Sunday, March 17, 2024

2924 Pre-Season Profile: Chicago Cubs

 #25
The Chicago Cubs had a solid season in 2023, almost making the playoffs.  So ... they fired their manager.  Would the change in leadership lead to more success?


#15 - 2nd in NL Central
MIH - Dansby Swanson
MIP - Kyle Hendricks
PTW - Hayden Wesneski
FP - Ian Happ will be traded at the Trade Deadline.


2023 Results
#17 - 83-79, 2nd in NL Central
Highest WAR (Position) - Nico Hoerner
Highest WAR (Pitcher) - Justin Steele
The Cubs were about what I thought they would be in 2023, even though they may have done it in a different way.  Dansby Swanson, their prize of last off-season, was an All Star and got MVP votes despite being average at the plate.  Kyle Hendricks had a pretty good bounce back year also.  The surprises of 2023 were starter Justin Steele, infielder Nico Hoerner, and the resurrection of Cody Bellinger.  They were in the conversation for a playoff spot right to the end, finishing only 1 game out of a Wild Card berth.  By all accounts, 2023 was a pretty successful season from a big brand working their way back to the top.


Additions / Subtractions
So why did they fire their manager?!?  David Ross, a fan favorite back to his playing days, is out.  This move had nothing to do with David Ross and had everything to do with the fact that they could upgrade to Craig Counsell, who left the rival Brewers for the big market and the pig payday.  Three other additions of note: one got a lot of press, one got a little press, and one got very little, but all were significant.  First, Cody Bellinger finally re-signed with the Cubs after his huge turnaround season.  Next, the Cubs signed Japanese import Shota Imanaga to replace Marcus Stroman in the rotation.  He was a top pitcher in Japan and could turn into a huge signing.  Then, a small trade of prospects brought to the Cubs Michael Busch, who will be on the Opening Day roster and is set to have a big impact for the Cubs.


Most Important Hitter
Cody Bellinger
One of the most fascinating free agency cases this off-season was Cody Bellinger.  He's been an MVP, he's been one of the worst hitters in baseball, and last year he made a triumphant return to his old form.  However, heading into free agency, which player do you pay?  Bellinger wanted to be paid like the potential MVP candidate, while clubs were more skeptical that he was back.  The Cubs, more out of necessity, finally paid him, but waited till after Spring Training had already started to do so.  Now, they have significant funds invested in the Bellinger of 2023.  If he continues to show that's once again who he is, the Cubs lineup could be quite potent.  If not, the Cubs could be stuck with the contract they didn't want.


Most Important Pitcher
Shota Imanaga
I thought about going with Justin Steele here after his huge breakout in 2023, but Shota Imanaga might determine the true success of this pitching staff.  Japanese pitchers have had mixed success in the majors.  When they are good, they're really good.  When they're not, they can really struggle.  Imanaga has a chance to be really good and an ace of the staff like Masahiro Tanaka, Yu Darvish, and Shohei Ohtani, but he also could fall into the category of Hideki Irabu, Kei Igawa, and Yusei Kikuchi.


Prospect to Watch
Pete Crow-Armstrong
The Cubs have a bright future, with 7 players in the Top 100 Prospects.  The best of these is ready to break out in 2024 in Pete Crow-Armstrong.  Ranked the 16th best prospect in all of baseball, Crow-Armstrong is a 21 year old lefty outfielder that the Cubs acquired a few years ago in the Javier Baez trade with the Mets.  He is set to be a solid hitter with okay power, but his best tools are his speed and fielding ability.  He is a future Gold Glove winner in centerfield.  The Cubs are excited to give him the opportunity in 2024 to show what he's got.


2024 Predictions
4th in NL Central
The Cubs are on their way back to the top, so why are they so low?  They are in a weird division that literally anyone could win.  Someone has to finish in first, and someone has to finish in last.  Where some divisions are unpredictable because of how many elite teams there are, this division is unpredictable because all the teams are good but not great.  The Cubs are in the middle of that and have enough question marks that they could end up near the bottom of the standings.


Fearless Prediction
Pete Crow-Armstrong will win a 2024 Gold Glove.
Why wait?  If Pete Crow-Armstrong is as good as they say he is, the defense will transfer over immediately.  If the defense is as elite as it is supposed to be, this reality will only be held back by his playing time in his rookie season.  If he hits, he will get enough playing time to make this happen.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

2024 Pre-Season Profile: Milwaukee Brewers

 #26
The Milwaukee Brewers lost their manager and two aces this off-season, but they have a youth movement ready to become the new core for their next championship run.  Will the kids bring wins in 2024?


