No, Adam Dunn is gone. Carlos Pena is already enjoying another losing season on the South Side. It's not Adam LaRoche (yet).
We got Matt Stairs!
Who? Yea the pinch-hit machine that routinely kills fastballs for a living.
You may not know it, but Matt Stairs has 265 career Home Runs. That's incredible. Has anyone in their career hit 250 dingers more quietly than Stairs? His career Slugging percentage is a solid .481. Stairs has posted a positive WAR in 3 of the past 4 seasons, and he has a 16.2 WAR over his career. Over that 19 year career, he has put up very solid numbers per 162 games; 23 HR, 79 RBI, .264 AVG.
But most importantly, he can come in in a key situation and crush a pitch into the Nats bullpen.
Born in Canada, Stairs has said that the only reason he played professional baseball was because he wasn't a good enough hockey player. He will provide veteran leadership and a grinder-type attitude to a young and inexperienced clubhouse.
Stairs was signed in 1989 as a pitcher/shortstop (!!!) by the Montreal Expos, he made his major league debut with the team in May of 1992. By the time Spring Training rolls around, Stairs will be 43 years hold, having made his Major League debut 5 months before Bryce Harper was born. He will take his minor league deal, with an invite to Spring Training, and break camp with the club once the regular season begins. The consummate professional, he knows by now that he won't get too much action in the field and that his true value comes with his power bat off the bench.
Giving us something off the bench that the Nats have not seen since the early days of Wily Mo Pena and Alex Escobar (Former Nats Greats?). Using his patented "Swing-Hard-In-Case-You-Hit-It" approach, I look forward to his exploits in a Curly W.
In case of emergency, use Stairs.
Is this for real? I thought sure he would be a dh candidate! Also - didn't he used to be a Philly. The nl-east is getting even crazier.
ReplyDelete