Time to give 'em hell

According to Gordon Edes of Yahoo Sports, the Nats are close to replacing interim GM Mike Rizzo with Diamondbacks assistant VP Jerry Dipoto. Let me repeat that. The guy who has started to rebuild a organization in shambles with good players who understand how to play the game is going to be replaced.

This is ridiculous, if true (which isn't a safe assumption). No wonder the Nats have no respect in the industry...there is absolutely no consistency in the organization. Bowden does everything wrong for 4 years and never gets fired. Rizzo does nothing wrong for 6 months and is going to be replaced.

For the sake of discussion, here's what Rizzo has done:

Signed #1 pick Stephen Strasburg to a deal at or below his percieved market value.

Signed 30/51 draftees, including 14 of the top 15 picks.

Resigned the face of the franchise, Ryan Zimmerman, to a deal at or below his market value.

Signed higher-ceiling "scrap heap" players such as LHP Joe Beimel, RHP Mike Macdougal and C Josh Bard to one-year contracts.

Cut ties with ineffective players who showed no signs of improvement (Steven Shell, Julian Tavarez, Kip Wells, Gustavo Chacin, Josh Towers, Alex Cintron, Corey Patterson, Daniel Cabrera).

Traded the two best players with expiring contracts, 1B Nick Johnson and LHP Joe Beimel, for mid level prospects with decent upside.

Traded two players with upside but poor ML performance (RHP Joel Hanrahan and OF Lastings Milledge) for two players with decent ML performance but less upside (LHP Sean Burnett and OF Nyjer Morgan).

Traded a low-level prospect with good minor league performance (RHP Kyle Gunderson) for a ML reliever with poor ML performance but upside (RHP Logan Kensing)-pretty much the only bad move he's made, unless you count signing guys like Kip Wells to minor league deals bad.

It's a nice change from Bowden, eh? Consistency and stability are two things Rizzo obviously values with his team-building. Too bad the organization doesn't understand the value of either.

Let's give 'em hell, Natmosphere. It's time to stand up for Mike. He has his own plan-let him implement it.

The difference between '04, '08 and '09

Two fairly big trades were made in the majors today. The Mets sent former National OF Ryan Church to Atlanta for OF Jeff Francoeur and the Royals sent two prospects to Seattle for IF Yuniesky Betancourt. What does this have to do with the Nats, you may ask? Surprisingly, a lot.

The two trades each have clear winners: Atlanta and Seattle, which means they have two clear losers: Kansas City and the Mets. This is far from the first bad move former Expos GM Omar Minaya has made as the head of the Mets franchise, and I will not hesistate to say that he is one of the worst 5 GM's in the league. It's a vague connection, but I'd like to point out that if Minaya hadn't left the franchise for the Mets, we probably wouldn't be in much different shape than now, so there's your 2004 connection.

As for the connection to last year-both deals reek "Jim Bowden," collecting low-OBP, toolsy players. Again, a loose connection, but doesn't overpaying for guys who are allergic to getting on base sound like him? Makes me think somewhere, sometime there might be another job for him. Thank goodness, it won't be with us.

Nats/Expos recent draft history: Minaya and Bowden

Here's part 2 of my draft history research. See part 1 here. I'm going to point out here that "still with the Nationals" for the most part will refer to significant guys-ones who have a chance of being major leaguers still.

2002:

GM: Minaya

Total picks: 50

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 3-Darrell Rasner (2), Mike O'Connor* (7) and Jason Bergmann* (11)

Still with Nationals: 3-O'Connor and Bergmann, plus Clint Everts (1)

Total ML games amongst draftees: 168

A not-so-good draft. Even though this is the earliest draft that featured guys still in our organization, the Nats had busts at 5th overall as well as rounds 3-6. Insult to injury: the 6th and 7th overall players taken were Zack Greinke and Prince Fielder. That being said, using hindsight to judge a draft isn't the proper way to look at it: you're drafting 18-year-olds and hoping they develop into solid major leaguers. If Everts didn't blow his elbow out, he could have been as good as Greinke. But since he was a bust, so was the Expos' draft 2002 draft.

2003:

GM: Minaya

Total picks: 50

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 3-Chad Cordero (1), Jerry Owens* (2) and Kory Casto* (3)

Still with Nationals: 2-Casto, Luke Montz (17)

Total ML games amongst draftees: 516

This draft doesn't look terrible, but that's because of Cordero on top. Owens was dealt for Alex Escobar and Casto is simply not that good. Hopefully Kory can turn it around and Montz can follow up his successful 2008 season and make it to the majors soon (note-now that Cabrera's gone and Montz is up, I'll amend this to "make it to the majors for good soon").

2004:

GM: Minaya

Total picks: 50

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 3-Bill Bray* (1), Collin Balester* (4), Brett Campbell (34)

Still with Nationals: 4-Balester, Ian Desmond (3), Marvin Lowrance (7), Leonard Davis (8)

Total ML games amongst draftees: 149

An unimpressive draft, mainly because it happened 5 years ago and still has only produced three major leaguers, one of which actually stuck. Balester's still a good prospect, Desmond looks more like a AAAA guy (if he can even get there) and Lowrance and Davis have proved that they can destroy AA pitching but not much else. Minaya, you suck.

2005:

GM: Bowden

Total picks: 48

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 5-Ryan Zimmerman* (1), Justin Maxwell* (4), Marco Estrada (6), John Lannan* (11) and Craig Stammen* (12)

Still with Nationals: 4-Zimmerman, Maxwell, Estrada, Lannan, Stammen, Mike Daniel (7), Jack Spradlin (8) Marcus Jones (38, re-drafted in 2008)

Total ML games amongst draftees: 573

The best draft I've rated so far. Zimmerman was a no-brainer at 4th overall, but Maxwell, Lannan and Stammen were all good finds considering where they were taken. Knock Bowden all you want, but he was twice the drafter Minaya or Beattie could even dream of being.

2006:

GM: Bowden

Total picks: 52

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 0. Yup, 0.

Still with Nationals: 6-Chris Marrero (1), Colten Willems (1), Cory VanAllen (5), Zech Zinicola (6), Sean Rooney (8), Adam Carr (18).

Total ML games amongst draftees: 0

Still a young enough draft that we can't call it a "bust" per se, as Marrero, Zinicola and Rooney are all decent prospects while Gibson turned into Elijah Dukes. Give it an "incomplete" to this point, but it doesn't appear that much other than Marrero will turn out nice for the Nats.

2007:

GM: Bowden

Total picks: 53

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 2-Ross Detwiler* (1) and Jordan Zimmermann* (2)

Still with Nationals: 6-Detwiler, Josh Smoker (1s), Michael Burgess (1s), Zimmermann, Derek Norris (4), Brad Meyers (5), Jack McGeary (6)

Total ML games amongst draftees: 10

Every time I look at this draft, I'm more impressed. Even if it doesn't turn much up in terms of results, this was the first Expos/Nats draft in recent memory where money wasn't the main factor for who the franchise picked. Detwiler was a great pick I'm convinced, Smoker/Burgess/McGeary were all overslot guys and Zimmermann, Norris and Meyers were good finds. Maybe it's because I've viewed drafts through Minaya-tinted glasses, but Bowden wasn't a terrible drafter. Also note that this was Rizzo's first draft.

