Wire Taps: Washington Nationals' "First-Half" Reviews, "Second-Half" One Day Away.
by Patrick Reddington on Jul 14, 2011 11:46 AM EDT
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• Programming Notes: Hold on. Tomorrow night at 7:35 pm EDT, the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves will begin the so-called "second-half" with Livan Hernandez on the mound in Turner Field against the Braves' Tim Hudson. It's been four days without Nats baseball. No diving Shark catches, no nasty Jordan Zimmermann sliders, no Danny Espinosa dingers, no Jayson Werth...uh...the second-half will be WereWerth's half. Can the pitchers keep it up. Will Ryan Zimmerman's presence in the lineup on an everyday basis spark the offensive surge Nats fans and officials have been waiting for? Just hold on, tomorrow night baseball is back. Til then, it's more links...
• AND LINKS AND...
• NATS BEAT:
• "Michael Morse worked out of an early slump to become the hottest hitter in the game in May and June, and Danny Espinosa set records for power numbers from a rookie second baseman." - "Nationals first-half player grades (updated with pitching staff)" - Ben Goessling, MASNSports.com
• "More than three months later, all the Nats know is that they really didn't know at all what they were getting into this season." - "Nationals 1st half report card" - Mark Zuckerman, CSNWashington.com
• "[B.J.] Upton is hitting .387 in July, with a .710 slugging percentage, and while his home games are played in Tropicana Field, he's batting .292, with a .372 on-base percentage, in road games." - "New York Mets have many trade options for Carlos Beltran" - Buster Olney, ESPN
• "Pitching and defense, which had been missing since they arrived in D.C., were the main reasons the Nationals were within striking distance from the Wild Card lead heading into the All-Star break." - "Washington Nationals showing great promise at All-Star break" - Bill Ladson, nationals.com: News
• "Meantime, the Nationals, with a roster stacked with productive veterans, could be at the epicenter of the trade market..." - "Top 5 MLB second-half story lines" - Dave Sheinin, The Washington Post
• "You've probably heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the trivia game that challenges players to connect fellow actors to Kevin Bacon...." - "6 degrees of Matt Stairs" - Patrick Stevens, Washington Times
• "When Democrats and Republicans face off in the Congressional Baseball Game on Thursday, the nation’s elected representatives will raise revenue to promote social welfare..." - "Who says Congress won't step up to the plate?" - Paulina Berkovich, Washington Times
• "In 1954, in Cleveland, the American League called upon Washington left-hander Dean Stone with two outs in the top of the eighth inning and the National League up 9-8." - "History repeats itself - twice" - Phil Wood, MASNSports.com
• "So GM Mike Rizzo isn't actively trying to dump veterans in exchange for prospects who may not help the club for several years." - "Nats' second-half storylines" - Mark Zuckerman, CSNWashington.com
• Your Daily Message From The Dalai Lama On Twitter (@DalaiLama): "The very purpose of spiritual practice is to help others." -
• NATS MINOR LEAGUE UPDATES:
• Class-A Auburn: "Scoring two in the first, three in the second, and three more in the third, the Doubledays jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back." - "Early Offense Powers Doubledays to 9-3 Win" - Auburn Doubledays News
• Class-A Hagerstown: "Winds were so heavy that a section of the outfield wall in center field at Lake Olmstead Stadium was knocked down." - "Makeup Will be a Thursday Doubleheader" - Hagerstown Suns News
• "Regardless of how I tried to steer [Hagerstown GM Bill] Farley toward the path of [Bryce] Harper's alleged arrogance and petulance, he wanted to take me down his primrose lane." - "Hagerstown made most of Harper's first step up ladder" - Ron Kantowski, ReviewJournal.com
• Class-A Potomac: "It's Harry Potter Night and Thursday Cheers at the Pfitz! Make sure you come dressed up in a Harry Potter-themed costume for a special discount!" - "Doubleheader Tonight at the Pfitz!" - Potomac Nationals News
• "Gilbert and Moore were two of six Nationals farmhands selected to the Eastern League All-Star Game, which was preceded by the home run derby." - "Before Eastern League All-Star Game, Archie Gilbert and Tyler Moore represent Nats affiliate in home run derby" - Chad Graff, Nationals Journal - The Washington Post
• "Rhinehart has gone 8-for-18 the last five games, including three straight multi-hit games. He has crushed six homers in the last 10 games, with a .394 average during that run." - "Rhinehart and Gilbert with base hits as West rolls in All-Star game" - Byron Kerr, MASNSports.com
