Nationals Daily Evolutions 10/4/10
by David Huzzard on Oct 4, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
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PrintThe Nationals once again played an extra-inning game to finish the season, and once again came away with a win. --Ben Goessling from masnsports.com
The Nationals had some individual players do well this season, but as a whole the team wasn't that great. I have a feeling Zimmerman, Dunn, and Willingham's season would have helped the team more if people were on base in front of them. --Mark Zuckerman at natsinsider.com
Adam Dunn hasn't played in the playoffs in his career and he is now second on the list of longest games played without doing so. --Adam Kilgore from washingtonpost.com
Sunday might have been Dunn's last game as a National, but Riggleman doesn't think so. --Bill Ladson from nationals.com
The Nationals have interest in Brandon Webb. --William Yoder at thenatsblog.com
And Yu Darvish. --Adam Kilgore at washingtonpost.com
More on the Nationals and baseball after the jump.
Danny Espinosa is ready for the majors. --Kevin Goldstein from baseballprospectus.com
An update on the Nationals' hitters at instructs not including Bryce Harper. The reports on Hood and Perez sound quite positive and intriguing. --Byron Kerr from masnsports.com
What else happenned over the weekend in Viera? Bryce Harper hit a homer and didn't look terrible in right. Sue Dinem at nationalsprospects.com
Livan Hernandez out performed his projections for the 2010 season. --Christinia Karhl from baseballprospectus.com
Morse is set to workout with Pudge and his trainer this off-season, and looks to play everyday in 2011. --Byron Kerr at masnsports.com
General Baseball
Another mainstream media person comes down on the side of Team Felix. This is starting to feel less like a debate and more like a forgone conclussion. --Tom Verducci at si.com
The debate between Heyward and Posey seems like much more of a debate. It pretty much comes down to what is valued more. High OBP from an offensive position or excellent offensive output from a defensive position. The thing that makes this a real debate is the fact that neither is undeserving. A look at the NL ROY and the other awards to be handed out this off-season. --Jayson Stark from espn.com
Jose Bautista has had quite a season, and far too many people great it with skepticism instead of admiration. --Jon Paul Morosi from foxsports.com
For the past few seasons the NL West has been the most wide open division in baseball, and this year was no different. --Joe Posnanski from si.com
There are no games tonight or tomorrow, and nothing will happen with the Nationals until November at the earliest. Are you ready for the playoffs? This weekend my friend from Atlanta was up visiting family and he invited me along to fill out a seat they were forced to pay for. While there we ran into one of his family members that happenned to be a Reds fan. We informed him to watch out for Ruiz which he laughed about. He didn't seem to understand that the Phillies line-up has no holes, and just when a guy like Ibanez looks like one that is when the pitcher relaxes and lays one in there. The Phillies are at full strength right now and the only team that can match their pitching is the Giants. It is just weird to talk to someone that doesn't know what we do about the Phillies. It almost makes us want them to win just to show these people what we already know.
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Harper to start at Potomac?
(So says some scuttlebutt). I could get behind that rumor.
Rob
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." -- Rogers Hornsby
That was in Sue Dimem's Viera article
Rather interesting stuff in general. Glad to get some data on the ground about instructs. It’s been hard to get for sure. Harper in Potomac would be a major, major attraction. If they’re going to promote Ramirez, Hood, and Perez as well, I wonder where the at bats are going to come from all 4. All those guys need at bats and time in the field as well. There’s a DH at that level, though so there should be enough at bats to go round but all need defensive time.
Glad to see that Sanchez’s defense was good. He had a strong finish at Hagerstown and you hope that he is a genuine prospect who could get time in Potomac. Once Lombardozzi left, I don’t think that there was much in the way of prospects at Potomac.
The wait for 10/7 begins. This man is focused. Are you?
After the Nats #signDunn...
#signDarvish!!
Vivian Jaffe: "Have you ever transcended space and time?"
Albert Markovski: "Yes. No. Uh, time, not space... No, I don't know what you're talking about."
by Patrick Reddington on Oct 4, 2010 11:32 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Rumors
So far the rumor mill has the Nats linked to Webb, Darvish, Geinke, and Lee. I think the more targets they have the better chance they wind up with one of them. I don’t think webb should be signed to be the Ace they want as it is a question if he will even pitch.
by David Huzzard on Oct 4, 2010 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions
Webb might be the easiest "get" though.
