Scott Olsen Receives The 'Kiss of Death'

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?

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

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

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?

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?

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?

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.