Is there one more shot for Robles or will Nats move on?

Is there one more shot for Robles or will Nats move on?
PLAYER REVIEW: VICTOR ROBLES Age on opening day 2022: 24 How acquired: Signed as international free agent, July 2013 MLB service time: 3 years, 32 days 2021 salary: $614,000 Contract status: Arbitration-eligible in 2022, free agent in 2025 2021 stats: 107 G, 369 PA, 315 AB, 37 R, 64 H, 21 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 19 RBI, 8 SB, 6 CS, 33 BB, 85 SO, .203 AVG, .310 OBP, .295 SLG, .605 OPS, 69 OPS+, minus-1 DRS, minus-0.5 fWAR, minus-0.3 bWAR Quotable: "I've said this before, and I mean this with all my...

Thomas surprisingly put himself into Nats' potential plan

Thomas surprisingly put himself into Nats' potential plan
PLAYER REVIEW: LANE THOMAS Age on opening day 2022: 26 How acquired: Traded from Cardinals for Jon Lester, July 2021 MLB service time: 2 years, 14 days 2021 salary: $570,500 Contract status: Under team control, arbitration-eligible in 2023, free agent in 2026 2021 stats (STL/WSH): 77 G, 264 PA, 226 AB, 35 R, 53 H, 15 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 6 SB, 3 CS, 37 BB, 63 SO, .235 AVG, .341 OBP, .412 SLG, .752 OPS, 107 OPS+, minus-2 DRS, 0.6 fWAR, 0.9 bWAR Quotable: "At the end of the day, I always knew...

Revisiting our 2021 season predictions

Revisiting our 2021 season predictions
Predicting how a baseball season is going to play out is no easy task. We've been trying to do it around here for years, and though we sometimes get a few things right, we're usually wrong with much more frequency. And never have we been more wrong than we were this season. Not that my colleagues on the Nationals beat were alone in that regard. Seriously, how many of you out there predicted they'd lose 97 games? (If you just raised your hand, you're lying.) Nobody expected the kind of...

Robles is hitting at Triple-A, but unlikely to return this season

Robles is hitting at Triple-A, but unlikely to return this season
Victor Robles is playing at Triple-A exactly how the Nationals hoped he would, but it doesn't appear the club intends to call the outfielder back up to the majors before the season ends in nine days. Robles has appeared in 18 games for Rochester since the Nats demoted him Aug. 31, and entering tonight, he's batting a robust .324 (23-for-71) with eight doubles, a triple, three homers and a .952 OPS. He's also been successful on five of six stolen base attempts. "They said he's playing well,...

Will Rainey and Robles return to play in D.C. this season?

Will Rainey and Robles return to play in D.C. this season?
As the Nationals' season reaches its final stages, with only 18 games left on the schedule at this point, time is running out for any more players to be promoted from the minor leagues and get more than a token opportunity to make one final statement heading into 2022. Truth be told, the Nats have seen just about everyone they need to see by now, especially in the wake of their dramatic sell-off at the July 30 trade deadline. The current 28-man roster - the new limit for September - includes...

What's Robles' future with the Nationals now?

What's Robles' future with the Nationals now?
Davey Martinez was adamant. This was not the end of the road for Victor Robles with the Nationals. "I've said this before, and I mean this with all my heart: We want Victor to be successful up here," an emotional manager said Tuesday night on Zoom when asked about Robles' demotion to Triple-A. "He's still young, he's (24) years old, he's got a bright future here with us. ... I mean, I know this is not the last we're going to see of Victor." That's of course what any manager, but...

Another ragged start closes out Corbin's rough August (updated)

Another ragged start closes out Corbin's rough August (updated)
On a day in which the Nationals all but admitted their once highly touted center fielder has become a bust, they proceeded to watch their $140 million No. 3 starter take another step toward locking up the worst pitching season in club history. The Nats were able to option Victor Robles to Triple-A. They have no such luxury with Patrick Corbin. With yet another dreadful performance during a 12-6 loss to the Phillies, Corbin added another disappointing chapter to his regrettable season and made...

Robles optioned to Triple-A, Finnegan on paternity leave

Robles optioned to Triple-A, Finnegan on paternity leave
Victor Robles, not long ago a more highly touted prospect than Juan Soto and only two years ago the starting center fielder on a World Series champion, is now a minor leaguer. The Nationals optioned the slumping Robles to Triple-A Rochester prior to tonight's game against the Phillies, a transaction that had shock value in the moment but in truth was weeks in the making. Andrew Stevenson was recalled from Rochester to take Robles' roster spot. The Nats also placed de facto closer Kyle...

Game 127 lineups: Nats at Mets

Game 127 lineups: Nats at Mets
If you go back about six weeks, back when the Nationals were still wondering if they'd be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, one of the arguments supporting them to go for it was the Mets' schedule. New York, despite leading the National League East most of the season, was going to face an absolute gauntlet in mid-August, with 13 consecutive games against the Dodgers and Giants. If the Nats could just stay close until then, the thought went, they would have a chance to surpass them...

