Pulp Nationals

Potential Never Realized

2010-03-17T11:31:00.006-04:00

Elijah Dukes - Enigma

Earlier today, the Washington Nationals released outfielder Elijah Dukes thus ending the chase for realized potential:

The Washington Nationals today unconditionally released outfielder Elijah Dukes.
Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the
announcement.

The Nationals currently have 44 players in their big league
camp.

The often enigmatic Dukes arrived in Washington with a sordid past stowed away in his suitcases. A history of violence toward players and various women in his life – including the mother of his children – as well as a failure to pay his child support hounded Dukes for his entire career.

Dukes also created on-the-field situations. The famous incident in New York which led to Nelson Figueroa lashing out after a game and calling Dukes a number of unpleasant names.

The thing that hurt most about Dukes’ tenure in Washington though was that he really, at times, appeared to be headed in the right direction off-the-field which everyone in NatsTown thought would lead to better on-field production. That promise was never realized.

Dukes was a physical specimen with instincts you see only once in a great while; but for whatever reason (which is only known to Dukes) he never seemed to put it together and often times appeared to be less than enthusiastic about being a baseball player.

The sad thing is, if Dukes never manages to make a paying job out of the sport of baseball, this story could end really poorly – Dukes never had much of a foundation outside of baseball anyway (his father recently died in jail). I sincerely hope someone picks him up and Dukes gets another chance.

The Dawning Of A New Day

2010-03-09T15:20:00.006-05:00

Natstown is Calling it Strasmas

Let it begin.

For this franchise, today begins what we hope to be a new era. The Washington Nationals organization needs a shot in the arm like no other franchise in baseball. We have been the laughingstock organization for five years and today could signal the day we finally turn a corner and move toward respectability.

In case you’ve been living in a cave, Stephen Strasburg makes his Nationals Spring Training debut today. Strasburg is so highly touted that even ESPN (the NFL/Yankees v Red Sox Network) has even made mention of Strasburg numerous times already.

This once proud franchise of Montreal became a bottom feeder; a contract-able joke worthy of ridicule as masterfully planned by Major League Baseball. Upon failing to contract the team, MLB made the Expos play a season in Puerto Rico before moving the downtrodden remains to Washington.

The only bright spot has been that the Nats got last year’s number one overall draft pick and didn’t balk at the opportunity to take Strasburg despite his representative Scott Boras. Boras held the Nationals over the fire (as he always does with his big time clients) but eventually the two sides agreed to terms and Strasburg became a Nat.

After a reasonably successful Arizona Fall League campaign, Strasburg earned a major league invite to Spring Training.

Today is the day we as Nats fans have been waiting for since last June.

“Stras” is scheduled to pitch two innings to a roster of Detroit Tigers who – presumably – will play a majority of their expected Opening Day starting lineup against him.

Nats’ manager Jim Riggleman said he is keeping his expectations realistic. In an interview on XM-175 yesterday, Riggleman talked about what he’s expecting from Strasburg: “we’re not looking at everything the fans are looking for, we just want to make sure he learns how to handle the pressure of all the hype that precedes him.”

Riggleman also asked Nats fans to proceed with caution if they expect him to make the jump immediately to the majors. “There’s a chance [of Strasburg making the Opening Day roster] but I’m betting it’s a long shot,” Riggleman said. “The plan right now is for him to at least start the season in the minors and get a mid-season call up. That can change between now and Opening Day but as of right now, he’s probably going to get a few starts against some big league clubs in Spring Training and start the regular season in the minors.”

Strasburg has a bit more pressure on him for his start today. The Nats have looked dreadful so far in Spring Training action and it’s the pitching that has suffered the most. If Stras gets shelled, Nats fans may lose hope before we even get to Opening Day.

Good luck, Steve. No pressure or anything…

Adam Dunn Prepares For 1B By Practicing Jiu-jitsu

2010-02-26T11:31:00.004-05:00

Kung-Fu DONKEY

Pitchers and catchers weren’t the only ones in Viera working out this week. Lots of Nationals players showed up early in an effort to make some drastic improvements over the past two 100+ loss seasons.

A big part of the Nats’ problems has been team defense. And while the SABR-heads out there will tell you that there are better defensive metrics for judging fielding abilities, one still can’t help but notice the Nats led the majors in errors last season – an honor they certainly would love to pass on to another team this season.

The Nats made some defensive upgrades over last year’s opening day roster: Nyjer Morgan makes a much better defensive CF than Lastings Milledge and Adam Kennedy will certainly be an improvement over the Ronnie Belliard/Alberto Gonzalez combo and in the event Jesus Flores goes down (yet again) the Nats have a future Hall of Famer to back him up behind the plate. Three of those four “up the middle” positions upgraded in 2010 makes for a potentially better season already.

However, one other move that was made late last year was the move from LF to 1B for the man they call “The Donkey.” Adam Dunn struggled in the World Baseball Classic at 1B, but over the course of two months, Dunn showed signs of actually being able to play the position at a minimum service-ably.

When it came to covering the bag and receiving throws from other infielders, Dunn looked like he might have been playing 1B his whole life, but when he had to move and field the ball himself (whether a grounder or a pop-up), Dunn looked like a little-leaguer at times.

So Dunn came to camp looking to improve:

"I've taken a lot [of ground balls]. I don't know how many," Dunn said. "I don't even want to throw a number. It's just more learning, showing me how to get ready. I didn't even know what foot to take the first step with, to lead with…”

Fielding often starts “from the ground up” and, as such, Dunn’s been working with coaches Tim Foli and Pat Listach on his footwork. He’s also been taking Jiu-jitsu in the off-season in an effort to achieve better balance on the diamond. Jiu-jitsu – literally translated – is “the art of softness” which is essential to playing infield. Outfielders can be large lumbering oxes (or donkeys) but infielders have to have great footwork and great hands to make some of the plays that are required of them – especially on the major league level.

So between intense focus in Spring Training and his new found love for the martial arts, here’s to hoping Dunn can provide more to the Nats at the first sack than they’ve had over the past bunch of years between an ineffective Dmitri Young and an oft-injured Nick Johnson. Plus, perhaps now we as Nats fans have the possibility that Chase Utley hits a screamer down the line trying to turn it into a double when….WHAM! … he’s struck by a spinning heel kick knocking his teeth down his throat – Kung-Fu Donkey style.

Are You Ready?

2010-02-25T11:13:00.002-05:00

Photo Of The Chosen One Courtesy of Federal Baseball

The Nationals have set a date to unveil their most prized possession: Stephen Strasburg.

Strasburg is scheduled to make his Spring Training debut on March 9th when the Detroit Tigers visit Space Coast Stadium to take on the Nationals.

The Nats only expect him to go two innings (pretty standard for a pitcher’s first Spring Training outing) and throw about 40 pitches. This is just an opportunity to get Strasburg into a game to face some big league hitters for the first time.

Ordinarily, this sort of thing is not supposed to be that big of a deal, but the Nationals have staked their entire future on the shoulders of Strasburg.

Here’s hoping he performs well and here’s also hoping that we don’t take this too seriously…I mean, it’s not like he’s a savior or anything….

A Defector From The Evil Empire

2010-02-16T13:41:00.002-05:00

Welcome To The Rebellion

The Nats made a fine move earlier today (although the official announcement won’t come until Friday at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, FL (the Nats’ Spring Training complex) by landing former Yankee Chien-Ming Wang.

Wang was called up in 2005 and went 8-5 in 17 starts with a 4.02 ERA. What followed were two spectacular seasons where Wang won 19 games in both 2006 and 2007 going 200+ innings both years (well, o.k. he only went 199 1/3 in 2007) and recorded sub-4.00 ERA’s both seasons as well. He finished second in the American League Cy young voting in 2006.

In 2008, Wang was named the opening day starter (essentially designating him as the team’s “ace). He was en route to possibly his best-ever season until a June 15th game at Houston against the Astros. At that point, Wang was 7-2 and the Yankees were cruising to an eventual 13-0 rout of the Astros. Wang, an American League pitcher not used to running bases, tore a tendon in his right foot sidelining him for the remainder of the season.

In 2009, Wang never got going and some fear that his foot injury caused him to over-compensate for his lack of power in his legs by overthrowing in his arm which led to a disastrous and injury riddled season.

He had season ending shoulder surgery in July of 2009.

Wang worked out for a bunch of teams just like Ben Sheets earlier this year before eventually Sheets signed with the A’s.

What the Nats are hoping for here is a return to form pre-injury. Shoulders are difficult to predict on recovery – as an example, Mark Mulder just retired at the ripe “old” age of 32 due to struggles with shoulder injuries. Still, Wang’s signing could prove valuable – he certainly has staff “ace” credentials and if he stays long-term he could be a very effective #2 pitcher behind Stephen Strasburg (provided he turns out to be all the Nationals hope for).

MLB.com writer Bill Ladson is reporting that the details of the contract are not yet disclosed, but some (Ken Davidoff of Newsday.com) are reporting that Wang’s deal is around $2,000,000 guaranteed with incentives to make much more (no link provided but it shows up on a google search).

If the numbers are right, this could be the steal of the century for the Nats if Wang can make 35 effective starts. And at the tender age of 30, Wang is entering the prime of a pitcher’s life and could help anchor this rotation for years to come.

In any case, Chien-Ming Wang goes from the Evil Empire to the Rebellion and just may be a very important piece in the quest for a Championship in the future.

2010 Preview

2010-02-16T12:47:00.002-05:00

A Pre-Spring Training 2010 Preview

Well, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. I’ve taken a lot of time off because my life took a lot of my time and, quite frankly, I find bitching about baseball in January to be a tiring and tedious task.

We are, however, well into February – teams report to spring training soon and pitchers and catchers report later this week. Let’s take a look at the roster as it looks right now for the Nationals. This is not a scientific study, rather an obviously biased analysis by yours truly in an effort to see if we really improved over last season. Let’s look position by position, shall we?

Starting Pitching:

With the additions of Chien-Ming Wang (to be officially announced on Friday) and Jason Marquis, the Nats have added a couple of names that sound familiar to most baseball fans around the country. Marquis is a journeyman innings-eater – something the Nats desperately needed (especially as long as it was not Livan Hernandez…again). He doesn’t really turn the Nats’ rotation into a World Series contender but he should be able to help alleviate some pressure on the bullpen. Plus, we had Daniel Cabrera on the opening day roster last year and Marquis is DEFINITELY better than Cabrera.

Wang is the wild-card. If he’s fully recovered from Tommy John’s surgery he should be able to anchor this rotation and give the Nats an “ace” with a recognizable name. In a perfect world, a healthy Wang isn’t “ace” material, but he’s loads better than what we have. His biggest problem could be that as a sinkerball pitcher he will rely heavily on infield defense….but we’ll cover that later.

Rounding out the rotation are John Lannan and……well……..I don’t know. Could be Ross Detwiler and Collin Balester. Is Scott Olsen healthy enough to pitch? Beats me. Then there’s J.D. Martin (former #1 pick of the Indians, recovering from injury), Craig Stammen who showed he’s a bona fide starter as long as he only has to go through a lineup twice. Garrett Mock? Shairon Martis? Is Matt Chico really back? Can Stephen Strasburg step up in his first professional season and make it all the way to the bigs (boy would THAT help)? One thing’s for certain, Jordan Zimmermann will not pitch for the Nats in 2010 and that’s a big loss.

Bottom line for #’s 4 and 5 are that they will be filled by players with more questions than answers – not good for a major league starting rotation. All-in-all, I believe this is an improved rotation over last year – including the loss of Jordan Zimmermann.

Bull Pen:

This where the Nats are VASTLY improved over last year (and they’ll need to be if they can’t answer the questions about the starting rotation). Gone are bums like Saul Rivera and Joel Hanrahan and in their places are players like Brian Bruney (formerly of the Yankees) and Matt Capps (formerly of the Pirates) and both will compete for closing duties – the good news is that it appears as though both are capable. Plus Jason Bergmann has seemed to find his niche in long relief/spot starter duties and pitched well last year and lefty Sean Burnett proved to be extremely effective after the Nats picked him up mid-season last year. Tyler Clippard is also a converted starter and the Nats certainly seemed to help him find his role in the bull pen.

I’m betting the effective pitchers that don’t make the rotation will help round out the bull pen. My top guesses are Collin Balester and Garrett Mock. It is my belief that this is the key area of improvement for the Nats so far this off-season and should equate to a few more wins and a lot less blown saves.

Catcher:

As with the Nats last year, the question here is: can Jesus Flores stay healthy (please God, let that be a “yes”). If healthy, Flores is good enough to be the everyday catcher on a lot of rosters.

If he can’t, at least the Nats have a future Hall of Famer to back him up: Ivan Rodriguez. I won’t call him by his accepted nickname because he’s not as heavy as he once was which is what got him his nickname in the first place. Plus, I believe that his Hall of Fame career is enhanced by steroids, but I have no proof – just a hunch I have. I only hope that he can play effectively when called upon. Besides, even at his advanced age, he’s a better alternative to Wil Nieves as a starter (though Nieves makes a good backup).

So the question is, are the Nats better off with Rodriguez than they were with Josh Bard? I think so, so we’ll call it a slight improvement over last year.

First Base:

I railed on him last year, but I think the Nats’ first base prospects are trending upward this year since we have Adam Dunn on the roster and playing first for an entire year. Dunn really showed improvement defensively over the course of the second half of the season last year and turned into a – dare I say it – EFFECTIVE first baseman. I thought it would be a dumpster fire after watching Dunn play 1B in the World Baseball Classic, but he really showed he can do it. He won’t be perfect, but he’s solid over there and he’s loads better than awaiting the inevitable Nick Johnson injury. If nothing else, Dunn provides stability, for once, at the first sack – plus, his 40 homers a year helps too.

To sum up: the Nats have improved at 1B as well.

Second Base:

It looks like it’s new acquisition Adam Kennedy’s job. I would rather the Nats have signed Felipe Lopez but Kennedy was just as good as any other free agent 2B on the market this off-season. Kennedy will certainly improve the defense up the middle over the departed Ronnie Belliard. Offensively, the Nats may have taken a step back with Kennedy but they have improved defensively. Plus, all he has to do is outplay Alberto Gonzalez to keep his job. Quite honestly, if he can’t outplay Alberto Gonzalez, he doesn’t deserve to have a job.

The Nats get a push at 2B.

Shortstop:

This one’s a toughy. Was Cristian Guzman hurt all last year or are his skills in serious decline? My feeling is that it’s a combination of both and this could be the year that Ian Desmond gets his shot. Scouts have been saying that Desmond is ready at the plate but he still needs some seasoning as a shortstop. My argument? How is a rough-around-the-edges Desmond any worse than an injured and declining Guzman? Give him the job and let Guzman play out his contract as a backup. The defense is improved up the middle with Kennedy at 2B anyway, let the kid play and he’ll work it out.

Either way, if Guzman is healthier than last year or if Desmond wins the starting job, the Nats are in better shape at SS than they were last year.

Third Base:

Ryan Zimmerman went to the All Star game, won a Gold Glove and had career highs in homeruns and runs scored and had an OPS of .888 – that is all.

The unfortunate side effect of this is that I don’t see the Nationals IMPROVING at 3B, but at least I can say “they’re o.k.” in the 3B department. If Zimm gets hurt, we’re screwed.

Left Field:

The thought is that Josh Willingham will play LF, but rumors around the mill are that Willingham could be a player they would move to improve the rotation. Willingham plays a decent LF and has pedestrian numbers (.267, 24, 61) for a corner outfielder. He’s a major leaguer, just not a superstar.

Basically, LF is a push from 2009 unless they trade Willingham and plug in one of the AAA guys like Justin Maxwell or the steady (if not spectacular) Willie Harris, then LF is a big question mark.

Center Field:

Last year we had the young, upstart Lastings Milledge playing CF. I felt bad for Milledge in the sense that he never really was a CFer to begin with and he was put in a bad spot. This year, however, we have a guy with a little less power but a whole lot more speed and defensive ability – Nyjer Morgan. Morgan allows us to keep players with some deficiencies in the outfield (like Willingham) because he makes up the ground those players can’t cover. Morgan also has the plus-type speed for a leadoff hitter but he does need to get on base more frequently – I think if Morgan struggles he’s best suited as an 8-hitter.

