I've Got Nuttin'

Some days I've got enough crap (besides the usual BS) floating around my brain to write 10 posts. Other days, like the last few, I've got nothing. I hesitate to call it the creative process, because it's really more of a leaching process (insert your own septic tank joke). And with the team making almost no news, (OK, it's no news at all) there's nuttin' for the lazy blogger to write. /navelgazing -- ooh! lint!

Si sez that the Mets are sniffing around Brian Schneider. This follows up a brief rumor from a week ago that they were talking about Schneider and Church. Where's there's smoke, there's usually a fire, although most fires are put out before they burn the city down.

Would you do Schneider/Church/mid-level arm for Estrada/Milledge? I'd think about it. Not sure if the Mets would be that enamored of it. Still, it indicates that Schneider's valued by some teams. If the Mets are going to dump him, you'd think it'd be as part of a package for a true difference maker.

I'm surprised we haven't heard anything about the Nats making a move for Carlos Quentin, who really doesn't have a position to play in AZ anymore.

The Nationals don't give a rat's ass about ticket scalpers selling their entire season's worth of tickets online. Hey, as long as they get their money, what do they care?

Bill Ladson is back with another mailsack bursting with goodness.

Sweet music: "If he remains a member of the Nationals, Logan will be no more than a backup outfielder. The only way he plays on a regular basis is if somebody is hurt and he improves his on-base percentage dramatically."

He also responds to a question about Marrero, who slumped at the end of the year: "While it is true that Marrero slumped badly at the end of the season, I was told by assistant general manager Bob Boone, pitcher Ross Detwiler and Maxwell that Marrero hit the ball hard, but it was hit right at somebody."

I like to check these things. Here're Marrero's splits for his time in Potomac. He hit just 0.220 0.311 0.418 in August, way down from previous months, but he hit line drives at about the same rate as he did on the season and his batting average on balls in play was a season-low .246. So Boone, Detwiler and Maxwell were right. He was hitting 'em where they were. Had he had a BABIP of .333 (which was what he hit in his next 'worst' month, he'd have had 10 extra hits and the resulting .329 batting average wouldn't have looked so bad.

IOW, don't worry about the 'slump'. He was unlucky for a month.