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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Four starts against Phillies, four wins for nationals behind Patrick Corbin.
Six rounds, three rounds on May 4th. Seven rounds, one round on June 19. A quality start with 10 strikeouts on July 13th. And Monday, six rounds of the ball of a round.
The loss of 7-2 Monday Phillies has made their tragic number the number one lonely. If the Phillies lose one of the two games in the double division or if the Brewers win, the Phillies hopes for the playoffs will finally disappear on Tuesday.
As for Corbin, well, he played a crucial role in the 2019 joker race of the NL. It's a career year for the 30-year-old southpaw, who signed a $ 140 million six-year deal with the Nationals about three months before Bryce Harper's signing with the Phillies.
Corbin is 14-7 this season with a 3.05 ERA in 32 starts. He will reach 200 heats for the third time in his career and, unless touched during his last start this weekend, he will finish with his lowest all-time record. This is particularly impressive with the average ERA of the MLB, which went from 4.14 last season to 4.51 this season.
Corbin's slider is one of the best in baseball. Most of the time, he does not even have to throw it to hit. It looks like a shot out of the hand, but sweeps and dives out of the area until the batter flies over it. His opponents hit .148 against the slider last season and .156 this season. The Phillies swept 10 of his sliders on Monday and scored 0-8 against Corbin, with the riders in the lead position.
"He just has a good quick-slider combination, his two courts look the same for our guys," said manager Gabe Kapler. "That's why he's so successful in this league, you do not know exactly what's going to happen at any given time, it's good stuff and you can throw it under the zone."
Corbin was one of the top five starting pitchers of the NL. Organize them as you wish, this group includes Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Corbin, Stephen Strasburg and Walker Buehler or Jack Flaherty.
The Phillies slide started in mid-June, which is about the same time Corbin turned it on. In 18 starts since June 19, he is 9-2 with an average of 2.24.
The Phillies did not like the idea of signing up for Corbin for six seasons. It was understandable at the time. Contracts that require novice pitchers rarely work. If you pay a lot of money for six years and you get four strong, it is a victory.
Who knows how the Corbin agreement will unfold? There could be a lost season to the injury. In Grade 6, at the age of about 30, there may be more of a rotating element in the background. It is almost the cost of doing business when it comes to signing a free agent 's ace.
It's hard not to look back at this contract and wonder, what if? What if the Phillies made an exception for Corbin and were still doing everything they did this off season? Would Aaron Nola and Corbin (1-2) give the impetus to the overall standings, or would all the pitcher's injuries have paralyzed him?
Impossible to say. But Corbin has consolidated this season as a legitimate ace, just as Anthony Rendon has solidified as a legitimate superstar. Corbin is better than all Phillies pitchers and Rendon is better than their hitters. Say what you want about the constant disappointments of the National for the month of October. One can not deny the immense individual talent they have accumulated through the selection, development and signing of players. This collection of talents is why Washington escaped from the Phillies and hid after a slow start.
The class of free agents this winter contains a handful of interesting starting pitchers. Gerrit Cole is the big obvious fish. Zack Wheeler could be the best buy. Madison Bumgarner will attract a lot of attention. Cole Hamels, who has just signed a six-year contract, could be considered a profitable investment in the short term.
The sharp misjudgments that the Phillies have made throughout 2019 tend to result in the loss of their jobs. Corbin was acceptable at that time, as the Phillies were expected to add more shots at the start. But they did not do it, apart from salary collections and waiver requests.
If they had signed Corbin this past season, they would be in a better place now and heading towards 2020, although that would also have resulted in less flexibility to complement Harper and J.T. Realmuto with another star position in the future. If the Phillies end up with Rendon, Cole or a player of that order, the Corbin decision will not look like an error.
But if the Phillies do not If we find ourselves with one or two other players at impact this off-season and one more year for the Harper and Realmuto bonuses, Corbin's decision will be harder to justify.
He will have the opportunity to remind them why three, four or five times a year until 2024.
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