2008 is too early to judge to be honest, and there's no real way to look at it when you factor in Crow.

So, at least the Nats' drafts have been on the upturn. Hopefully we can get past last year's speedbump and get another good draft this year!

Nats/Expos recent draft history: Intro and the Jim Beattie Era

Since the draft takes place two weeks from tomorrow, I figured I'd run a mini-series evaluating the Nats/Expos drafts since 1995 (a completely arbitrary date to pick, simply because there was a leadership change from Kevin Malone to Jim Beattie as GM). Your 4 GM's being evaluated are Malone (just his last draft), Beattie, Omar Minaya and our favorite, Jim Bowden (note-Larry Beinfest served as the interim GM from 2001-02, but did not draft in his short reign).

So, starting in 1995:

GM: Malone

Total picks: 46

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML in 2009): 6-Michael Barrett* (1), Henry Mateo (2), J.D. Smart (4), Brian Schneider* (5), Jeff Austin (10) and Pete LaForest (16).

Still with Nationals: 0

Total ML games amongst draftees: 2228 (dominated by Barrett and Schneider's combined 1928)

Out of the 6 players they drafted, only 2 are still active and they were really the only two to stick in the majors. Funny that 3 of the 6 drafted were catchers in the majors. While this draft was a major failure talent-wise, it at least produced ML players in 4 of the top 5 picks. Also worth noting: the Expos picked 28th overall, the latest non-supplemental first round status in franchise history, as they were the best team in baseball in the strike-shortened 1994 season. Overall, it was a pretty bad draft.

1996:

GM: Beattie

Total picks: 46

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 8-John Patterson (1), Milton Bradley* (2), Christian Parker (4), Jamey Carroll* (14), Andy Tracy* (16), Chris Stowers (17), Tim Young (19) and Carl Sadler (34).

Still with Nationals: 0

Total ML games amongst draftees: 1834

Like many of the drafts I'll be examining, there was an excellent find in the top few rounds: Milton Bradley. Another trend that goes hand-in-hand with that: Bradley barely played 100 games for the Expos. Remember that Patterson didn't sign with the Expos, but instead with the Diamondbacks (according to Wikipedia, "Montreal lost the draft rights to Patterson on a legal technicality: they sent him a contract offer that was not printed on official team letterhead, and he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for $6.075 million."). So even though this draft produced two ML batters with 700+ games played in Bradley and Jamey Carroll, the Nats got pretty much nothing out of this draft.

1997:

GM: Beattie

Total picks: 56

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 5-Brian Hebson (1s), TJ Tucker (1s), Talmadge Nunnari (9), Scott Strickland (10), Matt Blank (11)

Still with Nationals: 0

Total ML games amongst draftees: 437

Worst. Draft. Ever. In. The. History. Of. Everything. This is completely unfathomably bad. The Expos had 7 supplemental first round picks and 9 total in the top 100. Out of these, 2 made the majors: Brian Hebson (2 career games) and TJ Tucker (171 career games). This is ineptitude that surpasses even Jim Bowden. Out of the top 15 drafted, 2 made the majors. Of the 13 that didn't, 11 were High Schoool picks and 2 were Junior College selections. Pretty much the textbook year for the "DON'T DRAFT HS PLAYERS" way of thinking.

1998:

GM: Beattie

Total picks: 47

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 2-Brad Wilkerson (1s) and Jimmy Serrano (18)

Still with Nationals: 0

Total ML games amongst draftees: 982

Despite the fact that there were only 2 Major Leaguers in the Expos' 1998 draft, at least they didn't blow 7 of 8 supplemental first rounders. Wilkerson was an average-or-better hitter for 5 full seasons and Serrano pitched 32 and 2/3 innings of league-average ball in 2004. But wow, what a killer 2-year stretch for the Expos. I didn't put a * beside Wilkerson because, even though he played a little bit for the Red Sox' AAA affiliate this year, he officially retired.

1999:

GM: Beattie

Total picks: 48

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 5-Brandon Phillips* (2), Matt Cepicky (4), Brandon Watson* (9), Val Pascucci* (15) and Matt Watson (16)

Still with Nationals: 0

Total ML games amongst draftees: 818

Another terribly top-heavy draft that didn't benefit the franchise at all. Phillips turned into a very good 2B, but nobody else stuck in the Majors out of this draft. 4th straight year of little return for the franchise. No wonder the Expos were so bad.

2000:

GM: Beattie

Total picks: 49

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 11-Justin Wayne (1), Grady Sizemore* (3), Cliff Lee* (4), Shawn Hill* (6), Wes Littleton* (7), Phil Seibel (8), Fred Lewis* (20), Jason Bay* (22), Russell Martin* (35), Anthony Ferrari (44) and Jeff Karstens* (45) (note-Littleton, Lewis, Martin and Karstens did not sign).

Still with Nationals: 0

Total ML games amongst draftees: 2606

Awesome draft. Too bad only Hill did anything for the Nats. This draft was a victim of Omar Minaya, who dealt Lee, Sizemore and Brandon Phillips (along with Lee Stevens) to Cleveland for Bartolo Colon (and Tim Drew) during the 2002 season. Thank goodness Minaya, one of the most overrated GM's of the current era, is in New York now. At least there he can attempt to cover up his mistakes by spending large sums of money on FA's.

2001:

GM: Beattie

Total picks: 50

Major Leaguers (* denotes 1 or more GP in ML or AAA in 2009): 4-Mike Hinckley* (3), Josh Labandeira (6), Chad Bentz (7) and Chris Schroder* (19)

Still with Nationals: 0

Total ML games amongst draftees: 137

Ummmm...when Chris Schroder is the best pick in a draft, it's a pretty bad one. That being said, I really wish we still had Schrodes to anchor or bullpen-Billy Beane, will you give him back? Pretty please?

At this point the Jim Beattie era mercifully ended. His totals: 35 major leaguers in 6 drafts...pretty bad. There were some diamonds in the rough, but none of them stuck around long enough to matter for the Nats. I'll get Minaya and Bowden done sometime tomorrow. Key stat: 0 players in drafts before 2001 are still with the Nats. Look at it this way: at least things can't get worse than this. And at least Jim Beattie isn't running the franchise anymore. You know he went to Dartmouth? For someone so smart, he's pretty stupid.

