Injury history or not, Nationals gambling on Carter Kieboom

As long as Justin Turner remained on the free agent market there was always going to be the possibility he’d sign with the Nationals and be the Opening Day third baseman come 2021. Even if the odds were he was returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers (which he did), the slim chance he’d wind up in DC remained.

Looks as if the Nationals leadership group stuck to their guns in three bigs areas this offseason. They said they would address the power hitting situation. Welcome Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber. They said Yan Gomes was going to catch 100-110 games this season, yet we expected J.T. Realmuto to be signed (I thought a Gary Sanchez trade was in the mix). They said third base was Carter Kieboom‘s job to lose, yet we waited for an Eugenio Suarez trade or Turner signing to be announced.

The Washington Nationals are banking on Carter Kieboom putting up some great offensive numbers this season.

The former first round pick of the Nationals in 2016 has struggled during his brief stint in the big leagues thus far. He has just 138 career at-bats under his belt, not enough to truly gauge him. I have been a critic of Kieboom and a supporter, and think the Nats are right to let him grow into the player they thought they’d get when they took him as the 28th pick in the draft.

Recently, word came out Kieboom was playing hurt during the 2020 season, leading to his lack of power at the plate.

Maybe this is why the Nationals didn’t act with a sense of urgency to move on from Kieboom this offseason. They want more time to evaluate him without any injury concerns. We are told Kieboom is 100% healthy now, which means the Nationals are gambling on him and his stat line for the 2021 season.

Seems a little dramatic to say, though the entire offseason and what the Nationals did bringing in Bell, Schwarber, Avila, and to some extent re-signing Zimmerman, hangs in the balance of what Kieboom does this year. Those moves were made, and others were avoided, based on what a healthy Kieboom can provide for the Nationals offense.

Essentially the Nationals have pushed their chips to the middle of the table. There is no Plan B for third base right now. Starlin Castro? Josh Harrison? Jordy Mercer? Hernan Perez? Asdrubal Cabrera signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks so he won’t be back to save the day. Any situation which does not have Carter playing every day, leaves the Nationals scrambling to fill the void.

Win or lose, the offseason transaction which will receive the most scrutiny in the media and from those in the stands (if fans are allowed to attend games), may have been the position where no transaction took place. The Nats are gambling on Kieboom performing, and we hope said gamble pays off.