Holder signs, Patterson up, Acta out?

The overwhelming negativity of the rest of this post has nothing to do with the Nats signing their 3rd round pick, Georgia RHSP Trevor Holder (for $200k, I might add...a 60% discount over what similar picks got last year). It starts with the sad story of Josh Willingham losing his younger brother to a car accident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Willingham family. Willingham is to be replaced by Corey Patterson while Josh on the bereavement list. Patterson is a terrible, awful, no-good baseball player and I am very upset the club is wasting a 40-man spot on him (cleared by moving Terrell Young to the 60-day DL, something they are apparently reluctant to do with Da Meat Hook). Did I mention Patterson is the worst baseball player ever?

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Manny's out as the manager and will be replaced by Jim Riggleman as soon as Monday. It's truthiness has yet to be confirmed, but it wouldn't be a huge surprise. Acta does not stick up for his players, rarely goes out to argue (or even ask for an explanation by the umpire) and is a poor in-game manager. His encouragement is valuable, but the Nats need a good manager rather than Matt Foley. Manny's a great guy and someone I would probably trust my nonexistant kids with (of course, a lot easier to say since I don't have any), but he's just not a Major League manager at this point, even after two and a half seasons.

Draft thoughts, Hershey thoughts

I'll start with my draft first impressions:

1st round 1st overall-Stephen Strasburg, RHSP, San Diego St. (Jr.)

Obvious choice, and I'm glad they didn't do anything stupid to screw it up. A

1st round, 10th overall-Drew Storen, RHRP, Georgia (So.)

I like this pick more than most. As much as I would have loved to take a Matzek or Purke here, this pick had to be signable, whether the team admits it or not. And that is the right decision here-I would have preferred Grant Green or Alex White, but the Nats made a decision here that was more smart than safe, going with a college pitcher who is supposedly close to the majors. All I needed to see, though is this: 42 and 2/3 innings, 66 K and 8 BB.

From an interview at Baseball Analysts: (What statistics do you look at to measure success?) Drew: Strikeout-to-walk ratio...not necessarily because of K’s, but I try to minimize walks. If you’re walking guys, you’re giving up free baserunners. I’d rather have them earn it. But I don’t really look at stats. I usually go off of feel. That's what tells me how I'm pitching." Sign me up. B

2nd round, 50th overall-Jeffrey Kobernus, 2B, Cal-Berkeley (Jr.)

Like the Storen pick, I like it more than most. Kobernus isn't a knock-your-socks-off type of player, but instead the type of guy I love to have on my team. "Well-rounded" and "projectable" are two things I definitely want to hear out of my 2nd round pick, especially at 2B. I think a big problem with some peoples' opinions on baseball is that they leave well-roundedness out of the equation. Cal baseball spectators seem to adore him for being a model of consistency, flexibility, adaptability and maturity (lots of ity's) and that's something the Nats really lack throughout the system, from top to bottom. B

I'd also like to point out that Storen and Kobernus are both supposedly high-character guys, ones who will not cause clubhouse problems. Considering the state of the Nats right now, I think they could use a few more of these guys. Obviously not a sticking point, but it never hurts.

3rd round, 81st overall-Trevor Holder, RHSP Georgia (Sr.)

This is where they lost me. While not everyone would agree with me that Storen and Kobernus were both solid picks, I doubt I'll find many people who find Holder at 81st overall a good pick outside of his immediate family. It's not Holder that's the problem-he's a solid pitcher who will run through the organization quick, but spending a 3rd round pick on a guy with little upside at a position we're deep in is just silly. Like it or not, you always draft for need in the back of your mind, and we did not need a RHSP with control problems and only 1 pitch projected to be above average. A high school pitcher would have made more sense here, at least to get someone with some potential. I don't know why Holder is screaming Adrian Alaniz to me (because they don't have really similar stuff), but I do think Holder would have been around in the 4th or 5th round. Bad pick by the Nats, they get an F for Holder. Trevor, if you're reading this, please prove me wrong!

Now that we have all of that figured out, I'll talk daaaaaabears. I was up in Hershey for the Bears-Moose game tonight...never knew a referee could swallow a whistle for 45 minutes (only making a bad coincedental minor call) and then call 11 penalties in the last 15 (most of which were because he let the game get out of hand). The Bears outplayed the Moose everywhere tonight but the scoreboard and in goal-Cory Schneider was very good in between whines to the referee. Hershey has two more shots at the Calder Cup...just wish they could have gotten it at home for the first time since the '60s.

And one side-note: John Carlson is the real deal. I'm going to fearlessly say that he will play more games for the Caps next year than Alzner, and do better. That may be because I'm comparing Carlson to Alzner while Karl plays through a concussion, but I really do believe Carlson is a special player now and is ready for the NHL.