On the other hand, bad job by the front office not settling with Shawn Hill. It was a mixed bag, though, because Hill didn't seem to be distraught by the arbitration process, saying, "they stayed clean with everything, didn't attack my character or anything. It was a pretty easygoing trial." One of the first examples I've seen where players didn't mind the arbitration meeting.
One collectively great move the Nats made was dumping Tim Redding and resigning Odalis Perez to a minor league deal. Glad they didn't do it the other way around, they saved a lot of money (and while I think they need to spend more money, this is one example in which being thrifty is much much much better than being fiscally irresponsible).
Perversely, the Hill situation worked out as it should have. The Nats naturally didn't want to commit themselves to much over the league minimum for a pitcher who's had Hill's ups and downs, especially his downs.
ReplyDeleteIf Hill shows up at ST with the velocity he has to have in order to be effective, then he's worth the arbitrators' award. And if not, the Nats can and will cut him loose.
Not a pretty situation, but handled by all about as well as could have been expected.