• "Erik Arnesen found a winning formula this spring – pound the zone with hard fastballs and keep hitters off balance with a deceiving splitter." - "Nats prospects Erik Arnesen, Bill Rhinehart impress at Eastern League All-Star Game" - Chad Graff, Nationals Journal - The Washington Post
• "Nationals right-handed pitcher Chien-Ming Wang will now make his fourth rehab start on Thursday for the Double-A Harrisburg Senators, confirmed a team source." - "Wang to now pitch Thursday for Double-A Harrisburg" - Byron Kerr, MASNSports.com
• Tom Milone - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 16 P, 10 S; Matt Antonelli - 0 for 2, 1 K. - INT All-Stars vs. PCL All-Stars - MiLB.com Gameday
• SHARKNATSTOWN:
• "No sports whatsoever, the Shark being far away, and this growing hunger from eating an insufficient breakfast combine to make a downright dreary day." - "A BREAK FROM THE ALL-STAR BREAK BLUES" - Sharkadina
• NATSTOWN:
• "Is it too late to corner the market on Bryce Harper "Pops and Mom" temporary wrist tattoos?" - "Here's what the new Harpersburg t-shirts look like?" - Nats Enquirer
• "As the season reaches its ceremonial halfway point, it’s a good time to take a look at the minor leagues and re-evaluate the team’s prospect situation." - "TNB's Midseason Top 10 Nationals Prospects" - Will Yoder, The Nats Blog
• "Tyler Clippard wasn’t the only Washington National making an all star game appearance this week..." - "Video: Nationals racing presidents at the All Star Game" - Presidents Race Fan, Let Teddy Win!
• "Tonight at Nationals Park sixty-four members of the Senate and House will put on their baseball jerseys and ball caps to renewal their traditional Congressional Baseball Game..." - "Democrats and Republicans on the Baseball Diamond" - Mark Hornbaker, Washington Nationals Daily News
• NL EAST UPDATES:
• Mets: "'I do want to make it clear that the Rodriguez trade should not signal anything to anyone about Beltran,' [Mets' GM Sandy] Alderson said in a conference call Wednesday." - "Sandy Alderson: K-Rod Trade Doesn't Mean Fire Sale For Mets; Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes Moves Depend On Team's Play Over Next Few Weeks" - CBS New York
• Braves: "While the pitching-centric Braves would like to trade for an affordable right-handed bat, they don’t have a lot of money to spend and won’t mortgage the future by trading a slew of prospects..." - "Braves' All-Stars like team's chances, trade or no trade" - David O'Brien, ajc.com
• Phillies: "The Braves play the NL East 39 times over their remaining 70 games (56%) while the Phillies play within the division 30 times over their final 71 (42%)." - "Phillies and Braves Strength of Schedule" - Bill Baer, Crashburn Alley
• Marlins: "The Achilles' heel for much of last season, the bullpen for the most part is now a strong suit." - "What went right, wrong and what's ahead in the second half for Marlins" - Juan C. Rodriguez, South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
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Ugh, more Burnett
why did we cut Romero, I am tired of Burnett, and Rizzo refuses to call up Severino.
Grades......
I give Henry Rodriquez and John Lannen A’s also……. Stairs still being on the roster contributes to RIZZO’s- BIG FAT F………. Oh and of course that idiot LaFraud Laroche.
Hairston’s still a bum, minimal stats during those two months…….I want Pudge to stay on as a player and coach someday…………DEZ is just not a major league hitter—-Does there really need to be politics brining up LOMBO?
ESPI is the MVP and is more surprising then even Morse.
Not sure why the Hairston hate
Hairston has been great for us considering he’s gotten more playing time than he was suppose to with Zim getting hurt. He has the 4th best BA and 3rd best OBP on the team. You need guys like Hairston on your team to play a few games here and there while people are injured and put up decent numbers and he’s far exceeded that.
There are very few people on this team who look like MLB hitters right now so I’m not ready to single out the individual players rather than looking at the cause which is Rick ecKstein, a man coaching hitting who has no experience hitting major or minor league hitting. It’s just embarrassing for this organization to have ecKstein above a Single or Double A coaching position.
Agreed on Hairston
I wasn’t too excited about the signing, but he’s done a pretty good job as the super-utility guy. Much more so than Cora.
Rob
-- In baseball we trust.
Desmond proved he was a major league hitter last season
Lombo has barely played in AAA, has no arm and so so range.
