I am upset. Wanna know why? No help is on the way. This is poor management at it's worst...and most likely, it's not coming from Stan Kasten or Jim Bowden.
Arguments can be made that this is a good move. Tons of money is wasted every year on lousy pitchers who get signed by teams in desperation. I would understand if they said they wouldn't go after guys looking for so-and-so amount of money or so-and-so years. But no ML guarantees? I mean seriously, come on. With the economy the way it is (and the deepest SP market in recent history), the market is never going to get better. There is a ton to choose from, and it will probably come semi-discounted.
Don't try to tell me Ben Sheets or Oliver Perez couldn't fit into the plan. Don't try to tell me Randy Johnson couldn't help Olsen and Lannan scout batters or help them with their pickoff moves. This is ridiculous (to put it nicely) and until a report comes out saying otherwise, I'm blaming it all on the Lerners. We know Bowden and Kasten aren't trying to screw the team over (even though with JimBow, it appears so a lot of the time). This kind of report reeks of CHEEEEEEEAP! I hope the Hannukah fairy gives them a gift that characterizes them best: a sack of crap. And don't give me the "well we'll trade for our pitching" crap. Nobody wants to trade any decent young pitcher for anything less than a king's ransom (except for the Marlins). I don't want to give up Ryan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge and Jesus Flores to fill out the dang rotation.
As much as I love to sit here and make my "Who should we sign posts," I'm not even gonna bother continuing the series with the "Major League Arms" edition, since we won't sign any. Just refer to my "Minor League Edition" and try to find this year's Odalis Perez. Your choices are the likes of Jeff Weaver, Claudio Vargas and Matt Cassel's brother. Finding one needle in a haystack is tough enough, but by the looks of things, we'll need at least 2, maybe 3. Nice move, Nats.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We might want to hold off on the lamentations until we see what hitter, if any, gets signed this week. I'm all for hitters anyhow this year; the 2009-2010 offseason will be the time to go after pitching.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather sign a big hitter than a big pitcher (they seem to be worth the long term deal a little bit more), but this is the best year for pitching in FA. There are plenty of guys young enough to fit in with the plan...I just don't see why they had to come out and say "we're not signing anyone" now when bargains come out next month.
ReplyDeletePressed to clarify, the FO would probably deny that they'd issued an ultimatum, but would quickly amend their position to say that they were "taking a stand." (I'd call it "posturing," but whatever.)
ReplyDeleteIf CC would come to D.C. for $1MM per annum, they'd sign him.
Nats offered Teixeira at least 7 years and $150MM... so we'll see what happens there!
ReplyDelete