Washington Nationals Dave Martinez Is A Good Manager

The Washington Nationals signed Asdrubal Cabrera to be the last man off their bench. It’s not a flashy move, but it’s a smart one – which might be the hallmark of a Dave Martinez team.

The Washington Nationals do not use their bench very often – or all that well. For a National League manager from the Joe Maddon coaching tree, Dave Martinez is remarkably static in how he runs his ballclub. He bunts more than most. He rarely double switches, pinch runs, or installs defensive replacements. He more-or-less runs the same lineup out there regardless of the circumstances.

He doesn’t have much use for his bench outside of spotting his starters. While, yes, that is, in part, the purpose of bench players, teams like the Cubs and Dodgers find ways to utilize all 25 men on the roster. Martinez uses his roster in basically just the one way.

What most fans see, therefore, is a guy who’s not all that captivating of a speaker, who can’t seem to push the right buttons in his bullpen, and who doesn’t see the writing on the wall when his lineup needs a change.

But given the lack of depth he’s had with this roster, I think it’s fair to wonder if Dave Martinez might be – bear with me – a good manager. Some of the choices Davey has made regarding his pitching staff have boggled the mind. It’s been bad. People have lost their jobs over it. When the Dave Martinez era is over, his tactical acumen with the bullpen will be one of the touchstones.

Still, I’ve been wondering for quite some time now if Martinez might actually be a sneaky good manager. There’s an x-factor at work here and it all starts with his relationships with the players. Watch how they greet him after a home run. Sometimes it’s a hug, sometimes it’s a ribbing, sometimes it’s a quick conversation. Point being, Martinez has a report with every offensive player on this team.

Communication is always a factor, one of the first things called out in success and failure, nebulous and omnipresent and abstruse: it matters. Davey appears to excel in this regard. It’s fair to wonder if part of the good vibes in Martinez’s clubhouse is possible because of the clarity he offers his players in their roles. Clarity is great, but he also gives them something even rarer in sports: security.

The Platoons

The closest Martinez comes to roster creativity is in a couple of regular platoons. Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki split duties behind the plate 55% to 45%. Gomes catches Strasburg and Corbin, Suzuki catches Scherzer and Sanchez, and they mostly divvy up whoever slots in as the fifth starter.

Gomes fell onto an all-time skid at the plate this year, just recently showing signs of coming back to life. Nobody told Martinez, who runs him out there with regularity regardless. To his credit, Gomes has outperformed Suzuki by just enough to justify his usage: 0.6 bWAR/0.3 fWAR to 0.4 bWAR/0.2 fWAR.

At first base, Martinez utilizes more standard splits. Before plantar fasciitis ruined Ryan Zimmerman, he was the unequivocal starting first baseman, with Matt Adams taking tough righties and a couple of times a week. Since Zimmerman is no longer ambulatory, Martinez starts Adams religiously against righties, and Howie Kendrick gets the charge against left-handers.

If Adams can’t go – ticky-tack injuries have taken their toll on Big City this year – Gerardo Parra has stepped in ably with13 starts at the position while looking the part defensively (1 DRS in 96 innings, 9.8 UZR/150).

Kendrick spells Dozier at second about once every two weeks. Again, consistency has been key here for Martinez, who stuck with Dozier when the rest of the DMV insisted he was washed.

On June 1, Dozier showed up slashing .209/.299/.362 with 7 home runs and 16 RBIs. Maybe because Dozier is making $9 MM, maybe Martinez is a true believer – either way, he kept trotting him out to the keystone almost like he didn’t know there was another option. Dozier’s numbers now look about what you’d expect from him after 2+ months of .278/.391/.525, 9 home runs, 24 RBIs.

Rightly or wrongly, Martinez doesn’t let a measly thing like performance get in the way of his platoons.

In the outfield, however, there are no platoons.

The Stalwarts

Adam Eaton plays everyday in right field. He bats second. End of story.

The closest the Nats come to a platoon in right is calling Eaton “Spanky” when he hits the other way and “Mighty Mouse” when he pulls the ball. He sits about once a month, usually against a tough lefty, but that’s less of a rule now that Gerardo Parra has taken the backup spot from Michael A. Taylor.

In center, Victor Robles sees more variance than most. When Taylor was with the club, Robles played some right field. This little bit of creativity didn’t go that well, as Robles seemed lost in right even as he found his footing in center. When Taylor was exiled to Harrisburg (where, sad to say, he belongs), Robles turned into the best defensive centerfielder in the game.

Offensively, the 22-year-old Robles bats eighth, though he’s one of the few names Martinez doesn’t write in permanent marker: leadoff 3 times, second 23 times, sixth 3 times, seventh 18 times, eighth 28 times, and ninth 24 times.

But even that much variance is misleading. He mostly hit ninth at the beginning of the year when Martinez wanted to ease him in. (That’s also partially why he bunts so friggin’ much.)

Martinez moved him up to second during the dark period when some combination of Trea Turner, Anthony Rendon, and Juan Soto were on the shelf. With most of the major players healthy now, Robles mostly banks on batting in front of the pitcher.

Parra gets the nod in center when Robles needs a breather – about twice a month. It’s not a ton of rest, but hey, at least it’s something. Everybody needs a day off every now and again, right?

Wrong.

If healthy enough to play, Soto, Rendon, and Turner play. They play left, third, and short. They bat cleanup, third, and leadoff.

That’s a pretty nifty-lookin’ .394 OBP Soto’s rockin’ – might could try batting him second, you might say. No. He bats cleanup.

He’s fast as they come, but that .477 slugging suggests Turner could give it a go as a middle-of-the-order bat (.345 OBP). No. Turner bats leadoff.

Maybe Martinez has his studs in the wrong spot (Soto should absolutely bat second), but he definitely has them in their spots. I’m willing to bet this is something his player’s value.

If there is a wildcard on the Nats’ roster, it’s Parra. The 32-year-old DFA claim serves many masters: he’s the fourth outfielder, primary left-handed pinch-hitter, home run dance captain, and clubhouse spirit animal (a baby shark).

More often than not, the Nats starting lineup will read Turner-Eaton-Rendon-Soto-Adams-Dozier-Gomes-Robles. Parra, Kendrick, and Suzuki swap in here-and-there as the primary bench players. These roles are about as fixed as any top-11 in the majors.

So what the hell are they going to do with Asdrubal Cabrera?