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USA Today Sports Images Chris Young posted a 2.25 ERA in four starts with the Nationals. |
Young had filed paperwork to opt out of his minor-league deal last night after pitching against the Astros in Kissimmee. The Nationals then had 24 hours to either put the 33-year-old on their 25-man roster, pay him a $100,000 retention bonus or release him.
Though the Nationals were hoping to keep Young in the organization as an emergency starter at Class AAA, and though he expressed a desire to stay last night, the two sides couldn't find common ground to make something work.
Young said all along he preferred to pitch for a big-league club, and he said there was interest from several teams.
With Young out of the picture, the Nationals figure to enter the season with long relieves Zach Duke and Craig Stammen, plus Syracuse pitchers Ross Ohlendorf, Danny Rosenbaum and Yunesky Maya as potential No. 6 starters should something happen to one of the members of their major-league rotation.
15 comments:
I must be misunderstanding. The Nats could have paid him 100k and then he would have stayed in the minors? That seems like a no brainer. What am I missing?
Rich....
If Young accepted the minor league assignment, the Nats would pay him the $100,00 retention bonus.
He instead chose to be released in favor of finding a major league deal.
Good luck to Chris. He would have been a great insurance policy.
He's also a smart guy, who believes that the novels of Susan Sontag are overrated, self-indulgent ----.
I hate to see Maya's name memtioned as a potential starter. He has proven time and time again that he is not a major league caliber pitcher.
I see what you did there, Drew. ;-)
sm13, I agree about Maya, but I think he could be effective as another long reliever. He usually had success his first 2 times through a line up, and then crashed and burned the third time through. Not ideal, but it could work in an emergency situation.
Also, is Danny Rosenbaum really being considered as an option? He hasn't pitched higher than AA and didn't really have a ton of success at that level.
They are predicting 57 degrees for Friday. That's pretty cold for me (you know, unless it's October). Is anyone going to the Yankee game?
Rosenbaum might be an option, but not for 6th starter. 8th or 9th, maybe.
I didn't expect him to stay with the Nats and go to the minor leagues if he had a major league offer. Can't say that I blame him. I didn't see Rizzo putting him on the major league roster as a long reliever either. Rizzo only had one slot available and that's going to HRod or Romero.
I'm not going to the Yankees game NL
Nor am I. Do have tix for Monday, though.
I'm going to the the Yankees game. (can't help myself)
I received tickets for that game as part of my 20 game plan. I did not receive opening day tickets as i had previously. However I refereed a friend to my ticket rep who took the two seats next to us for a 20 game plan and they were given two tickets to opening day! WTF, but no tickets to the Yankees. Anybody else have any weird stuff like that with their tickets?
Obviously, the odds are against the Nationals to keep all five starting pitchers healthy, but let's not forget that last year's go to option was Chien-Ming Wang.
Rosenbaum and Ohlendorf don't seem so bad now.
And, honestly, we only have to worry if a pitcher goes down for an extended period of time. Even a month wouldn't completely hamper us. "Best team in baseball" doesn't suddenly become mediocre after one injury, usually. And if any one injury is particularly crippling, I trust in Rizzo to patch the hole. He did a good job of rejuvenating the farm this year, specifically, in my opinion, for this purpose.
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