I feel as though the Nats improved at CF over 2009 and if Morgan can move up to the leadoff spat and put up the types of performances that allow him to stay there, the Nats have made a SERIOUS upgrade at CF.

Right Field:

In 2009, the enigmatic Elijah Dukes patrolled right field for the Nationals. It appears as though Dukes will be counted on for 2010 as well (as long as the roster remains the same). Dukes has the kind of potential that makes you think he could be the next Vladimir Guerrero – but he has the type of personal discipline that makes you think he’s the next Daryl Strawberry. Dukes looks like he’s straightened out his life which could be his biggest accomplishment – because if his mind is clear and he focuses on baseball, the Nats have a potential superstar in Dukes.

RF – 2010 = 2009 with significant room for improvement without making a roster change.

Bench:

As constructed, the Nats bench looks solid. The versatile Willie Harris really could be a starter and could push for the LF job and whoever loses out the SS battle (either Desmond or Guzman) will be a great addition to the bench. The Nats also have some solid pinch-hitting bats in Mike Morse and Justin Maxwell as well as some defensive specialists in Alberto Gonzalez, Wil Nieves and Roger Bernadina (none of whom should be counted on for their bats). It’s a versatile – if not spectacular – bench.

Braintrust:

This is the area where the Nats improved the most. It really appeared as though Manny Acta was in way over his head as a rookie manager and had no idea how tough it would really be in DC. I don’t think Acta was as bad a manager as some Nats fans feel he is, but he certainly seemed overwhelmed by what transpired under his leadership. Riggleman is a grizzled veteran of managing baseball and should be able to handle the task of building a team from the ground up.

Riggleman will be aided by new rookie general manager Mike Rizzo. Rizzo replaced Jim Bowden who reminded me more of a New York City “Rolex” watch street vendor. I don’t expect Rizzo to build Rome in a day, but judging by the moves he’s made this off-season you can say Rome has had the ground-breaking ceremony. For the first time since their arrival in Washington, it appears as though the Nats have a clear focus and direction – something most successful major league franchises have – which is nice. It finally feels as though we have a major league team to root for and Rizzo needs to be given credit for providing it.

Overall, I think the Nats have the pieces in place to win far more games than they did last year. The trick is, the Nats really avoided that major injury last year – except for Jordan Zimmermann and if you claim your biggest injury that crippled your team last year was to your rookie starting pitcher, you had bigger problems than the injury itself. I can think of two players who – if they spend significant time on the Disabled List – would ruin any chances of making any marked improvement over last year’s record: Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn. However, the rest of the roster seems to be able to sustain itself if the starter goes down (I guess that could also be seen as a drawback…).

The Nats will certainly need a few things to fall their way in order to avoid a last-place finish again this year, but the Braves did try to unload Derek Lowe, they did trade away Javier Vazquez for what essentially amounts to a 4th outfielder on most rosters (Melky Cabrera) and now comes word that Jair Jurrjens may be missing significant time. They could be hitching their wagons to the oft-injured Tim Hudson and the second year phenom Tommy Hanson.

The Mets are a mess organizationally. Beyond Johan Santana, the staff is a grease fire. The position players have tons of question marks. The Mets could be poised for a serious decline this year. And one never knows about whether or not the Marlins can continue to sustain success while selling off all usable parts for prospects.

As constructed, I believe the Nats have the potential to win 70 or so games this year – or at least avoid losing 100+ games for the third straight year. In any event, I’m ready to get Spring Training out of the way and get into playing meaningful baseball again.

Whptee - D

2009-12-08T09:32:00.006-05:00

Two Cheaters Side-by-Side

I’m not going to jump up and down. I won’t.

I know the Nationals desperately needed an adequate back up catcher for Jesus Flores. I know they needed a catcher who could start for when Jesus Flores goes on the disabled list for an extended stay (like he has the past few years).

The Nats did that – and they did so by inking a sure-fire Hall of Fame catcher in the twilight of his career. Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez.

I put the “Pudge” in quotes not because he uses that as his nickname, rather because I cannot believe the media still has the audacity to use it. I mean, really, does this REALLY look like a guy who should be called “Pudge?”:

That doesn’t even look like the same guy. And don’t normal humans typically put on weight over the course of time. The dude’s 38 and looks like he lost 30-40 pounds in the past couple of years. This is a professional athlete who’s supposed to be building muscle and working out and he LOST that much?

If I were Carlton Fisk, I’d throw up in my mouth every time I hear that hack Karl Ravech from ESPN call Ivan Rodriguez “Pudge.”

I know it’s not been proven, I know I am only speculating and no, I cannot prove anything, but if steroids were to help any one position on the field more than any other it would be catcher – and Rodriguez played for the Rangers, the same team Jose Canseco was playing for when Canseco was handing out syringes like lollipops at a bank drive-thru window.

Again, no proof, but COME ON.

I appreciate that the Nats are trying to improve the team on the field and I honestly believe this move will help the team in a desperate need area. I will continue to root for the Nationals to improve, but I will NOT root for Ivan Rodriguez. I hope to God that Jesus Flores plays 162 games per season for the next two years and Ivan Rodriguez never sees the field. I know it’s unrealistic, but I don’t care.

Ivan Rodriguez will make the hall of Fame someday strictly because of his offensive numbers because that’s all that most members of the BBWA care about anymore anyway. They’ll overlook his laziness behind the plate in favor of that rocket arm that was bolstered artificially be steroids. They’ll ignorantly put him in failing to take into account that he probably would never have eclipsed the real Pudge for games behind the plate because the only way he could’ve possibly pulled it off was to inject himself with a substance that allowed him to do so.

Bully for you “Pudge.” You keep on sticking around and continue looking as skinny as a high-school freshman playing flute in the band while living the lie of an ex-steroid user. I’ll not root for you and I would sincerely hope nobody else in Natstown does either.

A Clean Sweep Of Gold And Silver For Zimm

2009-11-16T08:59:00.002-05:00

Ryan Zimmerman Takes The Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards

Ryan Zimmerman pulled off a rare sweep last week as he took home two of baseball’s post-season awards (although they are of lesser significance than some others).

Zimmerman captured the Gold Glove Award and the Silver Slugger award in the National League this year. Unlike the Rookie of the Year or the Most Valuable Player, these awards are given out to one player at each position and Zimmerman earned both awards for National League third basemen.

All-in-all it was a great year for the Nationals’ young third-sacker. He went to his first All-Star game this year and now has added two yearly achievement awards to his resume which is growing each year. On top of all that, Zimmerman signed a contract extension with the Nats earlier this year which bought out the last two years of arbitration as well as the first three years of his free-agency. The deal will pay him $45,000,000 over the course of his contract (plus tons of incentives) and will culminate in 2013 with a $14,000,000 salary.

Zimmerman had a career year this year with career highs in AVG (.292), OBP (.364), SLG (.525), OPS (.888), HR (33), and R (110). He also played in 157 games at 3B.

Of course, what Nats fans are hoping is that this is just the start of a budding superstar career for Zimm. Hopefully the team continues to build around him and put the pieces in place to help him succeed.

Good Business or Evil Empire? Or Somewhere In Between?

2009-11-10T10:44:00.006-05:00

Senator Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker Looking Over Their Empire

Now that the 2009 season has come to a close it’s time to start talking about off-season issues.

An interesting topic was on the docket this morning as the folks on Baseball This Morning (XM-175 from 7:00 – 10:00 Eastern) discussed some of the issues facing the general managers this week as they begin the general managers’ off-season meetings. The question was posed, “if you could change one thing about baseball, what would that be?”

A lot of listeners called in and discussed things like: (a) whether or not to let the National League get the DH (or force the American League to lose the DH); (b) whether or not to continue to allow the World Series home-field advantage be determined by the All-Star game or to go by some other merit based achievement; (c) the expansion or abolition of instant replay; and the most popular (d) what to do about the economic disparity of the sport.

After listening to the entire show and now hearing former Nationals general manager Jim Bowden expand on the topic, I have decided to give my cents to the argument on how to make the economic situation better.

When first addressing this subject, the immediate, knee-jerk reaction that everyone wants to touch upon is a “salary cap.” Many people point to the NFL and the NBA as successful examples of how a salary cap works. Well, I’ll admit that I don’t watch any professional basketball (it sucks) but I remember the 1980’s successful franchises: Boston, Los Angeles and Detroit (and eventually Chicago). The last two franchises to win the championships? Boston and Los Angeles and recently Detroit won a couple as well. It’s not like the NBA is spreading the wealth.

The NFL which is supposed to be king actually works under a much more stringent cap than any other professional league with a cap. Over the course of the 15 years the NFL has operated under a salary cap, the league has seen 11 different teams win the big one while MLB has only seen nine over that same period of time. But a little further analysis shows that despite having more teams make the playoffs every year, the NFL has sent 20 of its 32 teams to the Super Bowl while MLB has sent 16 of its 30 teams to the World Series. Not exactly a huge difference and the NFL has a hard cap. Even further, the cap really hasn’t helped defeat the notion of building a sustained winner – Pittsburgh, Denver, New England and Indianapolis have all proven to be perennial powerhouses in the NFL and make the playoffs seemingly every year and Pittsburgh, Denver and New England all have multiple Super Bowl championships in the salary cap era (Pittsburgh has been to three Super Bowls, won two of them; New England has been to five Super Bowls, won three of them; and Denver has been to and won two Super Bowls).

It seems like MLB’s economic problems all stem from one team: The New York Yankees. The Yankees spend the kind of money that the other 29 teams simply cannot generate on their own – but is a salary cap really the answer?

The current economic system of “revenue sharing” is working according to the folks who make a living covering these sorts of things – the good folks at Baseball Prospectus. In an article published on August 12th by Shawn Hoffman, B.P. posits that the system needs some tweaking but essentially the system may be a better fit for baseball than the hard cap of the NFL or the soft cap of the NBA.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a solid subset of franchises that's fully
satisfied with the status quo going forward. But the thing is, baseball's
current revenue sharing system has actually worked pretty well—the goal is to
balance competition and profitability, and MLB has had a pretty good share of
both over the past few years. If the owners were to completely reinvent the
wheel for the next CBA, they would be taking on a significant amount of risk,
which really isn't necessary given how well the current system has worked.

Mr. Hoffman goes into a little detail as to how the current revenue sharing system works – albeit an over-simplified version - but he does a great job of breaking down the system into material that a dope like me can understand.

Essentially the current system takes the amount of money a team spends over the “threshold,” assigns a percentage of that money as form of “luxury tax” and combines that with the revenue generated from national media coverage and splits that pot between baseball’s 30 teams. Currently, only the Yankees are paying the luxury tax.

We can run through an example. The teams brought in about $6 billion in revenue
last year, and will probably be right around that figure again in 2009. (I'm not
counting the half-billion or so that flows into MLB Advanced Media and MLB
Network, but doesn't reach the teams themselves.) Let's assume that about 20
percent, or $1.2 billion, came from national sources. That means each team would
collect about $40 million.

To me this means that the clubs who are the beneficiaries of the revenue that the Yankees (and a couple of other teams) are throwing into the pot, they’d be loads better than they are currently.

Here’s where I will veer from the Mr. Hoffman’s theory. Since the Yankees seem to have a bottomless pit of money, let’s test that theory and make it a “dollar-for-dollar” system. That way, if the Yankees want to push the payroll to $250,000,000 every year, so be it – they’ll just continue to pay a higher luxury tax than anyone else. I’d even see if I can push it one step further. Perhaps you could penalize teams that go over the payroll threshold by taking away a percentage of the national media income the league gets from Fox, ESPN and TBS. This could be offset by only airing a certain number of Yankee games on the national networks, but it will certainly make the ratings at YES go up as they carry more games and the demand for the network goes up.

It’s an overly simple answer to a much more complex problem. But it seems to me that if a moron like me can come up with something, then the folks who know these things a lot better than I do can get something done.

At the end of the day, I am strongly against a salary cap. I cannot watch the NBA anymore (though it may have less to do with salary structure and more to do with the style of play of the modern game) and I can’t help but notice that what the NFL touts as “parity” to me looks more like “mediocrity.”

I honestly believe that while I hate watching the Yankees win a World Series that they essentially bought, this sort of thing is good for baseball in the long-run. Over the course of history, a good, entertaining play or film always gave you a hero to root for and a villain to root against. There is no more polarizing organization in all of sports than the Yankees. Baseball needs the Yankees to be good so everyone pays attention.

For what it’s worth, Shawn Hoffman does a much better job of describing why the system of MLB is better than the NFL or the NBA. I recommend purchasing a subscription to Baseball Prospectus and reading up on topics such as these because with the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement on the horizon, this could become a huge issue if the Yankees win it all two more times in a row.

Hey MLB.com - Eat a Dick

2009-10-16T12:38:00.007-04:00

Apparently MLB.com Hired The Bobs As Market Researchers For MLB.com's "Customer Service"

Wow, just wow.

While I was on vacation, I received word from my bank that my checking account went negative because a charge came in from MLB.com stating that I had been charged for a monthly subscription to MLB.tv for the end of the regular season and then again they graciously charged me for MLB.tv’s post-season coverage as well.

The charge only amounted to about $30, but since I was on vacation and couldn’t take care of it, my bank charged me a $25- overdraft fee.

I also have EZ-Pass which we were using to cover tolls to and from Florida. EZ-Pass is set up to hit my account whenever there is less than $10- to cover tolls on my EZ-Pass account. Care to guess what happened? That’s right. EZ-Pass dinged me for another $25- which then gave me yet another $25- overdraft fee from my bank (who at least was kind enough to give EZ-Pass the money so I wouldn’t be arrested for tollbooth hopping).

Here’s where I admit to my fault: I purchased MLB.tv back in June so I could watch my beloved Nationals every night and I could watch them in HD since my computer has an HD monitor for viewing television broadcasts online. Well, about 30 seconds into my first game, I realized that my internet connection wasn’t conducive to receiving live broadcasts in HD so that feature was rendered pointless.

Add to that the fact that the Nationals really sucked this year and I saw no reason to continue paying for the service. Knowing that I had checked the little checkbox that said, “Please do not renew my subscription when the current subscription expires” I just let it go dormant. Well, the “good” folks at MLB.tv didn’t see it that way. On July 27th they hit me for $19.95. They did so again on August 27th. And then again on September 27th (while I was in Florida) and added to it the post-season subscription (that I didn’t ask for). So that’s $70-. Not a big deal, but they did add another $50- in overdraft fees bringing the grand total to $120-. Usually no big deal, but we were on vacation and came back from Florida with no expendable cash.

Again, my fault for not checking my account thoroughly enough during July and August and noting that MLB.tv had charged me despite my not using the service.

Let's go Back in time a bit...

Last year when I signed up for Gameday Audio through MLB.com, I was enrolled in a subscription for Sports Illustrated despite the fact I asked them to not give me the free three months trial subscription. I got it anyway and cancelled the subscription after receiving my first magazine (I hate Sports Illustrated). The “good” folks at S.I. told me that they cancelled my subscription but that I’d continue to receive the magazine for the three free months. I said, “fine.” I have friends who have birds and they could use the magazines as cage liners.

Well, when the three free months ended, I was hit with a one-year subscription charge from S.I. for about $90-. It hit the same day that my XM radio renewal hit for $85 which, of course, threw my account negative and incurred another $50 in overdraft fees.

The process of recouping my costs was as excruciating as a non-anesthetized root canal. I spoke with countless “customer service” representatives at S.I. who all told me that I could not contact any managers or anyone in their finance department via phone – the only way they could receive a message from me directly was BY FAX! At least six different times I had to have a friend of mine who works at my bank send the finance department faxes of the transactions which caused my account to go negative as well as a letter on official bank letterhead explaining how to refund the money. SIX TIMES. I called Sports Illustrated EVERY SINGLE DAY trying to get this rectified – and while I was going through this fiasco which took close to three weeks to resolve, EZ-Pass hit me again and I got hit with another $25- overdraft.

The whole situation became comical. My brother suggested that after my fourth fax which they claimed the never received I should send one fax every hour which states, “If you feel you’ve received this fax in error – then give me my fucking money.” My friend at the bank theorized that the finance department was actually run by a group of people who all worshipped a worker droid that collected faxes off the fax machine and deposited them into the shredder.

