TUESDAy, MARCH 3 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ sU D3
ASSOCIATED PRESSNathan Eovaldi hopes to
bounce back f rom an awful 2 019.
He helped the Boston red Sox
win the 2018 World Series, throw-
ing 97 pitches over six innings in
the 18-inning Game 3 loss to the
Los Angeles Dodgers. Eovaldi al-
lowed max muncy’s game-ending
home run, b ut his outing was cred-
ited as saving the rest of the bull-
pen — and Boston won Game 4
and G ame 5 to take the title.
After signing a four-year,
$68 million contract, he slumped
to a 2-1 record with a 5.99 ErA in
12 starts and 11 relief appearances
last year. He threw just 67^2 / 3 in-
nings, slowed by arthroscopic el-
bow surgery April 23 to remove
loose bodies in his right elbow. He
did n ot return until July 20.
“ I feel like I’m coming in with a
better idea and a better approach,”
Eovaldi said. “Had a lot of time to
work on it in the offseason, and I
knew exactly what I wanted to
work on.
The 30-year-old right-hander
hopes to slot into the rotation
behind ace Chris Sale and Eduar-
do rodriguez. Sale will start the
season on the injured list while
recovering from p neumonia.
Eovaldi, who came back from
To mmy John surgery in 2007 and
2016, has been reaching 100 mph
during spring training.
“ If he’s healthy, he’s a big arm,”
teammate J.D. martinez s aid.
l DoDgErs: N ational League
mVP Cody Bellinger was
scratched from t he s tarting l ineup
monday for a g ame against C in-
cinnati.
The outfielder took part in a
charity event Sunday night in
Scottsdale, Ariz., and video
showed him h itting a long d rive o ff
a tee.
G olf swings aren’t believed to
be the reason for his injury,
m anager Dave roberts said.
Bellinger, who is 4 for 13 with
two doubles this spring, had been
scheduled to play center field and
bat fourth.
Left-hander David Price, 3 4,
made his first a ppearance for Los
Angeles in monday’s 6-2 loss, al-
lowing t wo runs and three hits in
11 / 3 innings with three strikeouts
and two walks.
l rEDs: T hird baseman
E ugenio Suárez’s availability for
opening Day remains in question
as he recovers from Jan. 28 shoul-
der s urgery.
Suárez, hurt while diving into a
pool, has p rogressed to taking in-
field practice, playing catch and
hitting i n the b atting c age.
“I feel better every day,” said
Suárez, 28, whose 49 homers last
year were a record for a National
League third baseman and for a
player f rom Venezuela.
l PIrAtEs: Left-hander S te-
ven Brault has a strained pitching
shoulder and will be evaluated in
two weeks, the team said.
Brault is trying to earn a spot
with Pittsburgh after splitting l ast
season between the bullpen and
starting rotation. The 2 7-year-old
has struggled in two appearances
this spring, allowing two runs and
four hits i n 2^1 / 3 innings.
Brault went 4 -6 w ith a 5.16 ErA
in 19 starts and six relief appear-
ances for the P irates last season.
l BroADCAstIng: H all of
fame third baseman Chipper
Jones j oined the ESPN lineup.
The former Atlanta s tar will
work as a major league analyst,
primarily on weeknight and holi-
day games. He’ll debut on open-
ing Day when San francisco plays
at D odger Stadium o n march 26.
Jones, 4 7, twice worked last year
as a guest a nalyst for ESPN. He hit
.303 w ith 468 home r uns a nd 1 ,623
rBI i n a 19-year career.
l rAngErs: To dd frazier and
Greg Bird are at opposite corners
for Te xas a nd a t different s tages in
their careers.
frazier, 34, clearly was not the
top choice at third base for the
rangers, considering their well-
publicized pursuit of Anthony
rendon this offseason. But the
two-time all-star can provide
some s tability after six different
players started at the hot corner
for Texas last season.
f razier, who spent the past two
seasons with the New York mets,
signed a $3.5 million contract for
this season that includes a 2021
club option with a $1.5 million
buyout.
Bird, 27, s igned a nonroster d eal
and is g etting an opportunity to
compete for the first base job. He
played just 10 games l ast season
before being s idelined by a plantar
fascia t ear in his l eft foot.SPRING TRAINING NOTESRed Sox,
Eovaldi
hoping for
resurgence
hitter, c ould hit a s high as sixth
when he’s i n there.
Which all kind o f points to a
leading c andidate to hit t hird.
“I like Starlin,” martinez said.
In h is 10-year career, Castro
has h it all over the lineup —
including 2 07 s tarts hitting third.