Nats Nuggets

Jon Heyman's latest column notes two things we should probably be afraid of:

First, apparently Boras isn't kidding about the $50 mil demands. Heyman's key quote: "Now Boras is said to want $50 million on a six-year contract, a contract proposal that was first floated as a possibility by Peter Gammons. It seemed fanciful when it was first thrown out there. But apparently it's deadly serious. Besides [fictional player Sid] Finch, executives say they believe the other comparable player Boras sees is Daisuke Matsuzaka, who got $52 million over six years from the Red Sox after starring for years in the Japanese League. Boras, who declined to comment, apparently is suggesting the tens of thousands of previously drafted players over the past 40 years aren't in Strasburg's league."

Yikes. Even if he chooses $30 mil as his sticking point, the Nats will pass. Unless his demands are between $10 and $20 mil, I don't see the Nats signing Strasburg. I do think that, in the end, they will get it done, but just the rumors are scary to think about (not in terms of money, but in terms of "oh no, we might not get Strasburg!").

Second (and in the long run, more important): Heyman says that Rizzo and Bowden both wanted to meet Crow's asking price, but the Lerners and Kasten wouldn't budge from $3.3 mil. That is scary. The first round of the draft is not the time to be cheap when you have a team whose minor league system, frankly, sucks. Enough of this "precedent" garbage. Just get it done.

Moving along, Chico Harlan posted up the Nats who are out of options over at Nats Journal.

Here's how I see them stacking up, from most likely to make the roster to least likely:
* Joel Hanrahan, Josh Willingham, Willie Harris, Daniel Cabrera, Anderson Hernandez, Ronnie Belliard-locks
* Steven Shell, Mike Hinckley, Kory Casto-Casto and Hinckley should not make the team, and Shell is iffy, but I can see all 3 making it. Since the Nats are starting with 14 hitters, Casto will probably break camp with the team, and I would expect Shell to as well. Hinckley is probably headed to waivers/Syracuse in my opinion.
* Wily Mo Pena (gone)

Woah

Just as Mike at Nats Fanboy Looser posted, I got a text from a friend telling me the Nats made a trade: Emilio Bonifacio, P.J. Dean and Jake Smolinski for Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham. I'm not at home right now, but this looks like a great deal for the Nats. As much as I love to bash Bowden, this is a steal at first glance...although so was the Kearns/Lopez trade.

Guess what time it is?

Mailbag time!

You seem sold on John Lannan as a big part of the Nats' future. I feel that he is another Jamie Moyer. What is special about Lannan?
-- Steve L., New York

Lannan is special because, like Moyer, he does a lot with not a lot of stuff. He's remarkably consistent, with ERA's under 4.37 per every month in his career and had 21 QS in 2008. Unless he proves otherwise, he is a huge part of the future.

General manager Jim Bowden has relied heavily on former Reds players. Do you think he will acquire more Cincinnati talent this offseason?
-- Steve I., Bethesda, Md.

I'm going to refer back to what I said about 3 weeks ago when I posted up "some interesting scenarios":
Signing 1 former Red: Adam Dunn, Sean Casey, Corey Patterson (goodness I hope not), Paul Bako, Ben Broussard, Juan Encarnacion, Brett Tomko (99.9% chance of happening).

I can definitely see a Sean Casey, Ben Broussard, Juan Encarnacion or Brett Tomko signing. Not that I support them, I can see them.

EDIT: Wanted to point out 2 things:
1: Steve I. (who asks the question) calls the Cincy-turned-Nats players "talent." FAIL
2: Hendo pointed out in the comments that I didn't comment on the following statement by Ladson: "There aren't that many former Reds who played regularly on the field. As far as the position players go, you have Jose Guillen, Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Dmitri Young. Pitching-wise, you have Hector Carrasco and Ryan Wagner. That's not the entire Reds roster during Bowden's time in Cincinnati." I was going to save that for later (in class right now), but I guess someone didn't put on their patient pants today!

For every former Reds player Ladson names, there are a million more that were tried at some measure in the organizaiton. You've got Brandon Larson, Brandon Claussen, Tony Blanco, Jeffrey Hammonds, Phil Hiatt, Luis Pineda, Ed Yarnall, Michael Tucker, Felix Rodriguez, Jim Crowell, Chris Booker, Josh Hall, Chris Michalak, Ray King, C.J. Nitkowski, Michael Coleman, Carlos Barega...do I need to go on? That's 23 guys in just a little bit of research time. I'm pretty sure I could come up with two more to complete the roster.

EDIT 2: Of course, Steven over at FJB is on the ball, naming a bunch of former Reds I inexplicably forgot: Wily Mo Pena and Aaron Boone round out the 25-man roster, plus you have ex-Reds Barry Larkin, Jose Rijo and Bob Boone stinking up the management.

What is the possibility of Mark Teixeira ending up with the Nationals? What kind of options do you think they have?
-- Kristen L., Rockville, Md.

I'll refer back to the same post:

Signing 1 of the following: C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Francisco Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Ryan Dempster, Brian Fuentes (.00000000000001% chance of happening)

If any of those 6 are signed, it will be Texiera, if that is enough of a silver lining.

To be honest, when Nicky J is healthy, he is almost as productive (134 OPS+ to Johnson's 125...at probably 25% of the price). Stick with Nick and a free agent (Sean Casey and his OBP might actually be a decent pick here) and you'll get a fine 1B combo.

What are the plans for Wily Mo Pena? Is he going to play every day in 2009, or will he be traded?
-- David M., Woodbridge, Conn.

Unless he is (miraculously) traded or breaks out in Spring Training, let's hope Wily Mo gets the 2005 Tony Blanco treatment. Except for the "keep Blanco and lose a SP" part.

Everyone is talking about Anderson Hernandez and Emilio Bonifacio at second, but neither of them has the experience that Ronnie Belliard has.
-- Dustin C., Halifax, Nova Scotia

I'll stick with my prediction from last week: Bonifacio does not start the 2009 season in the majors. I bet Belliard and Hernandez start in a platoon, with Hernandez facing most lefties and Belliard facing most righties. It would be nice to get a LH bat here (although Bonifacio is seemingly decent against righties).

With the Nationals needing some power from the left side, what about signing Jason Giambi?
-- Chris H., Fountain Hill, Pa.

Not a bad idea. He couldn't be worse defensively than Dmitri. He's a bum, but we could use the offense. Big question-would he accept a PH/backup role for a non-contender?

What are Nationals going to do at catcher? I'm sure Jesus Flores will be healthy for next season, but we saw some talent in Luke Montz. With a shot at more playing time, could Montz be the No. 1 catcher?
-- Justin R., Lafayette, La.

No offense, Justin, but didn't we learn in 2008 that not starting Jesus Flores is a mistake? Montz may be a #1 catcher eventually, but he didn't prove anything in AAA or the majors. This is Montz's make-or-break year in AAA.

Get Well, JimBow

It's no secret that I haven't been a fan of Bowden's moves over the years, but cancer obviously changes things. Get well, Jim. We're on your team for this fight.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY PART 2!!

MASN is reporting that Failipe Lopez and Paul Lo Duca have been released by the Nats to clear room for Emilio Bonifacio and Elijah Dukes, both of whom are being called up from AAA.