Anyway, after about three weeks, Sports Illustrated finally gave me my money back as well as gave me $50- of the $75- they were responsible for in overdraft fees.

Needless to say, I recommend that everyone out there NOT subscribe to Sports Illustrated.

Fast forward to last week. I found the phone number for “customer service” at MLB.com and contacted them about my problem this year (in which they charged me four months worth of fees for one month worth of service). I spoke with a nice young man who went over the account with me and saw my login history and noticed that I stopped using the service when my one month subscription ran out and helped me put in the request for a refund. I also asked for the pie in the sky in the form of my $50- in overdraft fees which this transaction caused but I thought it was a stretch. He said he’d make a note about it, but frequently when the finance department of MLB.com issues refunds they do not refund overdraft fees. I said that I understood that but it would be nice to have that note in there.

We ended the conversation with him saying that I’ll get my $70 but that I’d have to wait and see what the finance department says about the $50-. I’ll receive an e-mail within 7-10 days regarding the refund.

Well, late last night – while I was watching the Phillies/Dodgers game - I got the e-mail which stated:

Dear Valued Subscriber:Your request for a refund in connection with your 2009
MLB.TV Premium Monthly Subscription subscription has been denied in accordance
with the terms of your purchase Should you wish to discuss your subscription
further, please contact Customer Support toll-free at
1-866-800-1275. Sincerely,MLB.com

So not only were they not going to give me my $50- in overdraft charges, they weren’t going to give me my $70- either.

I was a bit miffed.

I waited until they opened this morning and spoke with another “customer service” representative. I expressed my displeasure at the decision and she explained away by stating: “the box you checked was for automatic renewal of a YEARLY subscription and not the monthly subscription. The monthly subscription automatically renews and said so in the disclosure. You need to read it more carefully.” I then asked why they would even give me the option to check the box for non-renewal if I wasn’t signing up for the yearly subscription (when you sign up, you are asked on the front page which service you want, the monthly or yearly; after that you are taken to another page to process payment at which point you are offered the checkbox – so I again ask, why offer the option of non-renewal on the monthly page if your intent is not to offer it no matter what choice you make?). Her response? “I’m not sure, but I don’t work in billing.”

At this point I ask to speak to the person who made the decision not to refund my money. She says that those people don’t have phones or e-mail accessible to the general public. SOUNDS A LOT LIKE THE FAX-EATING DROIDS AT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED.

Exasperated, I asked “well, where do I go from here.” She informed me that she will make a separate request for a refund of my $120- and that I should receive an e-mail within 7-10 days. After that I asked what my options are when this second request is inevitably declined and she told me that I can call back and ask to speak with a manager. I asked if I could do that right now and she said none are available.

In the meantime, my account still sits negative. Luckily this is my travel account that I use for my play money so it’s not affecting mortgage payments or food or heat but it’s still pissing me off.

Sufficed to say, if there are any baseball fans out there who use MLB.com’s services and pay for them – I hope nothing ever goes wrong for you because getting through to anyone who can actually help you is darn near impossible.

MLB is a multi-billion dollar industry. For years there have been questions on whether or not the sport has lost touch with its bread-and-butter fan base.

I’d say these examples answer that question.

When Baseball Is This Bad - I Turn To College Hockey

2009-10-13T13:32:00.003-04:00

The ECAC Makes a Bad Decision - And I'm Angry

Well it’s been a while since my last post and for very good reason: this baseball season sucks. The Nats were pathetic and the one team I am rooting against in the post-season (the Yankees) just swept their way past the Twins while the only club that could give them any competition whatsoever (the Red Sox) were swept by the Angels.

Because the thought of Alex ROIDriguez and Mark Te$$eira raising a championship trophy makes me want to vomit on my own shoes, I instead am going to focus on something that ordinarily makes me happy – college hockey.

If you recall from my very first entry, I reserve the right to not talk about the Nationals or baseball in general so that I can focus on writing something I care about when neither of those topics give me anything worth writing about.

I recently read on USCHO.com the pre-season predictions on how the college hockey season will play out in the 2009-10 ECAC season. Typically I follow the Clarkson Golden Knights and the Cornell Big Red.

I was excited to read the pre-season column looking at each school by USCHO’s ECAC correspondent Brian Sullivan. Sullivan’s been covering the ECAC for years now for USCHO and he generally has a good bead on the schools and he always manages to get great interviews with coaches because he’s got a good relationship built in.

It was a bit disappointing reading his wrap up of the Knights but it’s hard to argue with his reasoning – at least he thinks Cornell’s up for another great year.

So while it’s exciting for me that ECAC hockey is starting up, I did receive some sad news. A buddy of mine informed me that the championship rounds of the end of season ECAC Hockey Tournament is being moved from my back yard here in Albany, NY down to Atlantic City, NJ. I want the person responsible for that decision to tell me why they chose Atlantic City.

In the ECAC, you have only one school who’s fans travel really well: Cornell. So if Cornell makes it to the semis, you know you’ll have great attendance from them. Other than that, fans will travel modestly to get to the championships if their team makes it, but only one school from the ECAC (Princeton) is in New Jersey and Trenton is a hike from Atlantic City.

Of the 12 schools in the ECAC, six are from upstate, NY (Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Colgate, Cornell, Rensselaer and Union), one is from New Hampshire (Dartmouth), one is from Massachusetts (Harvard), one is from Rhode Island (Brown) and two are from Connecticut (Yale and Quinnipiac). So they move the championship rounds to NEW JERSEY?

Seems to me that if Albany, NY wasn’t central enough for them the least they could’ve done to maximize attendance would be to move it to Springfield, MA – that way the New England schools would travel a bit better.

Beyond that, you’re going to send college kids to a city that’s known for debauchery, gambling and prostitution? How’s THAT a good idea? I know most of these kids are Ivy Leaguers and the brightest minds out there, but they are still kids.

This just sounds like a really bad idea.

In March, I will purchase by tickets for the final season of ECAC hockey championships at the Knickerbocker Arena here in Albany and hope that Clarkson and/or Cornell is there. If not, I’ll still attend and watch some great college hockey – all the while lamenting that it will be my last opportunity to do so for at least three years; because I’m not driving six hours to Atlantic City for it.

2009 has been a colossal disappointment.

When is Spring Training?

Milton Bradley Embarrasses Cubs - Awesome.

2009-09-21T14:44:00.012-04:00

I'LL SHOW YOU BALLS!

I must start by saying it’s been a while since my last post. My wife and I recently celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and have been planning our 2nd honeymoon to Disney World with our three kids (we leave on Wednesday). Plus, lots of travel for work has left me bereft of free time.

That free time that I had? I certainly didn’t want to waste it writing about the disaster in DC. We suck; and my mom always told me that if I couldn’t say anything nice about someone I probably shouldn’t say anything at all. So I took a hiatus. But now I’m about to throw mom’s advice out the window.

Now what fun would it be to pile on the lowly Nats, though? Everyone knew we were going to struggle this year. That’s like giving the nerd in high-school an atomic wedgie - WAY too easy. Just once I'd love to see the nerd slip the smokin' hot cheerleader a rufee and nail her - thereby embarassing the high-school football team she's been laying pipe with. So instead of giving the Nats the atomic wedgie, I’d like to take a moment and once again laugh at the Cubs and nail their girlfriend.

After the 2008 season the Cubs were said to be desiring a RFer with some pop in his bat (an opinion I find curious since they really had an average CFer and a defensive hack in LF, but okay). They focused on Milton Bradley and Bobby Abreu. The Angels moved pretty quickly on Abreu once they stopped focusing on Mark “the Anti-Christ” Teixeira.

Once Abreu signed with the Angels the Nationals offered a contract to Adam Dunn for 2 years at $20 million. He begged the Cubs to match the offer and the Cubs instead decided to offer a three year/$30 million dollar contract to the often volatile Milton Bradley. Dunn ends up with the Nationals.

So the Cubs who were already in bed with one hot-head (Carlos Zambrano) added Bradley and all his baggage. Almost immediately – as could’ve been predicted by anyone with any common sense whatsoever – Bradley started lashing out at the Chicago media and the Cubs fan base. The big blow came in late August when he interviewed for an article by the Associated Press which include these clips:

"I'm talking about hatred, period. I'm talking about when I go to eat at a restaurant. I've got to listen to the waiters badmouthing me at another table, sitting in a restaurant. That's what I'm talking about. Everything."

"All I'm saying is I pray the game is nine innings, so I can go out there the least amount of time possible and go home,"

So does he regret signing with the Cubs, who are his seventh major league team?

"I don't regret anything," he said. "I regret that there are idiots in the world, that's what I regret."

Bradley is the idiot. I hate the Cubs; and even I wouldn’t say that the fans are brimming with hatred. Their fans don’t strike me as the types of fans who would “badmouth” him while at a restaurant with his family.

Lately, events transpired that led to a quick spiral into the abyss.

Bradley was pulled from his game early on in a double switch. Apparently, the move really angered Bradley and he pulled himself from the Thursday game with knee soreness. After the Thursday game Bradley had this exchange with members of the media:

Reporters: What happened with the injury?

Bradley: "I'm not talking about that. What else you got?"

Reporters: Why did you come out?

Bradley: "I got knee inflammation. I got two knee surgeries. That happens when you got knee surgery, in case you don't know. What else you got?"

Reporters: How long will you be out?

Bradley: "What else you got? Anything significant?"

From there, Bradley refused to play in Saturday’s game which precipitated a verbal argument with Cubs hitting coach Von Joshua. The following day (yesterday) Bradley interviewed with the Daily Herald. The following is an excerpt from that story:

Bradley claimed to have no opinion on where he bats - “In the lineup,” he said of his preferred spot - and the only time he became expansive at all was when he was asked if he had enjoyed his first season in Chicago.

“Not really,” he said. “It’s just not a positive environment. I need a stable, healthy, enjoyable environment. There’s too many people everywhere in your face with a microphone asking the same questions repeatedly. Everything is just bashing you. You got out there and you play harder than anybody on the field and never get credit for it. It’s just negativity.

“And you understand why they haven’t won in 100 years here, because it’s negative. It’s what it is.”

Asked whether he was talking about the fans, the media or even the Cubs organization, he replied: “It’s everything. It’s everybody.”

This finally led to Cubs GM Jim Hendry suspending Bradley for the rest of the season. The following is an excerpt from the Tribune quoting Jim Hendry:

Hendry mentioned the "issues we've all lived with during the year," referring to Bradley's publicized battles with umpires, fans and the Chicago media.

"The last few days became too much for me to tolerate," Hendry said. "I'm certainly not going to let our great fans become an excuse. I'm not going to tolerate not being able to answer questions from the media respectfully. Whether you feel like talking or not, it's part of all of our jobs."

There's a right way to do it and a wrong way. I'm not going to allow disrespect to other people in that locker room and uniformed personnel, and I'm certainly not going to let a player, as was mentioned in the article today, (talk about) negativity of the organization."

Hendry added the "only real negativity" was Bradley's production (12 HRs, 40 RBIs in 393 at-bats).

This leaves him only with the option of finding some sucker to actually give him more than a cup of coffee for Bradley. If the Cubs fail to find a trade partner for Bradley’s services, they’ll have to cut him and eat the contract.

They could’ve had Adam Dunn for the same salary with less commitment. Dunn has had a great year at the plate hitting nearly 50 points higher than his career batting average and hitting his usual 40 homeruns and 100 or so RBI. Ao they instead signed Bradley who caused problems with the fans, the media and the team all while hitting 12 homers and 40 RBI in nearly 400 at-bats. He embarrassed the franchise, embarrassed his manager and now forced his general manager to eat his contract.

It's sorta like we actually did nail the girlfriend AND we got to give the starting quarterback the atomic wedgie.

All of this while they’re trying to sell the team.

Hilarious.

Oh My Achin' Ass

2009-09-02T09:23:00.009-04:00

Sorry Steve. I Wish It Were Different For You, But Alas, You're Hosed

You know who really angers me? The mainstream media. Part of what really annoyed me as a Yankee fan was the circus that followed players everywhere they went and the fact that their announcers were so overtly homeristic in their coverage that it made it impossible to listen to them and actually follow the game – you know? The reason we tuned in? Not to listen to your pathetic prattling over homerun calls and what Derek Jeter had for breakfast?

Well apparently Stephen Strasburg feels the same way. He had his first workout session in Viera on Monday and addressed the media that was covering him there. Do you know what Strasburg had the audacity to say?

"I thought I'd get a little bit of peace out here, but you guys are following me everywhere. It's something I guess I gotta deal with. I guess it just goes with the territory."

[sarcasm lock on] Oh my God! HE HATES BEING A PROFESSIONAL ALREADY!!! WHAT’RE WE GONNA DO?!?!?!? [/sarcasm]

Really – why is this such a big deal? He’s from Southern California and isn’t used to this sort of thing. He’s 21 years old and has a lot of stupid things he’s going to say ahead of him. In fact if you read it and imagine it being spoken, it sounds like he’s saying, “it’s really no big deal, I just didn’t think you guys would think that a throwing session would be newsworthy. Whatever.”

And you know what? HE’S RIGHT. This kid has more perspective at the tender age of 21 than these overbearing blowhards in the media have despite having more years experience than Strasburg has years of life. The kid’s 100% correct. IT’S A THROWING SESSION. Any baseball fan worth his or her salt understands this isn’t going to translate to a call-up on Friday and a no-hitter on Sunday. It’s really no big deal.

And if that’s not enough, he even made light of the whole fiasco by stating:

"Once I get into playing games and stuff, it should be able to die down. Hopefully it will die down sometime soon. . . . I'm just a baseball player. It's not like I'm the President or anything."

A - f’n - men. This isn’t a peace accord negotiation, this isn’t even a Major League debut. It’s a pitching session. The actual team is in San Diego. Why not spend your time with that?

The “outrage” on display by the columnists who are wasting their time talking about this act indignant. John Feinstein wrote about it yesterday. XM-175 and their morning baseball program is covering this thoroughly and while I fully appreciate the coverage, it would be nice to actually talk about baseball and not dissect this kid’s off-handed comments.

Honestly? Baseball This Morning's hosts are spending time comparing a 21-year-old freshly drafted Washington National to a player like Derek Jeter. Jeter was drafted by and brought up in a system that is world-renowned. The New York media is notoriously relentless. It’s not like the Washington sports media has a reputation – most people are dimly aware that there is a Washington sports media and the only columnist they can readily identify is George Will and he’s more of a political columnist than a sports columnist.

This kid was probably genuinely shocked that so many people cared about a throwing session that took place 3,500+ miles away from where the big-league team was getting ready to play a game.

In my heart of hearts, I believe these knuckleheads in the media are insulted by comments like these. When an athlete calls them out and asks them if they really don’t have anything better they could be doing it’s a personal attack. The audacity of some player actually telling them what’s news and what isn’t? Preposterous! I’ll write a column that’ll show him who’s decides what’s news and what isn’t!

Please. Leave the kid alone and cover the Nationals. This kid’s a minimum of three years away from positive contributions to the big-league club and you’re following his every move?

Wake up Washington sports media: YOU’RE NOT NEW YORK. There’s nothing endearing about the New York media to players or to fans that really follow the game. Shut up. Leave the kid alone and let him develop. Don’t you have any questions for Ryan Zimmerman – or anyone else actually on the team for that matter?

In all their angst, the columnists and op-ed folks apparently missed this little gem:

"I am going to take what's given to me. I know the organization has my best interest [in mind]. . . . When they feel my time is right, I'll go up there and pitch as good as I can. . . . This is the game I love. It's something I love to do."

But then again, it doesn’t help perpetuate their make-believe story.

AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!

2009-08-28T11:19:00.004-04:00

Do I Really Need To Write A Caption?

What a great day to be a Nats fan and a Cub hater. Taking two-out-of-three from the Cubs has been one of the few bright spots in this season of discontent. Nothing makes misery tolerable quite like company.

The Cubs now stand at one game over .500 – a full nine games behind the Cardinals for the division and 7 ½ games behind Colorado for the wild card. Certainly not an impossible task with 37 games to play, but the way they lost those games and who they lost them to indicates that this team doesn’t have the moxie to pull it off.

