Nats players reportedly voicing concerns about manager’s handling of pitching staff

Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez appears to share at least one major weakness with his predecessor Dusty Baker.

Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reported on Thursday that Nats players have expressed concerns about Martinez’s management of the pitching staff.

Per Janes:

Martinez’s ability to handle a pitching staff emerged as the primary concern in the Nationals clubhouse in the first part of this season, according to on- and off-the-record conversations with players and those familiar with this team’s inner-workings.

The biggest concern is workload — a problem relievers believe, and have said publicly, sent Brandon Kintzler and Ryan Madson to the disabled list while causing Sammy Solis’s performance to suffer enough that he ended up at Class AAA Syracuse. At one point in May, the Nationals had five relievers — Kintzler, Madson, Solis, Sean Doolittle and Matt Grace — on pace for career-highs in appearances. Those numbers have evened out, in part because of those disabled list stints. Kintzler leads the team with 40 appearances in 96 games, though more than 60 relievers around the league have appeared more often.

Janes also cites other points of contention that the clubhouse has with Martinez. Specifically, she mentions Martinez’s lack of communication, a perceived lack of trust in his relievers via how he warms up reinforcements, and a tendency to allow his starters to take another turn at the plate just so that they can face a few more hitters in the next half-inning.

Martinez, 53, is a first-year manager and has also butted heads with his players over other issues this season as well. That disconnect could be as much to blame for the Nats’ underwhelming first half as anything else.