The Nationals s igned h im to a
two-year, $12 million d eal b ased
not o nly on martinez’s h istory
working w ith him when both
were with the C hicago Cubs, but
because in the s econd half of
2019, he f ocused on h itting the
ball in t he air more a nd produced
an .892 oPS — a number he h as
never approached over t he course
of a full season.
Is t hat sustainable? It m ight
have to be.
“His b at-to-ball skills are really
good,” martinez said. “He’s not
going to walk, per s e, but he’s
going to put t he b all in play....
Every year h e gets 185 t o 200 hits,
so he’s g oing t o be o n quite a bit.”
That w ould be nice — i f it were
true. Castro has e xceeded 185 h its
once in his career, and it was in
2011, when he was on the r ise with
the C ubs.
But t hat shows w here
martinez’s mind must go, wishing
and h oping facts into existence.
Anthony rendon is g one.
Someone has t o hit i n his place.
The Nats might w ell be
productive offensively. But the
rest-your-head-on-the-pillow
element o f the lineup? That
walked out west with the f ormer
third baseman, and his old
manager i s left t o fiddle with the
options that remain.
[email protected]For more by Barry svrluga, visit
washingtonpost.com/svrluga.second base as much as possible,”
martinez said.
Plus, martinez l ikes the r ight-
handed Turner at t he top of t he
order followed by left-handed-
hitting A dam Eaton. D uring the
17-game postseason run that
resulted in a World Series title,
the t op of martinez’s lineup —
Turner, Eaton, rendon, Soto —
never changed. martinez doesn’t
have rendon. B ut he w ould prefer
a set top f our.
So start going through the
other options. T here are people in
the o rganization who believe
Kendrick, c oming off a season i n
which h e posted an oPS (.966)
that was more than 210 p oints
above his career n umber, c ould
hit t hird. B ut Kendrick is 3 6 and
by design w on’t p lay every day.
The best b et i s that h e — o r
Zimmerman or lefty power h itter
Eric Thames — h its fifth,
depending on the m atchup. Soto
might still draw w alks, but a
veteran hitter would be t here to
make the o pponent pay.
moving o n. martinez dreams of
a day when robles, still just 22, i s
worthy of a top-of-the-order spot.
“Can you imagine t hose three
guys together?” martinez said,
adding robles to the Turner-
Eaton m ix. “That’d be pretty
impressive.” B ut r obles is more
likely t o hit seventh or eighth —
unless he hits n inth on the
occasions w hen martinez bumps
the p itcher t o eighth, which he
said he might do m ore frequently.
The catcher, be i t Kurt S uzuki
or Yan Gomes, w ould be fine in
the s eventh or eighth spot, too —
unless prospect C arter Kieboom
wins the third base job, i n which
case he would probably b e that
low. Asdrúbal Cabrera, a switchproduced t he most runs (873) i n
Nationals history.
“But I think we still can s core
runs,” Z immerman s aid.
Before getting into t he most
likely w ays they will d o that,
know this: Analytics d epartments
will tell you that, of the minutiae
about which t o obsess — a nd
there are plenty — t he
construction of the l ineup ranks
well down t he list. Defensive
positioning — w here to play and
when to shift — i s more
important. Bullpen usage — h ow
to match u p and w hom to rest —
is more i mportant. Plus, the
numbers will t ell y ou t hat the
place i n the o rder to write i n your
best hitter is second, not third. I t
is, for i nstance, where mike Trout
hits now.
So some of t he lineup-
construction debate — w ho
should hit where — i s frivolous.
Still, the manager h as to write
down nine n ames every night.
Start, then, with what’s
unlikely t o happen: Turner, the
fleet-footed s hortstop who led the
National League in stolen b ases
two seasons a go, hit third f or
martinez early in s pring.
martinez’s reaction: “I didn’t
really like it,” h e said.
“Trea, one of h is big a ssets is
his speed,” martinez said. “We
want him to get on and c ause
havoc a nd get him to steal bases.
I’m afraid i f we let him h it third,
he won’t steal a s much j ust
because he wants Juan t o hit.”
Play that out i n your m ind:
Turner g ets on, with Soto up next.
Turner s wipes s econd. And Soto
gets i ntentionally w alked. That
could get in Turner’s head, and
martinez doesn’t w ant that.
“I want [ Turner] to get totime to get work i n and go h ome.
for the manager, it’s t ime to
tinker.
“Losing Anthony leaves the
three hole o pen,” martinez said.
“We have a lot of options.”
A few on which martinez h as
run some n umbers i nclude S oto
hitting t hird with Howie
Kendrick fourth. They i nclude
newcomer S tarlin C astro h itting
third with Soto b ack a t cleanup.
