Check out this video from last night's Geico SportsNet Central looking back at Davey Johnson's year with the Nationals.
Also, here are a few Nats links from CSNwashington:
- Harper tweets to Giancarlo Stanton to join the Nats
- Nats sign infielder Rhymes
- PHOTO: Gio Gonzalez as a little leaguer
- Rollins on N.L. East: 'It still runs through Philly'
34 comments:
Under the new CBA, burden shifts to teams to spend revenue-sharing money specifically for improvement of the big league club, especially if revenue-sharing check is more than 80 percent of major league payroll:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7270203/baseball-new-labor-deal-truly-historic-one
Don't know exactly how the arithmetic works for Marlins but trust Loria to figure out the minimum he has to spend to maximize the revenue-sharing return. They'll have to spend money above what is currently committed ($16MM) but you can bet none of it will be on long term contracts.
OK, it runs through Philly. Agreed. They should be called the favorite. All the pressure is on them. Predict them for first, Atlanta second, New York third, ... (ok you have to put Miami last) ... etc....
Let's call Rollins the league's best shortstop. And they certainly have the most expensive team and a sterling silver rotation...
Heck, they've certainly got the biggest mouths .... so, see you in the spring. Enjoy the championship (err, third place finish).
fast eddie said...
Ghost:
I still don't get why, if ALR leaves, Davey would put Morse at 1B and Moore in LF. I've read here that Morse performed OK at 1B when given the opportunity. But aren't they both out of their "natural" positions?
November 14, 2012 12:20 PM
Morse was actually a middle infielder coming through the system and his best position is 1st base out of all the positions on the field. The good news is Morse's offensive output increased when he played 1st base which some attributed that he didn't have to do a lot of running around.
TyMo will have to get his reps where ever they put him.
I think Michele is correct, Davey wasn't warm & fuzzy about his comments and remember when he declared Lannan his 5th starter a few days before the season last year...well things change. The depth chart and commonsense says Morse to 1st base and a platoon of Bernie and TyMo in LF but I'm not buying that as the LF solution on March 31st but you never know.
Loria "We finished in last place, figure it out".
Again, if John Henry of the Red Sox says that, ok then. If scum like Loria or Angelos says that, color me jaded, I'm smelling a rat.
There's nothing that comes out of the Marlins or Orioles that ever can be taken for what you think it is. They both have a long history of deceiving their fanbases. Difference is, Loria at least knows how to win and then dismantle a team and Angelos has just let his team self-dismantle as you start with nothing and end with nothing.
Loria doesn't belong with the real spenders in this game. While the big boys are spending their bucks, Loria is counting his pennies.
He needs to sponsor a girl's softball team somewhere.
Sorry, I posted this at the end of the last blog. Brought it over here when I saw whatsanuttau's post.
Joe Seamhead said...
peric said...
The Phillies should be a lot better next season. They'll make moves to shore up their starting pitching.
November 14, 2012 11:02 AM
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How do you figure that they'll be "a lot better"?
Pitchers:
Lee and Doc have been ridden hard and put away wet.Cole is still very good, but he is also putting up a lot of innings. Kendrick? Inconsistent is being nice. Middle relief? You can have the lot of them.
Papelbon was still generally great.
Look at
A:1B: Ryan Howard is a fat shadow of his former self.His K ratio was the worst of his career when he came back. Guaranteed contract.
B:2B: Chase Utley came back late and put up pretty good numbers, but his knees are paper clipped and rubber banded together. He certainly doesn't have his previous range in the field. Guaranteed contract
C:SS Jimmy Rollins, dubious Gold Glove winner, though still has a great glove, his range is greatly less from what it once was.He's also a royal pain in Cholly's ass.Guaranteed contract
D:3B They have no idea who's playing it for sure. Polonco is toast. The committee of guys they used in his absence can't catch a cold.Frandson and Freddy Galvis will platoon, neither of whom are very good. The Utley move has already been abandoned.
E:Outfield: John Mayberry, Dominic Brown, Juan Pierre, Laynce Nix Is a pretty bad lot.Darin Ruf murdered us in the last part of the season, but he is really a firstbaseman. He sucks in the OF,but with his bat they have to make room for him.
F: Catcher: Ruiz is fantastic
My prediction: Third Place 81-81
November 14, 2012 12:53 PM
If you missed davey on ESPN980 they are going to replay at 130.
There's many problems with the Marlins and the 1st starts with trust and who you believe. Here's the problem in Miami, when they were winning they didn't come. They built it and they came, saw it, and left. The attendance numbers weren't great as only 27% of the games were over 30K in paid attendance.
