Photo by Sol Tucker/Nats.Talk

The Washington Nationals are back to .500 this morning. In 11 days, the team will reach the halfway mathematical point in the season. A week after that is July 1. Four days after that is the All-Star team “reveal” show. Let’s start there. This team has two mega stars in James Wood and CJ Abrams. And the supporting cast around them is good also. We can accentuate the positives.

The minor league system is led by Eli Willits, and whether Abrams stays or goes, his heir apparent is just 18 years old and set to be the №1 prospect in all of baseball. MLB Pipeline has six Nats prospects in their Top-100. Four of them were drafted as shortstops, and the other two in the Top-100 are fireballer pitchers.

The future is bright. So don’t stress about Abrams whose employment is controlled by the Nationals through at least the end of the 2028 season. The prior front office flushed away millions that could have been used to extend Abrams back in 2022 when you could see the glimmers of greatness if he was coached up. Don’t blame me, I wanted Abrams extended 4 years ago much like the Brewers did with Jackson Chourio a year later in 2023.

What’s done is done. Again, there could be a silver slugger lining here in the Nats farm system. If the Nats are in contention in 30 days, the future trajectory goes in a different direction from fielding trade offers on Abrams to trying to extend him and adding some players at the trade deadline. Again, if Abrams isn’t extended, the Nats do have a plan.

And I digressed, that was a long and winding road to get back to today’s game. Former 1st round pick, Cade Cavalli, is back on the mound. The Nats need his best today. We are waiting for Cavalli to step up and be this team’s ace. He has shown glimpses. We need more. Time to give him the “A” defense also.

The Nats did make a roster move after last night’s game. Riley Cornelio has been optioned back to Triple-A. It’s expected that PJ Poulin will be his replacement on the roster. Here is Butera’s bullpen chart:

The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. The numbers are getting very large as the season is headed towards the halfway point on June 24. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.

Seattle Mariners vs. Washington Nationals

Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 89 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.