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The Nationals had a decision to make this afternoon as they prepared to reinstate Dylan Crews from the 60-day injured list. Do they send one of their four young outfielders – James Wood, Jacob Young, Robert Hassell III or Daylen Lile – down to Triple-A Rochester to get regular playing time? Or do they hold onto five outfielders and send down infielder José Tena, who has only played in four games since he was recalled 2 ½ weeks ago?
In the end, the Nats surprisingly went an entirely different route by designating struggling first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for assignment to make room for Crews, who returns after almost three months while dealing with a left oblique strain.
“We feel like we want to see the young kids,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said of the decision before tonight’s series opener against the Phillies. “We want to keep Hassell in the outfield, Lile, we have Wood. We have young players and I think we want to see them play. We want to see what they can do in the last month, month and a half.”
Lowe was acquired by former general manager Mike Rizzo in a December trade with the Rangers in exchange for left-handed reliever Robert Garcia. With two more years of arbitration eligibility, Lowe lost his salary arbitration case against the team and received a $10.3 million salary (the Nats’ highest-paid player this season) rather than the $11.1 million he requested.
The 30-year-old’s first half of the season was somewhat of a mixed bag. While he was on pace to be one of the team leaders in home runs and RBIs, his batting average, OPS and defensive metrics were well below his career averages.
In 119 games with the Nationals, Lowe slashed .216/.292/.373 with a .665 OPS, 17 doubles, two triples, 16 homers and 68 RBIs. He struck out almost three times as often as we walked (130 strikeouts to 47 walks). And his Gold Glove-caliber defense at first base was nowhere to be found. His -5 Defensive Runs Saved ranked 18th and his -4 Outs Above Average ranked 19th out of 21 qualified major league first basemen.
Overall, Lowe had -0.7 fWAR, which ranked 160th out of 161 qualified hitters and would be the lowest qualified fWAR season by any National. For comparison’s sake, Garcia currently has 0.4 fWAR with the Rangers while also being under club control for four more years after this season.
So instead of waiting to non-tender Lowe in the offseason, interim general manager Mike DeBartolo decided to cut ties with him now and open up more playing time for younger guys.
“I don't know. Sometimes it goes like that. You have an off year,” Cairo said of why he didn’t think it worked out with Lowe this year. “He was a true professional. He did his work, he came to the ballpark and expected to do something good. As you can tell, in the last couple of days, he was a little better. Yesterday, he had a really good game. But at this time right now, we have so many young kids and we want to see them. Sometimes you have to make some decisions that you don't want to make, but it's happening. We want to see Hassell. We want to see (Brady) House. We want to see some of the young players play at the big league level.”
With Lowe out, Josh Bell remains as the only player with extensive first base experience. Cairo plans to mostly play the veteran switch-hitter at first while also giving some reps to Paul DeJong, who has never appeared at first in his career.
“I got JB, Josh Bell, and Paul DeJong is going to be playing some, too. So we're going to mix it up,” Cairo said. “We're going to be rotating the outfield so that Wood can be in as a DH. We're going to try to make sure they all play. It would be a good way to make lineups. And so far, it's been kind of cool to see the players stepping in and do their jobs. Paul and JB, they are true professionals. And for Paul it's going to be a really good way to get more value, because now he's going to be able to play first and he can play all four positions in the infield. And JB, he played first before. I know he's got a long time, and I don't want to kill him either. So we're going to mix it up so that he can be a DH. But it's going to be a rotation.”
The outfield rotation is going to be even more complicated. The Nats now have five young outfielders, all of whom need consistent playing time. The open DH spot helps, but someone will be left on the bench on a daily basis.
Wood is a budding superstar that needs to play as much as he can. Crews needs at-bats to make up for lost time in his rookie campaign. Young provides defense in center, but his offensive production leaves a lot to be desired. Lile is the complete opposite, crushing the ball at the plate but struggling in the field during his second big league stint. And Hassell has been on fire in all aspects of the game during his second stint, albeit in limited action.
“It's going to be a rotation to make sure they get a lot of at-bats and at the same time, they get exposure to see what they can do,” Cairo said.
To start, the interim skipper has Wood as the DH, Lile in left field, Young in center, Crews in right and Hassell on the bench against Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo. Bell is at first base with DeJong spelling CJ Abrams at shortstop and Tena making just his third start since being recalled at second.
For Crews, it’s been a long road back to the majors since he landed on the injured list on May 21.
“I feel great physically,” he said. “I've had no flare-ups here and there. I think overall, I've just been feeling good, feeling confident in my body. And just happy to be back in the locker room with the guys. And finish strong here in these next two months.”
The Nats exercised extreme caution with their former No. 2 overall pick, finally sending him on a rehab assignment at Rochester on July 29. In 13 games, he went 10-for-41 (.244) with a double, two home runs, seven RBIs, one walk, one stolen base and five runs scored. He spent time in right field and as the DH, and only just played a full nine innings in back-to-back games over the weekend.
“It feels great. I was just really happy to be back on the field. I didn't really care where I was at,” Crews said. “Like I said, it was the longest time I've been out really in my life. So being able to go on my rehab assignment, just go on a field and play again was great. But yeah, I'm glad to be back here again and competing at the highest level, for sure.”
What was the main focus as he returned to the field for the first time in two months?
“Everything, really,” he said. “Getting the timing back. Going out there and running in the grass and getting a feel for my angles out in the outfield. Getting behind baseballs and coming through them, throwing and hitting my cuts and all that. Going through situations. Yeah, doing that. Getting scattering reports down on the guys and making sure the ins and outs are all completed before I go out and play.”
Of course, the Nationals look very different from the last time Crews took the field with the big league club. Now he’s sharing the outfield and playing time with four other young prospects he came up through the system with. And the organization is openly saying it wants to see what they can do over these last 41 games.
“It's great,” Crews said of sharing playing time with the four other outfielders. “They're awesome. Awesome players and even better people. So I'm just glad to be here and all in one room together. This is just the beginning for us, and I'm really excited to see where this will take us in the future.”
