In the same press conference after the trade deadline where Mike DeBartolo explained why the Nationals retained MacKenzie Gore, which you can find our coverage of here, the Nationals interim GM tackled other questions from members of the media. I thought I'd share some things about his remarks that I found interesting.
"We're looking for guys with stuff, you know, guys that have performed well... a combination of both is really where our focus was. We feel like we got several guys that have that. Eriq Swan, a really big guy with big stuff, strikes a lot of guys out, has velocity, can spin the ball..."
- DeBartolo on the pitchers they acquired
Full disclosure, DeBartolo rather endeared himself to me during his introduction as interim general manager. My biggest issue with Mike Rizzo was his inability to keep the Nationals up to speed with the technological advances taking place through MLB over the last decade; DeBartolo's messaging seemed to indicate his awareness of that issue throughout the organization and a determination to get the system back on track.
With that being said, DeBartolo seems to be placing a pretty balanced emphasis on internal models and strikeout rate versus finding tangible success at different levels of the minor leagues. I say this even as a big Stuff+ enjoyer: there are some guys, like the Rays' Mason Montgomery, who are pitch modeling darlings but for one reason or another are consistently unable to find results. It's often because they can't find the strike zone; DeBartolo's stressing of performance indicates a desire to find guys who can translate positive results in internal pitch modeling into positive results on the field. It's not quite "I don't care how hard you throw ball 4," which is where the team started to lose me last year.
"I do think--and, you know, this is no knock on how we've done things in the past, everybody has their own recipe for success and everybody has their own style of how they do things--I think probably some of the conversation in the room this year was a little different in some ways... where maybe some elements of player-tracking data or how we're evaluating players was somewhat different, but we also had strong scouting takes as well and were talking to scouts. So I think... some of the conversations and what was discussed were a little bit different. Maybe a little bit more emphasis on the numbers in certain situations, but also still heavily valuing what our scouts on the ground saw all across the country."
- DeBartolo on how data drove his deadline
This ties into what I said above. DeBartolo speaks with a certain vagueness--a lot of "you know"s, "probably"s, and "maybe"s--but it doesn't feel necessarily too far removed from how front office personnel typical communicates with the media. There's still a messaging getting across: DeBartolo feels that the Nationals are now placing a more heightened emphasis on data analysis than in years past, which is a sorely needed departure from how Mike Rizzo operated.
DeBartolo spoke highly of Kyle Finnegan when asked about what he meant to the team. He indicated that he spoke directly to Finnegan upon his trade; Rizzo, for his part, was never particularly distant from players, either, but it's a reassuring sign that DeBartolo is continuing that approach. Poor communication between players and the front office has been the downfall of player-team relationships time and again in baseball, most notably recently the breakdown of relationships between the Boston Red Sox and star slugger Rafael Devers that led to his blockbuster trade to the San Francisco Giants.
Mike cited Dylan Crews' imminent return to the active roster as a major reason to trade Alex Call; the team's outfield depth has made itself apparent, with Jacob Young potentially losing playing time to Daylen Lile and Robert Hassell III in the coming months.
The last thing that stood out to me was the favor with which DeBartolo spoke about Sean Paul Liñan, citing Liñan's excellent changeup and results in 16 appearances across the Advanced-A and Double-A levels. Liñan slotted into the No. 10 position in MLB Pipeline's rankings of the Nationals' top 30 prospects.
What are your thoughts on the job Mike DeBartolo has done in his short tenure as interim general manager of the Nationals? Were you a fan of his trade deadline? Let me know on Twitter @TheOttSpot and @DistrictOnDeck.