With nothing real interesting happenning in the rest of baseball the Nationals were the focus yesterday for all the wrong reasons. Nearly every commentator has voiced an opinion on what Nyjer Morgan did and about the brawl. Most importantly however is this video where someone spliced what must be a NJPW announcer audio over the brawl. I was a little disappointed to not see Terry Funk, Cactus Jack, or Tiger Mask run in and take out Gaby Sanchez after his stiff clothesline to Nyjer Morgan. --'Duk from yahoosports.com
Nyjer might not have to venture into the world of professional wrestling to find his tag team partner. As this man has offered to fight everyone on the Marlins, including their owner. I am sure a few old Montreal fans from here wouldn't mind the same opportunity. --Kris Liakos at walkoffwalk.com
This was just the end of what has been a long and troubling week for Nyjer Morgan and the author of The Baseball Codes takes a look at how this all could have been avoided if the unwritten rules were followed. --Jason Turbow thebaseballcodes.com
The brawl is might just be the last straw that forces Nyjer out of town. As pointed out at the end of this article, Nyjer went from being mentioned as part of the future to not even being aknowledged. It also points out that since Morgan isn't arb eligible it would be a low cost move to keep him. The one thing I don't agree with is that luck is the largest factor in a player having a high BABIP. I think it is line drives and hard hit ground balls. When I asked a couple weeks ago on fangraphs if there was a way to measure that, I was informed that a hit/fx was supposed to be out this year but wasn't. So, while GB% can be measured the percent of those ground balls that are hard hit to softly hit is not known. Most of what we attribute to luck is stuff that we haven't figured out a way to measure. --Adam Kilgore in The Washington Post
A lot of people the other night were lamenting the absence of Rob Dibble, and saying this is the one game they would want him to cover. Well he does do a morning baseball show, and as this was the biggest story yesterday he had some comments. --Dan Steinberg from The DC Sports Bog
It is however confusing to some people how anyone could defend Morgan. If you take this incident in a bubble I can see how, but from watching him all year I don't think he should be defended. I still don't quite understand how he went from who he was to who he is. Maybe a suspension wakes him up. --Dave Nichols at natsnewsnetwork.com
Last thing on Nyjer and then the jump. Here's a video with Ladson explaining that Nyjer isn't a bad guy just over aggressive and sometimes prone to mistakes like missing the cut-off man and throwing to the wrong base. --Bill Ladson from mlb.com
There is some good stuff after the jump today. I encourage everyone to check it out.
Here is a comment that is very, very interesting. Kasten says the Nationals will be more agressive than ever in the free agent market. I wonder what exactly this means. The off-season can be just as fun as the regular season. Sometimes even more fun, because we can dare to dream about what might happen and reality can't smack us in the face with an eight game losing streak. --Ben Nicholson-Smith at mlbtraderumors.com
There is one obvious mistake from this post about the best athletes in DC over 35 in that Livan isn't 35 he is 35-40. --Jake Whitacre from dc.sbnation.com
I like Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa. The solution I like is to have them in the same infield. Some believe that is a mistake as a good short stop has more value than a good second baseman. --Bryan Smith from fangraphs.com
For people that aren't die-hards there won't be much reason to come out to the ballpark next year. --Holden Kushner at csnwashington.com
I liked the fact that when WJFK made the switch to a sports station one of their first hires was Holden Kushner. Maybe I liked him because he was the guy on MLB radio when the story broke that Bowden had resigned. Either way I thought of him as a baseball guy and was looking forward to hearing him talk about baseball on local radio. Well, as we know that didn't happen. The company line seems to be Redskins or nothing. Yesterday on my drive home I turned on WJFK because I was tired of the Nyjer stuff and knew that they wouldn't be talking about it even though it was all over ESPN and other mainstream sites, and sure enough they were talking about boxing. I get his point that just being in a ballpark is a great thing, but he doesn't make it until the end and that point might be lost on most readers. I think in a way this article could work if it opens the discussion and people like us point out why there is reason to go to the ballpark, not just to be in a ballpark but also there are young and exciting players to watch. Zimmerman leads the NL in WAR. He has been the best player in the league this year. That alone seems like a pretty good reason to watch. Then throw in guys like Desmond, Espinosa, Ramos, Storen, Zimmermann, Maya, and possibly other young guys we don't expect or don't know that will force their way to the majors next year. As a baseball guy I just had more hope for Holden, but I guess when you dance with the Devil the Devil changes you.
First base defense is a phrase that reminds me a lot of healthy fried chicken. I would probably rank defensive positions in this order: catcher, shortstop, second base, centerfield, third base, right field, left field, and first base. In my mind it is the least important defensive position. So saying it is the NL and defense is a must just comes across as a weak argument. --Bill Ladson from nationals.com
Speaking of first base. Tyler Moore is the Carolina League MVP. Winning this award means nothing in itself, but it might get people to look closer at his numbers, and if he can have a repeat next year at a higher level that will certainly get people talking. --Cheryl Nichols at natsnewsnetwork.com
General Baseball
There is a darkside to the Stephen Strasburg injury (beyond the obvious). In a few years he could be on the mound for the Blue Crabs trying to just a get a shot at the majors. A lot like a guy he often gets compared. I have to say it would be a good story if Prior can ever make it back to the majors. At this point I think a team would give him a shot as it would be low cost and could be high reward if he can serve as a good set-up man or closer. --Steve Henson at yahoosports.com
At this point in the season Heath Bell was supposed to be helping the Mets chase down the Phillies and Adrian Gonzalez was going to be a Red Sox with a nice new long term contract. Of course something happenned. The Padres won, but like all things in baseball these things have a way of evening out, and the Padres after leading the NL West all season might soon find themselves watching the playoffs from home. --Joe Posnanski from si.com
I guess leading a division and having Joey Votto fighting for the triple crown wasn't enough. Chapman is finally bringing excitement to Reds baseball. --Jon Paul Morosi at foxsports.com
Enjoy your weekend. I know I will. As much as I dislike the Steelers and Penguins I like the city of Pittsburgh, and that is where I will be this weekend. From what I have read a lot of other Nationals fans are going to be up there. So, let's all have fun and hopefully win a road series for the first time since May. I think the Nyjer brawl might focus the team and get them playing better for this last month.