J.D. martin was less than sharp yesterday and managed to get out with his hide. Martin allowed three runs (two homeruns) in only five innings of work. The Nats bullpen (that’s right, THE BULLPEN) bailed him out allowing only one run over the last four innings to hang onto the 5-4 win.

The night before, Livan Hernandez (more on him in a moment) allowed only 2 runs in six innings. Speaking of Livan Hernandez, I was on the road for work on Wednesday and had not heard about the acquisition of Hernandez until about a half-hour before game time. What the hell? First the Nats front office states they will NOT acquire veteran free-agent pitchers to supplement the rotation. Not only do they throw that plan out the window, they do it FOR LIVAN HERNANDEZ?!?!?! Should we expect Orlando Hernandez next? Perhaps Bert Blyleven would like to come out of retirement to bolster his Hall of Fame chances? Really? Livan Hernandez? I live in New York and I could’ve SWORN I saw Livan in the line to sign up for social security back in June. I swear it was him.

Tuesday night, Garrett Mock was less than perfect but when you get two homers from Josh Willingham and a grand slam from Elijah Dukes, do you really need to worry?

So the Cubs lost to Mock and Martin who are both still developing and hoping at some point to be major league-caliber pitchers. The only win came in the Livan game and that game may have gone to the Nats if Jorge Sosa (who someday hopes to develop into a major league-caliber bathroom attendant) didn’t allow 5 runs in ONE-THIRD OF AN INNING.

Random thoughts……

Say, you know who’s had a career year?

The Guy On The Right

The photo comes courtesy of Nationals Inquisition who represented at bloggers day and got a photo op with Josh Willingham’s gigantic guns (apparently Dangernat had his tickets to the gun show).

Willingham is hitting 25 points higher than his career average and has 21 homers so far – only five fewer than his career high for a season. If the Nats hadn’t wasted their time with Willingham toiling away on the bench early in the season, just think of how much better they’d be. This team benched him and then when they finally gave him his shot, they asked him to change positions – then after they traded away Nick Johnson and moved Adam Dunn to first, they asked him to switch back. All of this and he never moped, never complained and never publicly blasted the team. Instead, he went about his business and earned the job that probably should’ve been rightfully his to begin with.

If I had disposable income, I’d get me a Nationals “Willingham” jersey because these are the types of players worth rooting for.

F**k The Cubs

2009-08-25T14:02:00.007-04:00

This Is The Word Of The Lord

Any journalistic integrity I have or may have had at one time in my life is going completely out the window today: I HATE THE CUBS.

And no, this doesn’t stem from Alfonso Soriano signing with the Cubs after his one ill-fated season with the Nationals. I’ve hated them since I was a teenager. I tuned into WGN (the Chicago Superstation) every day to enjoy watching the Cubs lose.

I never found Harry Caray to be charming, I think Ron Santo sounds like an alcoholic who masturbates during Cub radio broadcasts, I don’t feel bad for Ryne Sandberg or Ernie Banks or Cubs fans. I am contented when the Cubs are the Cubs.

You see, I always found it patently unfair that the Cubs had the right to broadcast their games to a national audience (for that matter, I guess that’s also why I hated the Braves so much) – and why did WGN pick the Cubs? THEY SUCKED! At least the White Sox were interesting; but no, they chose the Cubs.

The fans are terrible. They walk around like it’s their right to a championship and they’re rationale is that they’ve “waited long enough.” Really? I don’t think so.

Some things need to be a certainty; like death, taxes, the sun rising in the east, etc. We had the futility trilogy not too long ago: the Red Sox, the White Sox and the Cubs. Well both Sox are off the hook now and we just have to keep this Cubs thing going. It makes for a great story line and it makes me happy.

So what could make me doubly happy? The Nats really have a chance this week to put a hurtin’ on the Cubs’ post-season chances. The Cubs are currently eight games behind St. Louis in the NL Central and 7 ½ games behind the Rockies for the NL Wild Card (with San Francisco, Atlanta and Florida between the Cubs and Rockies). Plus, the Astros and Brewers are both just two games behind Chicago in the standings and both are below .500 . This could be a great week if only we didn’t face Zambrano and Harden in games one and two. Hopefully Mock and Martin can bring their A-games with them as they have their past few starts – each are 2-1 in their last three.

Please Nats. I haven’t really asked for much during this awful season, but can’t we just win 2-out-of-3 here and keep the cycle of Cub losing going? I plan on living until at least 80 years old and I hope the Cubs never win one in my lifetime. I want to die knowing that for 142 straight years, people lived, people died, people were taxed, people watched the sun rise in the east and set in the west every day and the Cubs still never won a World Series.

ESPN - Going The Way Of The Do-Do?

2009-08-24T13:34:00.008-04:00

ESPN: The Total Sports Network (of areas surrounding Boston and New York)

The time has come. It’s time for “The New England/New York and NFL Network” – better known to some as ESPN – went away.

Did you know the Yankees and Red Sox played this weekend? Okay maybe you did, but do you know the outcome of any of the games? I sure don’t; and I attribute that in large part to having no access to ESPN anymore, and that’s voluntary.

With the advent of the networks for all four major sports, there really isn’t a need for ESPN anymore. For example, today I am listening to, as I always do, XM Radio’s MLB Homeplate (XM-175) for all of my baseball talk. Sure, they’re covering the Red Sox-Yankees matchup from this past weekend, but they’re covering lots of different topics. This morning they talked about historical improbable endings to baseball games because The Phillies’ Eric Bruntlett turned an unassisted triple play to end the Mets-Phillies game yesterday.

Also earlier today, Kansas City Royals manager Trey Hillman was on to discuss KANSAS CITY ROYALS BASEBALL. Do you think the super-mega-conglomerate which can’t be bothered with anything outside of New York or Boston (unless it’s the NFL) would ever consider spending anymore than a 30-second highlight segment on Kansas CIty unless it was of the Royals getting pummeled by the Yankees – and it not being about the Chiefs? If ESPN was your lone choice for sports information you would think MLB only had two teams (well, okay maybe three if you add the Cubs).

And in case you say, “well gee, that’s all well and good if you’re a baseball nut, but what about football? ESPN covers football.” To which I say, “why wouldn’t you watch the NFL Network instead?” It’s offered on just about every cable system there is. If you’re into satellite radio, Sirius offers an all-football NFL channel. The same is offered by the NBA and the NHL. Hell, even NASCAR and the PGA have their own radio networks and I know that The Golf Channel exists on television.

Why on earth would you ever rely on ESPN for any sports information anymore? Even if you are a fan of the Yankees or the Red Sox, there are 24-hour television stations devoted to those teams.

Maybe ESPN can put the “E” back into its name and move to a 24-hour network that provides just ports-based movies and mini-series. Sorta like an AMC of sports. They could keep the one useful network they have (ESPN News) and get rid of everything else.

With all of the information out there it seems time for these all-inclusive networks to rethink their strategies. Look at MTV and go back and look at where it was 25 years ago; or the Weather Channel. Wake up ESPN. Your days of pandering to a certain segment of your audience and forcing the rest of us to like it are numbered. If I want to hear about baseball that doesn’t have to do with Boston or New York, I can find it now. I don’t need you anymore and soon nobody else will either. I hope you enjoy a programming scheduled filled with World Series of Poker reruns.

Big Week In D.C.

2009-08-21T09:49:00.003-04:00

He's Our Man

Despite getting swept by the Rockies this week, the Nationals as an organization are finally starting to look like a real baseball franchise.

The final block of the old MLB-run regime was finally replaced when earlier this week the Nationals named Mike Rizzo the permanent GM of the club. Rizzo has done an admirable job of turning chicken-s**t into chicken salad. Shortly after Jim Bowden’s firing, Rizzo went right to work patching up the bullpen by signing a couple of veterans (okay, so it wasn’t great, but they were literally all that was left after Bowden failed to address the issue) Joe Beimel and Julian Tavarez. He attempted to bolster the ‘pen by adding Logan Kensing from the Marlins – hey, as I said already, he really didn’t have a lot to work with.

He traded away JoeLOL Hanrahandout and troubled prospect Lastings Milledge for the Nationals new spark-plug, lead-off hitter and resident pimptastic “Tony Plush” errr….I mean, … Nyjer Morgan and a very solid bullpen addition of Sean Burnett.

Rizzo then drafted and signed Drew Storen with the #10 overall pick. Not only did he get Storen signed, he got it done quickly and Storen skyrocketed through the system already surpassing short-season and long-season A-ball and is now pitching in AA Harrisburg.

Rizzo’s best accomplishment to date (and probably the move that solidified his job) was staring down the barrel of a gun held by super-agent Scott Boras and getting the #1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg signed. Yes, it was a record-setting contract, but far from bending over for Boras’ initial demands of upwards of FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS.

Rizzo did what Bowden couldn’t do with last year’s first round pick Aaron Crow – and the rumor has it that as the deadline neared, Rizzo went into the conference room, alone, with nobody to watch over him and got the deal done. That’s trust in the man’s ability to do his job. As a result, the Nationals held a press conference yesterday to announce the “interim” tag would be removed from Rizzo’s title.

So now we have real owners, a real front office and now a hand-picked real GM. After a dismal start to 2009, perhaps things will turn around here and we can start playing some better baseball.

And speaking of press conferences, Rizzo’s top prize is slated for a presser of his own today when the Nationals announce to the world that Stephen Strasburg is officially a National.

But before then, Strasburg will be hosting a chat session on mlb.com where fans can submit questions for Strasburg to answer. My guess is, Mike Rizzo will be standing over Strasburg’s shoulder telling him what to and what not to write – call me cynical.

After all of this though, it’s difficult to be cynical because this really has been a great week to be a Nats fan because you can see the building blocks form the foundation.

Now it’s time to get to work and start winning some ball games. Milwaukee? You’re next.

Nationals Land Top Prize In Draft

2009-08-18T08:54:00.004-04:00

Stephen Strasburg Signs A Record Contract With Washington

Well, there you have it. All the hemmin' an' hawin' over nothing really. In the end, Strasburg had no interest in being the pawn in Scott Boras's effort to tear down the MLB "First Year Player" Draft system. It was all about the money.

Well Mr. Strasburg, you got your money. Jersey's in your locker. Put it on and get to work you free-loader.

Oh and by the way? That San Diego State uniform looks stupid.

Today Is The Day

2009-08-17T11:55:00.003-04:00

Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia. - Charles M. Schultz

Today is the day. Either he does, or he doesn’t – Stephen Strasburg, that is.

The deadline to sign the players that teams drafted back in the first-year players’ draft in June is upon us. 11:59 p.m., Monday August 17th. As Julius Caesar says in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [Abridged] : “Why, that’s today!” - in reference to being reminded to “beware the Ides of March.”

I’ve heard the arguments for why the Nationals should, nay, HAVE to sign him: they failed to sign Aaron Crow (the colossal dumbass) last year, the team needs to make a statement that says they mean business in terms of building a winner, the team needs to tell its fanbase that it cares, etc. But I think they’re being held over a barrel by super-agent Scott Boras who is hell-bent on destroying the draft system and a player who seems eager to act as a pawn.

Rumors are abound about how much the team has offered, but the Nationals’ front office has publicly confirmed that the figure is the highest amount of money ever offered to a number on overall pick. And isn’t that the point? Every year, the number one pick should drive the market up, and the Nationals have stepped up.

To me, this kid just ain’t worth the headache. He alone is not going to turn this franchise around. Baseball is a team sport and the Nationals have a lot more problems that can be addressed. They need to shore up the defense up the middle. Next year, they need a high quality 2B and they need to get a player in the system who can/will replace Cristian Guzman after next year’s trading deadline.

They need to determine whether or not Jesus Flores can not only stay healthy, but continue to be a productive major-league caliber catcher.

They need to clean up the bull-pen. Is Mike MacDougal really going to be your closer? Is he capable? Will 10th overall pick Drew Storen be your closer of the future? Can MacDougal set-up? What about long relief?

Then there’s the rotation: Zimmermann = DONE for at least a year (probably two and possibly forever). Stammen = Detwiler = Martis = Mock = Chico = Balester = 4th and 5th starters. They need a bona fide ace and a #2 or #3 to go along with Lannan and see who shakes out of the remaining prospects to fill out the rotation (and that assumes Strasburg signs).

If the Nats dump $17+ Million on Strasburg, the front office may be hesitant to add too much in the free agent market (plus, there’s that statement from Kasten indicating the team will NEVER address the pitching problems in the free agent market). For my money, I’d rather see what the Nats can do about getting a front-line starter via free agency and let Strasburg pitch in Indy ball or even in Japan.

In the end, Boras works for Strasburg and not vise-versa. If the dollar figure continues to climb and the kid still goes unsigned, I can’t blame the Nationals because they broke the bank for the kid; I can’t blame Boras for trying to get every dollar he can for his client (although filling Strasburg’s head with grandiose ideas can’t be in his client’s best interest). Nope, I blame Strasburg himself. Get in, get your money and GET TO WORK.

Look at Aaron Crow from last year. He’s already lost money and value by pitching in the Indy leagues and now he’s still holding out for more money from the Royals – HE STILL HASN’T LEARNED. He’s not going to come close to earning what the Nats offered him last year and HE’S GOING TO TRY IT AGAIN!?!?!?!?!?

If Strasburg is really going to be this stupid, then I’d rather the Nats move on and get someone with a good head on their shoulders and not someone who wanted to take some time off and enjoy a lengthy summer vacation while his agent did the “work” which got us to this point.

If the Nats don’t get Strasburg, it’s not the end of the world.

Oh No! We Suck Again!

2009-08-14T09:18:00.003-04:00

We Are The Geeks Who Get The Swirlees

Well that was fun while it lasted.

The Nats returned from Planet Ecstasy and got right back to business: losing. After a short two-game sweep at the hands of the Braves, the Nats traveled to Cincinnati last night and got a beat-down in the form of a two-hit shutout by Bronson Arroyo (the self-proclaimed juicer).

Collin Balester looked terribly hittable, the offense looked woefully inept and the bullpen was predictably less-than-average (except Mike “The Klej” MacDougal who pitched a perfect ninth inning when absolutely nothing was on the line – why can’t he do that in save situations instead of pitching to induce ulcers?).

The one pitcher the Nationals had that could be considered a potential “front of the rotation” type – Jordan Zimmermann – had Tommy John’s surgery which ended his 2009 campaign as well as shut down any hope for anything in 2010. In fact, if the Nats manage to sign Stephen Strasburg, maybe Jordan Zimmermann will actually be ready to pitch like a #2 when “Stras” is pitching in the majors (probably 2012). Even if Zimmermann can pitch next year, he’ll never be fully recovered to the point of pitching effectively until two years after the surgery and rehab.

We just can’t buy a break and now we’re adding the humiliation of a potential four-game sweep at the hands of the Reds. Garrett Mock? J.D. Martin? At least we’ll have a chance on Sunday with John Lannan.

It’s tough being a Nats fan this year. You feel like the pocket-protector wearing high-school freshman dork who shows up every day and gets a “swirlee” in the boys’ locker room. You go through the year thinking, “this must get pretty old for them, too, so it’ll stop eventually.” Well, that eight-game winning streak was apparently the Spring Break that you receive in April and you return to school and get your “swirlee” again like it never stopped.

It’s getting pretty old for me and it doesn’t appear to be getting old for the seniors.

Wait....We Did WHAT?!?!

2009-08-10T12:56:00.003-04:00

I Just Can't Take Any More Of This Winning Stuff!

I’ve been absent lately.

You see I recently checked out of St. Peter’s Hospital here in Albany, NY – I was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Nats just reeled off eight straight and I’m really not quite sure how to handle it. Every night this past weekend I awoke at 11:30 p.m. in a sweaty frenzy convinced the national media was out to make me insane because I kept seeing that the Nationals won a baseball game on the scrolling ticker along the bottom of the NYNESNEPSN Sportscenter score alert ticker. I mean, the Nationals even won a game that GARRET MOCK STARTED. I would start screaming uncontrollably – I would try to loosen the straps that held me to the gurney and the nurses would rush in and give me a high-dosage shot of valium to put me back to sleep. The madness has to stop.