I don't know their overall revenue numbers but I hear they have a real problem as the new rent is enormous compared to what they were paying in the old place and the increase in what they brought in for premium seats and suites isn't making up the difference.
Is it they got cold feet and didn't allow it to play out and just more comfortable in building from the farm system up or there was a more devious plan in place. I don't know but in the short-term its not good for baseball.
Joe Seamhead, I made similar observations in the last thread about the Phillies. BTW, Polanco is not being brought back and Ryan Howard says he will come into Spring Training in the best shape of his career!
I want to see what they will do in Free Agency before I guesstimate where they will end up.
SWEET!!!!
Eric Fisher@EricFisherSBJ
Another ripple on #Marlins deal: could have ramifications on bid to get an ASG. Already a backlog of NL suitors. This could push Miami back
Phillies @ .500 may be underselling the condition of the NL East. Marlins may dip into the 59 W class, Mets likely to regress also. Given the no. of intra-divisional games, all the other teams in the NL East, including the Phillies, will pick up several (or more) easy Ws. That doesn't make them better than third (maybe 84-78, depending on pitching alone) but will feed their delusions. (Contra, every team in the league will miss beating up on the Astros.)
Mets could be as bad as the Marlins. They won't get better, as mgt. says they are holding the line on salary this offseason. Hairston will be gone. Several players (Duda, Tejada, Murphy) weren't that good to begin with and could go backward. They could be in 64-65 win territory.
That, sir, is an insult to girls' softball teams. ;-)
Doc said...
Loria doesn't belong with the real spenders in this game. While the big boys are spending their bucks, Loria is counting his pennies.
He needs to sponsor a girl's softball team somewhere.
November 14, 2012 12:57 PM
I agree, Steve. My prediction is with the current make up. I just see too many holes for them to be "a lot better."
Howard has lost his bat speed and his eye.
Utley has been one of the best players around for a long time. His body is starting to let him down. Darin Ruf will probably be the leftfielder as he hit collectively hit 51 home runs in the minors, ML, and early Venezuela ball.Granted, the Phills freed up a fair amount of dough at the end of last year, but they still have a Yankee-like payroll, much of it in long term guaranteed, long term contracts. They are at least a couple of years away from being great again. Like I said, too many holes.
MicheleS, you'd think for All Star locations they were behind the Nats in line anyway and possibly San Diego, they really don't deserve any preferential treatment.
Do you think Washington in 2015? Can the real estate development in Southeast Washington support the influx of the tens of thousands of new visitors that an All Star game brings by that point in time or is it that visitors will stay in other areas and Metro it in.
Looking @ Phillie roster more closely, Juan Pierre is a FA, so their OF looks even worse than Joe Seamhead posits. It looks to me like they have somewhere around $130MM committed for 2013 -- which is huge, but enough to sign one big FA w/out reaching the luxury tax. If I were their mgt., I'd say, "I'm not going to waste all of those salary dollars on a rebuilding year." So I'd either (A) trade one or both of the cash-eating top-of-the-rotation pitchers ($41MM) or (B) double down and sign an expensive FA OF (Hamilton or Upton). Hamilton in CBP is a scary, scary thought. So they might be 4-5 victories better than my previous guesstimate.
You're correct Natsfan1a.
Girl's softball teams would deserve better.
Maybe Loria should concentrate on a men's prison team somewhere.
Ghost.. I could see San Diego getting it before us, and SADLY, I could see LAD getting it before us too (that Carnival Barker StanK twisting Selig's arm). The Development is coming, but it might not be totally up and running by 2015. I will be really curious to see how far along they are at the beginning of 2013. Lots of cranes building stuff and some empty store fronts that could get some restaurants in them.
Joe, I really dislike the Phillies. Any future decay of that team puts a smile on my face. I'm just concerned if they pulled off a trade or big FA signings they could show improvement from last year from their 81-81 record.
Chooch turns 34 and 2013 is the last year of his contract. Frandsen is a bit of an oddity as well as Ruf. Frandsen had a career 1/2 year for the Phillies in terms of slashing .338/.383/.451/.834 That was in 200+ plate appearances. Did he just get lucky or is that sustainable for a career AAAA guy.
Cliff Lee finished strong for them and his underlying stats for the year were very good. Hamels is an Ace and Halladay was hampered by shoulder issues. Its always a question mark on what you get from aging vets but the way to beat them is to out-pitch them.
The guy I look forward to a crash & burn is Jimmy Rollins with that mouth of his. He just keeps running it. He couldn't be a good sport rather had to be the typical Phoolie a$$ that he is.
Things I love, the Hot Stove is barely heating up and we already have our Philly hate in full force. Thanks JRol, you can always count on him for bulletin board material. Any one want a JRoll VooDoo doll? We can stick pins in it all winter.
