MLB.com's Bill Ladson: Josh Willingham To Have Season-Ending Surgery On Knee.
Not a surprise here, but a confirmation from MLB.com's Bill Ladson on the Twitter (@washingnats):
"#Nats OF Josh Willingham will have knee surgery next week. He is out for the season."
The Hammer finishes his 7th major league season with a .268/.389/.459 slash line, 19 doubles, 2 triples, 16 HR's, 8 stolen bases in 8 attempts, 56 RBI's, 67 BB, 85 K's, +2.7 WAR, -6.6 UZR/150...
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Poor Hammer.
"Inconceivable!"
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
-The Princess Bride
Sad...
He’s clearly been trying to play through the pain, and he’s been pretty bad on offense and defense. Glad the Nats put an end to it. The good news, it’s only a meniscus if I remember the diagnosis correctly. I had a meniscus tear and it’s a nice easy recovery compared to a ligament issue.
We need to have enough OF depth to keep him around 450-500 at bats
The slumps and the health issues have hurt him. He’s a classy guy and a productive player, but yet again the lack of a decent backup OF is leading to these punchless lineups whenever Dunn and Hammer are gone.
On a desperate search for Sunshine at Nats Park. In Rizzo and Ramos we trust.
Quiet, you!
"And everybody lived happily ever after. Except the Phillies and the Mets. The End." --Sasskuash
Friend of Dukes and Desmond #3
"WHERE WAS HE GOING! WHAT WAS HE THINKING!"
"And everybody lived happily ever after. Except the Phillies and the Mets. The End." --Sasskuash
Friend of Dukes and Desmond #3
MOAR NOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Screech's Godson
UMD Class of 2014! GO TERPS!!!
Your praise for Nook...
…is undermining your credibility for Nyjer Morgan.
On a desperate search for Sunshine at Nats Park. In Rizzo and Ramos we trust.
I think his praise of Morgan
undermines his credibility. ;-)
Rob
"Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection." -- Red Smith
We have here a Bennett situation.
On a desperate search for Sunshine at Nats Park. In Rizzo and Ramos we trust.
I never miss a chance, do I?
Rob
"Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection." -- Red Smith
This coming from a guy who praises Garret Mock and J-Min.
One of the least credible people on this site.
How many errors does Desmond have again, Mr. Stat-Dork????
Screech's Godson
UMD Class of 2014! GO TERPS!!!
You misunderstand me
I have praise for Mock because he has the tools to be a very good pitcher. He may never become a good pitcher, but we won’t know unless he plays. This is why I’d like to see what Maxwell can do as well. He’s athletic, has good baseball instincts, and can hit the ball hard when he hits the ball. The question with him is will he hit consistently at the ML level, and the only way to find out is if they let him play. He’s not doing anyone any good on the bench. Both JMax and Mock are young enough to grow. Neither had performed particularly well at the ML level, but, (and this is important), they have not been given enough of an opportunity to prove their worth one way or another. One should definitely not try to draw conclusions about their quality based upon their ML numbers; doing so could very likely lead to a completely wrong conclusion. By the way, I’m not the only Stat-Dork to think this way, thank you very much.
Now, on the other hand, guys like Guzman and Morgan: they are long in the tooth. They are pretty much given commodities. Because they have had a lot of time to demonstrate their work, the statistics they’ve amassed as major leaguers are highly relevant. They are strong indicators of future work, and that future work doesn’t look too promising.
Rob
"Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection." -- Red Smith
+1 ... ish
In general I agree with this approach, with this caveat: at this stage of the team’s development I don’t want to just “play the kids” and see what we have. That can get pretty ugly, and IMHO can stunt the kids’ growth. Start two or three of the kids (Gonzalez, Maxwell, Desmond, Bernadina, Ramos in the field, Mock, Olsen or Stammen on the mound) each day, but surround them with the more proven commodities so that the rookies have some space to develop their game. The rest of the spots can be taken by established players (Zimmerman, Dunn, Rodriquez in the field; Strasburg and Hernandez on the mound) and the “they are who they are” crowd (Morgan, Kennedy, Morse, and Harris in the field; Lannan and Marquis on the mound).
I do want to find out about which of the toolsy players will develop, but not at the expense of a AAAA lineup and another 100 loss season. Let’s let someone else draft 1/1 next year.
To me...
…it was kind of a competition between JMax and Bernadina for a 3rd/4th outfielder spot. JMax had the lead but Bernadina’s numbers made it impossible for JMax to get back on the list. JMax has been asked to cut down on his strikeouts or show more pop and batting average. He hasn’t really done that much of either. Do I think that he deserves more of a big league chance, especially as a defensively strong 4th outfielder right handed platoon player on a team where Michael Morse will be a butcher in right field and Josh Willingham will be a statue in right? Sure. I just haven’t seen much to suggest that they are going to give up on Nyjer Morgan quickly.
Part of the problem with keeping JMax around for me is that Burgess is starting to apply pressure in the next year and a half and then Harper will apply pressure after that. Burgess will deserve a shot at RF by 2012 if not sooner and you hope Harper will deserve a shot in 2012 or 2013, likely to boot Burgess. I don’t think these guys will be ready at any point next year, though, and I’d like to give JMax next year as a final year to show that he is at least a significant upgrade over Willie Harris.
But you and me both are probably in the Nyjer is ultimately a 4th outfielder camp. I may be more accepting to the fact that we’ve got to let the season play out before we see whether that happens and he’s worthy of a shot next year to see if he can have a decent start next year. As yesterday afternoon and his time on the DL showed, we’re probably a better team over the last 6 weeks with him in the lineup than now.
I’d like to see JMax/Bernie/Morgan/Morse or outside acquisition/Willingham make the roster next year as outfielders. JMax can start as the right handed Willie Harris and be given a shot to see if he can manage to stay on the roster. If nothing else, he provides much more defense and speed than Willie Harris and has a potentially legit role as defensive replacement/pinch runner in the bigs. How many starts he gets depends on how he hits against right handers and whether Morgan can sustain productivity.
On a desperate search for Sunshine at Nats Park. In Rizzo and Ramos we trust.
by souldrummer on Aug 20, 2010 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions
I don't think that praising Mock and J-Min makes someone less credible.
I responded to your Mock criticisms on the minors thread if either you or RobBobS want to see why I don’t think it’s worthwhile to boot him from the organization. He has value either at the back end of the AAA rotation or the front end for the AA rotation because he has the upside to get to the top of the AAA rotation and get quick shot to bust into the DC rotation in the scenario where 3 starter go down like what’s happened this year.
Likewise J-Max’s tools suggest that he would at least be better than Willie Harris as a place holder until the more significant prospects come up.
On a desperate search for Sunshine at Nats Park. In Rizzo and Ramos we trust.
by souldrummer on Aug 20, 2010 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Bummer
But it’s better to get the knee taken care of this year when the team is well out of the playoff picture. Just make sure he’s ready to go next spring.
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"Save it. I'm goin' for a smoothie."
The Washington Nationals, the team of the 2010s!
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