#22 - 3rd in NL Central
MIH - Christian Yelich
MIP - Devin Williams
PTW - Sal Frelick
FP - Corbin Burnes will be traded in the next 12 months.

2023 Results
#14 - 92-70, 1st in NL Central, lost in NLWC
Highest WAR (Position) - William Contreras
Highest WAR (Pitcher) - Corbin Burnes
The Brewers took advantage of an unpredictable division and rose to the top behind their strong pitching.  Although they didn't go far in the playoffs, the fact that they got there made the season a success.  From last year's article, "Could they win 90 games?  Maybe.  Could they lose 90?  Probably not, but maybe."  I skewed closer to the 90 losses than the 90 wins.  I missed on that prediction, however...


Additions / Subtractions
... my Fearless Prediction was right!  Corbin Burnes got his huge haul from the Orioles, and the Brewers couldn't say no.  Then, their other ace, Brandon Woodruff, was re-signed even though he probably won't pitch in 2024 with an injury.  Those are big losses, however the biggest loss may have been manager Craig Counsell leaving Milwaukee to manage the rival Cubs.  The only significant additions are first baseman Rhys Hoskins and catcher/hitter Gary Sanchez.


Most Important Hitter
Willy Adames
One of the biggest surprises of the 2021 season was the emergence of shortstop Willy Adames after his trade to Milwaukee from Tampa.  In under 100 games with the Brewers, he garnered MVP votes.  However, since that breakout season his production has been in a slow decline.  Topping out with a 137 OPS+ in 2021, since he has earned a 110 OPS+ in 2022 and 95 in 2023, making him a below average hitter last season.  The power was still there, hitting 24 homers, but the average and on base dipped.  If Adames can return to his All Star level of 2021, he will stabilize this young lineup ... or turn into a more valuable trade chip.


Most Important Pitcher
Freddy Peralta
Just like Adames, Freddy Peralta peaked in his young career in 2021 and has come back down to earth some over the last two seasons.  Now, with no Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta is going to be looked at as the ace.  After a solid, but not elite, 2023 season, Peralta gets the promotion, and he will show this season just how ready he is for it.


Prospect to Watch
Jackson Chourio
The Brewers took this step back heading into 2024 because their strong farm system is ready to provide their big league roster with a load of talent.  Sporting the 3rd best farm system in baseball, the Brewers feature 5 Top 100 prospects, however the prize of their system will be their Opening Day center fielder.  Jackson Chourio is a 20 year old phenom currently ranked as the 2nd best prospect in all of baseball.  He has all the tools and all the potential.  The Brewers believe in him so much that they gave him an 8 year, $82 million extension before ever playing an inning in the big leagues, a record contract for someone in his shoes.  He's going to be a star.  The question is if his star shines right out of the gate at age 20, or will he take some time to settle into the big leagues.  If he takes off, Chourio could become a must see star this season.  Add him to last year's top rook Sal Frelick and former MVP Christian Yelich, and the Brewers outfield could be fun to watch.


2024 Prediction
5th in NL Central
I think this is the first team that has a realistic shot at the postseason.  That's how deep the league is this year.  The Brewers are one of those teams that always seem to win and compete.  With that said, I think they have just lost a little too much this off-season to stay at the top of the Central.  There's a lot of interesting teams in this division that could easily fly or fail.  If they all fly, one of the reasons will be because the Brewers struggle.  Their lineup looks strong, but I can't see the pitching hold up.  You can't lose both aces off your staff and not replace them.  That's a rule.


Fearless Prediction
Jackson Chourio will spend time in AAA and still finish in the top 3 in Rookie of the Year.
It's not unprecedented that a young phenom has struggles when they first reach the big leagues.  Even Mike Trout struggled so much he was sent back down to the minors for some time.  Jackson Chourio is 20 years old.  Not everyone becomes an instant star at that age like Julio Rodriguez.  I see Chourio needing a reset within the first month or two after some initial struggles, but he will be ready once he's back.  Talk about a roller coaster season!


Monday, March 11, 2024

2024 Pre-Season Profile: Chicago White Sox

 #27
The Chicago White Sox entered 2023 with one of the most talented rosters in baseball, then they lost 100 games.  Could they have a better record in 2024 after trading away much of their roster?


