Thursday, October 28, 2004

Worst. Team. Ever.

I report you decide.
"stuey (new york): what will montreal do with their crowded outfield? wilkerson, rivera, chavez and sledge are all too good to sit.

Joe Sheehan: Actually, only Wilkerson is a complete player, someone who should play every day. I think the other three can make a nice rotation, though, mixing and matching based on park and pitcher.

The Expos might be one of the worst teams ever next year, because it's hard to see how they get anything done this offseason.

I still say the Washington deal is far from set. "

4 Comments:

  • Baseball Prospectus has not had one good thing to say about DC baseball. I don't know if I'm going to renew my subscription.

    Anyway, that's a pretty asinine comment. Last year's team had no budget and a lot of injuries. They were a bad team, but certainly not historically bad - not even the worst in their own league. The 2005 model will have a little more money and a few more games from Nick Johnson and Tomo Ohka.

    And as far as it being "far from set," Sheehan is mistaking cynicism for wisdom.

    By Blogger Ryan, at 10/28/2004 3:47 PM  

  • I'm about as big a Nick Johnson fan as you're going to find, but counting on him for more than 120 games is probably a mistake.

    This was a putrid offensive team last year. Their pitching was average. And as you said, they did it on a mostly shoestring budget. With $20MM in improvements, they could be competitive in this division. One of these days I'll sit down and figure out what moves I think they should make.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 10/28/2004 4:15 PM  

  • Here's what really worries me about Johnson: he started the season hurt (of course), but when he came back, he was on fire. It seemed like he had a hit and a walk every game (I was checking reguarly). But then it all fell to pieces, he stopped getting hits, and his OBP eventually dropped to .359 before that pretty face of his got busted up. Did he have a nagging injury or what? He's still only 25, though.

    By Blogger Ryan, at 10/28/2004 4:42 PM  

  • Well, I have to admit I didn't follow them all that closely this year. But I've been a Yankee fan for a while (I grew up in NY) and he had recurring hand/wrist problems in the minors. They were really strange soft tissue injuries too. There was one season they shut him down completely just to rest him bc they couldn't figure out what was wrong.

    If I remember, last year he had back problems coming out of spring training. It's possible rehab/drugs took care of it for a stretch, but that the general strain, particularly on the turf, inflamted it. And then his face broke.

    Some players just can't stay healthy. Hopefully this'll be the year. IF he does stay healthy and develop, he's an all-star callibre player.

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 10/28/2004 5:24 PM  

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