After a series of tests, they released me this morning convinced that between the off-day and the upcoming series with the now red-hot Atlanta Braves, I should be okay for the next few days. It could be short lived as the Nats have an upcoming FOUR GAME series with the slumping Reds who dumped talent at the deadline then a three game home series with Colorado who is mediocre on the road and another three-game home series with Milwaukee who can’t seem to get it going. I tell you, I am getting the shakes right now thinking about our lead in the Division Of Suck.

The Nats have made up eight games – IN EIGHT GAMES – against the Pirates and five games in the last ten against Kansas City. Our lead is shrinking faster than the Republican’s hope of filibustering the Obama Health Care Reform Act.

SOMEONE GET ME MY VALIUM!

2009-08-05T10:21:00.004-04:00

Hey Florida, F**K YOU!

It’s been a while since my last post. No, I haven’t gone anywhere I’ve just been knee-deep in my own baseball season. You see, our playoffs start on Saturday and I maintain the website for the league so my job is crucial as we near the end of the season. Managers want updated stats and standings so they can size up their opponents for playoff positioning.

With all of the rain we’ve had in the Northeast this year, it’s been exceptionally difficult to keep up with the schedule and in a league where you normally play one or two games per week, we have teams cramming five games into seven days. In fact, personally I’m in the middle of four games in three days (we played last night, we’ve a double-header tonight and then our final game tomorrow night before our playoffs start on Saturday). We’re talking 35 years or older and guys who work regular jobs. We’re gonna have some tired arms.

Anyway, last night I caught and hit at the top of the lineup. Tonight I am scheduled to make my first ever in my life start on the mound and then I am scheduled to catch game two. I’ll be quite fatigued but I will persevere and hopefully once we are eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday, I’ll be less “busy” and onto more important things – like this blog.

Anyway, after the last post (The Division Of Suck), the Nats dropped two straight to the AA Pirates but managed to secure a split of the four game series. The new contender for The Division Of Suck comes from Kansas City who now stands a mere 6 ½ games back and they’re falling fast.

In other news, Stephen Strasburg still hasn’t signed yet and Ryan Zimmerman is getting his shoulder examined after being struck by a ball. Austin Kearns has gone on the DL but I think that actually IMPROVES the team.

But the most important news happened last night – WE FINALLY BEAT THE F***ING FISH! WOO-HOO!!! Seriously though we hadn’t beaten them at all this year – including a three game sweep at Washington in which the Nats blew late inning leads in each of the three games (including my son’s first-ever major league baseball game which makes me hate the Marlins more than any other NL East “rival”). So it feels great this morning.

This really could prove to be a turning point for the Nats this year. They finally overcame a team that owned them for nine games this year – but it’s how they did it that makes it so special. The Marlins had their usual late-inning lead and a great pitcher in Josh Johnson on the mound. The score was 4-0 in the eighth and Josh Johnson runs into trouble – with nobody out he allows three straight singles by Willie Harris, Alberto Gonzalez and Wil Nieves to load the bases (these guys are the Nats 6, 7 and 8 hitters!). Then manager Jim Riggleman pinch hits for pitcher Ron Villone and brings up the oft-criticized “Fat” Ronnie Belliard. Belliard rips a two run double to pull the Nats to within two runs. Josh Johnson gets pulled without recording an out in the eighth and is replaced by some joker named Renyel Pinto (I’ve never head of him either).

Nats leadoff hitter, Nyjer Morgan gets an RBI groundout to second and the Nats are only down one.

Pinto gets pulled for Kiko Calero (is it me, or does that sound like the name of a doll you’d buy for your infant daughter?). Calero works a full count to Cristian Guzman and Guzman wins the at-bat with an RBI single. He then gets Josh Willingham to pop-out to first base.

Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez then brings in a lefty by the name of Dan Meyer (not to be confused with Lane Meyer of “Better Off Dead”) to face the Big Donkey. Adam Dunn takes a 3-2 pitch deep and the Nats have now scored SIX RUNS in the eighth to take the lead!

That’s where the score stood in the ninth when Mike MacDougal actually made it stick – although he did allow a walk and a double, but got out of the inning unscathed with a double play grounded into by Jeremy Hermida.

So we finally beat the f***ing Marlins and we beat them the way they beat us most of the year – in a heart-wrenching fashion. Hopefully the boys can keep it up and carry this momentum through to tonight. The Nats will send their “ace” John Lannan to the mound so they’ve got a great shot to ensure a series victory tonight – and in a season to forget, it would sure feel nice to stick it to the Marlins for a change.

Pirates Will Challenge Nationals For "Championship"

2009-07-31T12:47:00.012-04:00

Wait, Who Plays 1B, 2B, SS, LF, CF, RF, SP, RP, Bat Boy For The Pirates?

There is an interesting “pennant race” developing that not many people are talking about: The Race For The #1 Pick In 2010. The Nationals looked like they had a stranglehold on this race, but recent events leading up to today’s trade deadline have the Nats in serious jeopardy of losing this race.

Here are the standings as of today:

Team..............................Record.........Games “Behind"

1. Washington Nationals . . . . 32-70 . . . . . . . . --
2. Kansas City Royals . . . . . . 40-61 . . . . . . . . 8.5
3. San Diego Padres . . . . . . . 41-62 . . . . . . . . 9.5
4. Cleveland Indians . . . . . . . 42-60 . . . . . . . 10
T5. Oakland Athletics . . . . . . 43-58 . . . . . . . 11.5
T5. Pittsburgh Pirates . . . . . . 43-58 . . . . . . . 11.5
T7. Baltimore Orioles . . . . . . 44-57 . . . . . . . 12.5
T7. Arizona D’backs . . . . . . . 44-57 . . . . . . . 12.5

While at first glance it looks as though the Nats have this one in the bag, in the last 10 games they actually “lost” ground in the standings by picking up one game on Arizona; two games on each of San Diego and Oakland; and three games on Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The only team they “kept pace” with is Cleveland.

We need to handicap this division and look at our chances here in “The Division of Suck”:

1. Washington Nationals. Current frontrunner and defending champions. The Nats have made losing an art form early this season. However, the lack of moves near the trade deadline gives this handicapper pause. Are the Nats serious about backing up their Strasburg pick with Bryce Harper or not? Seems to me they could be off-loading what little talent they have if they were.

2. Kansas City Royals. Perennial doormat. Always a threat in the Division of Suck and the only reason they are so far back right now was they had a torrid April going 12-10 and ending the month on top of the AL Central. In the end, I think the Royals can’t even LOSE the right way and end up a distant third in this race.

3. San Diego Padres. Pre-season favorites for the Division of Suck with the sale of the franchise up in the air and the pending Jake Peavy trade (that never happened). After a decent start though, Peavy ended up going down with an injury and hasn’t pitched since June. Now comes the rumor that the Padres lone offensive talent, Adrian Gonzalez, is about to be traded to the Red Sox. No Peavy + no Gonzalez = INSTANT CONTENDER.

4. Cleveland Indians. So much hope and so much promise. So little delivered. This team went into the season looking at the MLB playoffs, not the MLB PAYOFFS. The Indians have already traded Ryan Garko and now their ace Cliff Lee. Rumors have Victor Martinez possibly moving before 4:00 p.m. today. Can that be enough to make up 10 games in the Division of Suck standings? I think so.

5. Oakland Athletics. Well, they trade FOR Matt Holliday in the pre-season to avoid being in the Division of Suck. Now they traded AWAY Matt Holliday to win the race. Don’t know if they can make up 11 games though. They do play the Mariners a bunch of times……

6. Pittsburgh Pirates. THE DARKHORSE. Ladies and gentlemen, I challenge you to name all nine starters of Pittsburgh’s opening day roster. Go ahead. I’ll wait…… You only came up with four or five names didn’t you? Well, don’t worry, they don’t play for the Pirates anymore anyway. Any recognizable name that was on the Pirates earlier this year is now gone. Away: Freddie Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Tom Gorzellany, Adam LaRoche, that other guy you could name. Hell, even the Nationals got Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett. This team is my sleeper and YES I think they can make up a measly 11.5 games with Lastings Milledge playing LF for them now.

7. Baltimore Orioles. I think the O’s end up in last place in this division; in fact, if the Blue Jays trade Roy Haladay I think the Orioles move into the American League East and the Blue Jays move into the Division of Suck. The Orioles have way too much talent to win this division.

8. Arizona Diamondbacks. With the Rockies coming back to earth, I predict the D’backs move out of this division and into the major leagues again. Too much pitching to be here but the fact that Brandon Webb hasn’t pitched certainly helped them get here.

In the end, I still think the Nats wind up near the top. 8 ½ games clear of the next “best” team is a lot of ground to lose. Of the teams here I think the Pirates have the best shot and the Nats play the Bucs starting tonight. If the Nats can pull of the sweep of the team that apparently would sell their sister into prostitution if they could, I bet the Pirates can pull it off.

So, who do you root for here?

Collin Balester Gets Another Chance

2009-07-28T13:02:00.005-04:00

Looks Like A Curveball - And Bally's Got A Good One

Here’s Collin Balester’s chance. He finally got the call-up last week and in his only appearance so far, he was the pitcher of record in the rain-delayed-and-shortened nightmare against the Cardinals last week. Tonight, he will not have to worry about the raindrops at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

Balester has a great shot at putting the Nats up 2-0 in the four game set because the Brewers counter with Carlos Villanueva who hasn’t made a start since last May and has struggled in 81 relief appearances since. Villanueva has pitched well against the Nationals in his career going 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in five appearances but those were all in relief.

Balester should get help from the Nats’ big three in the middle of the order: Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham. Zimmerman is heating up as he’s 8-for-23 (.304) with three homers and five RBI over the last seven days. Read yesterday’s post about how white-hot Dunn has been but add to that a 2-for-3 night last night with a double, a walk and two RBI. Willingham is up to .298 on the season and has played better since being given the starting RF job. However, his last seven games have him on a blistering pace: 10-for-23 (.435), four homers, four doubles and 12 RBI including two grand slams in last night’s game. He’s slugging 1.130 over his past seven games.

It’s no wonder the Nationals have won six-of-eight with all of the offense being put up.

So it’s up to Balester tonight to keep it going. The Nationals are 6-7 since firing Manny Acta and 6-2 since interim manager Jim Riggleman took the team to task after losing five straight out of the gates following the All-Star break.

Hopefully Collin can get the fastball up around 94-95 like he’s been known to do early in his career. I believe the trick to holding the Brewers at bay is to mix the speeds of his pitches well. If his fastball is coming in at 94, it’d be nice to see if the stint in the minors had him working on his changeup. The Brewers have some serious pop in their lineup with the likes of Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun anchoring the middle of order. Braun and (especially) Fielder can be had as long as that changeup is working. And if “Bally’s” curveball is working and he’s throwing it for strikes, the Brewers could find themselves down 2-0 in the series.

Bally’s gonna have to be good because the Nats are going with Garrett Mock tomorrow (and he’s been awful since being called up) and J.D. Martin on Thursday (and he’s making just his second career big league start).

Here’s to you Collin Balester and here’s wishing you success in your start against the Brewers tonight. Make it good and give the Nationals a tough decision to make when Jordan Zimmermann comes back off the D.L.

Adam Dunn Is Good For The Nationals - Yeah, I Said It

2009-07-27T11:59:00.006-04:00

How Much More Does This Guy Have To Do?

One thing’s for sure, if you’re looking for someone to pin the blame for the Nationals’ awful season, you really can’t look at Adam Dunn.

Dunn’s numbers this year indicate he is having his finest year as professional baseball player. I lifted the following examples from baseball-reference.com to indicate just how effective Dunn has been:

Starting with the basics, his batting average is the best it’s ever been for a single season. "The Big Donkey" carries a lifetime .249 average and in his best season (2004) he hit .266 for Cincinnati. Right now, he’s hitting .275 and that was after an awful May (.243) and June (.241). He’s on fire this month hitting .325 for the month of July.

His homeruns have dropped off since early in the season. He looked like a sure lock for the All-Star game with 16 homers through May, but he’s hit only 9 since. Still, he’s tied for third in the National League with 25 so far and he’s on pace for 43 homers this year which would be his second best output of his career (behind 2004 when he hit 46).

In the other “triple crown” category – RBI – he sits at 71 through 98 games which puts him on pace for around 108 which would also eclipse his highest total to date (106 in 2007).

His OBP of .402 would also be a career best, his OPS of .952 would be second best in his career (.956 in 2004) and he’s hitting lefties (.261 in 2009) better than he ever has in his career.

Plus, in the 11 games since the All-Star break he’s hitting a blistering .351 with 2 homers, 3 doubles, 6 walks and 9 RBI.

But enough about the offense, let’s focus on what it was that bugged me about Dunn’s signing in the off-season – his poor defensive play in the outfield.

I don’t necessarily agree with the defensive metrics out there, typically. I find it difficult to quantify a player’s defensive abilities with numbers and standards. When judging a player’s defensive abilities, I believe the best way to evaluate them is simply to watch them play.

Admittedly, I hadn’t seen much of Dunn before purchasing the MLB.tv package back in June, but I like what I’ve seen – for the most part – and Dunn, in my opinion, hasn’t been as bad as advertised.

Speaking with fellow Nats fans on WNFF.net, I have heard that Dunn’s defensive play has been less than stellar this season, but recently it has picked up. In one of the games this weekend, Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble (the Nats television broadcast team) made mention of Dunn working hard with Nationals coach Marquis Grissom on his play in the outfield.

Dunn’s nickname isn’t “The Big Donkey” for no reason. He’s still a lumbering oaf in LF, but at least he’s not the train-wreck I thought he’d be. I’ve seen him play fundamentally sound outfield, mostly, and his defense certainly hasn’t cost the Nationals much of anything; plus, his offense certainly more than makes up for any defensive deficiencies he may have.

Lately, there’s been talk of what to do with some of the players since the trade deadline is rapidly approaching. It was mentioned that Dunn may be shopped and that some initial offers have come through; XM-175 reported last week that an inquiry was made by the Tigers for Dunn to become a DH and another quip came across from Nats beat writer Chico Harlan: “The Nationals are said to be demanding excessively high returns for Dunn. One source called the Nationals' asking price ‘painful.’”

I’d be in favor of trading a bunch of guys: Nick Johnson makes sense since he’s a free-agent at the end of the year, Cristian Guzman seems like he’s not interested in Washington any more, Josh Willingham may be able to fetch something decent and Ron Villone and Joe Beimel provide some veteran experience out of a bullpen, plus they’re lefties.

I don’t see how trading Dunn who’s having the best year of his life and is still under contract for another year and is in the prime of his career and is apparently committed to improving his defense is such a great idea. Seems to me the Nationals benefit from having his bat in the lineup and with Nyjer Morgan playing CF next to him, Dunn’s defense won’t be nearly the hindrance we initially thought it would be.

Seems to me that if the Nationals are serious about fielding a major league lineup to score runs for this young staff, a guy like Dunn would be valuable; at least more-so than a handful of marginal prospects. Let Dunn play out this year and see where we are as an organization next year. If we really have turned a corner, perhaps Dunn will stay beyond his two-year contract and the Nats can win with him here.

Hard to believe it, but I used to hate this guy.

Mets Prove Why They Will Always Be New York's "Other" Team

2009-07-23T14:50:00.005-04:00

Can Someone Photoshop "ASS-HAT" Onto This Guy's Forehead For Me?

The Nationals may be playing out a lost season, but the New York Mets are a dumpster fire. The Mets just dropped their second straight game to the Nats last night, and in this blogger’s mind, have officially been eliminated from contention.

As bad as we are, teams who drop a series to the Nats should be automatically eliminated from the payoffs. The way the Mets played the last two nights, they deserve as much ridicule as they get. Power Alley (an okay radio show on MLB Homeplate, XM-175) is devoting much of their program to how the Mets can salvage anything in 2009. Right now, the callers who claim to be Mets fans seem to think the organization may need to consider keeping anything of value before the riots begin at Citi Field and the fans start tearing the new park apart.