One word:

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

My life is oh so much better now that these two veterans who offer very little to the team and nothing beyond 2008. Finally, JimBow has admitted two of his mistakes. It's still way too late, and he still needs to be fired, but at least he dumped these two deadbeats.

Also-The Nats also traded minor league righthanded Jhonny Nunez to the Yankees for IF Alberto Gonzalez. From the looks of it, Gonzalez is an all-glove, no-hit SS. Jhonny Nunez will probably not be a Major League pitcher, as 22 year olds in A ball with 5.22 ERA's are pretty easy to come by. Looks good enough to me, I've seen enough no-glove, no-hit infielders in Felipe Lopez and Royce Clayton to last me a lifetime.

Believe it or not, but it could be worse

I'd say it's much worse to be an Astros fan at this point than a Nats fan. Despite being 9.5 games (and 6 teams) out of the Wild Card and 12.5 games (and 3 teams) out of the NL Central lead, the Astros keep trading prospects for mediocre ML guys. First they traded Chad Reineke to San Diego for Randy Wolf, and today they traded Matthew Cusick to the Yankees for LaTroy Hawkins. Wolf and Hawkins are both past their prime (with ERA+s of 82 and 73, respectively) while Reineke and Cusick both look semi-promising (Reineke has a career minor league ERA of 3.71 and 8.8 K/9 in his fifth minor league season while Cusick has a career OPS of .835 through a year and a half).

But then again, when I read this off of Nationals.com and this from Nationals Journal, I begin to wonder.
The key quote from the Nationals.com article:

Indeed, Nationals pitchers -- especially young ones in the Majors and Minors -- are attractive to other teams. Bowden declined to mention the hurlers that teams want, but a baseball source said Jason Bergmann, Garrett Mock, Ross Detwiler and Adrian Alaniz have been mentioned in trade discussions.

Wat. Trading Detwiler would be one of the more incompetent things, EVER. His value is at an all-time low. Let him regain his value. Bergmann is one guy who I can see going nuts with like a 2.50 ERA if he's dealt. Keep him. Mock is more of a fringe ML guy and Alaniz is still way far away (and doesn't have incredibly impressive stuff), so I would understand moving either of them for other prospects. But Bergmann and Detwiler shouldn't be moved until they're at peak value.

And then we have this (from Nats Journal):

Chico Harlan: Speaking of pitching/progress, has any been made with (first-round pick) Aaron Crow in negotiations?

Bowden: No.

CH: Do you think you'll have him signed by the Aug. 15 deadline?

JB: Don't know that. We're working hard trying to sign all the guys that are unsigned.

If we don't sign all of our top 5 picks (and when I say all, I mean Aaron Crow, Danny Espinoza, Graham Hicks and Adrian Nieto), I'll go nuts. "The Plan" is worthless if there is no stream of top-of-the-line talent into. Having the same pick next year would both set us back a whole 'nother year while at the same time making us the laughingstock of baseball (maybe even moreso than the Mariners and Astros franchises...note that 4 of the teams Randy Johnson has played for are run by incompetent nitwits...MON, SEA, HOU, NYY. Arizona, watch out. If Byrnes ever leaves, you're screwed).

Enough is enough

Read the post.
Sign the petition.

There are not enough words, but too many phrases

Besides the obvious words, here's what I've got:
What was Bowden thinking?
Why should I even care about this team any more?
Is it any wonder the Nationals are the biggest joke of a team in baseball?
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

I don't even know how to express my total lack of respect for the Nationals' front office. I'm not going to defend them anymore. They're idiots. Complete morons. Guys that should be doing (insert name of non-noble work here).

Why am I so mad? Bill Ladson of MLB.com reports that taking Wily Mo Pena's place on the 25 man roster is none other than....JOHNNY ESTRADA!

Here's what Ladson says exactly:

With Pena expected to go on the disabled list on Friday, the Nationals are expected to activate catcher Johnny Estrada from the DL. Estrada has played in only 17 games this year because of a sore right elbow.

The Nationals will have four catchers -- Estrada, Jesus Flores, Paul Lo Duca and Wil Nieves -- on the 25-man roster. Manager Manny Acta said that Estrada will come off the bench and get some playing time behind the plate.

"I have to see Johnny Estrada out there," Acta said. "We have to take a look at him. It's July. Other than that, we'll deal with what we have."

This is so wrong on so many levels. I don't see why they want to torture us so much. Here's a good analogy-Johnny Estrada is to baseball as William Hung is to singing. Sorry, William, I hate to compare you to such a worthless baseball player, but you're the best I could think of.

Johnny Estrada has only had 1 season that has ever been deemed "above average" in OPS+ (where 100 is average, anything above 100 is above average and everything below 100 is below average). Estrada topped out at 113 in 2004, carrying a career OPS+ of 84 and OPS+'s of 74, 92, 78 and 8 from 2005-08 (note the small 2008 sample size, only 39 AB). With such a below-average bat, he must be valuable elsewhere, right? Wrong. Estrada has only thrown out 24% of potential base stealers over his career. Estrada is one of the slowest men on earth (more on that later).

My roommate (a Brewers/Nats fan, so he gets double the Estrada fun) wrote up a quick 5-tool assessment on Estrada for me:
me: i need for you to give me a scouting report on johnny estrada for my blog...very quick...just hit his skills in the 5 tools
roommate: uh
roommate: he doesn't walk
roommate: but can hit for average
roommate: no power
roommate: speed blows
roommate: defense sucks
roommate: arm sucks

Here are some opinions of Estrada from fans:

"At least (Jason Kendall is) likely to post an OBP greater than .300 and not be a distraction in the clubhouse, unlike Estrada. And be fast enough that you can actually bunt him over to second base. And who won't be a double play machine. And Estrada had a pretty crummy year defensively as well." -Chud.com commenter EvilTwin (Brewers Fan during Estrada's time there)

"Johnny Estrada sucks. He was the worst catcher in baseball last season at throwing out baserunners. He is overweight and I have read more than one report that he has a pathetic work ethic. No thanks."-SignOnSanDiego.com commenter Fixxer019 (Padres Fan when Estrada was rumored to be negotiating with them)

"Can we simply replace 'Johnny Estrada flied out to left' or 'Johnny Estrada grounds out 6-3' to 'Johnny Estrada sucks?' Seriously, after each out he makes, I don’t want to hear who got the putout or who got the assist, I just want to here 'Johnny Estrada sucks.' For example: 'The 2-2 to Estrada. Grounder to second. And Johnny Estrada sucks.'"-BravesJournal.com commenter Aram (Braves fan during Estrada's time there). Also from the same site: "#%$^ing Estrada……"-LatNam, BravesJournal.com commenter.