And he could end up being a monster at the top of the rotation. If not, well then the Nats will lose a lot of games next year — which they probably will do anyway.
Rob
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." -- Rogers Hornsby
I guess
I’d have low expectations for him just like I had for Chien-Ming Wang. All depends on the price for Webb. Offseason is about sign Dunn and get anybody who is a sure 3 starter or better for me.
Here’s the list of free agent innings eaters from Mlbtraderumors.com today.
Jake Westbrook, Hiroki Kuroda, and Ted Lilly are on that list. Any of those have interest for you guys? Don’t know what the price is, but innings are certainly valuable for us and we don’t have but so many upper level prospects to get in a trade.
I think that many of us would prefer an investment in Dunn rather than an investment in the high end free agents.
The wait for 10/7 begins. This man is focused. Are you?
No "innings eaters"!
“Innings eaters”, in my mind, are guys that perform adequately, i.e. number 3 type stuff. The Nats have plenty of mid-rotation guys. They need a beast, or they should simply pass.
Wang was NEVER a top-of-the-rotation guy.
Rob
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." -- Rogers Hornsby
John Garland would have made a big difference for us.
Carl Pavano certainly made a big difference for the Twins. There is a secret Ted Lilly Lobby around here that appears to have dangerous overlap with the Jason Marquis Lobby.
But yeah, I pretty much agree with you.
The wait for 10/7 begins. This man is focused. Are you?
The Ted Lilly Lobby isn't just for Cubscentric baseball fans...
Ted was also an Expo back in the day! Let’s bring a whole new meaning to “Let Teddy Win.”
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"--The Brain
If you mean "never an ace/#1 guy" that I agree with
But Wang was a very, very good #2 guy on the Yankees; from 2005-2008 he did go 54-20, and it wasn’t all because the Yankees scored a lot of runs.
Uh oh. The "he won lots of games" argument
Rob
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." -- Rogers Hornsby
His metrics weren't exactly chopped liver, Mr. RobBob
3.5-5.5 WAR, for those who lean that way.
Any team would be lucky to have Ted Lilly...
yes, he’s fly ball pitcher but he’s a lefty and not afraid to pitch inside. He does give up solo home runs, so a team needs to give him run support for him to be completely effective. He would be an asset to a team with a young pitching staff since he doesn’t mind sharing his insights with the kids. I wouldn’t be surprised if after he retires from playing, he becomes a pitching coach. He’s not much of a hitter though, I blame the American League.
However, I hear he’s looking for a three year deal and he won’t be cheap. He is, as Ron Santo always called him, “a bulldog.” I secretly wish the Nationals would sign him (since he won’t be returning to the Cubs who shouldn’t have traded him in the first place.) just so he’ll be on a team I follow.
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"--The Brain
I really like Grienke in the NL
He should be our top target.
by The Herndon Kid on Oct 4, 2010 12:03 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Yeah it would be.
Chapman is another reason to root for the Reds to go deep in the playoffs. Reds really have the horses for remaining in the top of that division for several years. Who knows what could happen to the Cardinals if they have to invest a lot of their payroll in Pujols? Pujols has to decide how much he wants to maximize his big payday and how much he wants to leave the Cardinals with enough flexibility to have a deep enough lineup to contend.
The wait for 10/7 begins. This man is focused. Are you?
The comments about Maya I think are a bit unfounded, considering his long layoff, we really have no idea what kind of pitcher he will be until he has had a full spring training and enters into a season in his normal rhythm.
Aim for the head baby Jesus
This.
I think that he will be in the Nats rotation as the 5th starter with eventual fourth starter performance. Make him the guy that you skip the first time through to see if he can handle AAA. If the stuff is adequate bring him up. Of course, all of this is fanciful speculation one day after the season.
The wait for 10/7 begins. This man is focused. Are you?
Hey, that's a badge of pride around these parts.
"And everybody lived happily ever after. Except the Phillies and the Mets. The End." --Sasskuash
Friend of Dukes and Desmond #3
Hot Stove
doesn’t get hot ’till after the playoffs.
Perhaps, “Pre-Heated Stove” would be more like it.
Rob
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." -- Rogers Hornsby
by RobBobS on Oct 4, 2010 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
preheating the oven is all part of the process.... then you
Put ‘im in da’ pot baby put ‘im in da’ pan
Honey cook ‘im ’til he nice an’ brown.
Make a batch o’ buttermilk, Hoe cakes Mama
An’ ya’ chew them thangs an’ ya’ chomp ’em on down
Good gravy!
