Quick links

I've got too many links to post on Twitter, so here goes:

Riggleman thinks a decision on the Nats' managing job is coming soon. [Ladson's Blog]

MASN's Phil Wood thinks the Nats should (and could) make a run at Rich Harden. [MASN]

The Hardball Times takes a look at Ryan Zimmerman and Evan Longoria in "Clone Wars" [THT]

FanGraphs gives a short 2009 minor league review of the Nats: Zimmermann, Nieto, Perez, Norris and Smiley. [FanGraphs]

Ronnie Belliard, Felipe Lopez, Joe Beimel and Nick Johnson are all type B free agents. Those sandwich picks would have been nice... [The Biz of Baseball]

Let's make a deal: Villone and Beimel

It would seem a little redundant to me to go through Josh Willingham and Nick Johnson/Austin Kearns in consecutive days so I'll mix it up a little bit with two lefty relievers I think have a high chance of being traded: Ron Villone and Joe Beimel. While regression by Villone can be expected (and hopefully progression with Beimel), there is still no doubt in my mind that a contender could use either.

LHP Ron Villone-0.00 ERA, 14 and 2/3 IP, 8 H, 6 BB/5 K, 3.69 FIP, 0.2 WAR

LHP Joe Beimel-4.87 ERA, 20 and 1/3 IP, 26 H, 8 BB/11 K, 4.67 FIP, 0.0 WAR

Who might be interested (in order of potential interest)?

Angels-The worst contender in terms of OPS by opposing lefty batters, a highly surprising stat considering their depth of lefties (Joe Saunders in the rotation and Brian Fuentes and Darren Oliver in the pen). Even so, guys like Jason Bulger and Rafael Rodriguez are wasting space and the Angels could use bullpen help more than anyone in baseball. If any team is going to give Joe Beimel a shot (and the Nats something for him), it's gonna be the Angels. Trade possibility: I would love to pair Beimel with someone like Marvin Lowrance or Leonard Davis and snag 2B Sean Rodriguez, but he's been tearing up AAA this year so I don't know if the Angels would trade him (scouting). Some other possibilities include LHP Robert Fish, RHP Manuarys Correa or 2B Ryan Mount.

Cubs-Nobody on their current roster (Cotts or Waddell) can get lefties out. While Beimel has a reputation as an equally tough pitcher on lefties and righties, Villone usually puts up pretty good platoon stats. Trade possibility: Nobody of true consequence really, all we can expect is a C prospect in A-ball or lower (see Martis, Shairon). Think we could swing control specialist RHP Hung-Wen Chen from them?

Yankees-I can see the Yankees having huge interest in Beimel because he keeps the ball in the yard (0.7 HR/9 career, 3 total HR allowed from 07-present, 2 of them this year). Their only lefty out of the pen is Phil Coke, who has given up 5 gopherballs this year, 4 to lefties (only one of Beimel's was against a lefty), so they could stand to add another. OF Eduardo Sosa, RHP Kanekoa Texeira and even a reacquisition of RHP Jon Abaladejo (for Villone rather than Beimel) could be possibilities.

Because pretty much every team in baseball could use help out of the pen, I'm going to cap it at these three. I do expect both Beimel and Villone to be dealt before the deadline, and Villone probably sooner rather than later.

What do you guys think-am I asking for too much or too little or just enough? Right positions? Right ages? Comment away, and I'll come up with my next on the list soon! Follow the "Let's make a deal" series here.

Stances on a few things

First of all, I'm sure most (if not all) of you have seen and heard about Chico-gate by now. My stance: I agree with Mike from Nationals Fanboy Looser-Chico made a mistake, apologized for it and we need to get over it. He didn't choose this beat (in Soviet Russia, beat chooses you), but still is a good writer (with the potential to be a great one) and does a fine job, considering covering baseball is a 24/7/365 event.

Lastings Milledge has been named the leadoff hitter. My stance: AGAINST! FJB had a nice post up today concerning optimizing the batting order, and while I do disagree a bit with some of it, I wholeheartedly agree with batting the OBP monsters at the top. Putting Milledge and Guzman, two of our three most undisciplined starters (the other being free-swingin Flores), 1-2 is just plain stupid.

Cutting Shawn Hill: A necessary evil. It seems that with guys like Hill, the only way to quit the whole "he's so good, but he's always hurt" mantra is to cut bait completely. I still believe Hill can be a great #3 starter, but I think it was time for him to go.

Signing Joe Beimel and Josh Bard: Both good moves. Beimel provides steadiness in the pen-he's more or less a known quantity. Not flashy, not as good as his 2008 line, but good enough to be worth $2 mil. Bard is solid and you can't argue with the price ($600k), especially when you consider the fact that he might end up being the starting catcher. From the looks of things, he's either awesome or terrible every year. Hopefully this is one of those awesome years.