"Omar Minaya, to his undying credit, did do one good thing this off-season -- trading away Guillermo Mota, though we had to accept Johnny Estrada. Johnny Estrada sucks at baseball. But at least the cheater is gone."-Wheres-Luke.Blogspot.com (Mets fan after the Estrada-Mota deal)

"The difference between Estrada and Schneider is negligible, although I suppose Estrada is glacier-slow, whereas Schneider is just catcher-slow."-Matt Collins of BaseballMuse.WordPress.com (Mets fan)

"He may actually be a .300 hitter, which when you add in doubles power (36 last season) and a few walks is pretty darned valuable. (Written in January of 2005, so obviously not the case-.278 career hitter). On the other hand, if he can't hit near .300, he's a drag on the team, because he only hit nine homers and is painfully slow (no stolen bases or triples in his major league career, or in the minors since 2000) and his defense looked pretty shoddy. Interestingly, he wasn't charged with a passed ball last season, despite seemingly having trouble blocking the plate."-Mac Thomason of BravesBeat.com

"I hate him as much as anybody here. He's a butcher behind the plate, he's slow as hell, he has no work ethic, and he does nothing with runners in scoring position."-RealGM.com commenter Comet

Had enough? Now do you understand why Johnny Estrada is an awful call-up in any situation? WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Estrada is being called up to be our 4th catcher. 4. We have 13 hitters on our roster and 4 of them are catchers (3 of them being ONLY catchers, with Lo Duca being an impostor at 1B/LF occasionally...with a .939 fielding percentage on the balls that he actually gets near). That's absolutely ridiculous. Behind our normal starting lineup (I'll call it C-Flores, 1B-Young, 2B-Lopez, 3B-Belliard, SS-Guzman, LF-Casto, CF-Harris, RF-Kearns), we have 5 bench players-2 guys who can ONLY catch in Estrada, Nieves, 1 guy who can ONLY catch in Lo Duca (but we play him at 1B/LF occasionally to decrease the quality of our team), 2 guy who can play 2B/SS/3B in Pete Orr and 1 guy who can play all of the OF positions in Ryan Langerhans. Estrada's only value is as a backup catcher, where he should be fourth on the depth chart.

I know Zimmerman's coming up soon, but who is going to be sent down? The only real possibilities are Orr, Casto and Langerhans-the three guys with the most versatility. So we'll be even MORE shorthanded. Unless Bowden's going to pull the trigger on a deal (he no longer gets the benefit of my doubt), this is probably the worst baseball roster strategy I have ever seen. 31% of our batters on the roster are catchers, and only 1 of them can hit. At least Nieves is good defensively. Lo Duca and Estrada are the Terrible Twins.

Things are not looking good for our future if the Nats are this reluctant to swallow their pride and dump obvious mistakes. Combine that with a 100% irresponsible spending system (which allowed them waste $6.25 mil on both Lo Duca and Estrada in the first place rather than anyone of value) and suddenly defining the team as a "slot team" in terms of the draft and there is no hope visible for the Nats.

For the Nats to ever make the playoffs, 2 things need to happen:
Jim Bowden needs to be fired
The Lerner Family needs to sell the team. It's obvious that they are not capable of running a big league team. They approve spending money in the dumbest places (Johnny Estrada and Paul Lo Duca) and won't allow it for the most important areas (our 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th round draft picks).

As far as I'm concerned, The Plan will never succeed with the 3 Stooges (Bowden, Ted Lerner and Mark Lerner) running this team.

For the love of Frank Howard, can someone bring DC a respectable baseball team?

[/rant]

I'm sure there might be holes in my logic and maybe some bad grammatical errors, as I was too ticked off to even read through this post again. So just leave them in the comments and I'll correct them.

48 Hours

It's been about 48 hours since my last post, so I'll give you a recap of what's new:




See that blank space? It represents what has happened since Saturday evening. The Nats still suck, as they lost for the 5th straight game (including being swept in 4 games against Cincinnati). The Hokies haven't made any news lately (thank goodness) and the Caps are in that awkward 2 week stretch between Laich and Morrisonn accepting arbitration and the actual process. I could talk to you about the Caps' rookie camp (or developmental camp, whatever it's called) but Japers' Rink is really your source there.

So what is there to talk about?
C.C Sabathia was traded to the Brew Crew. My contending team, the Cubs, should be a little worried. Not too worried, as Sabathia will only pitch in 15 (regular season) games for the rest of the season. At the moment, Sabathia replaces Jeff Suppan, who was placed on the 15-day DL yesterday. Suppan's injury, called "persistant irritation" by MLB.com, is likely only going to keep him out for 1 or 2 starts. Over such a small sample size, it's hard to say whether or not Sabathia would have a large impact. I'll overestimate and say he'll be responsible for 1 more win over those 2 games. After that, I'm guessing Dave Bush is the odd man out (I'll double check with my roommate, a Brewers and Packers fan that I would feel sorry for...but he once liked New Found Glory, which negates my benefit of the doubt...check out his analysis of the C.C. move if you get a chance). Bush is 4-8...so he loses 2 of every 3 decisions. Even if C.C. wins 2 of every 3 decisions for the rest of the year, he's a 5-6 win improvement. And that's the best case scenario (although somebody might want to add in his value as a hitter as well). The thing is: the Brewers have 66 fewer runs scored than the Cubs. The addition of Sabathia might replace the 26 runs allowed disadvantage they have, but the Cubs are still a superior team from top-to-bottom. Especially when Alfonso Soriano returns from injury.

And I guess for your Nats fix, here are my answers to the mailbag:
Is shortstop Cristian Guzman going to be dealt at the July 31 Trade Deadline?
-- Will S., Reston, Va.

Yes. The Nats were supposed to have signed him by now. Now I'd say there's about a 50/50 chance he stays still, but if he's not signed 10 days after he was supposedly "very close to signing", I bet Guzman called JimBo's girlfriend "guapo" and JimBo misinterpreted it (mainly thanks to "El Guapo" who does not translate to "the beautiful one") and did something to offend him, like saying this: Su madre es un puerco gordo. I think that this scenario could potentially happen: Guzman traded somewhere as a rental (LA?) and resigns in the offseason. He would be a Type B (because of playing time) so he wouldn't cost us a pick like he did the first time around, despite playing better.

Do you take back your assessment of the trade that sent Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Ryan Wagner from the Reds to the Nationals on July 13, 2006. You thought it was a steal for Washington?
-- Justin, C., Atlanta, Ga.

It WAS a steal for the Nats. The Nats traded two middle relievers, a crappy old shortstop, an unhappy infielder (sorry, can't find the link on Harris) and a so-so prospect (at the time) for an up-and-coming outfielder, a 26 year old all-star shortstop and an interesting reliever. The trade was incredibly lopsided in the Nats favor. 99% of the time this trade is made, the Nats make out like bandits. But for some reason, Felipe and Kearns left their bats in Cincy and the Nats only come out with two average players in return for their crap.

This is only semi-related, but in my search for stuff on that trade came up with this link, where the original rumor consisted of Kearns and Brandon Phillips to the Nats. Oh, how nice would that have been?

