The Nats are supposedly considering playing Morse in rightfield. That's great...I guess. But I can't get past what this tells us about the Nats management.
Either:
Before Opening Day, they decide to go with a Harris/Taveras platoon, despite the obvious offensive faults of Willy with a "y". Then one game into the season, ONE GAME, they decide they don't have enough offense because they only scored one run against ROY HALLADAY, so they decide they need to make a move.
OR:
The front office really wanted Morse to start but they gave into the wishes of Jim Riggleman, for all of ONE GAME, and now are backing off of that deal showing their new manager a tremendous amount of trust.
OR:
Riggleman spoke out of turn when he said it would be Willy and Willie. Meaning he either didn't know he didn't have the power to make such a decision, or was trying to force it to be the way he would prefer it.
OR:
I don't know... Vampire aliens put Bowden back in charge of the team (let's not forget where Taveras spent last season)
If Morse starts vs lefties, good for the Nats. It means the team is better. Shame Morse can't start for the front office, too.
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If you can ignore how they got from A to B, starting Harris vs righties and Morse vs lefties is probably exactly what they should be doing now. And ignoring the front office is my strong recommendation for Nats fans.
Don't you think Morse is a Riggleman guy coming from Seattle and all? I still can't figure our who in the organization was pulling for Taveres.
Riggleman was only in Seattle in 2008 and was the bench coach when Morse played (about 5 games in April before he went down with a season ending injury). I don't think they are boys or anything.
It has to be Riggleman right? Kasten seems too cagey and Lerner wouldn't care about this level of player...
Well, given that our choices are A) they're fools, b) they're jerks or C) they're the Keystone Cops... I'll go with A.
Jenn's right - Willie Harris has been a real asset to this team, and significantly better than Willy "Can't steal if you can't get aboard" Tavares. If they're going platoon, Harris and Morse makes alot more sense.
The other option is that they gave into some Guzmanian-type idiocy where they felt like they brought Tavares in and spent money on him so they HAD to play him. Fortunately, this program has no history of that kind of foolish groupthink.
How about choice E) Riggleman thought spring training stats were all that mattered in making this decision. Then he saw some videotape of Willy and came to his senses?
BTW, I wonder where the Nats fit with Guz/Morse as being the viable pinch hitters. Where have you gone Jorge Padilla?
Neato / Hoo - If I had to guess what really happened - it's probably something innocuous like this: No one explicitly told Riggleman that he had to play Morse so he went ahead with his own decision, opting for Taveras and defense. Sometime after saying publicly that it would be Taveras and Harris though Riggleman was pulled aside and said something to the effect of "we would really rather have Morse play"
Nothing nefarious, no power plays, just poor communication. The type of thing that should have been handled months ago.
Hoo - Rick Short! Stop scouting and get in here!
Harper: These types of miscommunications happen when you cut your starting right fielder with your only viable backup disintegrating at the plate. Otoh, maybe Rizzo thought Mench would have had a better spring.
What's worse the RF gaffes or the 2009 bullpen gaffes? Taveras, Mench, Maxwell, Harris, Bernandion, Morse RF poo vs. Ledzeman, Shell, Hinckley, Wells, Julan Taveras in the pen. Tough call.
I'd lean toward the bullpen of 2009 being a bigger mistake, if only because I don't think Rizzo is delusional about right field, while last year I think they truly believed that bullpen might turn out ok.
Of course neither situation compares to the 2005 through Morgan Trade CF Follies.
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