I was able to talk to Michael Natelli from District on Deck. Here is a look at the chat we had.

Ehsan: The Washington Nationals are off to a hot start. Is the Nationals pitching staff as good as we are seeing now, or should we expect some regression?

Michael: It’s hard to say they’ll be this good for 162 games, simply because of how well they’ve performed. If each of the five starters performed at their best for the whole season, I wouldn’t question the concept, however, I just don’t see that happening. Every player has hot and cold streaks (in this case on the mound), so the rotation is likely to drop off some. But, when Edwin Jackson (12-9 last year, 3.79 ERA) is your fourth guy, that says something about this staff. Though it won’t be perfect, I expect pitching to be a highlight of this year’s season.

Ehsan: Bryce Harper has struggled a bit in Triple-A, does this slow start delay the Nationals plans on when they are going to bring him up?

Michael: Well first off let’s establish that the man isn’t even 20 yet, so there’s no reason to be concerned long term at this point. But to get to your specific question, it’s still unclear as to what the Nationals’ plans are with Harper. They brought him into Big League Camp, but it never sounded like they were intending on actually giving him a roster spot for Opening Day. Harper is indeed struggling right now, so to me, his call-up time table depends on a few things. 1) Around late-June/early-July, where are the Nats in the standings? At that point they will have a sense of whether or not they’ll be competing, so that will help with making the decision of whether or not to bring Harper up from the minors. 2) At that point, what’s the production from Rick Ankiel/Roger Bernadina looking like? If collectively they’re slacking and that’s causing the Nationals to lose games, that may motivate the Front Office to give Harper a shot. 

Bryce Harper, only 19, is going to debut in the majors sometime in 2012. (Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-US PRESSWIRE)

Ehsan: It’s too early in the season to look at numbers and make a judgment on any player, but in your opinion, has Jayson Werth proving to be the player the Nats wanted when they signed him to that long contract a season ago?

Michael: No one really knows what exactly the Nationals were looking for when they acquired Werth. Some say they thought he’d be the impact bat that would guide them to the playoffs, while others say that Werth was just a decent player the Nationals wanted, and they saw it as an opportunity to show the world/future free agents that they’re willing to spend in order to get the future free agents to start considering them. My personal expectations for Werth were to hover around .270-.275 with 20-25 homers and 90 or so RBIs, with roughly 15 stolen bases. His home runs and stolen bases (20 and 19, respectively) were as expected, but the RBIs and hits were not there. Granted some of that was due to a lingering injury to Ryan Zimmerman, but he should have had at least 70 RBIs in Zimmerman’s absence, and it still doesn’t justify the 130 hits.

So again, to answer your question, I think Werth will indeed become the player the Nationals wanted this season. Will he be worth his salary? No. But what the Nationals wanted? Yes. He won’t keep up the .327 average he currently has, but somewhere in the .280′s in not inconceivable, and when Michael Morse returns, that will take some pressure off, allowing Jayson to be himself more. Assuming Morse stays in the lineup and Zimmerman is healthy, Werth will return to form.

Ehsan:Stephen Strasburg is a monster on that mound. Is his inning count going to hurt the team later down the road? 160 is the magic number, I believe.

Michael: Strasburg has been a blast to watch and yes, 160 is the number. The way this bullpen has performed so far, I don’t believe the innings limit will hurt the team as far as pulling him early goes, but in terms of Strasburg missing starts come August/September, the team will definitely suffer. Strasburg has been a Top 5 pitcher in the NL so far, so even if whoever replaces him (presumably Chien-Ming Wang?) pitches well, he won’t duplicate Strasburg’s success. So unfortunately, this dreaded innings limit may come back and haunt the Nationals come playoff time. But if Strasburg goes on to have the career people expect him to, it will be well worth it.

Strasburg will take the mound against Anibal Sanchez in the second game of the three game set. (Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-US PRESSWIRE)

Ehsan: What pitching match up are you looking forward to most this series? What about pitcher-hitter match up?

Michael: I’m very excited to watch tonight’s matchup of Ross Detwiler and Carlos Zambrano, as this is Detwiler’s first time facing the Marlins as a starter, and it will be a much different team than he has seen in the past. Zambrano’s career numbers against the Nats also make this an interesting matchup, because despite not being the greatest pitcher over the past few years, Zambrano holds an 8-3 career record against the Nationals with a 3.35 ERA in 15 appearances. So, neither team’s ace will be on the mound, but tonight’s matchup makes for a good story. 