Knowing that Bowden likes Reds outfielder/first baseman Adam Dunn, what are the chances that Dunn could be in a Nationals uniform?
-- Joe B., New York, N.Y.

In a trade: 10% chance. As an FA after the season: 50% chance. Even with Dukes, Milledge, Kearns, Johnson and Da Meat Hook taking up all of the positions Dunn can play, he will be a National next year if Bowden is still GM (which is the 50% chance).

Don't you think this team needs some talent on the Major League level to generate interest. You can't possibly be forgetting the reason that they are in Washington in the first place, can you?
-- Jon A., Stony Brook, N.Y.

What's the point? The season's over. The Nats only need to go 7-65 for the rest of the year to end up with more wins than the (and that would require almost twice as bad of a pace as July's 1 win in 6 games). All potential interest is gone. The exciting youngsters are basically all on the DL (Zimmerman, Milledge, Dukes) and everyone who planned on seeing Nationals Park has seen it by now. Suck it up, let the kids play and grab San Diego State ace Stephen Strasburg #1 overall next year.

Will Ronnie Belliard and Dmitri Young be traded before the Trade Deadline
-- Rob A., Washington D.C.

I'm going to say one of them gets traded. Both are hitting fairly well at the moment. Belliard is signed relatively cheap (Young really isn't). If Belliard is traded, it means either Pete Orr or Ray Olmedo or somebody equally bad as a replacement. I say Young goes and Bill Rhinehart is the starting 1B in September.

Now that Nick Johnson is out for the reminder of the season, what will be the approach with him for next season? Will he stay here in Washington?
-- Daniel O, Centreville, Va.

Just as I do every year, I assume he'll be out for the season and am surprised (sometimes even pleasantly surprised) for every single at bat he takes. Cherish those at bats, kids. You might not see many more out of Porcelain Man.

I am mostly frustrated that the team lacks basic fundamentals -- not moving the runner over to second or third with no outs, baserunning blunders, throwing to the wrong base or swinging at the first pitch after the pitcher throws four straight balls to the previous batter. What are your thoughts?
-- Tim R., Auburn, N.Y.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When you play for a team almost 20 games under .500 before the ASG, who is going to blame you (and for that matter, replace you) for not hustling, sucking at bunting or overthrowing the cutoff man? I'm pretty sure they're not going so far to start signing bloggers.

But for all the people clamoring, "Let the Kids Play!!," you're ignoring the fact that many of them are skipping fundamental training. It's a lot different learning to bunt against 75 mph fastballs in HS and 95 mph fastballs in the majors. John Lannan spent very little time in the high minors, where pitchers adjust to higher pitch speeds. As the linked article above says, Bergmann was predominantly a reliever in the minors, so he didn't hit at all. Bernadina and Dukes do miss their cutoff men, but it's because they're trying their absolute hardest to nab baserunners. I agree, the fundamentals need to be in place when the Nats are ready to compete. But for now, just sit back and let this ragtag group play as hard as they want to. I have a feeling "don't throw the ball home in that situation" could translate "don't try and throw out advancing runners" in the minds of youngsters like Bernadina. The funadmentals need work, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't make a difference anymore this year.

A bunch of Nats news

As many of you saw tonight (not including myself, as I didn't have power), Lastings Milledge went down with a groin injury trying to make a play on a line drive (that ended up an Alex Cintron triple). The Nats announced he was going to the 15-day DL and Harrisburg's Roger Bernadina would be his replacement. Tough break for L-Millz and his Center Field Thrillz, but that's really the Nats' luck as of late. (edit: Chico Harlan says about Milledge in Nationals Journal: "Headed to the DL; Lastings Milledge, who injured his right groin. He'll be out 2-4 weeks."), so not as bad as I thought. Wonder if 2-4 weeks will beocme 4-6 though, with our awesome training staff!

The only good news that comes out of it: Bernadina gets a shot. The 24-year-old has spent 7 years in the Nats system after being signed at 18 out of the Netherlands Antilles (aka Curacao, I believe). He's pulling a line of .325/.397/.475 in AA right now (with a career line of .292/.364/.414 in 636 at bats in AA and .258/.343/.375 overall) and is a good baserunner (career 77% base stealer, 75% in AA, 26/35 this year). He looks to me like a lefty version of Milledge, but with a little less power and a little better defense.

Good news: Austin Kearns is said to be back next week, which will (thank goodness) keep Pena/Harris/Lo Duca/Casto out of LF as much as possible (my dad keeps saying they're "showcasing" Lo Duca in LF to boost his trade value. It makes sense, as there are some really stupid GM's out there. Apparently versatility is in the eye of the beholder). Nationals.com says that Dukes will shift back to LF (even though I think they should stick him in CF, as he's more likely to be a full-time ML CF in the future than Roger Bernadina, who I think will end up as a Tom Goodwin-like player...#4 OF, #1 pinch runner, defensive replacement). I'm a little afraid Bernadina will end up like Brandon Watson, but I'll put a little more faith in him.

Great news: Collin Balester is going to make the start on Tuesday against the Marlins. The 22-year-old righty has a 9-3 record and a 4.00 ERA in AAA Columbus this year. Hopefully, he'll never see AAA again! It's good to see Balester and Bernadina finally get a chance (unfortunately at the expense of starters Shawn Hill and Milledge), but sometimes you have to lose someone for a while to find out who is really a contender from the minors rather than a pretender. The Nats have room on the 40-man (space was made when Nick Johnson was put on the 60-day DL), but no room on the 25-man roster. Top candidates to be sent down/outrighted: Pete Orr, Jesus Colome. The dark horse is obviously Fail-ipe, who is destined to be traded to the Dark Side tomorrow night or Monday.

Yesterday, the Dark Side Bird tripped Teddy in the Presidents Race. Tonight, Teddy beat the Dark Side Bird in an "unsanctioned race" (meaning the Nats can stretch out the misery of Teddy until they feel like giving him a win).

If I were GM of the Nationals (3 weeks later)

I wrote this the first time on June 1, so it's been 3 weeks (check it out here if you want to see my genius ideas). Much has changed (6 of my 12 proposed moves have been implemented) and much still has not (Colome is still on the team? ARE YOU SERIOUS?). So here's the new version of If I were GM of the Nationals, which will (sadly) continue to occur until Jim Bowden is relieved of his duties.

Just like last time, the 40-man roster is full, so some creativity will be needed to make room. Lucky for all of us, I'm the king of creativity.

