I was thinking about writing something like this about an hour ago but then I had to take care of a couple things and I didn’t get around to posting it. You are absolutely right. The Nats need to cut their losses and release Cabrera.

I hadn’t thought of the steroids possibility but I don’t think that’s the problem. He doesn’t appear to have the mentality to be a big-league pitcher. He has no confidence at all in his stuff. He throws change-ups and sliders way too much. He has very little control over his breaking pitches. That’s why he throws so many wild pitches. The catchers have no chance to block all of those 55-foot curveballs.

Even worse, he doesn’t appear to have the slightest idea about how to approach a line-up and how to pitch in particular situations. Both Rob Dibble and Bob Carpenter have mentioned this over and over. Cabrera doesn’t appear to know who’s on base, who is on deck, whether the base runners have speed and so on. They accurately call Cabrera a thrower, not a pitcher. It’s pretty sad, considering that he has 6 years of major league experience. You might expect the “deer in the headlights” look from a green rookie but from a 6-year veteran? Wow. That says it all.

There’s not much hope for turning him around. It’s not like this is a short-term slump. He needs to learn how to pitch as though he were a Little Leaguer. He might be able to do that in the minors or in some independent baseball league. He’s certainly not going to learn at the major league level and the Nats shouldn’t have to wait around for him to figure it out. He’s not going to do it.

I remember when the Nats released John Patterson last year. Bowden said that it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the team, to put a pitcher out there every 5 days who would have an ERA around 7.00 or 8.00. Well, we have that exact situation here. His ERA isn’t 7.00 yet but you do have to count all of those unearned runs. He is partly responsible for those errors because he lulls his teammates to sleep. It’s hard to keep your edge in the field if the pitcher is walking every other batter and/or throwing wild pitches, IN EVERY SINGLE GAME. You know that they are thinking, “Here we go again.” Then they sit out there in the field just watching the balls and wild pitches and there’s not a thing any of them can do about it. That’s why Cabrera attracts so many errors when he pitches. It’s not a coincidence.

As for his replacement, Balester doesn’t seem to be ready. What about Jason Bergman? He had a 0.00 ERA this spring as a reliever. He’s been a starter in the past. I know he gets very inconsistent, going on hot streaks and then very cold streaks, but I don’t think he is as clueless as Cabrera is. But no matter who the replacement is, the bottom line is that Cabrera does need to be taken out of the starting rotation. It’s completely unfair to the rest of the team at this point. The offense is great and Ryan Zimmerman could be having a historic season. It’s a shame to waste all of that every 5th day because we have a starting pitcher who doesn’t have the slightest clue about how to be a true major league pitcher.

For all I’ve heard that Olsen has a tendency to get rattled, it seems that DC has that problem a bit worse. We have seen him bear down and stay close in some games, in spite of errors, hits, and walks. However, last night is a far more disturbing example: he struggles, gets burned by a misplay behind him, and then goes to pieces. Compare this to Double-N’s last start against the Dodgers, where he got absolutely shelled in the first, but came right back and threw five scoreless to keep the team in it. DC seems to have lost whatever sort of self-confidence or mental edge you need to succeed as a major-league pitcher.

Is my hope. I have tix for that night and was hoping for the debut of Stammen or anybody that can through a few strikes.

I do not think he and Randy St clair have had enough time quite yet. It is not like we have anyone better. Go look at Battlestars minor league numbers. He is sucking badly. The best option at AAA is Mike O’conner, who has been lights out, but he is nothing more than a #4 the majors at best. I like him and would cheer louder than most if he started. But he is not young at all.

So if we are convinced O’Conner is the answer for a few years then lets go get him and cut Cabrera, otherwise lets give the experiment more than a half dozen starts to work.

I agree on Ballester but not O’Connor. Granted it’s a small sample, but two guys look like they may be ready for at least a cup of coffee (and to give me something to look forward) and one is not O’Connor:

JD Martin, 3-1, 2.88, 25.0 innings
Stammen, 4-1, 1.85, 34.0 innings
O’Connor, 1-2, 3.69, 14.2 innings

take a look at the stats:
http://syracuse.chiefs.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&cid=552&stn=true&sid=t552

The clay on Cabrera has been fired, there is no hope.

It was something I wrtoe during the game yesterday that I thought it must seriously becoming to the end of the line. I think the stats, the overall vibe of the performances speak for themselves. The team must find it hard to get motivated when he pitches.

There is only so much lightning one can find in a bottle and Bowden had a real obsession with turing players around… it sometimes works – but more often than not it doesn’t. There is a reason consistent big league pitchers earn so much cash.

Agree that its time to bring up another kid or try something else (maybe Kip? – I wouldnt mind Oconner either). Anyone really who can hold over till Strasburg.

great analysis, thanks. i’m trying to pick back up my interest in the nats after checking out for more than a year (i’ve been in chicago). with the huge amount of roster turnover, articles like this one are a huge help.