#8 - 1st in AL Central, lose in ALDS
MIH - Luis Robert Jr.
MIP - Lucas Giolito
PTW - Oscar Colas
FP - Andrew Vaughn has a better season in 2023 than Jose Abreu.

2023 Results
#27 - 61-101, 4th in AL Central
Highest WAR (Position) - Luis Robert Jr.
Highest WAR (Pitcher) - Mike Clevinger
There was a version of the 2023 season where the Chicago White Sox won the division.  It honestly seemed more likely that happened than they lose 100 games.  Yet here we are.  Direct quote from last year's article, "I have been really high on this team for three years in a row now...  If the White Sox fail me again, I'm out."  Well, it looks like the White Sox gave up too, starting to unload talent mid-season.  I will say, one of my favorite fearless predictions last year did pay off.  Neither had great seasons, but Andrew Vaughn finished with a 101 OPS+, .743 OPS, 21 homers, 80 RBI's, and a 0.9 WAR.  Former White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu had an 87 OPS+, .680 OPS, 18 homers, 90 RBI's, and a 0.0 WAR.  Advantage (barely) goes to Vaughn.  I guess the White Sox made one right decision entering 2023.


Additions / Subtractions
The White Sox were quite active this off-season.  Gone are Yasmani Grandal, Elvis Andrus, Tim Anderson, Seby Zavala, Mike Clevinger, Kendall Graveman, Gregory Santos, Aaron Bummer ... and that's not even including the mid-season trades last year of Jake Burger, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, and Reynaldo Lopez.  The addition list is nowhere near as impressive.  Entering the fold for 2024 are starters Michael Soroka, Erick Fedde, Chris Flexen, catcher Martin Maldonado, and infielders Nicky Lopez and Paul DeJong.


Most Important Hitter
Eloy Jimenez
No one on the White Sox roster better encapsulates this latest White Sox run than Eloy Jimenez.  Ever since he was acquired from the cross-town rival Cubs in 2017 in the Jose Quintana trade, Jimenez has been one of the most talented players on the White Sox roster.  However, injuries have kept Eloy from reaching his full potential, topping out at 122 games over the last 5 seasons, and that was his rookie year when he hit 31 homers.  Since then, his only other season over 100 games had him reaching 120 games and 18 homers.  The good news is that was last season.  This is the last year before Eloy hits free agency, and the hope of a healthy Jimenez leaves him as one of the most intriguing trade chips at the Trade Deadline.  As the White Sox are resetting the whole roster, a strong start from the slugger would bring back a maximum return in a trade.


Most Important Pitcher
Dylan Cease
Through all the turnover on the White Sox roster this off-season, possibly the biggest story was the move they didn't make.  Dylan Cease is still on the White Sox roster.  The Cy Young runner up in 2022 was nowhere near as effective in 2023, but with two years left before free agency, Cease remains a very hot commodity on the trade market.  Probably the only reason he wasn't traded was the very high asking price.  Now, just like Eloy Jimenez, the best thing Cease can do for the White Sox is start the year off as his 2022 self to bring back the king's ransom the White Sox want for their ace at the Trade Deadline or even next off-season.


Prospect to Watch
Colson Montgomery
The White Sox farm system is starting this rebuild in a not great spot, ranking 20th overall by MLB Pipeline with only 2 players in the Top 100 prospects.  However, one of those prospects is the 9th best prospect in baseball.  Colson Montgomery is a 22 year old shortstop that the White Sox took in the 1st round in 2021.  Drawing comparisons to Corey Seager as a tall, athletic, lefty hitting shortstop, his development and eventual debut in 2024 might be why face of the franchise Tim Anderson is no longer on the roster.  After the All Star Break, look for Montgomery to be called up simply so that the White Sox have something to cheer for.  They really need a win after last year's prospect to watch, Oscar Colas, flamed out spectacularly in 2023 and is barely considered a part of their long term plans anymore.


2024 Prediction
5th in AL Central
The White Sox might be the only team right now entering full rebuild mode.  With that said, thanks to their division, they are not guaranteed the cellar this season.  They also aren't done with their roster reset either.  It was bad last year when they were trying to be good.  It might be better this year as they start to try and be bad.  They do have further to go before they fully bottom out and build back up though.