Our 25-man roster currently holds at least 6 players who should not be on it (I will give Saul Rivera, Luis Ayala and Charlie Manning a brief reprieve under one condition-LEARN HOW TO THROW STRIKES!!!):
RP Jesus Colome
C Paul Lo Duca
IF Fail-ipe Lopez
IF Pete Orr
IF/OF Willie Harris
OF Wily Mo Pena

Between Lopez and Orr, one needs to stay because an ML middle infield backup is necessary and there is basically nobody ready in AA/AAA at either position. I'll say Lopez stays because he at least has had some success with a baseball bat at some level. So that leaves us with 5 players on the roster that needs to be purged: Colome, Lo Duca, Orr, Harris and Pena. These 5 would fetch very little value on the trade market. Pena (raw power/everything else), Harris (speed + defense/bat), Orr (speed + defense/bat + eye) and Colome (can throw 97 MPH/can't locate at all) all have at least 1 marketable skill and at least 1 major flaw. Lo Duca just needs to retire to the broadcast booth (he did a decent job when Sutton was on the DL with a voice cracking like a 12-year-old boy).

I think (and hope) guys like Pena ($2 mil, team option for next year at $5 mil/player option for next year at $2 mil) and Colome ($1.25 mil) can pass through waivers, because if they can right the ship, they can be solid major leaguers. Both showed signs of decency with the Nats last year, as Wily Mo hit .293/.352/.504 and Colome threw 66 innings of 3.82 ERA ball. Wily Mo's line of .213/.253/.269 (with awful defense) and Colome's 6.00 ERA don't cut it, however, and both need to be jettisoned immediately, whether it be to Columbus or another team. DFA them both and see if any offers come up. If not, let them become other teams' problems. Seriously, look at Colome's last 10 games (taken from his Nationals.com page):
Now that's just pretty awful. Notice that the dates go back more than a month, before I wrote the original If I were GM of the Nationals (June 1). Seriously...he's given up 7 earned runs in his last 3 and 1/3 innings pitched and 16 earned runs over his last 14 and 2/3. There needs to be a point where Jim Bowden just says "no more" and dumps the fireballer. There are a ton of people who can throw it hard waiting for Jim Bowden (or any other GM, for that matter) to give them a chance. Let's add Colome to that list.

Orr will likely accept his reassignment to Columbus (because the Nats have already given him permission to play at the Olympics for Team Canada, so he might as well). Lo Duca might retire if the Nats dump him, because nobody wants a 36-year-old washed up catcher who can't hit, can't field his position and annoys the rest of the team while trying to "light a fire" under them. I've got your fire, Paulie. To put it more precisely, you're fired. Harris is probably pawnable, as he is only making $800k this year, has good speed and can play basically anywhere.

To fill the spots of these 5 guys (not to be confused with the delicious house of burgers), the following hitters would be added to the roster (bear with me, I'll get to the pitchers later):
1B/3B/OF Yurendell DeCaster (needs to be added to the 40-man roster)
OF Roger Bernadina (called up rather than Mike Daniel for 2 reasons: slightly superior hitting this year and is already on the 40-man roster)
OF Kenny Lofton (needs to be signed and added to the 40-man roster, read up on him in my last IIWGMOTN entry)

This would leave us at a lineup looking like this:
Cristian Guzman-SS
Lastings Milledge-CF
Elijah Dukes-RF
Dmitri Young-1B
Jesus Flores-C
Aaron Boone-3B
Ron Belliard-2B
Roger Bernadina-LF

The bench would feature:
Lefty Kory Casto (1B/3B/LF/RF)
Lefty Kenny Lofton (LF/CF/RF, pinch running candidate)
Righty Wil Nieves (C)
Righty Yurendell DeCaster (1B/3B/LF/RF, 2B in a pinch)
Switch Fail-ipe Lopez (2B/SS/LF, pinch running candidate)
This would leave us with a bunch of corner infield/outfielders and not a whole lot up the middle, but the Nats usually don't carry more than 3 middle infielders (with now being the exception). Harris' ability to play middle infield in a pinch may trump DeCaster's callup.

Pitchingwise, it's a foregone conclusion that Odalis Perez returns and claims one of the two slots made available by dumping Colome. I once again support the calling up of Chris Schroder to fill the other spot, as he pitched well last year (3.18 ERA in 45 innings). He's already on the 40-man, and it's a bit of a waste to call up a start to put in relief when they could be starting in AAA (I'm looking at you, Balester/Clippard/Mock, etc.).

This all being said, guys like Balester, Clippard, Mock, Daniel, Estrada, Martis, Zinicola, Broadway and Escobar will probably see some ML action this year (or at least a handful of them) because of trades. There are realistically 3 tiers of guys: unmovable (due to lack of performance or contract), dump off for a low-level prospect (due to a lack of performance or contract) and trade for a solid prospect (or prospects, due to good performance).

Guys like Johnny Estrada and Paul Lo Duca probably won’t command anything on the trade market. If we’re lucky, somebody takes them off our hands for a PTBNL or something.

Guys like Ayala, Rivera, Nieves, Pena, Harris and Lopez could theoretically bring a low-level prospect I’d think if we tried dealing them away. I have a little bit more faith in Jim Bowden’s ability to find low-level pitching prospects (namely Martis), but still it is almost more worth it to hold on to most of them because (with the exception of Harris, Ayala and maybe Lopez) they have yet to reach their potential. Trading Ayala now would be selling too low for my liking, as this is his first non-great year when you look at it.

Guys like Young, Redding, Perez, Rauch, Boone, Belliard, Guzman and Johnson (if healthy) could theoretically bring in some decent prospects (maybe not Boone/Belliard, but it all depends on the market), with Redding, Rauch and Guzman being most valuable. All three are signed cheap compared to their peformance (Redding at $1 mil and with either 1 or 2 more years of team control after this year, Rauch at $1.2 mil this year, $2 mil next year and a team option at $2.9 mil in 2010 and Guzman at $4 mil this year) and are relatively young (30, 29 and 30, respectivelly). Since SP, RP and SS are 3 positions hard to find cheap, young, decent talent, the Nats could realistically ask for a B+ level prospect for any of them, and probably an additional B- to B prospect since it's Jim Bowden doing the asking. For guys like Young, Perez, Boone and Belliard, a B- to B prospect is more likely (and really a C+ to B- for Boone/Belliard would work). For Johnson, who knows.

Attention Jim Bowden: pay attention or you're fired, just like Paulie. Plus, I hear his phone is TOAST!

Entering the Danger Zone

Two "dangerous" things for me to touch on real quick.

One, I got an email containing this message from Nationals.com:

Hey fans, chat with Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden next Tuesday, June 24 at 11 a.m. on nationals.com!

Now is your chance to ask Jim about the moves he's made, the recent draft selections (including first-rounder Aaron Crow), and where he believes the Nationals are headed in the future!

This chat is open to all Nationals fans, so make sure to log in on Tuesday and submit your questions to the chat!

Can we start a campaign of like 300 people to all send the same question: Is Mike Rizzo going to be ready to take over as GM when you're fired in July?

