Washington Nationals: Five Options at Closer
The three big closing fish have all been scooped up. The Washington Nationals didn’t land any of them. Where do they go from here?
Yesterday, the final closer domino fell when Kenley Jansen re-signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for five years and $80 million. Aroldis Chapman went to the New York Yankees and the Nats lost Mark Melancon to the San Francisco Giants.
The Achilles heel for the Nationals has been finishing off games. Drew Storen had issues. Jonathan Papelbon had anger issues. Melancon just wasn’t re-signed, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying on the Nationals part.
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The Nationals can’t let another season go by the wayside because they can’t finish off the games. After paying a king’s ransom for Adam Eaton and never having won a playoff series in franchise history, the time is now.. The window is closing and this is a question that needs an answer.
So where do you go from here? Where can the Nationals go to find someone who can get outs 25-27 in a tight game? They can go free agent market. They can go trade market. Or, they could open it up to a competition in spring training and maybe go with a youngster. Toronto had Roberto Osuna and he evolved into the role so it’s not totally out of the question for a team, especially one who believes they are contender.
Let’s break this down and take a look at five options for the Washington Nationals at the closer position in 2016.
Trade for David Robertson
The Chicago White Sox have already dealt Chris Sale and Adam Eaton in the past week for a haul of prospects. There is no reason for them to stop there. Deal, Melky Cabrera, Todd Frazier, Jose Abreu and closer David Robertson.
That’s where the Nationals can come in. (Hey it’s not like they haven’t done a deal together before).
Robertson has two years and a total of $25 million left on his deal. Because he isn’t as cost controlled as Sale or Eaton, it may not take as high of a prospect package to get Robertson.
Robertston’s walk rate skyrocketed to over four per nine innings, though it’s possible that that may have had to do with a knee issue he was pitching through all season and that he had recently taken care of.
His velocity has stayed pretty consistent year to year and was not the issue last season. The money is cheaper compared to what has been given out in the free agent market, and it’s a guy who has been through it and pitched in big games before.
If healthy, Robertson could fit right in and be the closer the Nationals need for the next two years.
Sign Greg Holland
Speaking of pitchers who have been there and done that, the Nationals could keep the prospect capital they have left and just spend money.
Greg Holland was huge part of the Kansas City Royals team that fell 90 feet short of a title and then closed for most of their championship year in 2015 until he needed Tommy John surgery and missed all of 2016.
Holland appears to be healthy now and has already thrown in a showcase earlier this off-season and met with teams during the Winter Meetings in hopes of a deal. Now that the big three are off the board, teams may look to Holland as their answer.
The question is what Holland are you getting? Are you getting the Holland from 2015 that averaged 13 K/9 with a 1.44 ERA with a great fastball and slider combo? Or will it be someone who is a shell of his former self who isn’t as effective as he used to be?
In a year that they are all in can they afford to take that kind of risk on a guy as their closer? Maybe they will role the dice and do this and hope it doesn’t land on snake eyes.
Trade for Alex Colome
Alex Colome may be a bit harder to acquire since he doesn’t even reach his first year of arbitration until after next season, but he has been a guy who has been bandied about in trade rumors for teams looking for closers.
The Rays do have Brad Boxberger they can fall back on to close games and use Colome to get more pieces to help restock not only the major league club, but the minors as well.
The 27 year old struck out 71 in 56.2 innings while saving 37 games for the last place Rays last season.
The thing is the Rays feel like they can compete with a fully healthy excellent rotation and some better health from guys like Matt Duffy who they acquired last season in a trade and with ex-Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos hopefully getting back on the field by May or June, even if he has to DH to start.
Tampa Bay has to really look in the mirror and see if they can compete in a tough division. If they can’t, cashing in on Colome now, while he has a high value, should be something they should do. If so, expect the Nationals to come knocking on the door.
Sign Brad Ziegler
The Nationals could jump back in the free agent market and sign someone who’s a veteran with closing experience and can pitch in any role.
With the big three closers signed, Brad Ziegler is going to be a guy teams zero in on whether they need a closer or someone to set up for them.
Ziegler is a sinker/slider kind of pitcher and isn’t going to exactly blow anyone away with his velocity. He uses movement of his pitches along with his submarine delivery to get hitters out.
As the Diamondbacks closer in 2015, Ziegler recorded 30 saves and held batters to a .196 average. Last year, batters hit .258 against him, but with a BABIP of .325, meaning some sort of regression is coming.
Ziegler is 37 and in the age of power arm relievers he tends to get lost in the shuffle. However, this a guy who can pitch in multiple roles, get hitters out and won’t break the bank. Even if they don’t give him the closer role, he’s someone who makes a lot of sense for the club.
Use Prospect Koda Glover as the closer
This solution is more unconventional, however, bullpen construction on a year to year basis is anything but. Sometimes you can develop your own closer like I mentioned with Osuna and Colome. If the Nationals are going to do that they could use their ninth ranked prospect according to MLBpipeline.com in Koda Glover.
Glover was the Nationals’ eighth round pick in 2015 and made the majors a year later. Last year in the minors, at three different levels he saved eight games with a 0.95 WHIP. He struck out 66 batters in 59 innings.
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He has a fastball that averages close to 97 MPH to go along with a power slider that averages over 90 MPH. In this day and age, that’s exactly the kind of stuff you want coming from your closer.
The Nationals have other options they can go with as well for a closer in all three areas I mentioned. The important thing is that they figure out who is going to be closing for them. Otherwise, it may be another year of wasted expectations in our nation’s capital.