Thanks to Michael for answering those questions for us on MM. Good luck to the Nationals and their fans in this series. Go Marlins!

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LAST SERIES PREDICTIONS (CUBS)

1. Giancarlo Stanton WILL go yard

HR’s: Zero. Through 13 games of the season, Giancarlo Stanton has yet to hit a round trip. While this is no reason to doubt Stanton, I am still baffled. Even though he has seen an abundance of outside sliders/curveballs, he still has had great power ball pitch’s that he has failed to launch. He has come up with some big hits, but is still struggling with plate discipline.

 Josh Johnson will bounce back and show us that we should not be worried. ***

And he did just that! Johnson rebounded and thew 7 innings of 2 run baseball. While he walked 3, he still gave us the numbers we expected and a chance to win a ballgame. He recorded just 3 strikeouts, but managed to improve the velocity of his pitch’s through a mechanic change. Johnson seems to be back on track.

April 17, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Josh Johnson (55) throws in the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

3. Emilio Bonifacio will reach base all 3 games ***

Not only did he reach all 3 games, he reached twice or more in every game played! Bonifacio believe it or not looked like a damn good ballplayer this weekend. His ability to get on base is incredible, and don’t forget, hes 9-9 on stolen base attempts. Keep it up Bonifacio, you may be turning some heads pretty soon.

4. Heath Bell will record a save ***

Heath Bell rebounded from a terrible start this season and recorded 2 saves this series. Bell pitched 2 innings of scoreless baseball while recording 3 strikeouts.

April 17, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins relief pitcher Heath Bell (left) greets Miami Marlins catcher John Buck (right) after defeating the Chicago Cubs 5-2 at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

5. The Marlins will execute their first sweep of the  season ***

AND THEY DID! GO MARLINS

Below I will make my 5 predictions for the upcoming series with the Wasington Nationals 

1. The Starting Pitching will be the key to taking the series

Even though the Nationals are without Michael Morse and Drew Storen, they are still a very good ball team. With a pitching staff of Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmerman, and Edwin Jackson, the Nationals are no team to mess around with. Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Ian Desmond, and Adam Laroche have all been hitting the ball well and should challenge the pitching rotation heavily. Our starters need to be on point with few mistakes to come out with a series win. Falling behind early to the Nationals is the last thing you want to do.

April 14, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano (38) throws in the first inning against the Houston Astros at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

2. Heath Bell will continue to see pressure

Minus the first game of the series, I expect these games to come down to a 1-2 run ball game in the 9th. Lets hope Bell is the man on the mound looking to close the game!

3. Bonifacio will again reach base every game this series

The little man has it going! Bonifacio is on a red hot start and will show no signs on slowing down. Expect him to reach base 6 or more times adding a couple steals along the way.

April 14, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins center fielder Emilio Bonifacio (center) jokes with teammates before a game against the Houston Astros at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

4. Stephen Strasburg will give up less than 4 hits all game.

Strasburg is a dominate pitcher, and he will show us. At points in time, Strasburg show’s that he can be the most feared pitcher in baseball with his fearless demeanor. The kid will punch you out before you know you have 3 strikes. Hopefully Stanton and Ramirez bring the power out of the tool shed. “The harder it flows, the longer it goes”

Apr. 11, 2012; Flushing, NY, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg (37) pitches during the first inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

5. The Marlins win 2 of 3 and gain huge momentum heading into NY.

The Marlins will rough up Ross Detwiler, even though he has pitched good baseball. Game 2 will be a struggle with Strasburg so expect the worst, hope for the best. Game 3, Josh Johnson will continue his success and earn his first victory of the year.

What we are doing today is we are going to grade each teams position players and see if one team has a significant advantage over another based on the projections. We will do this by grading each position. The top players at each position will receive 4 points, second best 3 points, third best 2 points, and fourth best 1 point. Let us go ahead and get started.

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Here is a glimpse of the starting left fielders for each NL East team in 2012.

• Atlanta Braves: Martin Prado
• Miami Marlins: Logan Morrison
• New York Mets: Jason Bay
• Philadelphia Phillies: John Mayberry
• Washington Nationals: Michael Morse

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