Fearless Predictions
Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease will not be traded due to injuries.
Knowing the luck of the White Sox over the last handful of seasons, it would only make sense if their two best trade chips during a rebuild have injury-riddled seasons making them near untradable.  So of course that's what is going to happen.  It would be the perfect ending to one of the worst potential championship runs in recent memory.


2024 Pre-Season Profile: Colorado Rockies

 #28
The Colorado Rockies are stuck in one of the toughest divisions in all of baseball (there seem to be a lot of those this year...).  Will they be able to make a little noise in the top heavy NL West in 2024?


#27
MIH - Kris Bryant
MIP - German Marquez
PTW - Ezequiel Tovar
FP - Charlie Blackmon will not end the season in a Rockies uniform.

2023 Results
#28
Highest WAR (Position) - Nolan Jones
Highest WAR (Pitcher) - Kyle Freeland
The arch of the 2023 Colorado Rockies was not a good one.  Two of their most established pitchers went down with Tommy John surgery mid-season, most of their lineup struggled to be average, and their big budget star has struggled to stay healthy, only playing in 122 games over 2 seasons.  Even when he is healthy, Kris Bryant has been inconsistent at best.  In 2023, he was just bad.  The one bright spot in 2023 was the emergence of Nolan Jones, who looks like a star in the making.


Additions / Subtractions
When you are a rebuilding team in a strong division with a megadeal contract weighing down your payroll, there's not much to do in the off-season besides develop the young talent you have.  They barely made any fringe moves to accent their roster with veterans.  The most notable adds this off-season were starting pitchers Cal Quantrill and Dakota Hudson, filling in the spots of German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela as they recover from the dreaded elbow surgery.  There aren't really any notable subtractions, and the offensive personnel is pretty much the same as they ended last year with.


Most Important Hitter
Nolan Jones
After a true breakout year in 2023, many people are now talking about Nolan Jones as the "best player you haven't heard of."  Although the expectations are warranted after a 138 OPS+ in 2023 with 20 homers, 20 steals, 62 RBI's, and a .297 average in just 106 games, that is a high bar for someone with just 134 total big league games under their belt.  With that said, if Nolan Jones is able to continue his growth and truly becomes the star many are expecting, he could be a face of the franchise moving forward.


Most Important Pitcher
Dakota Hudson
Dakota Hudson is probably the most interesting flier the Rockies are taking this year.  Once a highly-touted prospect, Hudson showed flashes of brilliance over the last 6 seasons in St. Louis, but he could never develop much consistency in performance or health.  Now he has a fresh start entering his age 29 season.  With the injuries in the Rockies rotation, Dakota Hudson is going to have every opportunity to prove what he can do.  If he does, he could stabilize a rotation that never has any stability.


Prospect to Watch
Zac Veen
The Rockies currently sport the 19th best farm system with 4 Top 100 prospects, but none of them are expected to be ready this season.  However, a former Top 100 prospect could be ready in Zac Veen.  With the 9th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, the Rockies went with this high school prep outfielder that looked poised to be a star.  The start of his professional career showed that promise, but a wrist injury last season slowed his progress.  Now that Veen is healthy again, look for his swing to come back, his growth to continue, and for him to be manning a corner outfield spot opposite Nolan Jones before the end of the season.


2024 Prediction
5th in NL West
The Rockies are stuck in the cellar.  Their best case scenario in 2024 is to develop some of their young talent, establish a respectable rotation, watch Nolan Jones become a star ... and get beat up by the rest of their division.  In a few years, this could turn around, but not yet.

Fearless Prediction
Kris Bryant wins the 2024 Comeback Player of the Year.
You get a feeling that Kris Bryant has been so unreliable in his first two seasons in Denver that any contributions they get from him in 2024 are just a bonus to the player development they are working on with the rest of the roster.  However, you have to think Bryant still has something left in the tank.  He just has to stay healthy.  He's slated to be the everyday first baseman to try and keep him healthy.  If he plays over 100 games, he has a shot at the comeback title, which is one of the only awards Kris Bryant hasn't won in his crazy up-and-down career.


Sunday, March 10, 2024

Ricky Stanicky (2024) Movie Review

After winning multiple Oscars in 2024, Peter Farrelly has taken an intriguing direction in his career. The Greatest Beer Run Ever was an attempt to make another quirky dramedy in a setting that could be considered for awards, but the release was lackluster and really never got a fair shake from critics (although audiences really liked it) because of the backlash to Green Book. For Ricky Stanicky, Farrelly returns to his roots in pure comedy, and he somehow created one of the funniest films of the past couple years. It is a throwback to 90s/early 00s comedy when there was actually an audience and taste for things that are funny.