They i nclude c enter fielder Victor
robles climbing u p near t he t op
with Turner sliding to third. They
include...
“We’re going to try a bunch of
things d own h ere,” martinez said.
Keep the options coming. None
of them i nvolves writing rendon’s
name in the t hree hole. T here is
no marquee r eplacement for that
spot. T he s olution must come
from within. And the fan base
might not find it too s atisfying.
Just w hat are the Nats trying t o
replace? L ast year, rendon made
137 o f his 146 starts hitting t hird.
No t eam i n baseball p roduced a
higher o n-base-plus-slugging
percentage out of the three hole
than Washington ( .977). S oto
made 130 of h is 150 starts h itting
fourth. only two teams produced
a higher o PS t han the Nats ( .929)
from the c leanup spot.
Washington w as the o nly team in
baseball to have a .900-plus oPS
from both of those spots.
So the lineup without r endon,
who left as a free agent for the Los
Angeles A ngels, is g oing to be a
source o f concern a nd
consternation n ot just f or
martinez but for fans. T he
combination o f rendon and Soto
anchored a batting order thatsVrlugA from D1BARRY SVRLUGARendon is hard to replace, but Nats will have to try
excerpted from
washingtonpost.com/nationals
Martinez is in no rush
to use his top relievers
The Washington Nationals’
prized bullpen trio is starting
slow. Closer Sean Doolittle was
effective Sunday when he b ecame
the f irst of t hem t o appear in live
game action. The left-hander
allowed just one flare single t o left
while s triking out two New York
mets over 15 p itches (10 strikes).
There w as no r adar gun in Port
St. L ucie, fla., but manager Dave
martinez thought Doolittle’s
signature high f astball had good
velocity a nd better-than-usual
late l ife.
Will Harris, w ho was recently
sidelined with an abdomen
injury, t hrew on flat ground
Sunday, a nd D aniel Hudson
ended up m aking h is s pring
training debut monday.
martinez h as insisted a ll t hree
pitchers not rush back because he
understands last year’s
postseason extended them. Not
being r eady for camp was a
serious concern for Doolittle, and
he has remained in contact with
strength a nd conditioning coach
matt E iden a nd athletic trainer
Greg Barajas t hrough h is d aily
knee-strengthening routine.
The results Sunday boosted his
confidence. He wants to establish
a third p itch beyond his fastball
and c hange-up, and h e liked the
five sliders h e threw against the
mets. (He used the pitch
5.8 percent of t he time l ast year.)
But h e was m ost pleased with the
pitch that has defined h is career.
“It usually t akes me w eeks in
camp to get swings a nd m isses on
my f astball,” h e said. “I’m hoping
that a lot of the work I did this
offseason is t ranslating.... I
would’ve liked to have put a little
finer point on that inning, but for
my f irst outing, I ’m r eally excited
about it.”
Kieboom is struggling
Carter Kieboom’s struggles at
third base are now affecting him
at t he p late.
The 22-year-old f inished 0 for 3
with two strikeouts Sunday,
lowering h is batting average to
.083. T his is spring training, so
the n umbers don’t matter, but
they illustrate a larger concern for
the Nationals. martinez s aid in
January t hat the t eam would g ive
Kieboom every chance t o win the
third base job f or opening Day
and t hat the Nationals would live
with growing pains defensively
because they knew h e could h it.
But i f he slips in both aspects,
making the t eam at a ll becomes a
more difficult proposition.
The Nationals a re having
Kieboom work on h is footwork
before p ractice. o ne of the o lder
infielders, A sdrúbal Cabrera,
started mentoring him a s well.
Ye t it was a particularly t ough
weekend because, before
Sunday’s struggles at t he p late, he
allowed a manageable g roundball
through h is legs Saturday. I t
disrupted the r hythm of pitcher
Erick fedde, who left b efore
completing the i nning. Kieboom
drew a four-pitch walk later i n
that game, b ut martinez t hought
the e ffects lingered t he next day.
“He might be pressing just a
little bit,” martinez said. “I t ried
telling him: ‘ Go u p there and h ave
fun. Be aggressive.’ ”
Garcia shows growth
Another homegrown i nfielder,
Luis Garcia, is m aking q uite a
first impression. The left-handed-
hitting 1 9-year-old hammered a
two-run homer to right-center
field S aturday, and the Nationals
didn’t shy away f rom drawing a
small c omparison to Juan S oto.
Garcia is the Nationals’ s econd-
best prospect b ehind K ieboom,
according to mLB P ipeline, and
profiles as a second baseman i n
the m ajors.
