The Washington Nationals gave Jeimer Candelario an off day Monday, and the third baseman most likely might have predicted it weeks — if not months — in the past. After all, with MLB’s commerce deadline Tuesday, the Nationals weren’t going to take any dangers with the 29-year-old within the lineup to jeopardize any deal. Not when Candelario, on a modest one-year, $5 million contract, is likely one of the extra notable leases accessible in the marketplace.
Lane Thomas is a distinct story.
Thomas was within the Nationals’ lineup for Monday’s recreation in opposition to the Milwaukee Brewers, including to the thriller of whether or not the precise fielder can be traded by Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline. Like Candelario, Thomas has been ceaselessly talked about in commerce rumors given the Nationals are nonetheless within the midst of a rebuild.
But there’s no certainty that Thomas can be moved. According to a number of studies, Nationals basic supervisor Mike Rizzo and opposing golf equipment haven’t seen eye-to-eye on Thomas’ worth.
The Nationals, Rizzo has mentioned, have priced Thomas as an on a regular basis at-bat who can contribute to a Major League membership — one thing the outfielder has finished routinely for Washington this season. Other golf equipment have reportedly been extra skeptical, viewing Thomas as an off-the-bench, situational hitter.
The distinction in notion might make it tough to finalize a commerce.
“We see (Thomas) as an everyday player,” Rizzo informed MLB Network Radio. “Now, if you as the opposing team trying to acquire him see him as an everyday player, then I think that we can make a deal, but if you see him as a kind of a good bench guy or a platoon player, then our value system isn’t going to allow us to do a deal.”
Perhaps giving Rizzo and the Nationals leverage is the truth that Thomas is underneath group management for 2 extra seasons and makes simply $2.2 million this season. That means the Nationals aren’t ready wherein executives really feel strain to commerce him, partly, as a result of they may all the time revisit the subject this offseason or at subsequent 12 months’s deadline.
Candelario, against this, is a close to certainty to be moved due to his expiring contract. Rizzo mentioned on the radio that as much as eight groups have expressed curiosity within the third baseman. Those golf equipment reportedly embrace the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Angels.
The two gamers have been the Nationals’ high hitters this season. Entering Monday, Candelario is hitting .258 with 16 house runs and a .823 OPS (on-base plus slugging proportion). Thomas additionally has 16 house runs and an above-average OPS of .802, whereas hitting a team-best .285. Candelario joined the Nationals on a flyer whereas Thomas was acquired in a commerce with St. Louis for growing old pitcher Jon Lester.
The solely different participant on the Nationals to garner as a lot curiosity as the 2 hitters has been reliever Kyle Finnegan. Manager Dave Martinez informed reporters that Finnegan can be accessible for a save scenario in opposition to the Brewers, a sign that commerce talks have not going progressed to the purpose Washington would withhold the reliever from a recreation.
Finnegan, like Thomas, is underneath group management for an additional two years. He additionally serves as Washington’s nearer, and has produced within the function with 14 saves and a 3.02 ERA.
“We’re getting hit a lot on Finnegan,” Rizzo mentioned. “We like him as a reliever, he’s our closer right now, we think he fits on a championship club, and somewhere in the back of somebody’s bullpen.”
Rizzo’s feedback mirror the automobile salesman-like nature his job entails this time of 12 months. As basic supervisor, Rizzo is tasked with drumming up curiosity in his gamers — after which capitalizing on the return. The govt has repeatedly mentioned the Nationals can be “very aggressive” in his strategy to this 12 months’s deadline, even when the group now not has stars like Juan Soto and Max Scherzer to unload.
That aggression can be examined by what occurs with Thomas.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com