Ricky Stanicky follows three guys Dean (Zac Efron), Wes (Jermaine Fowler), and JT (Andrew Santino), who have been best friends since their childhood. Back when they were kids, they pulled a Halloween prank that turned into a disaster, and they inadvertently stumbled upon a brilliant idea of creating an imaginary fourth best friend named Ricky Stanicky, who they would use as the guy they could blame whenever one of them gets in trouble, needs an excuse to do something, and really just a scapegoat to avoid ever having to take responsibility for anything.


Now that they are adults, they have a dilemma. JT’s wife is due to have a child, but the three of them really want to go to a concert in Atlantic City. They use Stanicky once again, and they head out of town to be with him through his “cancer”. There, they meet Rock-Hard Rod (John Cena), a Vegas-style performer/actor who dresses up and sings pornographic parodies of popular songs. Back in Rhode Island, their families are getting suspicious of Stanicky, since none of them have ever met him. They cook up the idea to hire Rod to come and play Stanicky at JT’s kid’s Bris, and the lies and everything related to Stanicky are on full display and in the crosshairs.


This is a pretty brilliant setup for comic misadventures. The role of Rod/Stanicky is a tricky one, and it could make or break the movie. It needs to be a really talented actor, since the comic timing mixed with the shifts to actual engaging scene-stealing acting is required. The role was reportedly given to James Franco around 2010, when the movie was first pitched. It was then passed to Joaquin Phoenix at that weird time in his career. Then Jim Carrey signed on to reunite with Farrelly. Then Nicolas Cage before the movie was shelved for a while. Farrelly wins an Oscar, then go figure we end up with John Cena. He is not on the level of those actors, clearly, but he has proven in movies like Trainwreck that he has real acting chops while being completely silly most of the time. He kills it in Ricky Stanicky, and it is absolutely one of the Jason Momoa in Fast X-type role that we will all be fond of and remember throughout the whole year, a performance that had no business being as effective as it was.
Efron is essentially playing the straight one in this movie, and when I read that the movie was first pitched in 2010, it was clear that he was the Jason Bateman role. Santino was the Jason Sudeikis. Fowler was the Craig Robinson. It would have worked. Here, we get an interesting mix in actors. Efron is showing that he is a potentially great leading man. Santino is a stand-up comedian who has now been in two underrated 2024 films (Scrambled being the other), and Fowler is probably most known for The Blackening, at least recently. I was not familiar with his work. The three of them are believable together and all bring something unique to their characters. William H. Macy is hilarious in this as the boss to Dean and JT, and Jeff Ross is also in this as a rabbi. Yes, Rabbi Jeff Ross (below).
The movie has tons of highlights, most of which are centered around Cena. His song and dance performances are ridiculous, but they are absolutely something I would have killed to see one of those A-list actors mentioned before tackling. The scene where Cena first shows up at the Bris in full method acting (sober) and just owns the entire party shows that Cena really has the whole package. He plays the part of an actor who was never going to get the role of a lifetime but was absolutely capable of delivering it if he wasn’t stuck singing “Spooge Out My Penis” in full Alice Cooper garb.
Ricky Stanicky highlights something that I find incredibly fascinating. The Farrelly brothers have split up, and they are making their own films. Last year, we got a Bobby Farrelly film called Champions, which was surprisingly funny and treated really touchy material with authenticity and heart. And it was genuinely funny. That is what Bobby brought to the group, while with Peter it is clear that he had the filmmaking talent while also being the one with the sophomoric sense of humor. Shift the conversation to the Coen brothers, and we see something much different. Joel is the masterful filmmaker who is interested in the craftsmanship of the film, while Ethan was clearly the goof. After the disaster that was Drive-Away Dolls and Joel’s incredibly cold The Tragedy of Macbeth, we see that they need each other to not only keep each other grounded, but to also reign in their annoying tendencies. The Farrellys seem more equipped to handle things on their own, but we just won’t see another Shallow Hal or Kingpin where those two styles blend together perfectly.
There was a trend about a decade ago when these types of films were really common and big hits. Game Night, Horrible Bosses, and probably most notably Tag were movies where you had really good actors put into a completely outrageous premise, and the result was usually comedy gold because the actors actually take it seriously. This is another one in that tradition, but for some reason it didn’t really pick up any traction and wound up being a direct to Amazon Prime movie. I’m not necessarily complaining, it is hilarious and right there for everyone to watch for free, but it just gives more fuel to the groupthink critics who are still feeling raw about Green Book. Give this movie a chance, it is the funniest film I have seen in at least 6 months, and it is low-key the best movie released in 2024 so far. Grab a couple beers and check it out! It would have been a riot to see with a big audience, but it plays just fine at home.

