Washington Nationals: Sean Doolittle kicked to the curb by Reds
I don’t have a good analogy, though I can think of an appropriate scenario. Say, one of your best friends loses his job. Now, this is a guy was good at his job. He helped his company be the best in the business one year. Sure, his productivity tailed off of late, but injuries had a lot to do with his ineffectiveness. Unfortunately, former Washington Nationals pitcher, Sean Doolittle is the person in this scenario.
Our buddy, Obi-Sean Kenobi, has been designated for assignment by the Cincinnati Reds. While this move is the right move from a competitive standpoint, from a friend standpoint, it stinks.
Doolittle won over Nationals fans with his eccentric personality and solid play on the field. He was dominant in his All-Star campaign of 2018, and solid before falling to injury in the World Series run of 2019.
Many point to overuse as the reason why Doolittle’s arm failed him towards the end of the year, and this was evidenced by his league high 55 games finished. His 2020 season hardly mattered as he began the season as the set-up man and ended on the Injured List.
Just like that, the Sean Doolittle, Nationals tenure was over.
Former Nationals closer Sean Doolittle has been designated for assignment by the Cincinnati Reds.
Doolittle sat in free agency until early February, then signed with the Reds for $1.5M. A steal for a guy with 111 career saves and a plethora of high leverage innings under his belt. Yes, the injury bug lingered, but a low risk-high reward signing at the time.
After struggling earlier in the year, Doolittle was beginning to pull things together. The ERA wasn’t pretty and the WHIP was too high, yet the Reds were winning and hanging in the wild card race. In fact, in eight of his last nine appearances Doolittle entered a game and collected outs without giving up a run. In seven of those appearances he didn’t give up a hit.
As the Reds continue their surge towards the top of the wild card standings, they decided to move on without Doolittle. He hasn’t been terrible, though he hasn’t always been reliable. Doolittle should garner interest on waivers, or if not, will sign with someone after being released.
Next. Nationals go dumpster diving. dark
Even though this probably was the correct baseball move to make for Cincinnati, it’s hard to watch an old friend go from glory to unemployment so fast.