Washington Nationals: Breaking Down Wilson Ramos’ Injury
By Ron Juckett
THE PLAYOFF OFFENSE
Ramos’ contributions in the lineup played a big part in the Washington Nationals winning the NL East.
With Harper struggling, Ramos’ slash line of .307/.354.496 filled the void. His 25 doubles and 22 home runs drove in 80. Although Lobaton and Severino are not expected to contribute at that level, someone will need to.
Manager Dusty Baker batted Ramos fifth or sixth 78 times in his 131 games. Now Anthony Rendon will try to protect Harper in the lineup, but who steps up to protect Rendon?
Danny Espinosa has power with 23 home runs, but is hitting .210. Stephen Drew is hitting .280 with seven home runs and 19 RBI in 66 games. But, do you bench Ryan Zimmerman and move Murphy to first to get Drew in the lineup? What happens if Murphy’s injury is more serious than we have been led to believe?
How Baker handles this the last week of the regular season will go a long way towards the NLDS. Instead of resting players, he has to mix and match to get the correct offense on the field.
The tough, but correct call, is using Zimmerman off the bench and using Drew as a bridge between the middle of the order to Espinosa and Lobaton/Severino.