Mike Rizzo's 1st Trade

So, they’ll probably keep him as Dunn’s buddy and then give him his $1m parting gift.

lets hope that Kearns picks up by july 31st, and maybe some teams might try andmake a waiver claim trade if they are desperate

It’s tough to see a good solution for Kearns. His hitting is getting worse and he may never be even a .220 hitter again, let alone .260. At this point, I’m wondering if his career is over. I guess the Nats will keep him around this year but release him toward the end of the season or over the winter. At that point, I can’t see any other team signing him, not unless he shows some signs of life over the 2nd half of this season. Maybe he can catch on somewhere as a defensive backup, but with a batting average below .200, it’s hard to see him getting anything other than a veteran minimum contract or a non-guaranteed minor-league deal. Maybe he needs to take a year off or something. It’s perplexing how he has fallen off so much.

I think this one is relatively easy. Its not like the Nats have given the guy a chance and plenty of ABs (I think most of us would have given him half of the chances he’s had). As everyone has pretty much said, he’ll be cut either at the end of the season or possibly even before if there is a replacement. Id be very surprised if he is moved with that contract – unless the Nats pretty much eat all of it or add another decent player into the deal.

My worse case scenario is that he catches fire in September, bats 400 and we decide to hold onto him for next year.

I think was a case of trading 2 guys who might come good (with a big emphasis on ‘might’) for something that can help us now. So far, it looks like a really decent trade. Hoping Morgan keeps coming and Burnett works out in the pen.

this wasn’t rizzos first trade

Sort of relevant, but MASN has posted an article arguing that Rizzo be named GM, officially. I totally agree.

http://masnsports.com/2009/07/rizzo-needs-gm-title.html

But if you go look closely at his fangraphs data. He is making contact roughly as often, hitting line drives about as often, and hitting flyballs slightly more often than as a red. However, his BABIP the last two seasons has been .251 and .257. whereas a red and his first year as a Nat he was .297, .299, .286, .312, .301. His flyball for a HR/FB 23%, 16%, 21%, 15%, 9%, 8%, 7%. The last three are the full seasons as a NAT. So he is getting the ball up more often and hitting line drives as often, but seeing far less return. in other words, he is getting less results per solid contact than he did in Cincy. This has to be park related and/or he has lost a great deal of strength the last two seasons for whatever reason.

But, he is the best defensive RF we have, and he still has a good eye, so I say keep him until his contact runs out. Just make him a #4 or #5 OF. He is not useless just way overpaid.