The other dangerous thing of the night: ELIJAH DUKES' BAT. Finally, something with Elijah Dukes and danger that doesn't involve him doing anything stupid. Dukes went 5/6 tonight with a double, a homer, a walk, 2 runs and 2 RBI (including the game winner on a walkoff single). Dukes is up to .270/.377/.402 on the year. That's actually pretty dang good, without even factoring his speed (8/9 SB!) or his defense. We've got ourselves the special player everyone thought Dukes would be. Let's see if he can keep his head on straight because if he does, he'll be our all-star rep next year.

And I came up with one more dangerous thing: having Lenny Harris as our hitting coach. FIRE LENNY!!!!!!!!1!!!!ONE!!!!

Stop freaking out!

I read through the comments on blog posts at Nationals Journal every day, as well as the weekly chats hosted by Chico Harlan, the Washington Post beat writer assigned to the Nats. These comments used to be all rah-rah but all of a sudden people are starting to freak out.

This semi-optimistic post came first. It sums up a lot of my feelings on the subject:

I love the game, and I love the city, and I'm willing to wait for brilliance. I'm young. If they're not the guys for the job, I'm willing to wait past Kasten and JimBow and Ted. I'll be rooting for the Nats after those men are gone, no matter what kind of team they field...If you don't find this entertaining, Tom, you're watching it wrong. I don't understand the fans who aren't happy with a pathetic disaster of a team. You know what makes me happy? Baseball. Winning is gravy...Winning's a lot more fun when you're in last place. Yes, I'd like to be at the top of the division someday. I'd like it as soon as possible. But I refuse to stop enjoying my favorite game in the world because the Nats just got swept.

Posted by: girl at work | June 19, 2008 4:30 PM


That post was lauded by plenty of the Nats Journal's readers but then called out by a handful of others:

Seriously, what is going on here? It seems to me that a lot of us around here aren't happy with this pathetic disaster of a team. And why should we be? And why are so many of you saluting a post that says we should be happy with a bunch of (unlovable) losers? These guys don't even try hard for the most part, which is what I find most offensive and which makes it impossible for me to be happy.

Posted by: Coverage is lacking | June 19, 2008 5:21 PM


Why should you be happy with this team? I can see why people are discouraged with the team, but what were your expectations? The Nats were a 71-91 team last year and were expected to be less consistent than last year (mainly because they're younger). And how do you expect a team to be anything but a "pathetic disaster of a team" when they lose their Opening Day starting pitcher, closer, first baseman, third baseman and right fielder for a significant time? The team is in a lot better shape than people thing. When our 3 best hitters (yes, Kearns IS one of our 3 best hitters. One bad month doesn't displace an otherwise good career.) return, we'll start hitting better. It's as easy as that.

Besides the commenters, there were many pessimistic (and a few outright stupid) people on the chat. Among the losers:


Silver Spring, MD: Isn't it time to just release Nick Johnson. This is for simple fairness, and will not save any money. For the last two years, Mr. Johnson has received $5M a year, essentially to heal, to be on sick leave. He was hired to play baseball games. Whoever hired Mr. Johnson for this kind of money made a huge mistake. On a game-played basis, Mr. Johnson is probably up there with ARod.

Maybe it is time to part ways.

Manassas, VA: Chico, historically Nick Johnson has not played a full season. Ever. The closest he ever came was 2006, then got hurt and missed a whole season. If he's a slow healer that means he's always healing, which means he's rarely playing.

It doesn't matter how good his batting eye is, if he doesn't get to use it.

Second the call to part ways with Nicky J.


Chico (kinda) came to the rescue, saying this: Disagree. Washington has no intention to release Johnson. None whatsoever. Johnson's only problem is that he's historically been very slow to recover from injuries. This is just the latest example. But no doubt he'll be playing again during the last months of the season. And the Nats need him. Even when his average is down, he helps the team by drawing walks and taking pitches. No way does Livan cruise through an entire game on turbo-speed if he has to face Johnson three or four times.


That doesn't take it far enough. There is absolutely no reason to give up on him for being injury-prone. He has ALWAYS produced when healthy. His average may be just average (no pun intended) but he puts up great OBP/iso SLG numbers and good fielding to boot. But this guy said it best:

Dumping Johnson: Suggesting the dumping of Johnson just because he's injured is the perfect example of why you will rarely find anyone from a MLB front office in a chatroom. Just. Plain. Idoitic.

That's all I've got. I guess we've officially found our "stupid fans," which every team has a few of. Some teams (coughBOSTONcough) just have a few more stupid fans than others.

Ruh Row for Bowden

According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated (via MLBTradeRumors.com), "There are rumblings Jim Bowden, GM of the Nats, could be in trouble." That's all he says in the article, not giving a source or reason. I doubt it has anything to do with the draft, maybe he's finally started rubbing Uncle Stan the wrong way? Or maybe it's because the failures of his ex-Reds (Kearns, Pena, Lopez and Young) are finally starting to outweigh the successes of his ex-Reds (Boone). Or maybe it's because the Nats are the 4th worst team in baseball (or tied for second worth if you go by losses).

But either way, Bowden heading out doesn't bother me. I'm sure that there are teams that won't trade with him or are skeptical of it. He is good at finding players whose careers he can resurrect, but you can't field a Major League team of 25 guys with retreads and he has to have figured that out. He probably needs to fire Lenny to shift the blame to the hitting coach. If he doesn't do anything, I could understand why he would get the ax.

BERGMANNIA!!

I told you so (or hinted that Jason Bergmann deserved a second chance, one that Michael O'Connor might not get, although he probably deserves one for fighting it out in 2006 and coming back strong in the minors this year). There has been some discussion regarding whether or not Bergmann is going to be able to be a guy who can put up 6 or 7 strong innings each game. If you look at this year's numbers from his first stint in the majors this year, you'll see that he regularly imploded after the 4th inning (scroll down to "By Inning"). The problem with this, however, is that the sample size is only two starts (and three games). Looking at last year's numbers, Bergmann got somewhat stronger as the game went on. Its silly to look at his 7-9 inning stats because there were only 23 plate appearances in that timeframe, but look at Bergmann's line the third time around the lineup: .223/.286/.398 .684 OPS against. I'll take that line from any pitcher at any point in the game! So while he may have had problems going deep in his first 2 starts, I don't see this being a problem anymore. He's just not that kind of pitcher.

Other (non-BERGMANNIA!!) note: Nicky J is out 4-6 weeks with a wrist injury. Up goes infielders' (mainly Zimmerman's) throwing errors, Dmitri and Boone's playing time...down goes Nicky J's trade value, team OBP, runs. This is where I really miss having Josh Whitesell on the team, as he's tearing up the PCL (and can field!!). Just like when Bowden waived Darrell Rasner to clear a spot for Matt Lecroy and shipped Jamey Carroll off to make room for Damian Jackson (or was it Royce Clayton? Either way, it makes me want to vomit), Bowden waived Whitesell to clear 40-man room for Ray King. Talk about getting value for your players (Disclaimer: Yes, I know Bowden has gotten value for his players before. I'm just saying this is not the case with Whitesell, Carroll and Rasner).