Wednesday, April 23, 2008

So Does This Mean Stan Will Give Me A Refund?

I heard this quote coming in, and Barry helpfully transcribes it:
[W]e want to win every single night," Manager Manny Acta said. "But with the plan we have here, and what we're trying to accomplish here, an outing by this young man like that is worth three or four of those losses.

Just when I was starting to feel sympathy for Manny's stomach lining...

  • Related news, Felipe has won his second base job back, which is a good thing. He's got a higher upside offensively than Belliard. And if early signs are indication, he'll have better range than Belliard, who's looked immobile at times over there. (His range factor and out-of-zone plays made (Zero!) are basically identical to the ancient Jeff Kent, who was never regarded as a defensive whiz back before he turned 50.)

  • And you've undoubtedly seen the news about Cordero. Clicking in the shoulder is never a good sign: torn or tearing labrum, perhaps? Either way, the course of action is probably going to be him getting shut down for 4-6 weeks. They'll certainly try rest regardless of diagnosis.

  • Edit: Those last two sentences are why you should never ever ever ever listen to a goddamn thing I write!

    • posted by Chris Needham at 8:50 AM

    24 Comments:

    • Wow. Just when things were starting to click for Cordero, too. Bummer.

      By Blogger Bote Man, at 4/23/2008 9:23 AM  

    • Well damn, if Redding can toss a perfect game tonight, the Nats have almost broken even for the season for Manny.

      By Blogger Harper, at 4/23/2008 9:38 AM  

    • Manny's comment that "an outing ... like this is worth three or four of those losses" is quite telling, and quite at odds with management's view. If we're to interpret what Manny is saying as "This season is shot, let's go with the kids," it's quite at odds with JimBo signing the likes of Aaron Boone (forget Bret), Oh-for-Mackowiak, Lenny "I'm glad to contribute" Harris, PLoD and other one-year wonders. If Manny really believes this, call up Kid Flores and the rest of the Kid Pitchers at Columbus, throw them into the fire and let's end this charade that this somehow is anything close to being even a .500 team.

      As for Chad, it's over, done, kaput, fini, check please. His arm is shot. Having been the first on this post to predict (accurately, one year ago), that Patterson's arm was dead, I feel I have some credibility in this area.

      Shoulda traded him to Boston when you could have, Mr. Leather Pants.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/23/2008 9:50 AM  

    • writing this season off, and calling up all of the kids now are two different questions, in my opinion. I think we should put all of the kids in Columbus and let them get better together, then bring them up when we have a chance to win with them. Piecemealing them to the bigs won't help (look at the Rays). Holding them back until we can get solid production in the years of low salaries is the key (look at Alex Gordon).

      By Blogger Natsfan74, at 4/23/2008 10:33 AM  

    • Stan-
      I think if was up to Manny he would have Flores as an everyday catcher. I thought it had already been established that keeping him in Columbus was a financial/contractual decision, nothing more.

      As far as the 'Kid' pitchers; aren't most of 'em already here? We had one good draft year, but don't buy into JimBo/Kasten's bullshit when they try to make it seem that they miraculously flooded our farm system with tons of can't miss prospects.
      I think the truth is we're closer to average, depth-wise.

      By Blogger Rob B, at 4/23/2008 10:52 AM  

    • Flores not being the everyday catcher isn't a money issue -- he would cost a lot less than either PLod or Estrada. It's more a timing and development issue. I agree with Chris on this one -- give me 4 more years where the club owns his rights and can actually use his talents towards winning games, rather than watching him get closer to free agency on bad teams. We want to win with him, not get ready to win and then see him become a free agent.

      By Blogger Natsfan74, at 4/23/2008 11:13 AM  

    • Well, I guess we can start lusting over the top picks in next year's draft, anyway.

      At least if there's any consolation, this team's epic fail seems to have taken even the front office by surprise. Although this probably raises questions about their true ability to evaluate talent, at least it seems pretty clear (given the panic to bring back Pena and Cordero) that the team was not intentionally being disingenuous in its promise of improved offense. I guess it's better to be incompetent than dishonest.

      By Blogger Michael Taylor, at 4/23/2008 11:16 AM  

    • Referring to this season as an "epic fail" when the team has a 6-15 record makes as much sense as referring to last season as an "epic fail" would have made when the record was 9-25. In both cases, there's a lot of season left to be played and, just as they did last year, things could change. At this point, the only way this season could be called an epic fail would be if the expectation was that the team would have won the World Series - which it wasn't. Right now, it's too early to call this season either a failure or a success. There's a lot of baseball yet to be played, and my expectation is that the rest of it will be far, far better than what we have seen to date. (Although probably not any better than last night was...)

      By Blogger An Briosca Mor, at 4/23/2008 11:31 AM  

    • NatsFan-
      I guess I should clarify; by 'financial' I was sort of thinking that it would be cheaper to get him signed long-term if he hasn't had as much playing time at the MLB level. This was stupid thinking on my part because I forgot about the Zimmerman extension issue that reflects the whole hypocritical attitude of our fearless leaders.
      "You're the face of the franchise, the future, next Ripken.......but we still don't want to commit to you financially"

      By Blogger Rob B, at 4/23/2008 11:36 AM  

    • ABM-
      optimism from you?
      pass us the bong, please!

      By Blogger Rob B, at 4/23/2008 11:39 AM  

    • Not to change subjects too much on the feel good story of the day, but the Reds fired their GM, Wayne Krivsky. The ESPN story says his biggest mistake was trading Kearns and Lopez to the Nationals.

