Wire Taps: Washington Nationals/Mets Preview, Tyler Clippard And Drew Storen On The Brawl.

Best FA Signing Since Dunn-Ky and No Front Page News Bout Him…? Instead the The Tired Story of the Dread (ex)Pirate Morgan and ‘TheBrawl’…?
Come On EdPat Rise Above the Fracas and BringTheNews…! Or at Least a Scouting Report…

VivaMaya !!!

Morgan – CF
Desmond – SS
Zimmerman – 3B
Dunn – 1B
Bernadina – LF
Morse – RF
Espinosa – 2B
Ramos – C
Maya – P

Desmond, Ramos, and Spinner in the same lineup with Desmond batting 2nd. You’ve got a lot of responsibility leading off tonight, Mr. Morgan, and I hope you take advantage of the opportunity.

1. Biggest story. No, not the brawl. Obviously, it was Stephen Strasburg. He is one of the biggest stories in all of baseball. One guy with such intense scrutiny takes the fast track to the Majors and surpasses all expectations in front of throngs of fans, old and new. He becomes a huge story in a city where it seemed that many didn’t even know baseball exists. Then, the tragic arm difficulties set in, and the new DC Baseball Contingent collectively sighs in knowing despair. It’s like the first two acts of a great baseball movie. How will Act 3 go? We’ll find out in a year or two…
2. Who has been the Nats’ best player? Come on. Cupcake. Ryan Zimmerman, of course. He’s been one of the best players in all of baseball. ’Nuff said.
3. Biggest Disappointment. The Nationals. What I mean is, the Nationals’ drive to win. They do not appear yet to be a team that is cohesive, is able to overcome adversity, and most importantly, expects to win. Sometimes they have looked good, like a real team should, but too often they look like a retread of the same disheartened, disgruntled collection of players from years’ past. In the end, with a little luck they could wind up winning 72-75 games this season. That would not be far from my original projection of 76-78, but it just doesn’t seem like they have played anywhere close to their capabilities.
4. Team’s strengths and weaknesses. The biggest strength is its youth. They have a future that points to a team half-full of very good players all under 27 in a couple of years. They have a relatively low payroll and a burgeoning fan base that can, with care, be exploited to turn the team into a consistent competitor in the NL East. Weaknesses? If they lose Adam Dunn, they will be almost bereft of veteran leadership. I don’t mean veteran existence, I mean players that are performing with the best in the league, not just teaching the kids how to order room service. These two concepts I propose here may seem contradictory: I like the preponderance of youth on the team, but I don’t like that there’s no older players. Oh well. Accept the mystery.
5. Thoughts on the Mets. I don’t know why, but I take great pleasure in watching the Mets fail. Their management is truly awful, but their fan base isn’t much better. Despite all evidence to the contrary, fans on their websites proclaimed repeatedly in the offseason that their pitching was going to be among the best in the league. It’s not been. Their offense was going to overpower other teams. It hasn’t. They would nearly sweep the season series against the Nats. They most decidedly have not. They are old, injury prone, and are now fielding a AAA lineup. They are the Cubs without being lovable.

1) Story – Has to be Strasburg, although the underrated story is the overall strength of this year’s rookies.

2) MVP – Zim. If that Nats were a .500 team, he might have had a chance as NL MVP

3) Disappointment – Strasburg’s ulnar ligament? As far as a player, Chien Meng Wang. I was hopeful he would at least pitch.

4) Strengths – Agree with youth, both at major league level and in farm. Our infield hitting is also a strength.

Weaknesses – leadoff hitting/OBP

Thoughts on Mets – They are a clownshow so long as K Rod is on the team

1) Strasburg, specifically the first start as a historical intersection of hype and performance that may never be duplicated in baseball, especially after his new injury that will be yet another cautionary tale for a similar love affair with a can’t miss prospect. The performance seems to me to be tough to top, and I don’t think that people will be as quick to hype going forward.

2) Best player is Zimmerman. Favorite player might be a better question for some for this one.

3) Biggest disappointment hands down is Jason Marquis for me. He was expected to contribute a great deal and has contributed next to nothing. Strasburg’s UCL is a close second.

4) Bullpen depth is a strength, infield prospects and catching prospects are a strength. Starting pitching is a weakness.

5) Mets FO is really a joke. Mejiiia is the crowning example, but Little Sarge, Jacobs, Cora, Tatis and the parade of subreplacement position players are equal jokes, not to mention the foolish loyalty to Maine and Perez. If they avoid those stupid mistakes, they are probably five games better in the standings and not playing meaningless games yet. Mets future is not as bad as some may claim. A balanced view of the farm is possible that has some decent prospects and avoids overhyping guys. I like a Santana, Pelfrey, Niese, Dickey, plus comptent fifth starter or free agent acquisiton rotation much better than anything that we could field next year. If they finally get some good breaks out of the position players next year, they could be a factor. Have no idea what they’re doing with they’re present AAA lineup. Hessman???? I had to bring my Baseball Prospectus book to keep track of all the subreplacement guys they brought up in the expanded rosters.