“Saw this little skinny kid when
I first got here t hat everybody
talked about, and now he’s j ust
filling out,” martinez said. “Every
time I look a t him, I say, ‘You
going to stop g rowing soon?’ ”
Soto hits showstopper
T his weekend, o n a back field a t
the s pring t raining c omplex, Soto
launched a sky-scraping s hot
similar t o his home run i n Game 6
of the World Series. The only
differences were that h e didn’t
carry h is bat to first base a nd w ay
fewer p eople saw it.
Those w ho did s ee it s topped
what they were doing at t he crack
of the bat. He turned a routine
spring training drill into t heater,
and h itting c oach Kevin Long
shook h is h ead as the ball hit far
up on the n etting i n right-center.
Even those who know the 21-year-
old b est can still be s urprised.
— S am Fortier
NATIONALS NOTESbaseball
JonatHan newton/tHe wasHIngton Post
Dave Martinez is striving to put a positive spin on his lineup without Anthony rendon. “We have a lot of options,” the manager said.inning-ending fielder’s c hoice.
“That’s to be expected. That’s
where we want him to be,” marti-
nez said of Hudson’s fatigue. “Got
to fight through that and see
where h e’s at.”
The plan is to give Hudson two
days off, then have him pitch
again T hursday. m artinez w ill feel
out the situation from there, but
he wants to work Hudson, Doolit-
tle and Harris into back-to-back
games at some point. He would
like to see them get four outs as
well, just so they can get a feel for
what they might do across the
eighth and ninth innings this sea-
son. That doesn’t faze Hudson,
who has served in every bullpen
role throughout his career. He
closed last season even though he
hates closing. But he doesn’t w ant
to get hung up on last year.
“Trying to put everything that
happened last year in the
rearview,” he said. “[I] look for-
ward to competing again... out
there with the guys. It was a lot of
fun to do that today.”
Ye t as Hudson headed toward
the dugout monday, it was impos-
sible not to think of the roller
coaster that has been the past year
of his life. The reliever kept walk-
ing, head down, and it became
apparent the biggest difference
about him from october wasn’t
the stakes or the setting or any-
thing else. It was that, this time,
Daniel Hudson still had his glove
on.
[email protected]manager Dave martinez
thought Hudson started well,
even though his first two batters
doubled and singled. The sinker,
the one responsible for getting
him a contract with the Toronto
Blue Jays after the Angels cut him,
the one that attracted the Nation-
als to trade for him, wasn’t where
he wanted it to be. But he believed
it will come back, and Hudson
picked up his lone strikeout with a
good slider.
Then the right-hander tired out
for his final hitter. Garrett Cooper,
one of the marlins’ better b ats, got
two balls u p that should have been
down but still grounded into ana game as soon as this weekend.
The health of those three is
paramount. The Nationals believe
their b ullpen’s b ack end, a historic
liability last season, is now an
advantage that could be capable
of compensating for a less potent
lineup without Anthony rendon
and any potential needs of a rota-
tion taxed by the postseason. Hud-
son’s start, in a small way, heart-
ened those hopes.
“Knee felt good,” h e said. “ We’ve
put in a lot of work over the last
couple months trying to get it
stable and f eeling good, and so far,
so good. It’s j ust getting those reps
and seeing how it feels tomorrow.”spring debut: The miami marlins
tagged Hudson for three hits and
two runs.
“If I would’ve had that outing at
the beginning of the year last year,
I would’ve been pretty down on
myself,” Hudson said. “I would’ve
put myself behind the eight ball a
little bit as a nonroster invite to
make the team.... [But now I
know] one pitch won’t knock me
down a peg or two on the pecking
order.”
Because he is Daniel Hudson,
he added that doesn’t mean he
lost his edge.
“I’m still trying to go out there
and put zeros up no matter what,”
he said. “Not trying to be too
complacent, even though every-
thing’s kind of set in stone with
me, per se. I t’s just a little bit easier
to have these outings a nd take the
positives.”
The appearance, while rocky,
was significant in the big picture.
It came one day after the spring
debut of Sean Doolittle, who
looked dangerous against the
New York mets with his signature
high fastball and developing slid-
er. It meant Doolittle and Hudson
— projected to share the ninth
inning this year — completed
frames without the pain in their
knees that hampered them last
season. It put the bullpen’s big
three on the cusp of a full go, with
Will Harris, sidelined by an abdo-
men injury, expected to work intonAtIonAls from D1Hudson is happy to have job security with N ationals
JoHn McDonnell/tHe wasHIngton Post
Daniel Hudson is glad he can survive a rough outing, but he said,
“I’m still trying to go out there and put zeros up no matter what.”