Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Trade Secrets

Did the Post give away the secrets today? Here's a picture from today's spring training preview showing the team's whiteboard. High-tech, guys!


It pretty clearly shows Sledge on the bench with Wilkerson, Guillen and Chavez in the outfield and Nick Johnson starting.

Other nuggets: JJ Davis is listed as the 5th outfielder and Ryan Church falls even below the God-awful Tyrell Godwin.

I don't think that's definitive, but that's probably a good idea at how the team's looking at things, at least as spring training starts.

I should note that the board also has Alejandro Machado on it, who was released on Sunday to make room for Alex Escobar. So, the pictures probably at least a few days old.

Attention Pulitzer Committee: My e-mail address is in the top right corner.

posted by Chris Needham at 9:09 AM

9 Comments:

  • Because I was too busy editing the picture tags to edit the post.

    Johnson's starting. I'll fix the post.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 2/15/2005 9:19 AM  

  • Did Sunny Kim make it through waivers? I'm confused.

    By Blogger Ryan, at 2/15/2005 10:49 AM  

  • Well, we don't know when the chart is from--although the actual newsprint edition has a series of photographs that indicate that they're fairly recent.

    He's listed in red, which I assume means he's not on the 40-man.

    So, to answer your question in less than 400 words, apparently so.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 2/15/2005 11:13 AM  

  • * means he's a lefty.

    # indicates a switch hitter

    * also means LHP

    Those are pretty universal notations.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 2/15/2005 11:25 AM  

  • If you get a copy of the Post, there's a clearer picture on the back page of the sports section.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 2/15/2005 11:42 AM  

  • Well, Kim wasn't DFAd until most teams had their 40-man rosters set.

    It's not like we DFAd a young Pedro Martinez. Kim might be useful, but he's never going to be a star.

    For another team to claim him, they'd have to release a player off their 40-man roster. And in all probability, that player isn't going to be appreciably worse than Kim.

    I haven't done any sort of rigorous analysis of this, but I'd say that vast majority of DFAs go through, especially in the off-season. During the season seems to be a little different, only because there isn't as much free talent widely available.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 2/15/2005 1:27 PM  

  • Machado wasn't released. He cleared waivers and is still in the organization, just like Kim.

    Don't be surprised - if Sledge stay with the team - to see Wilkerson playing centerfield in April, with Chavez on the bench. Wilkerson has played more than 130 games there in his MLB career.

    By Blogger Marc Hulet, at 2/15/2005 3:43 PM  

  • Yeah, you're right on the Machado thing. I just wasn't precise enough with my terms.

    Yeah, the Wilkerson in center thing wouldn't be that suprising. I just don't know if he has the ability to play it full time without the team hemmoraging extra-base hits. But, hey, if the Yankees can get away with Bernie in center, the Nats'll be more than ok with Wilkerson out there.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 2/15/2005 3:47 PM  

  • RE: MachadoHe didn't clear wavers. They traded him for a PTBNL to Boston.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 2/15/2005 5:01 PM  

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