Big trade!

I knew JimBow would come through and get us that key pitcher!

Today the Nats acquired 2005 9th round draft pick Matt Avery from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for 2005 33rd round draft pick Ryan Buchter.

According to Chico, Avery is a Fairfax native who went to the University of Zima (now the University formerly known as the University of Zima, as Zima is no longer going to be produced). He is a servicable relief pitcher, with a 3.26 ERA and 7.91 K/9 over the last 3 years (in which he has been almost exclusively a reliever, with only 2 starts). Too bad he can't throw strikes, with a career 3.73 BB/9 (which rose to 3.89 as a reliever).

Buchter had a decent 2008 (I don't really feel like crunching his numbers), but gave up a high proportion of unearned runs (4 of his 11 runs allowed were unearned). His 2006 and 07 seasons were pretty bad.

So basically, a 25 year old AA pitcher (LeVale Speigner, anyone?) for a 22 year old A/A- pitcher (Clint Everts, anyone?). Don't really care, neither will likely make any difference in the future.


And the Chief says he isn't opposed to coming back next year.

And I'm rooting for the Skins harder that I ever have (and likely every will) for one reason. That's the closest to poltics you'll ever hear out of me ever again.

Off-Day Roundup

Today was an Off-Day, so not a whole lot to talk about. Here's the roundup:

Nats roster moves: Hill to the 15-day DL, Odalis off the 15-day DL, Nicky J to the 60-day DL (clears up a 40-man spot...Balester anyone?)

Caps make qualifying offers to Brooks Laich, Mike Green, Shaone Morrisonn, Eric Fehr and Boyd Gordon. Also mentioned: the 08-09 season salary cap will be $56.7 mil. The Caps have $37.6 mil tied up in contracts amongst 18 players already, so that leaves them about $19 mil of room to sign the 5 mentioned above, plus Huet and Fedorov if they so choose. Here are what I think the boys in red, white and blue will end up making (rough figures, mostly guesses and based on the comments from Japers' Rink's "Rink Wraps"):

Fedorov: range of $2 mil/1 year to $3 mil/1 year. We'll settle in the middle for $2.5 mil.
Fehr: range of $900k/1 year to $1.95 mil/2 years ($975k average). I'd bet on $925k.
Gordon: I'll just make one spot guess: $925k/1 year.
Green: range of $20 mil/5 years ($4 mil average) to $33 mil/6 years ($5.5 mil average). Because he's most likely to get a big offer, I'll go with the max at $5.5 mil. He could get offered $6 mil/year or more in FA, but I doubt the Caps match that, mainly because it would base more than 1/4 of their yearly salary in just 2 guys. Plus they would get draft pick compensation.
Huet: range of $10.5 mil/2 years ($5.25 mil average) to $24 mil/4 years ($6 mil average). I'll say he'll make $5.75 mil next year.
Laich: range of $1.75 mil/1 year to $5.5 mil/3 years ($1.83 mil average). $1.75 mil sounds like a nice round number for our figures.
Morrisonn: range of $3 mil/2 years ($1.5 mil average) to $5.25 mil/3 years ($1.75 mil average). We'll call it $1.6 mil next year.

That would put them at $18.65 mil among the 6 players. All I can say: It's gonna be close! But if they need extra room, they can always dump Pothier. Per the Caps.com article:

Pothier missed the second half of last season with a concussion, and his career is believed to be in jeopardy. There are two years remaining on his contract at $2.5 million per season, but the Caps would gain some salary cap relief if Pothier were physically unable to play during that period.

That's all for tonight. Check back in tomorrow, maybe something exciting will happen overnight.

UPDATE (1 minute after original post):
My boy Deron Washington was taken 59th overall in the NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons. I don't care about the NBA at all, but it's good to see him get a shot.

Here's where some other locals went:
Roy Hibbert (Georgetown)>>Toronto Raptors
Sean Singletary (University of Zima-drinking Brats that are Future Yuppies with Popped Collars...will be referred to in the future as "The University of Suck")>>Sacramento Kings
Patrick Ewing, Jr. (Georgetown)>>Sacramento Kings
James Gist (Maryland)>>San Antonio Spurs

Who is the manliest player on the Nationals?

I spent much of today contemplating my personal manliness after shaving off my beloved red beard. I then started thinking about how a beard isn't necessary to be manly. You can have huge muscles, a deep voice, man-machines (such as tractors, vintage cars, pickup trucks, etc) and other things of the variety. This led me to look at the Nats, and see who of the team is at least mildly manly. On the surface, you're looking at the big guys (Rauch, Pena, Kearns to some degree, Hanrahan, Johnson etc.) and the guys with beards (Redding). A few other guys could possibly qualify are Aaron Boone, Odalis Perez and John Lannan (for no particular reason, really). Ryan Zimmerman does not qualify for any manliness award, as he attended UVA (the "University of Suck"), likely drank Zima and wore pastel-colored polos. No matter what he does on the field, he is too far in the negative to ever recover from UVA-level negative Man Points.

