Fouled-Off Bunts: From The Hot Afternoon Edition

It's miserably hot outside. I have a headache from the heat. And I really don't feel like working on this speech that I should be working on. Instead, I'm munching on my turkey sandwich while listening to Paul Desmond. All I need is a kiddy pool under my desk (to dip my feet in), and perhaps a frosty mug of beer. Man, I need a vacation!

Here's a bunch of crap that I don't feel like writing much about.

Fick went on the DL after Monday's game. The Nats called up Brandon Harper, one of the formerly three-headed catching monster from New Orleans. Harper was having a hot month, scorching the crap out of the ball in July, but any offense we get from him is gravy.

Gimpy waste of money, Jose Vidro is eligible to come off the DL, but he's hanging out in DC, and won't be activated til the team returns. (Notice how much more smooth Marlon Anderson is in the field?)

Michael O'Connor was diagnosed with a mild flexor tendon strain in his elbow. That would prevent him from getting much spin on his curve. His 'stuff', which he always certainly had a tenuous control of, did sort of disappear. Maybe that's the explanation for his struggles. A few weeks off should heal it, but it's also the kind of injury that could pop up later.

Frank continues his winning ways with young players (I should make this a running series, huh?):
I've seen the guy what, three innings maybe? How am I supposed to know what his problem was? . . . All I know is he threw two balls pretty far today.

Meanwhile, friend to bloggers everywhere, Bill Ladson says that the players want Frank back. He quotes Ryan Zimmerman extensively, but it boils down to Ryan liking how Frank leaves him the hell alone.

The most worthwhile piece is Todd Jacobson's interview with the new scouting director, Mike Rizzo. He thinks he can turn the farm system around by year 5.

There's something about parking here, but you don't really care, do you?

More TradeGate roundups...

--The Rotoworld Guy gives Bowden the benefit of the doubt, and he brings up a good point that I had crawling around my peabrain, but never articulated fully. If Soriano does walk for draft picks, Dana Brown and Mike Rizzo have an EXCELLENT track record of converting picks into players. Brown's last three first-rounders (excluding this season, of course) are already in the majors. And Rizzo's D-Backs farm system is bursting with talent. With competent guys in charge (and with Bowden far away), those first-round picks have more value to the Nats than to the Pirates.

--A Fox Sports columnist, whose mugshot makes him highly probably to have been the victim of a swirlie, says that Bowden is worse than Stalin. His column is certainly the most reasonable anti-non-trade position that I've seen, and is worth the quick skim.

--At Double Play Depth, Benjamin Kabak pans the non-move, but I think he makes the same mistake some others have made. He doesn't consider what was actually on the table for Soriano. It's easy to say that Bowden should've traded him for prospects. It's far harder to point to who those prospects actually are. Trades require two partners; they don't exist in a vacuum.

--Banks of the Anacostia surrounds himself with words of other Bowden-haters. Check out his post for more.

NFA finds an article from god knows where that talks about the Nats wanting to be big players in the International Market. In the Dominican, especially, they needed to (and have!) made a big splash. Flash often wins out.

I'm done with my sandwich. Back to work!