Nationals, Braves to battle for NL East supremacy

Even after the acquisitions of Gonzalez and Jackson, the Nationals generally were viewed as being a year away from seriously competing in a much-improved NL East. But thanks to some strong starting pitching and some talented young position players camouflage baseball jerseys, Washington sits atop the division.

There will be a lot of scoreboard watching in Cincinnati and St. Louis this weekend.

Atlanta has slumped recently, though, having lost four consecutive games to the Cincinnati Reds and scoring just 12 runs in its past six games. There is a good chance the Braves’ offense will continue to struggle this weekend when the Nationals start Ross Detwiler (3-3, 3.65 ERA), Strasburg (4-1 cheap mlb baseball jerseys, 2.21) and Gonzalez (6-1, 1.98).

Casual fans know about Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg and outfield phenom Bryce Harper, but they might not know why the Braves are just as good.

During their six-game winning streak, the Reds’ staff has posted a 2.50 ERA custom baseball jersey, and the offense has provided a cushion by scoring 27 runs. This weekend, the Reds will host the Colorado Rockies, who just snapped a six-game losing streak and are 5-16 this month.

The Reds have picked the perfect time to get hot because the St. Louis Cardinals have hit a bit of a rough stretch. Cincinnati has won six consecutive games to take over first place in the NL Central.

“Some kind of way we’ve got to find a way to scrap some runs across,” Bourn told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss at Great American Ball Park.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, will host the Philadelphia Phillies and will face Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay in the four-game set that began Thursday. Since climbing a season-high two games over .500 on May 18, the Phillies have slumped.

Everyone noticed the Washington Nationals’ progression, and many believed they soon would reach contender status.

Unlike in previous seasons when pitching carried Atlanta—not just the glorious 1990s but also the recent past—this team’s staff has been mediocre at best. But the Braves can score runs with anybody in the league. They rank in the top five in the NL in runs, home runs, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. And they have posted those numbers while playing their home games in a pitcher-friendly park.

Because of those moves, the Nationals no longer are on the cusp of success; they are experiencing it. And their series in Atlanta is one of the premier matchups of the weekend.
Nationals at Braves

Martin Prado and Chipper Jones have led the way offensively, but seven of the club’s regulars—Prado, Jones cheap baseball jerseys, Brian McCann, Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla, Michael Bourn and Jason Heyward—have OPS-plus marks north of 100, the line for average.

With their recent draft picks ripening and after some spending in previous offseasons, the Nationals were considered a team on the brink of real success. In 2013 discount mlb jerseys, this could be a team to be reckoned with. But general manager Mike Rizzo got bold, trading highly touted prospects for one front-line starting pitcher (Gio Gonzalez) in December and offering another (Edwin Jackson) a one-year deal as signing season closed.

Should Miami Marlins Make Contract Extension Top Priority

This season has been a continuation of the past two years, in which Sanchez has become the model of consistency after spending time on the 60-day DL twice with shoulder strains and also having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.

Jackson, Danks and Wilson have all proven more durable than Sanchez. Not all the stats are comparable, but it does give the Marlins some numbers to work with when looking to possibly sign Sanchez.

A few pitchers that will draw comparable attention to Sanchez as free agents include Jackson, Francisco Liriano, Shaun Marcum and Brandon McCarthy.

John Danks signed a five-year, $65 million deal ($13 million per season) with the Chicago White Sox after 170.1 innings with a 4.33 ERA, 7.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.

In February, Sanchez was awarded the $8 million he had requested through arbitration, instead of the $6.9 million the Miami Marlins had offered.

According to MLB Trade Rumors' list of available starting pitchers for the 2013 season, Sanchez will be behind Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke in the free agent pecking order.

The Marlins weren’t strangers to spending money this winter as they announced the signings of Jose Reyes, Heath Bell and Mark Buehrle to a total of $191 million within the span of a week.

When performance is added to the two-plus years of injury-free results, the risk-reward of having Sanchez in the rotation for the next four or five years becomes much more tempting.

Sanchez hasn’t thrown less than six innings in any start this season and is in the middle of a five-start stretch in which he has completed seven innings each time out.

Setting performance to the side and speaking directly to his durability, Sanchez has made 32 starts the past two seasons discount mlb jerseys, including throwing 195-plus innings in each.

Including his seven starts this season, Sanchez has managed a 3.47 ERA since the start of 2010.

Comparing him to some of the starting pitchers that signed contracts this offseason, Sanchez will likely cost the Marlins somewhere in the $11 million to $14 million range per year to extend.

Given the unlikely event the Marlins are able to sign Cole Hamels or Zack Grienke, it would make sense to keep Sanchez in-house camouflage baseball jerseys, especially given their lack of MLB-ready arms in the farm system.
 

Players with club options such as Dan Haren, James Shields and Tim Hudson weren’t included in the lists above because of the high probability those options will be picked up.

After being courted by Miami, CJ Wilson signed a five-year $77.5 million contract ($15.5 million per season) with the Los Angeles Angels. Wilson made 34 starts for the Texas Rangers in 2011 baseball jerseys custom, throwing 223.1 innings with 2.94 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.

Is that sample size sufficient for owner Jeffrey Loria and team president David Samson to consider Sanchez’s bill of health to be clean enough to warrant an extension?

Shoulder injuries stalled Anibal Sanchez early in his career, so it was more than a minor concern when shoulder tightness caused him to push back his first spring training start.

Edwin Jackson posted a 3.79 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 199.2 innings in 2011 and signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals worth $11 million.

Seven starts into the 2012 season buster posey jersey, those concerns are becoming a distant memory.

With this being his last season as an arbitration-eligible player, he is a prime candidate for a contract extension.

He has also seen a steady increase in his K/9 rate from a 7.25 mark two seasons ago to 9.26 last year and a 9.70 K/9 through 47.1 innings this season. In that same time evan longoria jersey, his BB/9 is down from 3.23 to 2.28.