Michael Gonzalez signs deal with Milwaukee Brewers as he leaves Washington Nationals-MLB
Another left-hander has parted ways with the Washington Nationals as Michael Gonzalez signed a one-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Nationals need for a left-hander has intensified now.
Earlier, they refused offering contract to their left handed starter John Lannan. They ended up losing him to the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Nationals were of the view that Lannan was a misfit amidst high quality pitchers in their rotation.
While his credentials were commendable, it was hard for him to meet the standard that the rest of the hurlers in their team had set.
The officials thought that, instead of having someone who is prone to hurting the reputation of the club as having formidable rotation, they should pursue an experienced arm.
For the same reason, they inducted Dan Haren in place for Lannan. As a result, they reinforced the notion that they possess some of the best hurlers in Major League Baseball.
In the process of strengthening the pitching staff, the Nationals have forgotten the importance of including left-handers on the roster.
Gradually, their bullpen is getting overcrowded with righties, which is not a good sign.
The Nationals will be aware of the weak-areas and how to remove them as they prepare for the upcoming season.
They will be making sure they add variety to the bullpen through new acquisitions on the roster before the conclusion of the offseason.
Right now, there are two important tasks faced by Washington. One is to decide about the contract extension of LaRoche and the other is to bring diversity in the pitching staff.
They have an ample time to address these two issues.
As for LaRoche, they have made up their mind. General Manager, Mike Rizzo, uttered the other day that they will not offer LaRoche anything more than a two-year deal.
Such an inflexible stance may cause the Nationals lose LaRoche in the free agent market, because he is h**l-bent to get the three-year agreement.
Given the fact that other teams are also eager to hire him, there is a greater possibility that he leaves Washington.
It will be interesting to see how the Nationals take decisions in the next couple of days to remove discrepancies on the roster.
Tags: