Washington Nationals (+11)
The Nationals have also rebuilt their rotation, but in a much different way. They did ship Roark to Cincinnati, but have also added Patrick Corbin on a monster deal, along with Anibal Sanchez and Jeremy Hellickson on much smaller deals (although Hellickson was technically re-signed).
As one can imagine, Washington’s rotation production is expected to be incredibly top-heavy. Max Scherzer (5.8), Corbin (3.5), and Stephen Strasburg (3.1) are currently projected to generate a smidge over 77.0% of total rotation fWAR.
Sanchez could end up being a solid value pickup if his rebound performance with the Atlanta Braves is sustainable. Through 136.2 innings in ’18, he produced a 2.83 ERA and 2.4 fWAR. In his previous three seasons with the Detroit Tigers (415.2 innings), he posted a combined ERA of 5.67 with just 2.2 fWAR.
While the veteran right-hander’s 79.4% strand rate was a career high, it was encouraging to see him amp his ground-ball rate back up to 45.0%. Between 2015 and 2017, Sanchez kept setting new career-low marks in that department, with it bottoming out at 35.6%.
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