Ok - that sounds like a promotional giveaway to me. I am in!
MicheleS said...
Ghost.. I could see San Diego getting it before us, and SADLY, I could see LAD getting it before us too (that Carnival Barker StanK twisting Selig's arm). The Development is coming, but it might not be totally up and running by 2015. I will be really curious to see how far along they are at the beginning of 2013. Lots of cranes building stuff and some empty store fronts that could get some restaurants in them.
November 14, 2012 1:47 PM
The Nats deserve it in 2015 and the playoffs this year and big crowds will go a long way in convincing MLB to award the Nats in 2015. It will be huge for baseball in the entire region.
The Fanfest will most likely be at the Convention Center but it helps to have restaurants and hotels near the stadium although when the Yankees had the All Star game in the last year of old Yankee Stadium, nothing was done in the stadium area and pretty much the same with Anaheim a few years ago so its not without precedence that stadium area have to be built up but it would help DC to push that along as the opportunities are there to make a big splash.
MicheleS said...
Things I love, the Hot Stove is barely heating up and we already have our Philly hate in full force. Thanks JRol, you can always count on him for bulletin board material. Any one want a JRoll VooDoo doll? We can stick pins in it all winter.
November 14, 2012 1:58 PM
That's actually a cool promo item but MLB wouldn't license it ;( Maybe someone can make some computer generated JRoll voodoo dolls. I really dislike that guy!
Heard Davey on the radio.
(1) he really wants LaRoche back;
(2) he would have walked Kozma if the count had been 2-1 or 3-1;
OK, then. What do we think of this guy Rhymes? Does that mean Lombo is going somewhere? I mean, another infielder?
NatsLady, I liked when he called Ian Desmond his "Hammer".
NL.. Rhymes is going to AAA. Backup in case of injury.
I hope this guy figures out Pete EFFING Kozma
From Kilgore's journal:
In another personnel note, the Nationals have hired scout Bob Johnson to enhance their preparations for opponents. For the past two seasons, the Nationals have done all of their scouting on upcoming opponents through video. Johnson, a long-time advance scout for the Braves, will travel to games and work with Advance Scouting and Video Coordinator Erick Dalton, lending another set of eyes of years of experience. General Manager Mike Rizzo called Johnson, “one of the best advance scouts in the game.”
MLB Trade Rumors has Nolasco ($$$) and LoMO on the block now for the Marlins.
Not surprised at Lomo - he is quite outspoken and at times a real pain in the tushy.
Swami.. and LoMO has been injured.
Ghost, so did I. All in all, a pretty good interview. He said, basically, in the playoffs he stuck with what got him there... You can agree or you can call him "stubborn" or "asleep at the switch," but he had a plan. Interesting however, that he did admit he got tired toward the end of the season and needs to be in better shape.
That could work quite well. :-)
Doc said...
You're correct Natsfan1a.
Girl's softball teams would deserve better.
Maybe Loria should concentrate on a men's prison team somewhere.
November 14, 2012 1:38 PM
NatsLady, I respect Davey and his strong intuitions but the "hot hand" theory in baseball works as baseball is made up of streaks and slumps.
I always speak in "real time" and didn't think walking Kozma was the move. I spoke of other moves though and going forward.
Davey was right about Gio and experience and Storen not pitching to contact.
Tho Rhymes is no replacement, I would not be shocked to see Lombardozzi traded -- in the right deal of course, probably a big deal because in no way is he the centerpiece. He would be an inexpensive place holder for a couple of years for some team that doesn't already have superior defense at 2B. I suspect his value now is as high as it will ever get; stick around DC a couple of years and he gets cast as a career utility guy.
I hate to be accused of jumping on a Peric bandwagon but I'm starting to see Rendon as 2013's 400 PA play-anyywhere-he's needed guy.
Some guy (Bernie Pleshkov? Occasionally contributes on NatsProspects.com and is described as a former scout for Astros and Braves) writing on nationals.com says there are no issues w/ Rendon's ankles in AFL and he has the ability to transition to 2B or the OF. It seems to me he would provide better OBP and more power than Lombardozzi and I can't see how he gets much better w/ time at AA/AAA.
If the Nats bring ALR back then Rendon's path to the 2013 ML roster gets considerably more difficult, unless someone else is moved. I don't want to venture a public guess as to who, but I really think two pieces from last year's roster will be traded. First order of business is to settle the ALR issue.I, for one, think that he could easily play first base effectively, and hit near, or possibly better then his 2012 numbers for three more years.He's in great shape, and his health issues were obviously fixed with his shoulder surgery. Sign him Mr. Lerner.
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