Following an ugly defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night that saw the home team Washington Nationals get shutout by one of their former 1st round picks, the only silver lining seemed to be that the game was on Apple TV+, which likely limited the amount of eyeballs on the game.
Erick Fedde, a failed 1st round pick of the organization back in 2014, had his revenge game against the organization that drafted him, attempted to develop him, and gave up on him, while doing so in spectacular fashion. He threw a complete game shutout, allowing just 6 hits, 3 of them by CJ Abrams, and struck out 8 Nationals while failing to issue a base on balls. It had to feel good for Fedde, who needed just 109 pitches to mow down the flailing Nationals lineup.
With the Nationals seemingly not wanting to hit today to back up a struggling Mitchell Parker, manager Davey Martinez turned to struggling reliever Lucas Sims later in the game, who just did not have it at all last night. The righty came in and hit the first batter, Jordan Walker, with a pitch, and then consecutive walks to Pedro Pagés and Victor Scott II, allowing the lineup to turn over with the bases loaded.
Masyn Winn singled, bringing in a pair of Cardinals runners to make it 7-0 St. Louis, and Sims followed that up by throwing a wild pitch, bringing in another run to make it 8-0. As if things couldn't get any worse, Sims walked Brendan Donovan to load the bases again, and then walked Willson Contreras with the bases loaded again to bring in another run. That would be the end of his outing, and as we came to find out, the end of his tenure with the Nationals.
Finally, the team decided enough was enough with Sims, who was no longer able to be defended after this final straw. Friday's disaster of an outing brought his ERA to 13.86 and his WHIP to 2.27, and after 18 games of the Lucas Sims experiment, his time has run out, and he has been Designated for Assignment. The Nationals currently have the worst bullpen in baseball, and Sims has been one of the main reasons why.
While the team has yet to announce a corresponding move at the time of writing this article, with that announcement set to come on Saturday morning most likely, Sims being DFA'd opened up a spot on the 40-man roster, which could pave the way for someone not on the 40-man roster to have their contract selected, although that seems unlikely, as anyone at AAA Rochester that isn't already on it doesn't really seem ready for a call-up.
I would anticipate the corresponding move to bring up Zach Brzykcy, who was up with the club on Tuesday for the doubleheader against the Guardians, as at the very worst he can't be as bad as Sims...right?
How relieved are you to be free from the Lucas Sims experiment? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.