Earlier this week, Mets Vice President of Player Development Tony Bernazard apparently went to Binghamton, NY where the Mets AA affiliate plays and challenged a bunch of players to a fight and used derogatory terms to call them out. What exactly is he trying to develop? I mean, other than a reputation for being a complete and total ass-hat? This comes on the heels of another accusation that Bernazard challenged Major League closer Francisco Rodriguez to a fight on the team bus after a game in Atlanta. Then there’s the case of the fan who killed his mother after the Mets lost a game to the Nationals a couple of years back.

What exactly is wrong with that organization? At least, so far anyway, we just kinda suck at playing baseball. The Mets appear to have a fanbase and front office that kinda sucks at life. Gain some perspective.

Collin Balester Called Up

2009-07-23T14:33:00.003-04:00

Collin Balester Speaks To Fans At "Blogger Night" in September of 2008 - Say... Whose Sexy Elbow Is That In The Background?

The Nationals have recalled one of the fans’ favorite players from Syracuse. Collin Balester, whose candid opinions found on radio stations and on his blog, will toe the rubber tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals in the make-up game of a rain out from May 3rd.

Balester was 7-9 in 19 starts in AAA but he does have some Major League experience.

The move was made after Jordan Zimmermann was placed on the 15-day Disabled List with a tender elbow.

John Lannan is a Warrior

2009-07-22T08:59:00.010-04:00

John Lannan Tosses Complete Game Shutout Last Night

It’s so simple, yet so many seem to struggle with it: throw strikes, stay ahead, win each at bat. That’s it. Simple formula for success yet so few pitchers can pull it off.

Last night, John Lannan threw his second complete game victory this year and his first career complete game shutout (at least in the major leagues). Lannan threw 106 pitches last night and a staggering 80 for strikes – that’s nearly a 4:1 strike:ball ratio.

Perhaps the most important thing he did last night was not succumb to fear. He pitched to contact and let his defense make the plays last night – including an absolute gem of a play in CF by Nyjer Morgan keeping the shutout intact in the third inning and a couple of well placed double plays to get out of trouble. In fact, of his 27 outs recorded, only one was by strikeout.

Now, the detractors will say, “well, yeah, but he did beat the Mets who are really beat up by injuries right now.” That doesn’t matter. The Nationals play in the midst of a lame-duck season and have absolutely nothing to play for – including apparently any pride whatsoever because it really looks as though they can’t wait until September is over. More importantly, though, that’s what good pitchers do – they beat the teams they are supposed to beat and they don’t let up just because the opponent is weakened. Lannan saw an opportunity to go for the kill and he took it.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Stan Kasten and Mike Rizzo hung their hats on young pitching this year hoping it would pay off in the long run. These kids have to have the mentality to go seven innings at a minimum; and it has to start now. They need to learn to throw strikes, stay ahead and win each at bat above all else. They need to know they aren’t going to get sent to AA just because they get shelled on one night. They need to know that even if they give up a few runs, they need to keep throwing strikes; bull-dog mentality.

The Nationals are playing out what looks to be a lost season. Rather than focus on winning a few more games this year, let’s take advantage of this break we’ve been given and see if all our kids can do what Lannan did last night. He was handed the de facto “ace” tag earlier this year and he just showed you why. After an incredibly morose start, he’s pulled his record to 7-7 with a 3.38 ERA after last night; and playing for this team that may be the most admirable effort of any player in the majors this year (alarming note: John Lannan has won more than ¼ of all of Washington’s wins this year – UGH).

So take note Steve McCatty. Let your kids go out and get knocked around a bit. See what they’re made of. All of the trials and tribulations John Lannan had to overcome in his young career certainly seem to have paid off. Time to see if Jordan Zimmermann, Craig Stammen, Ross Detwiler, Shairon Martis, J.D. Martin, Colin Balester or any other kids you may have can do it. Start pushing them in AA and AAA so they’ll be ready for it when they come to Washington.

Oh, and cross your fingers that we can get a deal done with Stephen Strasburg.

Scott Olsen Receives The 'Kiss of Death'

2009-07-20T10:43:00.008-04:00

Scott Olsen Heads to Alabama to see Dr. James Andrews - Ugh

Scott Olsen looked reinvigorated in his last two starts before the All-Star break. He looked like the pitcher the Nationals traded for when they gave the Marlins Emilio Bonifacio in the off-season.

Just as Olsen was showing promise, now comes the news that he’s going to see Dr. Andrews – no, not Erin Andrews the hot ESPN sideline reporter (who was recently captured on video naked), Dr. James Andrews – baseball’s Dr. Kavorkian. Olsen has soreness behind his throwing shoulder and is scheduled to meet with Dr. Andrews in Birmingham, AL today.

Earlier in the week, the Nationals fired manager Manny Acta and replaced him with Jim Riggleman – the result? The Cubs pulled off the rare four-game sweep on the road at the hands of the Nats. It truly cannot get much worse.

However, the Nats did make a roster move which supposedly would make the team better. They dumped the dead weight of 16-year veteran journeyman, useless sack of dog-crap, never should be on a major-league roster, called his own team the fat chick in a bar you go home with after a few beers Julian “pass the Pepto Bismol” Tavarez by DFA’ing him after last night’s game. Problem is they brought up a pitcher identical to Tavarez (except he’s not a 16-year veteran and he didn’t call the Nats the fat chick you go home with after a few beers) in Logan Kensing. Perhaps it’s time to start referring to the Nats’ bullpen as “The Recycle Bin.”

Garrett Mock (whom Washington received from Arizona for Livan Hernandez a few years back) made a successful transition from bullpen to starter while in AAA Syracuse. He, however, did not make a successful transition from Syracuse to Washington. Mock’s start was disastrous going 3.1 IP, 7 R (4 ER), 8 H, 2 BB, 1 K. His demise was aided by a costly error by Alberto Gonzalez but Mock didn’t show the moxie to work past the error and he allowed himself to be consumed by it.

There appears to be some good news. The Nats have called up J.D Martin from Syracuse to replace Olsen in the rotation. Martin was a “sandwich” pick of the Indians (35th overall) in 2001. He played for the Indians organization his entire career until finally signing a minor-league deal with the Nats this past off-season. Martin finally looks like he has realized his potential and it’s time to put him to the test. He is four years removed from elbow reconstructive (Tommy John) surgery.

Another rookie called up? Another key injury? Replacing trash for trash in “The Recycle Bin?” I’ll bet the happiest man on earth is Manny Acta.

A Veteran Speaks - Does the Team Listen?

2009-07-17T10:11:00.003-04:00

Josh Bard Offers Commentary On The State of the Nats on XM Radio

This morning, Josh Bard was interviewed on Baseball This Morning – an excellent radio show on XM channel 175.

The hosts wanted to ask Bard (who has been on successful teams like Boston, Cleveland and San Diego all when those franchises were winning ball games and contending for playoff spots) what it would take to turn the fortunes of the Nationals around.

One of the hosts, Buck Martinez (a former catcher and manager himself) pointed out that Bard offers the Nats some much needed leadership and a veteran presence in a crucial position on the field.

When asked about what the Nats could possibly do to take an abysmal season and draw any positives that could help the team going forward. He said that the team needs to forget about what’s happened to this point and start doing some of the little things right. It may not pay immediate dividends in terms of wins and losses, but the mentality of the club will change.

“We’ve got to get back to fundamentals,” Bard said. “When you have a young pitching staff like we have, you have to play good, solid, fundamentally sound defense and ensure that every time they make a good pitch an out will be made behind them.”

Very sound advice indeed. The way the Nats have been playing lately I wonder why anyone would want to pitch for them. Cristian Guzman looks like he regrets signing that extension and Ronnie Belliard appears to be moping around the dugout and looks dissatisfied with his diminished role. Julian Tavarez also looks like he finally woke up from that drunken stupor and realizes he did, in fact, go home with the fat chick from the bar.

Bottom line? We aren’t talking about professionals here. These are guys who would rather be elsewhere. Bard made reference to the attitude of a professional athlete.

“Playing good defense isn’t going to get you a big contract,” said Bard, “but it sure does help a team win ball games.”

One of the hosts then asked him about that philosophy: how does a ball player set aside personal financial gain in order to play for championships.

“I know no other way than to play to win,” said Bard. “When I was in San Diego, I learned from guys like Mike Cameron and Trevor Hoffman who taught me about all of the little things to show your teammates you care about the team. I mean Mike [Cameron] always gave up his body whenever he had the opportunity just to make an out and show his pitchers how much he wanted to help them win. Trevor taught me about playing hurt and giving of your body to help the team.”

So with that, I propose a serious overhaul and we need to dump Guzman as soon as anyone offers us more than a used jockstrap for him and Belliard needs to go as well. I believe both could be valuable elsewhere: Guzman doesn’t have the range for a long-term solution at SS, but if he can find a niche on a team in contention now, he’s certainly a good hitting SS and can help a team in need at that position; and if Belliard can ever learn to accept a backup role or if he can find a team in desperate need of a 2B full-time for a short period of time, he’s be useful to that team. But on a team with a 26-62 record, they appear to be collecting paychecks.

Julian Tavarez needs to go. He shouldn’t even be on a major league roster. I can’t believe someone out there would actually give up a wooden nickel for him so it’s time to cut ties and move on.

Go with Alberto Gonzalez and Anderson Hernandez at SS and 2B respectively and we’ll have solid defense up the middle with Nyjer Morgan in CF. Bard can be the infield leader behind the plate full-time (even if his defensive skills have diminished, he makes a great leader behind the plate and certainly has more pop in his bat than Wil Nieves). Live with Willingham and Dunn in the corner OF spots until you’re forced to trade Nick Johnson and then move on of them to 1B and call Elijah Dukes back up.

The Nats truly are at a crossroads. They are relying HEAVILY upon young, impressionable players and having guys around them like Guzman, Belliard and Tavarez who are aging veterans going through the motions teaches these kids the wrong way to play.

If the Nats want to break the culture of losing, it’s time to cut the losers before you turn all of these future Nats into losers.

Nationals Issue A Letter Of Apology

2009-07-13T13:06:00.010-04:00

Unlike some other Nationals bloggers out there (I’m looking at you NatsNQ) I am cool enough to receive the letter sent via e-mail from the Nationals:

To Fans of the Washington Nationals,

No one is more dissatisfied in the first half of the 2009 Washington Nationals season than we are. Like you, we had hoped that some of our younger players would have matured faster and that the addition of some of our new veterans would have significantly improved our record from a season ago. Our hope was that solid club leadership would emerge on and off the field and that some intangible combinations would begin to click resulting in many winning streaks.

We definitely do see significant pieces materializing for the future, and there have been many close, exciting games and optimistic bright spots: Strong outings by John Lannan, the home run and RBI production of Adam Dunn, the All-Star selection and 30-game hitting streak of Ryan Zimmerman and the recent addition of speedster Nyjer Morgan. Much of the season, however, has been defined by weak relief pitching, poor defense, and youthful inconsistency. We have tried to work through this period with patience and focus but now we are faced with mounting losses which are beginning to take a toll on our entire roster. Clearly, some changes are required as we prepare for the second half of the 2009 season and, more importantly, build for a competitive future.

Today, we announced that manager Manny Acta is being replaced on an interim basis by Jim Riggleman, veteran manager, and currently the Nats bench coach. Both the Ownership and the entire Washington Nationals organization have the highest respect for Manny Acta and the role he has played in the short history of the Nationals. However, it is our belief that a fresh attitude and approach is necessary as we set out to improve our performance for the remainder of the year. We want to send a strong message to our clubhouse and our fans that the status quo is unacceptable. We believe that more is expected of everyone in the organization.

Baseball operations will be reevaluating all our players and our options for improvement over the next several months. We hope to sign our 2009 draft choices by the August deadline. We hope these new additions will join an already exciting Nationals youth movement headed by the likes of Lannan, Jesus Flores, Alberto Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann and Craig Stammen on our current roster, and the likes of promising Minor League stars like Chris Marrero, Michael Burgess, Danny Espinosa, Derek Norris and Drew Storen, among many others. But, we also will be determining the viability of trades or roster upgrades that can be made without doing damage to the farm system or the developing talent we expect to blossom within the next two years.

When we bought the Washington Nationals in the middle of the 2006 season - just under three years ago - we committed to a patient, long term approach, building a strong farm system and core foundation that would deliver a perennial and consistent contender; to provide a second-to-none family entertainment value at Nationals Park; and to investment and involvement in the metropolitan Washington, DC community. Today we remain steadfastly committed to each component of that mission. We are proud to represent the National Pastime in the Nation's Capital, and we are proud to call the Capital area home.

We know we have a way to go, but the end result will be all the richer for the early days we've spent together at Nationals Park. We are getting better. We want you to be with us as the pieces of the puzzle come together. Your support is powerful to the Nationals and baseball in Washington. Thank you for your continuing patience and your commitment to a shared dream.

Sincerely,
Washington Nationals Baseball Club

A lot of it seems like some lip-service, but these back-to-back statements tell me exactly what I want to hear and what I, as a Nationals fan, expect going forward:

We want to send a strong message to our clubhouse and our fans that the status quo is unacceptable. We believe that more is expected of everyone in the organization.

They delve into the details of what Nats fans know as “The Plan” in the subsequent paragraph but if this incarnation of The Plan is the status quo then it’s time to recheck The Plan. You can see in the post below about my feelings regarding the direction of the franchise. Hopefully this letter marks the rock-bottom of the free-fall we’ve seen over the past four years.

There are references to calling the Capital area “home” which tells me that this letter was issued by the Lerners themselves (or at least from the highest reaches of this franchise). I hope the authors realize that I intend on keeping a copy of this letter and holding it up as proof that you have made a commitment to turning this franchise around and that you have told me that it will be worth my while to continue following this team.

Manny Acta Fired

2009-07-13T10:15:00.004-04:00

The Last Of The Old Regime Is Gone - Can We Turn It Around?

Well, I took a few days off to visit friends in Vermont (and no, I didn't get a chance to see a Lake Monsters game) and I come back to this news. It’s finally over. The Manny Acta era came to a merciful end last night when the team returned to Washington.

I applaud the move; Manny’s been on borrowed time since mid-April when the team – yet again – started so poorly.

From my perspective, Manny Acta wasn’t THE problem. This organization bred a “culture of losing” during the Acta era – a belief that “losing is acceptable” as long as the team heads toward a long-term goal.

Stan Kasten used a similar method to drag the Atlanta Braves out of the mire in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The problem is that Kasten came to Washington thinking the exact same methods would apply; but Washington’s situation was different than Atlanta’s.

Atlanta has a similar apathetic fan-base for its professional sports teams as Washington does. The problem is that Atlanta wasn’t a football town like Washington is. Atlanta will back a winner regardless of which sport it is – Washington would likely do the same but the Nationals, Capitals and the NBA team (assuming anyone really cares about the NBA) will ALWAYS have to compete with the Redskins.

Kasten wasn’t afforded the luxury Atlanta presented him with. Here in Washington, the Redskins rule the sports pages. You must do something remarkable to compete with them.

So with a brand new, jewel of a ball park the Nationals set out on their quest to build a winning ball-club in Washington – only they wanted to do so slowly like Kasten did in Atlanta. They carted out Manny Acta with a bunch of vagabonds passed off as major leaguers and built a 158-252 record over 2 ½ seasons. The end result was Kasten found Washington to be more apathetic than Atlanta and that’s the grossest miscalculation he made.

On the field, there just didn’t seem to be any accountability for the horrible mistakes players were making – at least not uniformly. I understand that players need to be treated differently because not all players are alike, but really? Physical errors, mental errors, lack of fundamentals were killing this team and only a select few seemed to have action taken against them (Dukes to the minors, Hernandez and Willingham forced to platoon, etc.) while others seemed to go unscathed (Hanrahan receiving multiple chances, Guzman not benched, Cabrera coddled despite repeated bad outings, Milledge receiving continued support in CF, etc.). Problem is, when things are going THIS badly you have to do something and it has to be done across the board. Everyone needs to be put on notice that a lack of the basics will result in a trip to Syracuse or to the bench. Manny only ever disciplined those he deemed as problem children and not necessarily as pandemic to the team. Manny lacked consistency – a plague reflected in the team’s play.

This spiraling effect took the team to the depths of awful they find themselves at now. This organization needs a change in philosophy and Acta had to go to make it happen.