Martinez on Robles' return and weekend rotation plans

Martinez on Robles' return and weekend rotation plans
Victor Robles returned to the Nationals lineup for tonight's finale of a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins, playing center field and batting leadoff. It's the first start since Aug. 20 for Robles, who ceded center field to newcomer Lane Thomas in the interim. Robles had battled an illness recently and Thomas' 8-for-19 stretch over the past five games made it difficult for him to crack the lineup. "He's moving around pretty good," manager Davey Martinez said in his pregame...

As Thomas gets another start, Martinez supports Robles

As Thomas gets another start, Martinez supports Robles
Lane Thomas hasn't supplanted Victor Robles as the Nationals' starting center fielder and leadoff hitter. But he has performed at such a high level since his acquisition from the Cardinals that manager Davey Martinez feels compelled to keep playing him for now, even as Robles returns to full health after falling ill last weekend. "Victor's feeling better," Martinez said during his Zoom session with reporters before tonight's game in Miami. "Lane's playing well and I want to continue to...

How many current players are locks for the 2022 roster?

How many current players are locks for the 2022 roster?
On Sunday afternoon, Lane Thomas became the 54th player to appear in a game for the Nationals this season. That's an exceptionally high number, only three shy of the club record set way back in 2006. And with 44 games still to go, and more players likely to join the roster before this is over, it's quite possible this year's team will establish a new record. The pertinent question right now, though, isn't how many guys will play for the Nationals in 2021. It's how many of the guys...

Gray impressive again, but done in by late homers (updated)

Gray impressive again, but done in by late homers (updated)
There are things you find out about ballplayers at 10 p.m. in front of a sellout crowd, and then there are things you find out about them at midnight in front of a few thousand fans who were willing to wait out the longest rain delay of the season. They all matter in the end, and all of these experiences ultimately shape young ballplayers into the finished products they will become in due time. And they don't always have to produce positive results, as much as everyone wishes they...

Temperature check two weeks after trade deadline

Temperature check two weeks after trade deadline
Two weeks ago today, the Nationals completed six franchise-altering trades, admitting this season was a lost cause. They were able to move eight players (seven on expiring contracts) to net 12 prospects in return. Ten of those 12 are already in MLBPipeline.com's ranking of the top 30 Nats prospects. Six of those 12 are in the top 16. And three of those six are in the top 10, including Nos. 1 and 2, Keibert Ruiz and Josiah Gray (both acquired in the Max Scherzer-Trea Turner deal with the...

Young hitters still trying to earn prominent spots in lineup

Young hitters still trying to earn prominent spots in lineup
The final 50 games of the Nationals' season are about evaluating young talent. Even more than that, they're about evaluating how young talent handles various situations. Like seeing if some of the club's less experienced hitters can perform in prominent parts of the lineup. We've already seen Victor Robles get an opportunity to bat leadoff again after spending most of the season at the bottom of manager Davey Martinez's batting order. The results have been mixed so far, but Robles did...

Robles still not seeing results out of leadoff spot

Robles still not seeing results out of leadoff spot
The Nationals' decision to sell off veterans at the trade deadline and transition into a rebuilding phase freed up Davey Martinez to try some different things with his lineup without the pressure to win every night. And high on that list was the return of Victor Robles to the leadoff spot. It's a look the fourth-year manager liked when this season began, but after a week of less-than-ideal results, Martinez bumped Robles all the way down to the bottom of the lineup, where he remained for four...

Kids show off power, but Nats lose third straight (updated)

Kids show off power, but Nats lose third straight (updated)
The Nationals and Phillies existed, for four months, in roughly the same neighborhood. Both star-laden teams struggled to get on any kind of a roll but kept themselves within close enough striking distance of the Mets to believe they might still have a shot at winning an exceptionally weak National League East this season. But then the Nats cratered over the final two weeks of July and decided to hold a fire sale, trading away nearly every veteran on their roster in an attempt to retool for the...

Game 105 lineups: Nats vs. Cubs

Game 105 lineups: Nats vs. Cubs
It's a gray Sunday at Nationals Park, and I actually mean that in the literal sense. Rain is forecast on and off throughout the afternoon. Hopefully, it doesn't impact the game, but the grounds crew has the tarp ready to go just in case. Metaphorically, it's been a gray several days for the Nats, who just wrapped up one of the worst months in club history, going 8-18. And that's just their record. As we know, a whole lot of other stuff happened that wasn't directly related to wins and...

Turner leaves after positive test, Hand closes out win (updated)

Turner leaves after positive test, Hand closes out win (updated)
As if this week's events - and the prospect of events still to come - hadn't already left the Nationals and all who observe them on edge, here now was the sight of Trea Turner departing tonight's game in Philadelphia after scoring on Josh Bell's top-of-the-first homer. Given the date on the calendar and the organization's July freefall, it wasn't inappropriate to immediately wonder if Turner had just been traded. Then, as replays of his trip around the bases began to be shown, it seemed...

Martinez not losing confidence in enigmatic Robles

Martinez not losing confidence in enigmatic Robles
Just because Victor Robles is struggling at the plate and has lost his stranglehold on the Nationals' center field job doesn't mean manager Davey Martinez has lost confidence in the enigmatic 24-year-old. It wasn't that long ago that Robles was atop the club's prospect list - yes, even ahead of Juan Soto - and the fact that he's followed the club's instructions to shed the bulk that created problems for him last year is an indication that he can rebound, Martinez said Sunday. "(It's)...