3 stars

What are your thoughts on Ricky Stanicky? Do you like the direction Peter Farrelly is going in? Let me know in the comments!

Saturday, March 9, 2024

2024 Pre-Season Profile: Washington Nationals

 #29
The Washington Nationals are still rebuilding, but many of their highly-touted prospects are on the verge of a big league debut.  How long before they can contend again?


#29 - 5th in NL East
MIH - Joey Meneses
MIP - MacKenzie Gore
PTW - Cade Cavalli
FP - The last of the remaining players from the 2019 World Series run will play their last games in a Nationals uniform in 2023.

2023 Results
#26 - 71-91, 5th in NL West
Highest WAR (Position) - CJ Abrams
Highest WAR (Pitching) - Josiah Gray
The extend that the rebuild has gone since the 2019 World Series win is extensive and impressive.  The 2023 season was one of very little consequence or relevance for the Nationals.  In one of the most competitive divisions in baseball, they were locked in the cellar from the moment the season started.  It also saw the end of the Stephen Strasburg era as injuries forced him to retire.  However, there were sparks of promise from the likes of CJ Abrams, Stone Garrett, and Lane Thomas.  If only Patrick Corbin could pitch well, he could have been traded for more prospects.


Additions / Subtractions
The Nats took some fliers on some reclamation projects in the few off-season moves they made.  The master of the three true outcomes, Joey Gallo, will be contributing his 30 homers and and .150 average to the DC area in 2024.  The more interesting add is infielder Nick Senzel, once a top Reds prospect, now getting a fresh start after new top prospects left him without a job at the ripe old age of 28.


Most Important Hitter
Keibert Ruiz
One of the main prizes of the Max Scherzer trade a few years back, Keibert Ruiz has turned himself into one of the more promising young catchers in the league.  Now, entering his age 25 season, he is poised to take the next step and become a potential face of the franchise.


Most Important Pitcher
Patrick Corbin
Patrick Corbin turned a career year with the Diamondbacks in 2018 into a huge 6 year contract with the Nationals.  Despite being a major piece in the championship run in 2019, the Nationals would admit the contract has been an epic disappointment, being a below average pitcher the last 4 years and leading the league in losses each of the last 3 years.  Now he is entering his final year of his contract, and the only value he can provide the Nationals would be to show a version of his younger self in the early parts of the year so he would have some trade value at the Trade Deadline.  There's a good chance if he doesn't perform well enough to be traded, he might just be DFA'ed and see his career possibly come to an abrupt end.


Prospect to Watch
James Wood
Now for the exciting part of the Nationals!  Not only do they have some young talent already in their lineup like CJ Abrams and Keibert Ruiz, but they have more phenoms ready to burst on the scene as they sport the 14th best farm system in baseball.  The name baseball fans should get to know first is probably James Wood.  This 21 year old outfielder was a key piece the Padres sent in the Juan Soto trade of 2022, and now he is ready to show why.  Ranked the 12th best prospect in baseball, Wood is a 6'6" 234lb athlete that can crush the ball and outrun the best of them.  The only thing that could keep him from being the centerfielder of the future in DC is Dylan Crews, the 2nd overall pick last year that also could debut this season.


2024 Prediction
5th in NL East
If all their promise breaks out like they could, this could be the last season the Nationals spend in the cellar for awhile, which is saying something considering the division they are in.  There's a chance their lineup truly becomes elite by the end of the season, but their pitching will hold them back.  There's just no depth and much fewer reinforcements from their top prospects to help.


Fearless Prediction
MacKenzie Gore will be an All Star in 2024.
Another prize of the Juan Soto trade, along with CJ Abrams and James Wood, was MacKenzie Gore.  Good enough to be the 3rd overall pick on 2017 out of high school, Gore has yet to show much of the promise everyone expected.  With that said, 2023 did show some progress, having a 2 win season and almost being league average.  He's only entering his age 25 season.  There's a chance this is the year Gore puts it all together and shows why he was a top pick, a top prospect, and such a valuable trade chip.