In order to break free from this culture of losing, The Nationals need to follow the model of … The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The franchise was the epitome of losing under Hugh Culverhouse and was the laughingstock of sports from 1976-1994. Malcom Glazer buys the team before the 1995 season and stands in front of a camera and says, “the Bucs stop HERE;” as if to say, “if you have a question about how this franchise is run, it falls on me – rest assured I will turn this around.” He fired Sam Wyche and brought in Tony Dungy who put a focus on the team. He identified as recipe for success and he implemented it. In Dungy’s first season (1996) as head coach, the Bucs finished 6-10, but they went 5-2 in their last seven games. Then in 1997 they changed their uniforms from the old creamsicle orange and a logo of Lance the happy pirate to red and pewter and a logo of a skull with crossed swords emblazoned on a tattered flag. They took the new look and added it to their new attitude and the team went 10-6 and earned a playoff spot. After an 8-8 season in 1998, the Bucs would then make the playoffs four straight years culminating in a Super Bowl championship in 2002.

All of this playing in a league where parity rules; and the Bucs broke 14 years of futility in just two years and made a successful run of winning seasons. The Arizona Cardinals couldn’t do, the Detroit Lions still can’t do it. The trick for the Nationals is model after Tampa – NOT after Detroit.

Ideally, the Nationals need to do more than to fire Manny Acta. They now have the “interim” tag on two MAJOR positions in the organization: general manager (Mike Rizzo) and field manager (Jim Riggleman). They need to address these openings quickly and get people they deem as important on board or else they run the risk of perpetuating the culture of losing.

Futility can end in success as long as the organization has a clear goal and a focused path to that goal. Is firing Manny Acta part of that plan? I certainly hope so, otherwise we may be the Detroit Lions of Major League Baseball – and with the Redskins ruling the sports world of Washington, the Nationals just can’t afford that anymore.

Have We Hit Rock Bottom?

2009-07-10T09:48:00.011-04:00

These Guys Have Seen Enough

Nationals fans have been fed up for a while.

Finally, the fans got someone with a voice and a platform on which to broadcast their frustrations. Last night after dropping a very winnable game in Houston, Nationals color analyst Rob Dibble expressed anger and frustration at the level of play he sees on a nightly basis. In the NatsTown blogosphere, it was what we were waiting for since Dibble was hired.

"This isn't a Major League baseball team I'm watching out here....It's pathetic. I've never seen a team that is ok with losing....Some guys are mailing it in, and it's hard to watch,” said Dibble. He went on, but those are the essentials of his argument.

After Dibble finished his diatribe, Ray Knight actually asked to bring Dibble back on the air to discuss his observations and some thought that Knight was going to argue with Dibble. But to our surprise, he agreed with Dibble and added fuel to the fire.

"You know what I would do? I'd clean house. When guys don't make plays defensively I'd sit ‘em on the bench. I'd give a guy a chance to play,” added Knight. “And I'm talking about for a week, I don't care if you're hitting .320, I don't care what you're doing, I'm tired of seeing it too. We're just two former players that busted our butts, and we're here working for a company that you expect a fine product. I don't know who exactly you're feeling it about. I'm feeling it about certain people. But Manny has to make that decisions, or [Mike] Rizzo. If you think that there's a player out there not defining the position....Take shortstop. Balls are going up the middle, knocked down, erratic type play. It looks like, to me, Goozie's mind is somewhere else. He's the guy I'm most disappointed in."

So while Dibble was careful about not singling out a given player, Knight was more than willing to throw All-Star shortstop Cristian Guzman under the bus.

Some in the blogosphere are hailing Dibble and Knight for finally showing the balls it takes to rip this franchise when it needs it the most – a characteristic that many wish field manager Manny Acta would show. In fact, there is a craving to fire Acta and replace him with either Knight or Dibble immediately.

Problem is, a manager just can’t call out a player in the media like that. It’s ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst. Baseball’s economic climate has bred a society of primadonnas with fragile egos and huge salaries. If Acta were to say the same stuff about Guzman as Knight did, he might as well send him to AAA until he can be traded, because Guzman isn’t likely to play hard for Acta ever again. Further, if I was a player in the clubhouse watching my manager rip into my All-Star like that, I’d be less likely to want to play for him as well.

What would be nice, however, is to see Acta do something like Charlie Manuel did with Jimmy Rollins in Philadelphia. He didn’t go in front of cameras and call him out. Manuel pulled Rollins into his office, sat him down and explained to him that he was going to bench him for a few days as a means of discipline for what he felt was poor play in the field and a lack of effort. Rollins was the one who went to the media and explained his situation – NOT Manuel.

Dibble and Knight are PERFECT in their roles as analysts. Analysts can say and do things that managers really can’t. They can act as the voice of the manager or the voice of the fans and they have a forum in which to do so.

So for those who would clamor for Knight to be the manager, just remember that he was a disaster in Cincinnati and hasn’t been asked to manage again anywhere else and Dibble hasn’t even been a pitching coach in the minors, let alone a manager.

There’s more to being a manager than having a fiery attitude; in fact, there are those who would say that the fiery attitude doesn’t translate to the modern player anymore. So be careful what you wish for.

I agree that Manny Acta either needs to change his methodology immediately or he should be fired for incompetence. But I’m not in favor of hiring Dibble or Knight to replace him.

Talkin' Trade - Would The Nats Really Move Adam Dunn?

2009-07-08T15:23:00.006-04:00

Is The Big Donkey On The Move?

The Washington Nationals are in the midst of an “EPIC FAIL” of a season in 2009; so naturally with the trade deadline approaching, there’s a lot of speculation as to what the Nats will do with some of their veteran players with high value – and some fairly good discussion can be viewed at WNFF.net (link provided in the right-hand toolbar).

A few names have surfaced and most Nats fans can agree on certain players being moved: Cristian Guzman and Nick Johnson are thought to be the two of the more tradable players who could command a decent return and most Nats fans would take a cup of coffee and a dozen Krispy Kremes for Austin Kearns.

The two names that are intriguing and seem to cause NatsTown to divide are Josh Willingham and Adam Dunn. Willingham has a reputation for a high-ceiling power hitter who hasn’t put it together yet due to injury – in my opinion, this makes him less tradable because his value is really low. Dunn has hit 40+ homers for five straight seasons and is on pace for more than 40 again this year and would be especially welcomed in the American League for a team in need of a designated hitter – trade value is high.

I believe the Nats are in a real bind here and perhaps the decision on what to do with Dunn will largely affect how they go about building a team for contention sooner rather than later. On top of that, Acting GM Mike Rizzo recently said, “we are not trading Dunn. That’s as definitive as I can be.”

The Nats adopted the philosophy of developing young pitching here at the major league level. My belief is that in order to do that you need to have a solid defense behind these pitchers as well as a solid bullpen. With that, they decided to go with a young catcher (Jesus Flores) who was a Rule V acquisition from three years ago, an aging shortstop (Guzman) who played many years on turf and actually plays older than he really is, a question mark at 2B (which still hasn’t been resolved) and a wealth of corner outfielders, none of whom can play CF with any amount of competence except for Willie Harris whom they benched in favor of Lastings Milledge.

So instead of working on helping these young pitchers out, the front office (under the then guidance of Jim Bowden) decided to stockpile MORE corner outfielders only this time the players they acquired played questionable defense at best (Willingham and Dunn) and failed to address the bullpen until after Bowden resigned under allegations of improprieties.

So it seemed like Dunn and Willingham didn’t fit and I, point in fact, objected to the signing of Adam Dunn.

However, I have since softened my stance and can see where a player like Dunn could actually be valuable to the Nats for the long-term. The Nats started the house-cleaning little more than a week ago by trading away Milledge and the remarkably inconsistent Joel Hanrahan from the bullpen to Pittsburgh for Nyjer Morgan who plays a lights-out centerfield and Sean Burnett who may not have closer material, but certainly isn’t quite the rollercoaster ride Hanrahan was.

So now with Morgan in CF and if Elijah Dukes can stay healthy and play at a consistently high level in RF, Adam Dunn – even with his defensive liabilities attached – becomes much easier to deal with in LF making it possible to trade Willingham instead of Johnson since Johnson plays a much better 1B than Willingham and their trade values are about the same.

If the Nats can make a leadoff hitter out of either Morgan, Anderson Hernandez or Alberto Gonzalez, they’d have a bona fide, major league lineup and maximize their offensive production as long as they still have Johnson, Zimmerman, Dunn, Dukes hitting 2 – 5 in the lineup.

The lingering issue is what to do with Dunn long term. I still don’t think the Nats are in any danger of winning a World Series in 2010 which is when Dunn’s contract expires. But, I think if the Nats can show improvement during the second half of this season and through the first half of next season, re-signing Dunn for beyond 2010 is in the best interests of the Nats. Dunn has proven to be force in the lineup and there is talk that he’s a great clubhouse presence and a leader-type that the Nats need.

Besides, the young staff will need offense at some point and with Morgan and Dukes covering a ton of ground in the outfield, the Nats can get away with Dunn in LF and let him do what he does best – produce runs.

Is Scott Olsen Back?

2009-07-06T11:55:00.008-04:00

Thanks For Yesterday Scott. Please Keep It Going.

Let me get this off to a positive start: Scott Olsen pitched a helluva game yesterday. Anytime a manager can trot his starting pitcher out to the mound for 8 2/3 innings he has to feel blessed. That’s exactly what Scott Olsen gave many Acta yesterday.

With that said, as I break down the performance yesterday, I am alarmed by a couple of things: He walked five batters and he seemed to miss the target with alarming frequency. Now, you readers may say, “but he still went 8 2/3 and if Manny had pulled him before letting him start the ninth inning, he would only have given up one run.” True. But he had a few things working for him.

First of all, Atlanta ranks below the National League average in runs per game. So Olsen wasn’t facing a high-powered offense. In fact, Atlanta’s OPS+ on the season is at 94 and Atlanta’s SLG% is well below league average. Atlanta also ranks below the league average in walks.

That said, Olsen seemed to leave pitches way up in the zone more frequently than I’d like to see.

Olsen's Pitch Chart. 75:41 Strikes:Balls.

During the first few innings he seemed to turn around and look toward the skies over centerfield in disgust even when striking out batters because he seemed to be missing catcher Josh Bard’s targets frequently – and missing up, where typically a guy who maxes out at 94 MPH in velocity will get killed.

Luckily for Olsen, he was facing a relatively weaker hitting Atlanta lineup. If that was the Dodgers, Phillies or Rockies he might not have fared nearly as well.

But despite the control issues, Olsen’s velocity seems to be back to where it was before the Nationals traded for him. This comes as encouraging news because mechanics and location can be taught, velocity must come naturally and a lefty tossing 86 MPH (like Olsen was before going on the DL) is a recipe for disaster soufflé given Olsen’s lack of control.

Hopefully we’ll continue to see the velocity and we can work on his control. Because if he throws as hard as he did yesterday, Olsen would make a very solid starter for this franchise for years to come.

Nats Receive “Bad” News Re: Strasburg

2009-07-03T11:37:00.005-04:00

I Hope This Guy Has Some Really Thick Skin

A couple pieces of news regarding Nationals #1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg came out today.

First was the news that Strasburg received a couple of awards at the inaugural College Baseball Foundation Awards. Strasburg earned the player of the year AND the pitcher of the year awards solidifying that he was the unquestioned best player available in this year’s first-year player’s draft.

It was noted that Strasburg seemed to be taking it all in and looking back over his year and his career at San Diego State University.

But like a good Scott Boras client, Strasburg offered this quote despite not even being close to signing with the Nationals, "There's always another day. Anything can happen. You've just got to take every new day as a blessing and go from there. It's been a great experience but at the same time I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of fun for many years to come playing baseball."

The question is: where will he be having “a lot of fun for many years to come playing baseball."

In an article in the Washington Post this morning, Dave Sheinen (with contributions from Chico Harlan) reports that Strasburg’s agent – Scott Boras – intends to use Strasburg much in the same way he used J.D. Drew back in the late 1990’s to break apart MLB’s drafting system.

Boras makes some good points in that American and Canadian born players are forced into the draft where players are inserted into the “slotting system” that MLB has used for keeping rookie salaries in check. Meanwhile, there seems to be no checks and balances on foreign born players. Clubs are free to open an academy anywhere in the world and sign players for whatever they want. With the wealth of academies in the Dominican Republic, teams often will overpay a young, unknown player just to get him to the academy while an American or Canadian kid must enter the draft and is at the mercy of the slotting system.

There does seem to be a genuine unfair advantage for the non-American/Canadian born players. Even worse, Puerto Rico is considered an American territory, so a Puerto Rican child is subject to the same rules as the American or Canadian kids despite the severe disadvantage of under-exposure.

The big loophole here is that Cuban defectors and Japanese players are also considered free-agents despite very well-developed professional teams and leagues in both countries. This is where Boras will hang his hat.

Should the Nationals fail to sign Strasburg for the asking price of somewhere in the neighborhood of FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS (despite the fact that no player has ever received more than 10.5 million) then he will take his prized commodity to Japan and let him play there for one year before becoming a free agent for MLB.
Sounds like a great plan – except that due to recent pirating of Japanese players by teams in MLB; Strasburg, surrounded by all this hype regarding what he’s doing, is not likely to be picked up by a Japanese team knowing that he fully intends on using them.

Nippon Professional Baseball’s marketing director Iratu Kobayashi explains:

"This will do more harm than good to the NPB club. [Strasburg] will not be welcomed, neither by the teammates or the media," Kobayashi said. "It is not easy to sympathize with a guy who comes to Japan just as [part of] a negotiation process to squeeze more millions out of [an MLB] club."

"We would not do what we do not want others to do to us," Kobayashi said, "unless we really have to do so."

Combine this with the legal battle plus the anti-trust exemption for MLB and this could get messy – REALLY messy. Not signing with the Nationals could be the least of Strasburg’s worries.

Thing is, Boras tried this with J.D. Drew using the independent leagues which, since they pay their players, is considered “professional” baseball. Boras argued that since Drew was then a professional baseball player he was no longer eligible for the “amateur” draft. MLB’s response was to change the name (without consult of the union) to the “first year player’s” draft.
The union argued on behalf of Drew but ultimately was shot down since the union represents the MLB players and Drew was not a union member.

If you can recall the career of J.D. Drew, he never really turned out to be the superstar Boras was hoping for and he never really seemed to be able to handle all of the grief he received for trying to be the guy to break the system – and it’s not like we’re talking about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier here, this is just a guy who didn’t like the drafting system. J.D. Drew is a decent player, but he’s nothing special. Perhaps his legacy would’ve paved the way for Strasburg had he been a superstar player.

As it stands now, Strasburg is willing to be pawn #2 for Scott Boras. Perhaps he should talk to J.D. drew and ask him how to better handle the situation. Drew never recovered from the turmoil and baseball as a sport will suffer if Strasburg fails to live up to what everyone thinks he should be just because his renegade agent wants has a vendetta against MLB.

Better yet, maybe he should talk to J.D. Drew and find out if it’s even worth the trouble.

So Long Lastings and “Way Back” Hanrahan

2009-06-30T20:06:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Washington, Mr. Morgan. We Hope You Enjoy Your Stay.

Hello Nyjer Morgan and your world class stirrups. The Nats traded for you and your teammate Sean Burnett and gave up two players who have given us fits over the past six months.

"We are open for business," said a happy Mike Rizzo, the Nationals' acting general manager. "We improved two of our greatest needs. We have a great character guy in Morgan. We have our center fielder. Even though he will be 29 in two days, he plays better than most younger men."

In return the Pirates received the volatile Lastings Milledge who created a whole host of problems, not the least of which was not playing CF very well – the reason the Nats acquired him in the first place.

The Pirates also got Joel Hanrahan who has been the Nats closer twice and demoted from the role twice. The most recent outing for Hanrahan was a disaster in Baltimore which probably sealed his fate as trade-bait.

Morgan appears to be no more than one of those “tweeners” that vascillate between AAA and the major leagues. He’s 29, so it’s not like the Nats got younger. Morgan appears to be the CF of remainder of the 2009 season which could help solidify the outfield defense. He’s instantaneously better than anyone on the roster to play CF.

