Manaea gave us a quality start, allowing two runs on four hits with seven K's. Nothing special, but he battled and deserved to pick up the win. I'll take that every time. Even with an offense as challenged as ours, we will still be in the game and within striking distance late in the game. We needed to rally in the sixth to win it on a bunch of singles, but we got it done. Crone drove in the tying run with a single. Consistent production from Crone has been oh-so lacking this year. There's Kim and Profar who can get on base and score runs, but you still need the power bats (or bat, as in Manny) to drive them in. Crone I wouldn't consider a power bat, but he can drive in runs regularly, as evidenced by 30 doubles and 20 bombs last year. He's got 50 RBI's and will probably break last year's mark. His OBP is roughly the same as it was last year. And yet, Crone just seems off, not the force he was last year. Not having Tatis in the lineup can do that to you.
We are not that far off, really. Take Tatis and a mystery bat which we'll surely acquire by the trade deadline, and the parts fit together much better. We'd have a lineup of Tatis (although Tatis as a leadoff hitter is almost a waste), Manny, Crone, Soto/Ohtani/Happ, Profar, Kim, etc., and now your opponents will take notice. Your players need to complement each other, period. Combine Soto's power with Kim's versatility, for instance, and now you're cooking. Right now, we don't have the weapons to outgun the Dodgers, so we need to keep mixing. I wonder what the Nationals are waiting for in the Soto deal. I have a feeling they are trying to unload Patrick Corbin's insane contract. 23 mil this and next year, plus 35 mil in 2024. Now what if we traded a contract for a contract? They get Hoz, for instance, and we'll take Corbin? Nobody can possibly be that stupid to take on Corbin's contract, even if the Nats throw Soto and their entire farm at us.
The Nats made a deadly mistake with two contracts. The first one was with Corbin, although he did, in all fairness, help them win the World Series. It seemed like a good signing at the time. The second one was with Strasburg, who had just come off a career year before he was re-signed to a mega contract. Obviously, the Nats felt pressured by their fans to re-sign him following his great year, plus his performance in the WS. I knew that was going to be a mistake. Having a great year in a contract year is not hard. Before that, he had 23, 24, 28, and 22 starts, respectively. Dude went 15-4 in back-to-back years, which was phenomenal. But 33 starts, 200+ innings, plus the postseason in 2019 wrecked his arm. Great, great postseason, no doubt, but that's 250 innings over a full year, and everyone knew he couldn't take that load. The Nats will have five more years to think about that while they pay Strasburg 35 mil per season. Not a good ROI.
We have the Rockies next. Care to play against them this time around, Padres?
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