Some quick rules about my accounting: I give batters +1.5 Man Points for a walk and -1 Man Point for a strikeout. Pitchers receive +1 Man Point for a strikeout and -2/3 Man Points for each walk. Batters receive +2 Man Points for every home run, while Pitchers lose 3 Man Points for every home run allowed. Everyone recieves 1 Man Point for each inch above 6'2" they are and 1 Man Point for each 10 pounds above 220 they are.

For your amusement, here are the 5 Nationals I think are the most manly:

5. Joel Hanrahan (6'4" 250 lbs. Des Moines, Iowa)
While doing my preliminary list, I remembered Hanrahan for 3 manly things: He's huge, he's from Iowa and he throws 95-98 mph (which leads to a very high amount of strikeouts, which are manly). Capitol Punishment awarded him his "favorite book," Where the Wild Things Are, for Christmas. Youngsters who read Where the Wild Things Are are scientifically proven to grow facial hair and win bar fights at a much younger age than kids who don't.

The Stats
24 strikeouts (24 Man Points)
13 walks (-9 Man Points)
1 home run allowed (-3 Man Points)
6'4" (2 Man Points)
250 lbs (3 Man Points)
From Iowa (1 Man Point)
Total: 18 Man Points


4. Nick Johnson (6'3" 235 lbs. Sacramento, CA)
Johnson, as we know, is Larry Bowa's nephew. He takes walks, can rake, fields well, recovered from a broken leg, shaved lightning bolts into his hair...what a man! But then when you look at his Wikipedia page and his injury history, it takes away from his man points. I mean seriously, Nick: if you want to win this competition, you simply can't tell me that you would be a software engineer (coined engi-nerds at Virginia Tech). Being an Engineer is not manly, minus this kind.

The Stats
26 walks (39 Man Points)
21 strikeouts (-21 Man Points)
5 home runs (10 Man Points)
6'3" (1 Man Point)
235 lbs (1.5 Man Points)
Long injury history (-5 Man Points)
Larry Bowa's nephew (5 Man Points)
Oh wait...it's this Larry Bowa (previously awarded 5 Man Points revoked)
From Northern California (-5 Man Points)
Buzzed a lightning bolt into hair (10 Man Points)
Had a mullet/rat tail before buzzing a lightning bolt into hair (-10 Man Points)

Total: 20.5 Man Points

3. Wily Mo Pena (6'3" 270 lbs. Laguna Salada, DR)
"The Weapon" has a great nickname and more power than your local electric company. Unfortunately, he strikes out more than I did in Little League (even in the year where I had 4 hits the entire season) and moves more like a 6'3" 270 defensive tackle than a 6'3" 270 linebacker.

The Stats
4 walks (6 Man Points)
17 strikeouts (-17 Man Points)
0 home runs (0 Man Points...wait what? Wily Mo has 0 home runs?)
6'3" (1 Man Point)
270 lbs (5 Man Points)
From the Dominican Republic!!! (10 Man Points)
Nicknames: The Weapon, Weapon of Mass Production (10 Man Points each)
Total: 25 Man Points

2. Austin Kearns (6'3" 240 lbs. Lexington, KY)
Kearns is the league's premier good ol' country boy. He wears John Deere apparel and I presume drives heavy machinery around everywhere. That being said, whoever his coaches were in Kentucky sure taught him how to field.

The Stats
16 walks (24 Man Points)
19 strikeouts (-19 Man Points)
3 home runs (6 Man Points)
6'3" (1 Man Point)
240 lbs (2 Man Points)
From KENTUCKY!! (10 Man Points)
Wears a John Deere hat (5 Man Points)
Names of two sons: Aubrey (Maybe Kearns' wife loves Aubrey Hepburn so much that she convinced him to name their first child, regardless of gender, Aubrey) and Brady (loses man points because Brady is in Tom Brady's name!) (-5 Man Points)
Nickname: Country (5 Man Points)
Total: 29 Man Points

And the winner is...
1. Jon Rauch (6'11" 290 lbs. Louisville, KY)
The tallest player in the world (of baseball's history that is) has more manliness than some third world countries. In addition to his huge, superhero/professional wrestler build, he can somehow muster the strength to lift Wil Nieves about eleven hundred feet off the ground. One last note: Rauch is almost twice as tall as the shortest player of all time, Eddie Gaedel, who stood at 3'7".

The Stats
11 strikeouts (11 Man Points)
3 walks (-2 Man Points)
2 home runs allowed (-6 Man Points)
6'11" (9 Man Points)
290 lbs (7 Man Points)
From KENTUCKY!! (10 Man Points)
Won an Olympic Gold Medal (2000 Olympic Games) (10 Man Points)
Played at Morehead State (5 Man Points)
Has a ton of tatoos (10 Man Points)
Daughter's name: Aubree (-2.5 Man Points-got the baby's gender right, but spelled it wrong)
Awesome MLB.com picture (5 Man Points)
Total: 56.5 Man Points


What are your thoughts? Leave them in comments!