Sean Burnett will certainly take Hanrahan’s spot in the bullpen and probably help to improve an anemic relief corps. Even if Burnett is less than advertised, he cannot be worse tha Hanrahan.

With the acquisition of Mike Morse from Seattle earlier, I have to think the end is near for Ronnie Belliard as well. Morse is a serviceable backup and makes less money than Belliard (not to mention can’t play any worse defense). Also, the acquisition of Morgan might free up some room in the outfield for a trade of either Josh Willingham or Adam Dunn. Of course, rumors still swirl around a possible trade involving Nick Johnson who was pursued by the A’s in the off-season and lately there are whispers that the Mets are asking about Johnson. Should that happen, I’d imagine that Dunn moves to 1B (which, in my opinion, is an awful mistake) and we are left with a very serviceable outfiled of Willingham, Morgan and Elijah Dukes.

No matter what the scenario, I think this is not the last we hear of the Nationals on the trade front in 2009.

Upcoming Schedule: Favorable?

2009-06-29T12:47:00.000-04:00

Well with exactly two weeks to go until the assumed half-way point to the regular season, the Nats have FINALLY started playing a bit better winning seven of their last 12 games including a three game sweep against the Yankees in New York and taking two-of-three from a very good Toronto team.

What they need now though is to keep on playing that way. Unfortunately they take on the team that just seems to have their number: The Florida Marlins – and they play them in Miami.

After that they’re looking at a three game set at home against the Braves then they wrap up their first half with three in Colorado and “five” in Houston (a scheduled four game series plus the rain-suspended game from earlier in which the Nats will be the “home” team despite the game being played in Houston).

After dropping their first three in Houston to start the month of June, the Rockies have gone on a tear winning 20 out of their last 23 games to pull five games over .500 and only five games back of the NL West leading LA Dodgers (I can’t help but notice this streak coincides with the firing of their manager Clint Hurlde).

The Astros are currently only 3 games under .500 and only four games behind the NL Central co-leaders Milwaukee and St. Louis. A five game set against the worst team in the majors could really help boost their confidence going into the All-Star break.

And despite being five games under .500, the Braves are only five games behind the NL East leading Phillies.

So while the Nats play some teams that are historically beatable, they do face opponents in desperate need of some wins to stay in contention and probably licking their collective chops seeing the Nats on their schedules.

The Fish just got swept by Tampa Bay and need the games to keep pace with the Phillies, the Braves have a really tough schedule: three with the Phillies, then three with the Nats, three at Chicago to play the Cubs and then a four game set in Colorado to face the previously noted streaking Rockies.

The Rockies have a tough series with the Dodgers starting tonight then they get the Diamondbacks, Nats and Atlanta to finish up. They could literally be in first place by the All-Star break and, as such, are not likely to take the Nats lightly.

The Astros have a relatively easy schedule leading up to the break as well which could help vault them to the top of their division: they start tonight with a four-game set against San Diego, then they play a tough three game set at San Francisco before wrapping up with eight games in Houston against the Pirates and Nationals.

Despite the fact that the Nats play their remaining games against teams who are either under .500 or teams less than six games over .500, they all have a sense of purpose in every game they play. In this economy, at this time of year, a losing streak to a team like the Nats can drastically alter plans and turn buyers into sellers in the trade market. Since none of these teams want to give up on their seasons, they are probably looking to take advantage of the Nats as they continue slugging through a forgettable season.

However, as I opened with: the Nats are playing better lately and have played the tough American League eastern division and played them well. Perhaps they too can take advantage of their upcoming schedule and spoil some seasons early in July? Who knows?

But despite the relative ease of schedule, I’m guessing the Nats are going to have to bring their “A-game” every night against these teams hungry for wins anywhere they can find them.

O's Series A Disaster - Olsen Off DL - I Need More Willie Harris

2009-06-28T21:15:00.008-04:00

Seriously? What Does This Guy Have To Do To Get The Starting CF Job?

So the weekend didn’t go according to Hoyle, but at least the boys salvaged a game from the Orioles. More importantly, John Lannan continued his comeback after a disastrous start to 2009.

Lannan has gone five straight games pitching at least 6 innings (9 IP, 6 IP, 8 1/3 IP, 6 1/3 IP and 7 1/3 IP yesterday) and has gone 3-0 with two no decisions over those five games.

While Lannan has certainly picked up his game after his tough start, Shairon Martis has slumped. Martis was optioned to AAA Syracuse after the Nationals win over the Orioles on Sunday. The move does come as a bit of a surprise since Nationals field reporter Debbie Taylor announced that Craig Stammen would be moved to the bullpen to make room for Scott Olsen coming off of the disabled list. The reaction around Natstown was that one of the struggling bullpen guys would get the axe (DFA-style) and it would either be Joel Hanrahan or Jesus Colome. But Acting G.M. Mike Rizzo optioned the young Martis to AAA saying, “Shairon has to go down and do what got him to the big leagues -- pound the strike zone, execute his pitches and get ahead of the hitters.”

The bigger news though is that Olsen makes his comeback start against his old mates tomorrow night at 7:10. Olsen has lost a lot of velocity since late last season and the Nats are really hoping he can regain what was lost and lead this group of young starters.

"I need to see more consistency out of him," Nats manager Manny Acta said. "I want to see the guy that pitched 200 innings for the Marlins. He is supposed to lead these kids. He is the oldest one out of all of them."

With Olsen said to be ready to go 100 pitches against the Marlins, it’s imperative he gets ahead and stays ahead of Marlin hitters. Olsen will be on a very strict pitch count (more than likely anyway) since it’s his first start back from the DL.

Now that we got the facts out of the way; in my opinion, the Nationals really need to change their philosophy about how to use their pitchers. In the announcement of Martis’s demotion, Mike Rizzo said, "it's about taking care of the young pitchers.”

That can be taken a few different ways. How is pulling your young pitchers after an artificially derived pitch count only to have them sit and watch this bullpen cough up their leads night after night after night “taking care of them?” Seems to me they’d be doing them a better service leaving them out there to fight their own fight a few times. Let these kids go 7 innings – routinely – and see what they’re made of. Stop handing their leads over to the likes of Colome and Hanrahan and Julian Tavarez.

The real problem the Nationals have is that the Front Office has bred a culture of acceptable losing. The path they took asked us to be patient while the young kids develop. That’s all well and good, but their development is being stunted by pulling them after five or six innings. Or in the case of position players, they aren’t allowing the kids who can or should be here long term to stay in the lineup with any consistency. They sent Lastings Milledge to the minors after asking him to play a position he was clearly uncomfortable playing, Elijah Dukes is often benched in favor of Josh Willingham or Austin Kearns. When Dukes does play, he’s also asked to play CF when he’s probably more of a corner outfielder.

And while I’m complaining about position players, can’t we get Willie Harris some more playing time please? He’s easily the best defensive outfielder we have and he’s proven time and time again that he produces when called upon. Take care of your young pitchers and put the best defensive unit on the field that you can while maximizing your offensive production.

Predictions On This Weekend's "Battle of the Beltway" Series

2009-06-26T11:59:00.015-04:00

I think this guy has a HUGE series this weekend

So here we go, my first official post regarding the subject at hand. I’ve decided to focus on the upcoming series with the Orioles instead of relishing the in the victory over the Red Sox.

First thing to do is to break down the pitching matchups:

Tonight it’s Ross Detwiler v. Brad Bergesen. Detwiler makes his eighth start and has yet to earn a victory (0-3 4.76) but pitched effectively in his only other appearance vs. the Orioles allowing one run on one hit over six innings. He walked four – his second highest total this season. At this point, Detwiler needs to focus on timing and mechanics. His fastball (which seems to top out at about 94) is not overpowering, so the changeup he’s been working on will need to become a useful out pitch instead of something just for show. He relies on a sinker right now which can be a deadly pitch for young pitchers who tend to leave the ball up in the zone; hopefully “Det” keeps the ball DOWN in the zone. He faces Brad Bergesen who according to sportsnet: “has a feel for pitching and the ability to log a lot of innings. [He’s] a strike-thrower with good command of his arsenal.” Bergesen (like Detwiler) also features a sinker which he needs to keep down in order to succeed. Bottom line here? Unfortunately, I like the fact that Bergesen has pitched against the tougher American League and the Nats offense has been down a little lately, so I like Bergesen and the Orioles here. Prediction: Orioles 6 – Nats: 2.

Tomorrow night features Shairon Martis v. Jeremy Guthrie. Martis was perhaps Washington’s “luckiest” pitcher, starting the season 5-0 including one of Washington’s two complete games on the season. He carried a high ERA to this point and has slipped to 5-2 and his last start against Toronto was shaky. Still, he’s only 22 and has given the Nationals some hope that they may have a middle of the rotation type starter. Jeremy Guthrie (recently featured in a great article on “The Onion”) has struggled this year. He’s described by his coaches as “crafty” and uses deception to get by. Still, he’s a right-hander and the Nats’ big hitters perform better against righties. Guthrie is also prone to the “gopher ball” as described on sportsnet so I look for Adam Dunn to homer in this game. Prediction: Nationals 9 – Orioles 6.

The series wraps up on Sunday with John Lannan v. Koji Uehara. The Orioles will face two lefties this series in Detwiler and Lannan and Lannan has pitched much better lately. He’s had four quality starts (I hate that stat) in a row and he went 8 1/3 against the Yankees and he pitched the second of the Nationals’ two complete games on June 6th against the Mets. According to baseball-reference.com, the Orioles are only hitting .263 as a team against left-handed pitching as opposed to .274 vs. righties, but they hit .300 against what they call “finesse” pitchers (which is what I would call Lannan) as opposed to only .229 against “power” pitchers. Lannan will need to mix his pitches well – exactly how he pitched against the Mets – in order to succeed here. According to the Kamado Report, Koji Uehara has a “low-grade fastball (90-91), with an array of breaking pitches, including two different splitters, a cutter and a slider” in his arsenal. The Report also postulates that Uehara is indicative of most Japanese pitchers who display much more breaking balls because of the more liberal strike zone in the Japanese leagues. Uehara will have to do his best to keep the Nats offense off-balance because the Nats do have some big sticks in the lineup. Also, according to XM-175’s show Power Alley with Seth Everett and Bill Ripken who are interviewing Orioles manager Dave Tremblay at 11:40 a.m. on June 26th (right now), Koji Uehara is in Baltimore seeing the team doctor for elbow soreness – definitely not good for a pitcher who relies so heavily on breaking stuff. This recent development may also indicate why he’s only gone more than five innings once in his last five starts. Uehara is struggling and I’d expect the Nats to take advantage early and knock Uehara out by the fourth inning if he does pitch. Prediction: Nationals 13 – Orioles 8.

I’m expecting a lot of offense this weekend. With the DH in effect, the Nationals will be able to maximize their use of both Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham who is swinging a very hot bat lately (his last ten games has him hitting .296 with 2 HR and 6 RBI) and not have to compromise their outfield defense.

Of course, the offensive output for the Nats could rely on whether or not Nick Johnson plays. Johnson was hit by a pitch in the first inning of last night’s game. The pitch hit him on the shin and it swelled up to practically a softball sized lump. He was pulled from the game and his status is still pending. Hopefully for our boys, Johnson will be able to return quickly. A hitter of Johnson’s caliber should be able to hit Guthrie and Uehara and should help generate enough runs to outscore the Orioles.

But playing American League baseball against a young pitching staff may just be what the Nats need to kick-start this offense which was firing on all cylinders at the beginning of the season.

All in all, this most recent incarnation of “The Battle of the Beltway” should be entertaining. I see a lot of offense being scored in this series and I also see our boys taking two out of three from our rivals to the north.

Me and My Blog

2009-06-25T16:15:00.007-04:00

Well, I thought I’d go ahead and give this whole blog thing a try.

So here’s the “rules” for my blog (at least as far as rules go for blogging):

1. I am a fan of the sport of baseball first and foremost. I live close to Cooperstown, NY and I enjoy reading about and researching the historical background of the game. At the end of the day, I root for baseball to succeed everywhere it is played: from little league to the Major Leagues and everywhere in between – professional and amateur.

2. I am a fan of the Washington Nationals. Sounds weird, I know, living in Upstate NY; but that’s me. Here’s the story of how I became a Nats fan: I grew up on Cape Cod surrounded by Red Sox fans. My father’s side of the family were from New Hampshire and grew up all Red Sox fans. My father (who’s middle name is Ferris as he was named after Red Sox pitcher “Boo” Ferris) decided he wanted to be different from everyone else and decided on his own to be a Yankee fan in New Hampshire. It was made easier by the fact that the Yankees were historically the best team at the time he was born (1940’s) and continued to be even until today. My mother’s side of the family was from the Washington, DC area – and as a result they were all either Senators or Orioles fans. When the second incarnation of the Senators moved to Texas, the remainder of the family became Oriole fans. Because I identified more with the mom’s family than with the dad’s family, I became a Redskins, Capitals and Bullets fan; but my father was the one who really liked baseball and got me into the sport I love so much today, so I decided to take on the Yankees as my favorite team, despite not liking the American League style of play. The 1980’s were some really lean years for the Yankees and the Red Sox fans (most of whom I considered “friends”) really let me have it (despite the fact that even then, they had a 60+ year drought of championships). I finally got my day in the sun in 1996 when the Yankees won it all and built a team with a core group of guys who were really worth rooting for: Jeter, Williams, Pettitte, Rivera, O’Neill, Martinez, etc. Then the downward spiral began. They started trading away their good young players and pillaging other teams by buying up superstars. They offended my sense of fair play. They cobbled together rosters with big names and no substance. They spent like drunken sailors and failed to care about the sport in general (a practice ongoing today). It got to the point where I actually rooted FOR THE RED SOX in 2003 because I was just so sick of it by that point. It was then I knew I needed a change. So in 2004, the announcement was made that Washington, DC was getting a baseball club, it was a natural transition for me – and as luck would have it, I could dump the American League altogether and get myself a National League team. I’ve been hooked ever since and despite their lackluster record in DC so far, the Nats are my team now and I never again want to ever acknowledge that the Yankees matter.

3. I do have other teams I follow because I either always have or have found something worth keeping track of: (1) The Los Angeles Dodgers – the Dodgers were my dad’s National League team so they’ve stuck with me. (2) The Pittsburgh Pirates – I loved Andy Van Slyke, Doug Drabek and the early 1990’s Pirates. It breaks my heart to see them as the joke they are today. (3) The Houston Astros– the Astros are the parent club of my local A-ball affiliate here in Troy, NY (the Tri-City ValleyCats) so I follow them and the players that come through Troy. (4) The Baltimore Orioles – essentially leftover from my mom’s rooting interest.

4. I follow some players as well – players who I believe are great players or great ambassadors for the game of baseball. Right now they are Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, Brad Ausmus, Jason Varitek, Dustin Pedroia, Derek Jeter and there are more I’m sure I’ll pine about in the weeks, months and years to come (provided I continue on that long). Historical players that were my favorites for various reasons: Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Sandy Koufax, Cal Ripken Jr.,Walter Johnson, Mike Schmidt, George Brett and others.

5. I play baseball in an amateur league in based in the Albany, NY area and I reserve the right to self indulge every now and then and talk about my experiences on the diamond myself – both past (high-school, college, semi-pro and amateur) and present; perhaps even future.

So that’s it.

I also have a wife and three kids (my oldest son who is six recently went to his first-ever Major League game – April 19th: Nationals v. Marlins, pictured above) and I may talk about them from time-to-time as well.

At the end of the day, I hope to keep this blog about Nationals baseball, though. I really follow the Nats more than anything else. It may prove difficult over time as one with a young family and a budget to follow closely. I don’t have the MLB Extra Innings package or MLB.tv yet. But I do have XM radio and listen to most games on XM radio (by the way, after listening to most every team’s radio crew, I believe Charlie and Dave are two of the best in the business). So I’ll try to reflect on what I see and hear when I can and comment on the State of the Nationals as best as I can given my limited documentation. I’ll also pledge not to be a mouthpiece for the organization and express my thoughts as candidly as possible.

Right now, the team ispretty bad (historically bad, you might say) and I’ll offer my thoughts on how to change things for the better and hopefully by 2009 I’ll be writing about a team headed for prosperity.