Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Lecroy Signed

The Matt LeCroy signing is official. (File photo) One year, $850,000. Another bench player? Sure. Why not?

Is he going to serve with Fick as a backup C platoon? Or (and I'm just throwing this to see if it sticks) could this be a portent of a Nick Johnson trade, say, for pitching? Move Vidro to first, play Soriano at second, and everyone's happy, right? Or even just play Fick/Lecroy at first, and leave Soriano dangling in the outfield?

Lecroy is useful. He mashes lefties (.307/ .382/ .554 over the last three years) and is nominally a catcher.

The Nats now appear to have about 42 players under contract for next season. And unless they plan on doing something stupid like leaving Zimmerman in the minors, there's no chance that all of them survive the fight to the death in Spring Training. Secretly, Bowden must be hoping for some severe injuries!

posted by Chris Needham at 7:23 PM

7 Comments:

  • I'm forcasting a Daryle Ward / Matt LeCroy first base platoon next year as the two veterans keep the position warm for young Larry Broadway in 2007. If you factor LeCroy's AB's against lefties and Ward's against righties, then average them over a 550 at-bat season, it looks like this: .292-32-97 with a .902 OPS.

    I don't think the Nats are going to re-sign Johnson to a long term deal considering how much Bowden loves Broadway and how fragile Johnson has been over the years. The team will save about $2.5 million in payroll, which could (could) allow the Nats to trade Johnson (probably as part of a package) that will return a #2 or #3 starter and use the payroll savings to pay his salary.

    Using LeCroy / Ward at first would free up the required number of bench slots that would allow Fick, Jackson, Clayton, Anderson, Byrd et al to remain with the team.

    I could be way way off base, but I think Broadway's stellar work in the Arizona Fall League may have given Bowden the idea to move Johnson and find some "stop gap" players for 2006.

    We'll see

    By Blogger Farid Rushdi, at 2/08/2006 11:32 PM  

  • Now that's pretty funny, King!

    By Blogger Rocket1124, at 2/09/2006 7:55 AM  

  • Allowing Bowden to trade for pitching frightens me. I'd prefer he not make any significant moves like trading Nick Johnson. I agree that this is NJ's last season in Washington but I'd rather (a) keep him the whole season and get the type A draft pick (he's on the cusp on moving from B to A), (b) wait until later in the season when you can reasonably expect a higher return than right now when most if not all teams are more or less set in their every day rosters, or ideally (c) wait until an owner is selected and allow their regime make the decision

    By Blogger Brian, at 2/09/2006 8:01 AM  

  • I think it's more likely Nick goes along with Soriano (those two for 14 million is almost worth it) somewhere, but I don't think we get a #2 or #3 starter in return. If Bowden can turn that into a decent clump of prospects...well I think I can live with that. If it turns into Wily Mo, I might never wear leather pants again..

    By Blogger Harper, at 2/09/2006 10:57 AM  

  • Bowden can do whatever he wants with Soriano. He brought the Nats that problem so by all means, let him deal with it.

    By Blogger Brian, at 2/09/2006 11:04 AM  

  • I'm also more than willing to "take care" of the "Soriano problem."

    By Blogger Rocket1124, at 2/09/2006 11:10 AM  

  • Nice file photo. LOL

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2/09/2006 11:20 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home