I see a lot of nonsense in Boz's Q&A this week so maybe that'll do, pig.
- Forget about Fielder, there's apparently not enough room at the inn already with LaRoche AND Morse being such great first base options! Can we play two guys at first?
- Boz thinks he can figure out who can afford to spend money by looking at payroll, then guess at where the Nats might fit in. Just so you know, if a team can afford to spend $100 million it does not mean they do it. This is nonsense. An informed look by Forbes magazine, which I trust slightly more than a Boswell pulling stuff out of his ass, had the Nats with a cool 35+ million left to spend. That's with an uninterested fanbase. 100 mill, and it's inflation equivalent going foward, should be at the very least what the Nats average over any rebuild - win - wind down time frame.
- Boz brings up the 1998 Yankees in explaining why the Nats may not need Fielder. The 1998 Yankees? Why does Boz always have to compare TO THE EZXTREMEZZZ!!!! The Yankees didn't have HR hitters true but they had great hitters. They didn't win because they got good players and rode out their consistency. They won because Williams and Jeter were great hitters at positions where great hitters are rare, and Posada an up and comer they could count on at another hard to fill position. That let them carry a guy like Martinez who, ok was simply good (but good for a 1B in this era was pretty impressive and unlike a lot of them he was a very good fielder) and guys like Brosius and Strawberry who they could gamble on having a career or bounceback years (which they did respectively). Oh yeah - they also had O'Neill, who was, if not great, very very good during this time frame, Knoblauch, a good hitter at the 4th of 4 positions that are hard to get good hitters for, the best pitching in baseball, and the 2nd highest payroll in the game.
Congrats to Barry Larkin, who should have been the first National in the Hall Of Fame, especially after his last run at glory in 2005 helped the Nats squeak into the playoffs during their inaugural season. Never forget what Guzman stole from you!
Oh, my. If there ever had even been a rumor about Larkin joining the Nats, that would have occurred within the first month after they had been announced as coming to DC. I can't imagine I missed a single sentence of coverage during that time.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been fun, though, and he really might have made the difference that at least would have made them a winning team.
+1/2St.
I can't prove it right now but what I wrote in Jan of 2005 certainly makes it sound like there were rumors. (link to rumors no longer works - link to me saying they should have signed Larkin and Guzman sucks - still very functional)
ReplyDeleteoh forgot this:
ReplyDeletehttp://natsbaseball.blogspot.com/2005/01/shot-in-larkin.html
Wouldn't cranky Frank R. technically be the first Nat in the HOF?
ReplyDeleteAnon - ok, but he sure didn't get there for managing. I was going to make a joke about the first Nat in the HOF being someone named Nat, but there are no such people. There isn't even a HOFer that has the letters N-A-T in order in his name, first or last. Bad omen?
ReplyDeleteIf Larkin had played in '05, he might not have made the HOF this year. And no one wants to be involved in next year's mess. So his retirement turned out to be fortuitously timed.
ReplyDeleteSo they try and pull a Boras by leaking something completely untrue, that they no longer have interest in Fielder, and this comes out like 12 hours later? http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/post/nationals-still-pursuing-prince-fielder-met-today-with-agent-scott-boras/2012/01/11/gIQAX1IJsP_blog.html
ReplyDeleteHope the Lerners don't mind shelling out $25+mil per year.
Can rest much easier now that I know free agent Doug Slaten got signed. Some things really keep you awake at night.
ReplyDeletesec314- you're no good at fantasy. Leads Nats to playoffs, win WSas MVP, goes out on top. Goes in this year first ballot!
ReplyDeleteOllie - nothing from the Nats or Boras directly means anything. All just part of the process.
ND - Now we don't have to sell the "Doug's Lugs" outfield banner. Now we do have to find people to sit behind it.