Ghiroli: Notes on Nationals scout layoffs, Rays performance without Wander and more

The Nationals gutted their scouting department on Wednesday, informing more than a dozen employees that they will not be returning for 2024 as the organization remains in a state of flux.
Special assistants Willie Fraser, Jeff Harris, John Mirabelli, Jon Weil, Mike Pagliarulo and Matt Ruebel, as well as pro scouts Jeff Harris and Greg Hunter, crosschecker Alan Marr, international scouts Mike Cadahia, Alex Rodriguez, Jose Pepe Ortega and David Leer are among the names The Athletic has confirmed were shown the door. The Washington Post first reported the four international names.
The Nationals have informed six pro scouts they will not return, sources tell me and @BrittGhiroli. Those let go: Special asst’s Willie Fraser, John Mirabelli, Mike Pagliarulo, Matt Ruebel, Jon Weil, plus pro scout Jeff Harris. Cuts also made on amateur and int’l side.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) September 6, 2023
The cuts come at a precarious time as president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo remains unsigned beyond 2023 and saw one of his top trusted aides, international scouting director Johnny DiPuglia, abruptly resign over the weekend. Rizzo — who did not respond to multiple requests for comment — remains in negotiations with the organization, which locked up manager Davey Martinez last month for two years plus an option.
Advertisement
According to sources briefed on the matter, Rizzo is believed to be seeking the same length contract, which is one of several hang-ups in the negotiations, though it is widely believed Rizzo will remain in D.C. The Lerners hired him as an assistant GM in 2006 and made him interim GM in ’09 before fully appointing him to his current role. The 62-year-old has led baseball operations ever since, overseeing the Nationals’ 2019 World Series title.
The Lerner family is still exploring a potential sale of the team, though the Nationals’ long-fought rights fees lawsuit with the Baltimore Orioles — with whom they share the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network — complicates matters.
Wednesday’s paring comes as a shock — at least publicly — as Rizzo made it clear prior to the 2022 season, when a majority of those people were hired, that rebuilding the scouting and player development department post-pandemic was a priority.
“We’re going to be active in adding staff at the scouting level and on the player development level,” Rizzo said at the general managers meeting after the 2021 season. “Over the last couple years, with the COVID setbacks, we lost a lot of personnel. We need to rectify that and make sure that we’ve got the staff to scout players and develop players.”
The Nationals entered Thursday 63-77, though the rebuilding club is 27-23 in the second half, and showed some encouraging signs in a 17-win August. Washington has not had a winning season since winning the World Series, prompting Rizzo to trade stars Juan Soto, Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to help replenish what was previously considered one of the worst farm systems in the game. Wednesday’s firings certainly prompt questions about how much the organization will continue to prioritize scouting moving forward.
Wander Franco hasn’t played for the Rays since Aug. 12, when he was placed on the restricted list (and, later, administrative leave) while MLB and authorities in the Dominican Republic investigated allegations that Franco had an inappropriate relationship with a minor. Yet he still leads the team in FanGraphs’ WAR (4.5) entering Thursday, ahead of both Isaac Paredes and Zack Eflin (4.1). However, Tampa Bay has gone 14-7 since Franco’s leave, taking two of three against the Red Sox earlier this week. The Rays entered Thursday 3 1/2 games back of the Orioles in the American League East with a 99.9 percent chance to make the playoffs.
Advertisement
How are they doing this? As usual, it’s been about depth.
As a team, they rank second in WRC+ on the season, tops in the American League and trailing only the Braves. They’re sixth in baseball in the 21 games since Franco was placed on the restricted list and also rank sixth in WAR over that same stretch with a .337 batting average on balls in play that’s third-best in the game.
Excluding Franco, the Rays have five players who are at least 25 percent better than league average in WRC+:
Yandy Diaz: 154
Isaac Paredes: 138
Luke Raley: 128
Randy Arozarena: 126
Josh Lowe: 125
Three more players — Harold Ramirez, José Siri and Brandon Lowe — are over 100.
The pitching side hasn’t been without its challenges as starters Shane McClanahan, Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen are all out for the season. The Rays, who used a team-record 38 pitchers last year, could eclipse that number this season as they used 22 pitchers (and position player Raley) before the 40-game mark.
While Brandon Hyde, leader of the high-flying Orioles, seems like the logical pick for this year’s American League Manager of the Year, shouldn’t Kevin Cash get a little consideration?
Miami, winners in six straight, moved into the final National League wild-card spot after trouncing the Dodgers 11-4 on Wednesday night, hours after losing ace Sandy Alcantara (right forearm flexor strain) and All-Star hitter Jorge Soler (right oblique strain).
Can they sustain this without two of their best players? That will be the biggest question facing the team over the last three weeks of the season.
The Marlins made a trio of moves late in the day on Aug. 1’s trade deadline, including the addition of Padres pitcher Ryan Weathers, whom general manager Kim Ng said was acquired “seconds” ahead of the league’s deadline in what could be viewed as a pivotal day for the franchise.
Advertisement
Given the green light by ownership to add salary, the Marlins had interest in Lance Lynn before he went to the Dodgers, and finished runner-up to the Cubs for Jeimer Candelario, who was widely considered the best available bat. Ng pivoted, having already been in talks for a while with the White Sox, acquiring Jake Burger and later Josh Bell from Cleveland to give the Marlins some thump for their lineup. (Weathers is a reclamation project for an organization that has a track record for developing pitching.)
Bell has a .273/.333/.529 line in 31 games, while Burger is .314/.374/.525 since switching teams. The Marlins have scored six or more runs in each game of their current win streak, which matches a season high. They have 15 homers during this run and are now five games over .500 in September for the first time since 2009.
(Photo of Randy Arozarena and Brandon Lowe: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k3Fra2hka3xzfJFsZmlxX2WEcLrAraCoppGhwG64wLKmn56jYr%2BixdJmnauZnpi8brnAq6OipqNk