Aim for the head baby Jesus
what's with the Anti-Desi meme anyway?
Agreeing with Doncosmic. And adding -" I really don’t get it – this isn’t the only site with the same venom about Desi, plus media (like local 980 show I just listened to) are also claiming that Lombo is “tearing it up” in the minors. I checked Lombo’s batting numbers which are similar to what Desi did in AAA and I don’t see the reason for insisting he needs to be up here NOW (plus the craziness of switching Espi to ss in mid-year even though the team is playing GREAT defense up the middle infield and Espi is playing gold-glove caliber 2nd Base!) For kicks I also looked at Jose Reyes who has the same fielding %as Desi according to BBref, with Des having 50 more chances. Of course we wish Desi had Jose’s BA, but remember this is Ian Desmond’s soph year when pitchers typically identify the holes in a batter’s swing. No question now Desi has to adjust to the pitchers’ adjustments. Although I looked up a few today just to see if my eyes were lying to me, I’m not a stat person. I value defense, hustle and timely hitting more than BA; and I don’t play fantasy BB (is that based on offensive ##s only for position players?). Let’s see if Desi can get back to his offensive ##s from last year. His defense is exciting to watch and Nats turning double plays is a thing of beauty.
Which brings me to Hairston and Cora – who are both filling the role they are here for – utility players to be available whenever a position player has to rest. I’m guessing that Nats could either have utility players who bat but not field that well or utility players who could play multiple positions but not spot bat that well, but a player who does both well is probably an everyday player somewhere. Anybody know if utility players are ranked somewhere based on fielding and batting? Unfortunately the Nats do have one useless bat taking up a bench spot, Stares. He is not contributing to his role as big PH bat at all. He should be playing exactly as much as baseball as I am.
Go Nats – Beat Braves
by FreddieBallgame on Jul 14, 2011 8:37 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 4 recs
Yeah, well....Rizzo won't admit he made a mistake. Teflon Mike.
So expect to see Stairs languishing for the rest of the season.
That thought kind of turns my stomach.
I sure hope Davey lets him sit on the bench…and keeps yapping publicly about needing another big bat. Should make things nice and friendly in the meetings.
Heh.
Is Boras Rendon's agent?
Seems like the Nats ought to get a Boras discount.
Will never happen, of course.
Yep.
The pick led to a bunch of “Nats love Boras” articles and popularized the idea of Fielder coming to D.C.
Skins rule
by Horcasitas4 on Jul 14, 2011 10:00 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree with you 100%
Desi can play anywhere in the infieild well and has a decent bat. His bat is decent for his his defense. Last year his bat was better but he was still learning his defense. It may be that Desmind is pushed out and becomes a really really good utility guy, or that he is traded. If that happens, it won’t be because of a marginal prospect like lombo.
Aim for the head baby Jesus
If your roll your mouse over the pic you'll get my caption contest entry...
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 Jul 14, 2011 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions
[you roll]...
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 Jul 14, 2011 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Worth the price of admission by himself.
Another reason to keep the guy around.
I'd prefer a stable full of Halladay, Lee, Hamels, etc.....
But for now I’ll take our five best pitchers, and Livo is one of them, IMO.
Probably
But it won’t be long before one of Milone/Peacock/Meyers/Detwiler/Solis/… knocks Livo off the list.
Rob
-- In baseball we trust.
And that will be great when they do, because it will mean we'll be that much better than we are now.
But for the time being, I’m giving Livo some love.
(Now Livo, don’t make me look bad tonight!)
If Rizzo trades for a center fielder, he'll have to trade prospects...
This could be when the good drafting pays off.
So I guess we can't classify Rendon, Meyers, Goodwin or Purke as "prospects" until they sign...
Get them signed! Especially Rendon, if we can get him signed soon, he should have more than enough time to play for us by mid-2012 season. Rendon and Meyers would instantly be included in our “top 10 prospects,” and more room should be made with Peacock and possibly Solis making our roster by the start of next season.
Skins rule
Rendon and Purke
would immediately be behing Norris and maybe Peacock one those lists, but way up there.
Aim for the head baby Jesus
B.J.Upton vs Michael Bourn
I have seen some stories sayings the Nats are interested B.J.Upton. Also read that the Astro may be interested in trading Michael Bourn. Bourn seems like the better player.
Bourn is an NL guy too. Some players have trouble changing leagues...
No clue if Upton would or not.
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