Welcome Chad Tracy Of The Goon Squad To Twitter

Everyone welcome the leader of the Goon Squad, Chad Tracy to Twitter.  According to Ian Desmond, @catracy18 is the real deal.  So Follow away!  His first tweet after the jump.

Help On The Way: Injury Report

With the league gearing back up for an exciting second half of baseball, lets take a look at some injured Nats who hope to make an impact.

Back Soon:

• Xavier Nady: 15 day DL with wrist soreness.  Played in rehab game July 8.
• With Nady returning decisions have to be made about Moore's,or possibly another bench player's, place on the team.
• Drew Storen: 60 day DL with elbow bone chip.  Played in rehab game July 9.
• What will happen to T-clip and Burnett in the pen?  Storen will most likely slide into the set-up roll.
• Chad Tracy: 15 day DL with groin tear. Held out of rehab game July 7 with soreness. 
• After undergoing surgery on May 28, soreness is expected.  Ahead of schedule to return.  

Back Later:

• Chien-Ming Wang: 15 day DL with hip strain. Rehab game scheduled July 13.
• Despite struggles, Nats need Wang and Lannan in top form with a Strasburg shutdown looming.

Back Eventually:

• Jayson Werth: 60 day DL with broken wrist. Will start swing a bat again after All Star Break.
• When Werth returns Davey will have to adjust how he uses guys like Lombardozzi.

Washington Nationals Injury Update

The injuries keep piling up...let's take a look at what is going on at Nats Hospital...

At The Exits

Brad Lidge:  (Rehab) Hernia - Played Down in Potomac - Back End Of Week Maybe


Mark DeRosa:  (15 Day DL) Oblique - Recently took batting practice - Back Any Day


Ryan Mattheus:  (15 Day DL) Foot - Out of boot, Nats being careful- Back- Mid-Late June


In The Distance


Drew Storen:  (60 Day DL) Elbow - Moved to 60 day to get Mike Gonzalez on the roster - Back Late July


Jayson Werth:  (60 Day DL) Wrist - Surgery from broken wrist, now just waiting to heal.  Just transferred to 60-day.  Back Early August


Chris Marrero:  (60 Day DL) Shoulder - Having problems in rehab.  Back Late Season


Chad Tracy:  (15 Day DL) Groin - Reports had him out for the year, FP Santangelo said Tracy texted him and said 6 weeks - Out For 6 Weeks...or the year...

Finished

Wilson Ramos:  (Doneski) Torn ACL - Starting catcher out for the season.  Never Coming Back

Sandy Leon:  (60 Day DL) Ankle - One Game, One At Bat, One Strikeout, Done. I'm taking him off this cuz the only reason he was up is Jhonatan was hurt. Back To Minors Mid-July

Weekly Fan Poll: Injured Nationals

Each week we will ask you a question to see what you think about the Nats organization.  So vote, leave comments, tweet us, etc and we will discuss the results next week.

Last Monday we asked you who you would rather see pitch if you could only choose 1 guy for 1 game.  The results were 75% in favor of Gio Gonzalez with only 25% going with Stephen Strasburg.

I know that Gio has been pitching lights out lately.  In fact he was the MLB Pitcher of the Month for May.  But do you really want to take Gio over Stephen Strasburg?  Remember when Strasburg pitched his first Major League Game?  You aren't taking him?

I would like to ask the same people who participated this same question again now, after Strasburg's gem and Gio's letdown this weekend.  I bet it would flip completely.  Although how can you not vote for Gio Gonzalez for anything.

But I don't want to ask that question.  I could probably ask it all year.  Instead, this week's question will focus on injuries.  With Michael Morse coming back finally, I was thinking about some of the other guys that were on the DL with him.

Your answer doesn't have to be the biggest impact player.  It just has to be the player on the team that you hate not seeing out on the field.  So...

Which Injured Nat Do You Miss The Most?

Nats Injury Update

The injuries keep piling up...let's take a look at what is going on at Nats Hospital...

At The Exits

Michael Morse: (Rehab) Lat - Morse is starting his rehab assignment today in Potomac.  He hit 2 homers in his previous rehab game in "extended spring training".  Back Soon


Mark DeRosa:  (15 Day DL) Oblique - Recently took batting practice - Back This Week


Jesus Flores:  See Below

Mid-Term

Ryan Mattheus:  (15 Day DL) Foot - A few weeks in a boot - Back- Mid-Late June


Drew Storen:  (15 Day DL) Elbow - Back Mid-July


Brad Lidge:  (15 Day DL) Hernia - Recently threw some bullpen sessions - Back Mid-July


Chad Tracy:  (15 Day DL) Groin - Reports had him out for the year, FP Santangelo said Tracy texted him and said 6 weeks - Out For 6 Weeks...or the year...


In The Distance

Jayson Werth:  (60 Day DL) Wrist - Surgery from broken wrist, now just waiting to heal.  Just transferred to 60-day.  Back Early August


Chris Marrero:  (60 Day DL) Shoulder - Having problems in rehab.  Back Late Season

Catchers Ward

Wilson Ramos:  (Doneski) Torn ACL - Starting catcher out for the season.  Never Coming Back

Jesus Flores:  (Day to Day) Hammy - With Ramos out, Maldanado a poor hitter, a new catcher coming up, Flores needs to play through tight hamstrings.  While he does let's hope they don't get worse.  Could Play This Week

Sandy Leon:  (60 Day DL) Ankle - One Game, One At Bat, One Strikeout, Done.  Back Mid-July At Earliest


Carlos Maldanado isn't injured, but he is a poor hitter, so Nats brought up the next guy Jhonatan Solano just in case.

Chicks Dig the Long Ball?

I don't like putting huge stock in stats, which might sound weird when talking about a game like baseball that is ALL ABOUT stats.  I prefer to judge performance out on the field using an "eye-test"  and right now my eyes are telling me that the too many Nat's are going up to the plate looking to hit a home run.  Is that true?  If so, is that such a bad thing?  I guess we'll take a quick look at the numbers:

So what's wrong with this picture...

The Nat's almost have two less homeruns than the Braves and way more homers than the Mets.  So why are the Nats the team with the fewest Runs and RBIs on this chart?   The answer seems to be fairly simple, batting average.  Now this might not be ground breaking news...you hit more, you score more, but there it is in black-and-white.

Now I'm not claiming to have a quick fix for the National's offensive woes.  I am going to say that when you have players like Danny Espinosa who is hitting .219 it probably isn't helping.  If only we had a guy who was hitting .321 or heck even a guy hitting .255 who could play 2B.  Oh hey Lombardozzi and Tracy I didn't see you guys there.

Odds are Espinosa will begin to knock a few more balls over the fence and guys like Zimmerman will start to pick up the batting average slack and everything will be right with the world.  However, if things don't get better, just remember...chicks dig the long ball, but the scoreboard does not.

No really...scoreboards HATE homers.