Grading the Nationals, position by position

John Lannan (AP photo/Tom Mihalek)

As a wrap-up to the 2008 campaign, I thought it would be a good idea to examine each phase of the Nationals and grade its performance this year. I won't actually grade every single position - more like each "unit": starting pitchers, bullpen, infield, outfield and coaches. We start the grading today, with the starting rotation.

First off, look at the stats. They're not very good. The totals come out to a 4.97 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and 610 strikeouts in 880.2 innings pitched, good for 23rd in the majors. Even grading on a curve, the Nats should score very low in the starting pitcher category. As it were, however, outstanding circumstances spare the Nats' starters from failing. The often-dreadful offense of the Nats put the starters in precarious situations, as the pitchers would often have to live on the edge knowing that one run given up could cost the game. That's not a good position to put a starting staff full of young, inexperienced pitchers (average age of starting pitchers: 25.7 years).

In addition, the Nats were terrible in the field. They ranked second-to-last in the majors in errors and fielding percentage, 21st in assists and 28th in putouts. It's hard to be a successful starting pitcher when your defense is giving up an unearned run almost every other game.

So where are the positives? The Nats found at least two young starters who could be full-time fixtures in the rotation next year in Collin Balester and Shairon Martis. Neither put up staggering numbers (Balester's ERA was 5.51, Martis' 5.89), but each had at least one fantastic start to hang his hat on. Martis' 9.82 strikeouts per nine innings was by far best among Nats starters.

John Lannan continued his maturation as a major leaguer, posting a solid 3.91 ERA in his second season in the bigs. Odalis Perez provided 30 at least mediocre starts, and Jason Bergmann gutted out a 2-11 record despite certifiably putrid defense behind him. (The Nats let in 15 unearned runs in Bergmann's starts, nearly one per start).

On the flip side, most of the Nats' starters were well below average. Tim Redding started the season nicely but folded like a lawn chair down the stretch. Garrett Mock, who was quite good out of the bullpen, had three lousy starts and finished 0-3 with a 7.20 ERA as a starter. The Nats used 11 starting pitchers on the season, and only three who started more than 22 games. They will need to find another innings-eater or two to help balance out the staff and keep the bullpen fresh.

The stats don't tell the whole story, but it's impossible not to put at least some stock in them in this instance. As such, the starting pitchers earn a grade of ...

Final grade: C-