      I wonder if the ESPN story on Bowden getting fired will say his biggest mistake was trading for Lopez.....

      By Blogger Natsfan74, at 4/23/2008 11:58 AM  

    • ABM,

      For once I think I may agree with you.

      By Blogger OleShu, at 4/23/2008 11:58 AM  

    • Why oh why aren't WE hiring Walt Jocketty? Has there been a better GM in all baseball in the last 15 years?

      By Blogger Steven, at 4/23/2008 12:39 PM  

    • Yes.

      By Blogger Chris Needham, at 4/23/2008 12:39 PM  

    • Well, actually, maybe we should be calling Krivsky now.

      But Chris what part of 7 playoff appearances, 2 WS appearances, and 1 championship in 13 years do you not like? He inherited a team that had 7 straight losing seasons and posts 9 winning years out of 13? He gets fired after his first losing year in 7 years, and look where they are now?

      And in a small market? Geez, tough crowd.

      By Blogger Steven, at 4/23/2008 12:52 PM  

    • He's got a good track record. But he also had a very strong support system behind him.

      If the Nats are going to make a change, I'm all for Rizzo.

      By Blogger Chris Needham, at 4/23/2008 12:53 PM  

    • Fair enough. I definitely don't know enough to have an opinion on Rizzo, but it seems like a no-brainer that Jocketty would have been a huge upgrade over Bowden.

      By Blogger Steven, at 4/23/2008 12:58 PM  

    • --ABM,

      I would note that I certainly have not written the season off. I know it's early and there is cause for optimism. However, to characterize what we've seen this past month as anything less than "epic fail" would be a compliment. It's an epic fail that almost certainly bodes to improve, of course, given regression to the mean, etc, but nonetheless, this is just about as bad as it gets.

      Furthermore, some components (Cordero, for instance) aren't coming back this season, while others are regressing towards the mean (Belliard) after peak years last year. This team certainly has the pieces to play .500 ball the rest of the way, just like last year's but expecting a any improvement over last season is probably unrealistic.

      Pena, for instance, was not only rushed back, but will feel the lingering effects of his oblique injury for perhaps as much as a few months. For a guy who lives and dies by his power, that's a big problem.

      By Blogger Michael Taylor, at 4/23/2008 1:09 PM  

    • "Torn labrum?"... Sounds like more of a torn vagina -to me

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/23/2008 2:36 PM  

    • Svrluga said on his chat today that Bowden stands tall with Mark Lerner and likely will be around for a long time. Not exactly news (read Don Sutton as well). So forget speculating about possible replacements for GM. It ain't going to happen.

      What's more interesting to me is the obvious interest the Mets' ownership/management is showing in Acta, confirmed again today by Svrluga. It would not be surprising if the Nats in the not-so-distant future found they had to find a replacement for Acta after New York comes a callin'.

      We won't know what this ownership/management group can deliver for another five years or so.
      Count me among the pessmists, that is, I doubt very much that in the fall of 2013 the Nats will be driving toward a pennant. Time will tell.

      In the meantime, we can enjoy seeing the major league teams that come to town--and that includes all of the NL East, save our own boys of course.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/23/2008 5:37 PM  

    • I'd be curious to see how long Bowden is in 'tall standing' with the Lerners when it's August and the stadium is still half-full. Barring a huge turnaround, there's going to be a lot of tickets that don't get sold this year.
      Lots of people are nice until you start talking dollar signs and bottom lines.

      By Blogger Rob B, at 4/23/2008 6:01 PM  

    • Fercrissake, hasn't this team learned it's lesson? FLop still sucks, despite a .270 "HOT STREAK" and you sure as hell don't bat him LEADOFF. Nice outing tonight ... O fer 4 with K's and GIDP's aplenty the last few games. He will have to play himself out of the lineup???!!!??! WHY? I would say he is just about there. Belliard HAS A BETTER UPSIDE. LOOK AT THE STATS FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS CHRIS!!! WAKE UP!!! This is Manny grasping at straws and trying to be convincing doing it.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/23/2008 9:29 PM  

    • What's disappointing about tonight is that Santana has got through 7 innings in less than 100 pitches. Seriously, where is the patience? It's a mystery to me, but hey, I AM NOT THE HITTING COACH.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/23/2008 9:40 PM  

    • I was at the game tonight-a few observations:

      1) I saw more people wearing Red Sox crap tonight than i have ever seen at any other MLB game, short of Fenway Park. It has gotten ridiculous. The Red Sox have apparently become the de-facto favorite team of the teenage future sorority girls, and as the teenage girls go, so goes the nation apparently (the Sox also have managed to corner the douchebag market as well, but that's not news). I honestly want to throw beer at people i see in an NL STADIUM, watching two NL TEAMS play each other, and i just might if this season gets much worse.

      2) Absolutely ZERO energy at the stadium tonight, and the energy there was, came from the Mets fans, who even seemed pretty tame. It was so dull and quiet, even with a good sized crowd, that i was becoming bored, and i love baseball. I don't think i can bring myself to attend any more of these games when the Nats play teams with big fanbases, because the fans from those teams always outnumber Nats fans, and the Nats might as well be a road team. People spend the whole time at these games talking on their cellphones, talking incessantly to their friends next to them or walking around.

      It's sad to say, but that Nats these days may very well be the uncoolest team in baseball. Do love that stadium though, even more so the 2nd time around.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/23/2008 11:47 PM  

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