching line from last season:
2-2, 3.44, 55 IP, 10.96 K/9, 2.62 BB/9, 29 Saves.
Of course, pitching in Toronto and the AL East is not like pitching in Washington and in the NL East. In addition, Storen may have to compete with Roberto Osuna for the closer role and given his reaction to losing that job in Washington, that could be a problem if the BJ's don't just hand the job to him although losing out in a competition is a bit different that what went down in Washington where he was not even given that opportunity.
You all know what Ben Revere is about. He put up a typical Ben Revere line last year splitting time with Philadelphia and Toronto:
.306/.342/.377, 22 2B, 7 3B, 2 HR, 31 SB, 5.0 BB%, 10.1 K%, 84 R.
The Nationals did not want to go into the season with Michael Taylor as their only option in CF although you could make a case that Taylor is already a better player than Revere. Taylor is definitely a better defender and put up double digit HR's and SB's despite a low BA and high K rate. Revere does give the Nats a leadoff hitter, which Tayler really wasn't. Revere has 2 years of team control left and is projected to make a little over $6 M in arbitration.
Revere is a downgrade from a healthy Denard Span, so if Span is indeed healthy, the Nationals might wish they had at least offered him a QO or else pursued an extension with him when his FA market went soft. Looking over the Nationals roster, it appears to me that their bullpen is in terrible shape and in need of a complete rebuild, especially if they end up trading Papelbon, who does not seem to be what they need in the clubhouse there. I suppose there is still time to get that done this offseason, but it's getting late! They best be getting to work on that as there is no telling what Dusty might do to the SP's if he does not have faith in the bullpen!
Whew! The Nationals seem to be a very poorly run organization with no plan that is squandering a huge investment in Max Scherzer and a even bigger talent in Bryce Harper.
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This is an interesting narrative from when the Nats picked up Papelbon. Storen had his snit fit, stopped pitching well. And then Papelbon did what Papelbon does.
ReplyDeleteEven without hindsight, it's a bad move to bring Papelbon in. But once that happened, and things played out as they did...this is not a bad move for Nationals.
No one is going to touch Papelbon. He's like Chapman. Talented but toxic. Mix fact that he's unmovable with Storen's unhappiness with the situation, this is what the Nats had to do.
Revere is truly a good guy. Good vibe, great with the press, outgoing personality. Kinda reminds me of Romo. Nationals need a good clubhouse ambassador, and Revere will fill that role pretty nicely.