Wil Nieves. Who? Wil Nieves.

Posted by Jeff Bergin on Jun. 3, 2009 at 9:35 AM
Be the first to comment on this post

Wil Nieves, made famous by the wonderful MASN ads, will now see more time as Jesus Flores will possibly be lost for the entire season. Flores, who suffered a stress fracture during rehab, is out, and Rizzo has maintained that Bard and Nieves will be the catchers in place for the season.  What is the impact?

I am going with little impact as long as certain things remain constant. 

  1. If Nick is traded, then the Nats have lost two bats in the lineup, and will have a hard time replacing Nick's contact and Jesus' pop hitting 7th in the lineup.
  2. If Dukes gets hurt again for a long stretch of time, they will have lost Dukes' pop hitting 5th, and again the issue of Flores will loom larger.
  3. If Austin Willingham or Josh Kearns or Jaustin Kearnsingham continue to hit with anemic averages then the Nats remain a lineup that goes 1-5, and then heads south. 

If one or more of these things happen, it will be an offensive struggle for the Nationals this year, as teams will pitch around (as best they can) Zimmerman and Dunn, realizing they will be facing a potent lineup of Willie Harris, Nieves/Bard/Montz, Anderson Hernandez, and then the pitcher.

Email this story Share on Facebook Stumble Upon Post to MySpace Search on Technorati Digg this post Bookmark on del.icio.us

Tags: Wil Nieves, Jesus Flores, Josh Bard, Josh Willingham, Austin Kearns, Elijah Dukes, Nick Johnson



Peapod



This blog will breakdown the statistics of your favorite Nationals as well as the fantasy impact these stats have on our Nats and the rest of the league. Also be on the lookout for statistical explanations to new Moneyball type stats now dominating baseball analysis. Jeff can be reached via e-mail at jeff@nationalspride.com

#1 pick Adam Dunn Anderson Hernandez Austin Kearns Baseball Prospectus Book and Site Reviews Bradley Meyers Bryce Harper Bullpen Chad Cordero Chipper Jones Christian Guzman Colin Balester Daniel Cabrera David Wright Defense Defensive Efficiency Derek Jeter Draft Analysis Draft Help Drew Storen Dukes Dunn Elijah Dukes Evan Longoria Fantasy Baseball Garrett Mock Hanrahan Hot Stove Ian Desmond JD Martin Jesus Flores Jim Bowden Jim Riggleman Joe Beimel Joe Biemel Joel Hanrahan John Lannan Johnson Jon Garland Jordan Zimmerman Jordan Zimmermann Josh Bard Josh Willingham Justin Verlander Lastings Milledge Manny Acta Mike Rizzo Minor Leagues MLB Draft Nationals Nationals Management Nationals Statistical Analysis Nats News New Stadium News and Notes News Around the League Nick Johnson NL East Nyjer Morgan Orlando Hudson Pitching Pitching Analysis Player Analysis Player Profiles Recommendations Ron Villone Ross Detwiler Rumors Ryan Howard Ryan Zimmerman SABR Scott Olsen Sean Burnett Shairon Martis Stan Kasten stats Stephen Strasburg Steroids, HGH, Etc. Steven Strasburg Syracuse Chiefs Thomas Boswell Trades Transactions Transactions, Rumors, Recommendations Tyler Clippard UZR VORP Zech Zinicola Zimmerman