Game 133: Livo's lucky 7 prevents Nats' unlucky 7

Morse in LF: I too believe Morse is a better 1B, but he’s a better LF than either LaRoche or Marrero. The FO put Marrero in LF once they moved him off of 3B to disastrous effects in the minors, so moving him again is out of the question. Morse looked decent out there, he just needs more reps (which he’ll get). Trading LaRoche will be pretty much impossible considering his injury and salary (at least until next year’s All-Star break) so Morse in LF is just the way it will be.

I love the idea of Livo as a long reliever. Davey (who I expect to be back next year) has openly opined that he would like two starters in the bullpen – having Livo out there with Gorzy takes care of that issue. I agree that it’s time to get him out of the rotation, but keeping him in the clubhouse and on the roster seems like a win-win to me.

I’m also against putting young starters in the bullpen. I think it’s fine to piggy-back Peacock behind Strasburg since SS will only be going a few innings this Sept. but if Peacock doesn’t make the OD roster, I would prefer he go back to AAA and continue to build arm strength. We’ve seen with Detwiler this year that it takes a few starts to build up to the arm once you’ve been relieving for a while. With vets like Livo and Gorzy it’s not as big of an issue, but considering Peacock has only been a starter for about a year and a half, he needs to continue to work on the 5-day routine.

If it were me, our rotation next year would be Strasburg/ZNN/Wang/Detwiler/Milone with Peacock in AAA and Lannan traded. Livo and Gorzy would be in the ’pen. That, of course, bars any trades or FA pickups (hello CC!).