The Nationals Are Poor at Run Prevention
Although it wasn’t the entire reason, Manny Acta was fired in part because of the atrocious defense played by the Nationals. The collection of gloves is the worst in the league, with a -27.2 combined UZR. Not only is that nearly three wins thrown away by poor leather, but also nearly 10 runs worst than the Marlins, who rank 29th. Giving Acta a DH to shuffle around multiple outfield positions and one too many talented corner outfielders with one too few talented centerfielders was a recipe for defensive inadequacy.
It seems like a mistake to play an outfield that features Dunn, Elijah Dukes, and Corey Patterson and have Patterson play right, but that’s what Acta did on Sunday. Maybe he didn’t care anymore; after all, rumors of his termination were already well spread by Saturday night. Critics of Acta’s are going to write that he was fired because his rotation has a 5.19 ERA. In reality their 4.82 FIP isn’t fantastic, but is lower than the Rangers rotation. The difference is defense.
Amongst the Nationals problems this year:
First baseman Nick Johnson is usually a solid defender but has taken his lumps in 2009. His Range Runs are in the negative as are his Error Runs. Johnson’s range has been trending down for three consecutive seasons, yet it still seems like a safe bet to expect that to move closer to 0 rather than towards -5 as the season continues. The low point of his season may have been on Friday night, when he dropped a foul ball and Gabe Kapler homered on the next pitch.
Willie Harris is statistically the Nationals worst fielder. Harris is usually a solid defender. As with Johnson, I don’t buy that his skills have decayed in the matter of one off-season. Even the increased time in center shouldn’t have this affect on him.
Adam Dunn is … well …. Adam Dunn.
Obviously Acta isn’t without blame, but he should take this as a learning experience. Much like how Terry Francona did.
While I’m sure he will be before too long, you’re jumping the gun a bit here – Manny Acta has not yet been fired. Might want to edit that part of your article for the time being.
He got the always loved ‘vote of confidence’. He’s done.
Nice piece, RJ. I think you should do a whole series this season called, ‘the Nationals are poor at [fill in blank]’.
While Acta may very well be fired soon, he hasn’t been axed as of now (9:30 am).
Still nothing as of 11:00…
Got to love a sport where a competant manager can get the axe so quickly, while Jerry Manuel and Ozzie Guillen can continue to ruin their teams offensive production.
I’m not sure how Ozzie Guillen is ruining his team’s offensive production, more than the roster not being constructed appropriately by Ken Williams? Dewayne Wise playing at all is the only thing that comes to mind, but the way the lineup is constructed when Wise is not playing seems to be the best they can do.
In this case, it seems clear the onus is on the players – it’s not the manager’s fault they were like 5-50 with RISP in the past series, etc. I do blame Greg Walker, the hitting coach, for continual underachievement, but I also don’t think the hitting coach has that much influence on most players.
Ozzie is also great with the SP, though his bullpen management needs tweaking. More often than not in tie/close games, he refuses to use Jenks, and loses the game with a lesser reliever. If I had one critique, bullpen usage would be the main one.
Dukes was in center/Patterson was in right because of hecklers in RF. If you recall, Dukes was a former TB player and has had a history of legal and family troubles while he was playing for them (just do a quick search on the internet and you will see what I am talking about). It is a lot better than the the Dunn-Dukes-Willingham OF we threw out there a few days ago. Not trying to defend Manny, just saying that is why it was that way.
If Acta is going to allow another teams’ fans (the Rays fans, nonetheless) to dictate 2/3 of his outfield defense, he deserves to get the can.
Real mangers put their players in a position to fail!
@ Rob: I can’t tell if that is sarcasim or not.
I believe it was at the request of Dukes himself who played in RF the night before. In theory, no manager should allow fans to dictate position changes, but I this was obviously a special situation formed by Dukes former tenure in TB and his his less than rosy past in that city.
It’s not like Rays fans are going to throw batteries at Dukes or anything…
In September 1998 I was at the Brewers/Cardinals series at County Stadium. Besides Mark McGwire being in the 60s, the big storyline was JD Drew finally debuting (after he had held out the year before and was redrafted). He was booed so mercilessly by the Brewers faithful that Drew requested to be removed from the game around the 5th inning.
Philly fans threw batteries at Drew when he first played there.
I saw a game at the Vet where Drew’s bat “slipped” out of his hands and flew into the stands. Maybe subconciously he wanted it to?
If the Nationals don’t want Manny Acta as their manager, I would take him for my team.
He hasn’t been fired yet. Pretty unprofessional of you, RJ.
While there are good points in this article, the whole thing is tarished by your opening statement, which is completely incorrect and is one of the most simple things to verify. Not cool. Makes me wonder if I should start second guessing more ‘facts’ on this site.
Elijah Dukes gift wrapped the Yankees two runs in the bottom of the 7th tonight.
He forgot what hand his glove was on
Seriously, can’t you at least edit that first sentence?