Just read some of the Darvish articles linked in the Kilgore post—hadn’t really looked at him before: wow! Imagining a rotation with him, Stras, and NN at the top is enough to make a fan hyperventilate! Too bad it’d apparently cost the Lerners something like $100M…
"And everybody lived happily ever after. Except the Phillies and the Mets. The End." --Sasskuash
Friend of Dukes and Desmond #3
Just the cost of getting the right to negotiate with him is prohibitive...
Vivian Jaffe: "Have you ever transcended space and time?"
Albert Markovski: "Yes. No. Uh, time, not space... No, I don't know what you're talking about."
by Patrick Reddington on Oct 4, 2010 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions
If you're going to pay that much, let's get Carl Crawford!
Carl Crawford lobby FTW!
The wait for 10/7 begins. This man is focused. Are you?
Dream scenario
Nats eschew trades, go after Carl Crawford while the Yankees are distracted by their pursuit of Cliff Lee. Crawford is convinced that DC isn’t Tampa II when the Lerners ante up for Yu Darvish and Adam Dunn; impressed, Crawford signs as well. Jayson Werth can take his misleading home/road splits somewhere else, and so can the overaged/question marked/overrated series of first base alternatives.
Rotation: Darvish, Zimmermann, Marquis, Lannan, Livo. Maya gets to hone his craft in regular work at Syracuse with Detwiler, Stammen and the rest of the kids in reserve.
Lineup: 1b: Dunn; 2b: Espinosa; SS: Desmond; 3b Zimmerman; LF Willingham; CF Bernardina; RF Crawford; C: Ramos
Bench: Kennedy and Gonzalez for the IF, Morse and Morgan for the OF; and Pudge at C. Flores also starts at Syracuse to prove he’s healthy and ready for work.
Bullpen: Balestar joins the existing group of Storen, Peralta, Clippard, Burnett, Slaten.
It’s like a real ball club! Suddenly you have real bats and gloves on the bench. Mensch, Nieves and Harris are gone. I’d love to put them in Syracuse but hopefully you need those spots for some of the kids (Norris, et al) working their way up the system. This ball club could win between 80 and 85 games and set the table for Strasburg’s first year back. Add dreams of glory :-)
I believe you have us confused with the Yankees ;-)
The wait for 10/7 begins. This man is focused. Are you?
I said "dream scenario" :-)
Although just for the record I think it is doable. The negotiation fee for Darvish would be a one time fee, then you could structure the contract however you like. I doubt that it’s going to require Dice-K money to talk to him, the last two “big time” pitcher signings from Japan have been Hideki Irabu and Dice-K – and to say the results have been mixed would be kind. It would mean adding about $20 million to this year’s payroll: +$3 for Dunn, +$17 for Crawford, +$4 for Darvish, -$1 for Batista, -$2.8 for Olsen, -$1.5 for Harris, and -$.7 for Nieves. Surprisingly, moving from $61 million to $81 million only puts them in the Orioles range, slightly below the average major league payroll.
That said, I don’t expect it all to play out that way. But right now, it’s still possible. Although the Yankees are interested I think the biggest competition could come from the Mets. Their payroll is high already, but they need a pitcher to help Santana out and also need to do something to change their laughingstock image at the moment.
Pretty sure Zimmerman goes up.
Plus Willingham is definitely due arbitration. Lannan is also due arbitration.
The wait for 10/7 begins. This man is focused. Are you?
Don't forget the $50M-$75M fee for the right to talk to Darvish...
…it’s a nice payday for Nippon Ham, but it’ll be way more painful than this year’s above-slot draft signings…
"And everybody lived happily ever after. Except the Phillies and the Mets. The End." --Sasskuash
Friend of Dukes and Desmond #3
I'd be surprised if the posting fee goes that high for Dervish
That’s more than Dice-K, and he hasn’t exactly been a rousing success story.
Darvish looks more promising than Dice-K...
…better pitcher, and younger. He might not go more than Dice-K, given how he turned out, but I don’t think he’ll go for less.
"And everybody lived happily ever after. Except the Phillies and the Mets. The End." --Sasskuash
Friend of Dukes and Desmond #3
It's possible
By all accounts the Red Sox were $20-$30 million higher than the next highest bidder for the posting fee. All it takes is one irrational actor to write the check. If it does go that high, I promise not to be mad at the Lerner’s for not paying it :-)
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