It’s a good way to find interested parties and asses his value.

This article from Brian Oliver at NFA was the best I read on the hows and whys.
http://natsfarm.com/2009/08/10/cristian-guzman-claimed/#comments

While you’d think that mlb.com would be a pretty consistent source, their headline is confusing as hell:

Guzman Clears Waivers, Staying With Nats

Red Sox may have placed claim on veteran shortstop

Well… which is it? Did he clear waivers or did the Red Sox really claim him? If he cleared waivers, he’s eligible to be traded anywhere. If the Red Sox placed a claim and the Nats withdrew him from the waiver pool, he didn’t “clear” waivers and is not eligible to be traded.

Assuming that he actually “cleared” waivers….

The Nats could certainly still trade him. In fact, the option of trading him is the only real reason to have a player go through waivers this time of year. It wouldn’t be the first time a team said they weren’t going to trade a player (or fire a coach/manager) only to do so a week or two later, would it?

Maybe it’s just that my feelings are that the Nats would be better off trading him. Either way, the fact that he may have (still can’t decide whether the headline or the subtext is right) cleared waivers means that they’ll either keep him or at least get something (other than simple salary relief, a la Toronto and Alex Rios) should they decide to move him elsewhere.

Either way, it’s been an odd situation that has (in a complete reversal from the attempts to sign a certain draftee) played out through the media.

It’s a fact of August, almost all players get put on the waiver wire.

I cannot really look to the future. Right now we are on an 8 game winning streak and Guzzzzzy is hittin’. A couple weeks ago, trade him. Now.. keep him.

Go Nats!!!!!!!

Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!! Guzzy’s gotta go !!!

and the Nats will once again sit on their hands and let themselves be fooled that the player is a better value to them than someone else.

it’s this franchise’s greatest liability, and i’m beginning to think it stemmed from ownership, not the general manager’s office.

though, if the rumors that Bowden still has Mark Lerner’s ear all the way from California are true, then withdraw my previous statement.

Since that’s probably how most of you are reading it. We’ll just have to agree to disagree.

My opinion, in a nutshell:

- The eight game winning streak has been nice, but the Nats are not close to fielding a consistent, long-term winner. There are too many holes on this club right now, and the addition of one or two nice free agent signings heading towards next season aren’t going to change that enough to make a difference.

- Guzman is, at this point, an average to slightly above average player who is on a hot streak right now. His production at this point in time is superior to what we’ve seen in the past, and it’s superior to what we can expect to see (even in the not so distant) in the future. He’s shiny right now…. at his peak value to teams that are more competitive than the Nats are. That means that someone is going to be willing to give up something of (presumably long-term) value for him.

- My belief is that when some of the Nats’ core of prospects have matured enough to possibly be ready to contribute to a winner (along with some of the current members of the team), Guzman is going to be past his prime both offensively and defensively. It’s my belief that statistics show that Guzman is already past his prime in terms of defense because of some of the inadequacies he’s shown with the glove this season.

- I would trade the current eight game winning streak for a team that would be more likely to be competitive two years from now in a heartbeat. This would not always be the case, but when you’re 40-72, I simply don’t see how an eight game win streak makes much of a difference. I understand the fan who would like to see some wins, and see them now. However, there’s not really any significant difference in the wider spectrum of things between a 60 win team (still probably a bit on the hopeful side…. that would require going .400 the rest of the way, which is better than the Nats’ current win %) and a 55 win team. Neither is making the playoffs, and neither is even really hoping to finish anywhere outside of last place in their division.

Are five wins this season more important than an opportunity to add five wins in a year where the Nats have had enough of their prospects mature enough to be about a .500 team?

A fanpost last night mentioned the Pirates’ model. What many of you fail to notice is that the Nationals are indeed following the old Pirates model (most notably, the model used by their previous GM, Dave Littlefield). There’s a reason that the Pirates are on their way to a record eighteenth straight losing season. You don’t put lipstick on a pig and turn it into a beauty queen!

The Pirates tried that model for years. They would consistently have two or three above average players (for the Nats view, see: Dunn, Zimmerman, etc.) and try to sprinkle in a couple of modest free agent signings per season to see if maybe the addition of one or two average players that they hoped would have an outlier type of season could help take them over that .500 mark. Their new regime (led by new GM Neal Huntington) was sick of seeing the lipstick on a pig approach, and decided it was time to blow it up. It may take a couple of years, but at least they’re trying something different from their norm (which, quite obviously, wasn’t working). Whether or not it works, we’ll have to see.

So yeah…. I understand the plight of the fans who were upset with the fact that Guzman was placed on waivers (though, again, more than half the players in MLB will be placed on [and clear] waivers before the end of this month). I understand the plight of the fans who were upset when the Nationals traded Cristian Guzman. I just don’t agree with them.

I’m obviously not convincing many of you, and you certainly aren’t convincing me. We’re just going to have to agree to disagree.