NL Notes: nationals, pirates, cardinals



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The Nationals will start the season with Starlin castro as an everyday third baseman. Josh harrison will get most per second starts, by Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Veterans Jordy mercer and Hernan Perez will save them. This latest duo only had 28 plaque appearances between them in 2020. That wasn’t exactly the plan devised for how to replace Anthony Rendon, which is finally recognized as one of the best in the game in the hot corner.

Unfortunately, Carter Kieboom hasn’t fully turned the corner after tying for the lowest ISO 10 mark (.010 ISO) among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances in the past twenty seasons. Of the last 10, three quickly retired, while others continued to play the role of rarely used bench players. Take it for whatever you like, so a Kieboom resurgence still probably presents the highest possible cap of the options available. For now, the Nats will move forward with their veteran squad. This may not be a short-term solution, however. Director Dave martinez says he wants Castro third because he’s going to play every day and he doesn’t want to move him, by Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Martinez prefers Harrison’s reach in second place. Meanwhile, we are only three days from the opening …

  • Former nationals Wilmer Difo and Brian goodwin were reassigned to the minor league camp with the right-hander Steven wright, the Pirates announced today. Right handed Geoff hartlieb was also offered to minors. That means Anthony alford probably starts the year as a starting center, notes Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, with Dustin Fowler save the three exterior spots. Alford, 26, plays a regular role after experimenting with simple cups of coffee for the past four years. Going back to his debut with the Blue Jays in 2017, here are Alford’s season total for appearances on the set: 8, 21, 30 and 29.
  • Tommy edman will be the Cardinals center-back to start the season, by MLB.com’s Jeff Jones (via Twitter). Tyler o’neill line up after him. Harrison baderThe Cardinals injury certainly threw a wrench into the Cardinals’ defensive lineup. With Bader, Saint-Louis was preparing a defensive unit from another world: Paul Goldschmidt is a three-time early Golden Glove winner; Yadier Molina is a nine-time winner and the best consensus defensive receiver of his generation; Paul DeJong was frozen out of awards season, but has easily been among the NL’s best defensive shortstops in recent seasons; ditto for Bader in the center, while O’Neill posted 9 DRS on the left last season; Nolan Arenado, of course, never do not won the golden glove. Not mentioned here are Carlson and Edman, who are, apparently, able to move to center field at any time. No matter who mans center, it seems, the cards are planning to catch baseball.



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