Spencer Watkins coming back?

[Sports Guy]

Roch retweeted this. Lots of fans are speculating that it means Watkins is coming back to the Os. It makes some sense as we need fresh arms.  His numbers aren’t great this year but not sure that is going to matter.

[Orioles0615]

Ugh I hope not. Please move on from players that were brought in originally to tank  

 

unless you do this to replace Mcdermott at AAA

Edited Monday at 12:00 by Orioles0615

[Aristotelian]

We do need depth. Could replace Heasley or someone like that. Hopefully not someone who we are actually planning to pitch. 

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

We do need depth. Could replace Heasley or someone like that. Hopefully not someone who we are actually planning to pitch. 

If this happens, I would expect him to be on the ML roster.  If he is leaving the Nats AAA team for another chance, I would think it’s because he has a good chance at being on the 26.

[interloper]

Well if he has an option, we can put him on the 40 and option him, essentially replacing Teheran who recently opted out.

There have been a lot of recent additions to AAA recently. Something is definitely cooking.

Edited Monday at 12:43 by interloper

[Tony-OH]

8 minutes ago, interloper said:

Well if he has an option, we can put him on the 40 and option him. 

There have been a lot of recent additions to AAA recently. Something is definitely cooking.

Nothing in his statcast numbers or minor league numbers suggests he's a major league pitcher anymore. This is his stuff in his best start of the year on June 6th, when he allowed 1 ER over 7 innings. He has not been very good since.

A 16% whiff rate against AAA guys and an 86% zcontact% suggests he's going to get hit hard at the major league level. Besides replacing the released Teheran, not sure what value he would have other than eating innings in Norfolk, and it sounds like he's done with the minor leagues or needs to be on the 40-man roster for some amount of days so he can reach some kind of MLB compensation package.

I think he's a hard pass.

[Aristotelian]

49 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

If this happens, I would expect him to be on the ML roster.  If he is leaving the Nats AAA team for another chance, I would think it’s because he has a good chance at being on the 26.

The quote was about the opportunity to be added to another team's 40 man. Maybe this is wishful thinking but to me that is an indication that he's not playing right away otherwise that's what the quote would have said. It's still worth it to him because getting on a 40 man somewhere gets him significantly closer. Even if he doesn't play for the O's, getting DFA'd again would give every other team a chance to grab him, etc.

Reading the tea leaves I wonder if Kremer isn't going to be ready any time soon.

[sportsfan8703]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

We do need depth. Could replace Heasley or someone like that. Hopefully not someone who we are actually planning to pitch. 

We need AAA innings too.  Stoudt, Heasley, or Avila, could go off the 40 man for him.  He's a break glass in case of emergency type arm.  Again, AAA needs SP to finish out the season too.  Trickle down effect.  

Edit - or we could just put Bradish on the 60 day IL to free up a 40 man roster spot.  

Edited Monday at 13:17 by sportsfan8703

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Orioles0615 said:

Ugh I hope not. Please move on from players that were brought in originally to tank  

 

unless you do this to replace Mcdermott at AAA

Davidson also has a 2.22 ERA and a really nice K/BB.

[interloper]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

We need AAA innings too.  Stoudt, Heasley, or Avila, could go off the 40 man for him.  He's a break glass in case of emergency type arm.  Again, AAA needs SP to finish out the season too.  Trickle down effect.  

Edit - or we could just put Bradish on the 60 day IL to free up a 40 man roster spot.  

Agree. 

Unless there's some kind of injury we don't know about and Watkins would be on the 26-man temporarily. Like maybe someone's day in AAA doesn't line up with a need up here and they need to buy a couple days. Who knows. Just spitballing.

[Philip]

HEY! I love this!

let me explain: I love underdog stories. I love a guy who comes out of nowhere, after a long slog that would have defeated lesser men, and is successful. Maybe not the Risen Savior, but successful for a while.

I was so enthusiastic about him I almost got a Watkins jersey  to pair with my Caleb Joseph jersey.

When he was designated the first time, I lamented, but someone here said, “He has a baseball reference page, and not many people do.” That settled me down. It’s the kind of thing that Spenser could tell the kids he was coaching at school, and his own kids, and that was fine. But he came back and did well. His WAR is lousy, but consider this: I saved this photo because I was going to print it and send it to Spenser with a note telling him not to worry, sometimes you’re good and it doesn’t work out anyway.

I never got around to it, but I saved the photo because it’s illustrative that bad results don’t necessarily mean bad performance. Keep trying, never give up, sometimes your best IS good enough, but they don't/won’t recognize it.

I don’t think he will come back; he had one start last year for the As and got blasted, but I wish him well, and I hope he does get another chance before he goes to the high school team that has been waiting for him for a few years.

And he will always have that BBR page. He made a few bucks, he was the 22,436th debut in history, and he’ll always have that, too.

God bless him.

I haven’t yet read the other comments, but thanks for the post.

[Aristotelian]

59 minutes ago, interloper said:

Agree. 

Unless there's some kind of injury we don't know about and Watkins would be on the 26-man temporarily. Like maybe someone's day in AAA doesn't line up with a need up here and they need to buy a couple days. Who knows. Just spitballing.

For what it's worth, Watkins is listed as out of options. A temporary 26 man move would risk losing him if the goal is to stash him for depth. 

[Il BuonO]

I'll be really disappointed if Watkins is even considered as any other option than AAA depth.

[Three Run Homer]

I really hope that this thread winds up being reassigned to the minors section.  

[Philip]

Can somebody explain to me what there is about his stat line that jumps out so much that a major league team would specifically choose to add him over all the other guys in AAA who are desperate for a major league spot?
There must be something that separates him from the madding crowd?