Nationals Baseball: Godspeed, old friend

Friday, November 30, 2012

Godspeed, old friend

Yankee stadium is nice in Spring. And Summer.  And Fall.  Just saying.

14 comments:

Donald said...

It might be wishful thinking, but the Nats seem to be freeing up some salary room. A rotation of Strasburg, Grienke, Gonzalez, Zimmermann and Detwiler wouldn't be too shabby.

And it's probably the one move they could make that would propel them to the odds on favorite to reach, or even win, the world series.

Zimmerman11 said...

Or just re sign Lannan for less money? Wonder what he will wind up making on the open market... if there is an innings eating veteran out there...its Jon Lannan... who kills the braves!





Zimmerman11 said...

Or just re sign Lannan for less money? Wonder what he will wind up making on the open market... if there is an innings eating veteran out there...its Jon Lannan... who kills the braves!





goodman.dl said...

John Lannan would probably rather stab himself in the face with a rusty steak knife than come back here...

Zimmerman11 said...

Fair enough... but logically... he was just the 6th man last year... so where was he supposed to pitch? You're probabl right... he would prefer to pitch somewhere else... there are quite a few FA pitchers out there for the Nate to to fill out the rotation with.

Zimmerman11 said...

Fair enough... but logically... he was just the 6th man last year... so where was he supposed to pitch? You're probabl right... he would prefer to pitch somewhere else... there are quite a few FA pitchers out there for the Nate to to fill out the rotation with.

michael k said...

Harper, what are your thoughts on non-tendering Gorzelanny? He's the only lefty in the bullpen as of now, and he did great last year in a longman role. I just looked it up and he made 3M last year. I suppose that's kinda expensive for a non-essential bullpen arm.

Froggy said...

So, by non-tendering do the Nats void any compensation if they sign with another team?

...and with Lannan gone, I guess no more man-crush from you eh Harper?

Donald said...

I have to say, Rizzo seems like he's keeping it classy. He could have kept Lannan in AAA all next year but non-tendering him lets him sign with a team. Similarly, I think he could have made an offer to EJax to get back a compensation pick, but that would have lowered his value and salary.

I'm guessing that the GM's across the league have talked and tried to work this out, but I think it's the right thing to do for the players. Particularly someone like Lannan who the Nats could stash in AAA but could get a legitimate starting job in free agency.

Ollie said...

@Froggy You don't get compensation for someone who spent most of last year in AAA.

@Donald I'm all for that. Re-sign LaRoche, sign Greinke, print tickets to 2013 World Series.

Froggy said...

@Ollie, so that would apply to Lannan, but what about Gorzo and Flores? Just curious...

Ollie said...

None have been tendered arbitration offers so no. Baseball does free agent compensation in a way very appropos for a sport as statistically oriented as it is. They break the top percentile free agents into Type A/Type B categories, but you have to be amongst the best in your position for the season. I like Flores, Gorzelanny, and Lannan but none of them would be close to qualifying and if they were Rizzo might have tried to get compensation by lowballing an arbitration number or something (I'm a little fuzzy on how that might work in baseball).

For a brief but more specific explanation for Type A/Type B draft compensation go to the MLB section of this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_agent

Harper said...

Donald - I think it's a goal but Rizzo is likely trying to make a deal on his terms. As we saw with Prince that doesn't often work.

Z11 - Like goodman dl says I can't imagine he'll be back. Yes he was a 6th man here but you could argue the Nats had the best rotation top to bottom in the majors. There are plenty of places he would get a chance to start. Maybe not for 5 million a year but then again pitchers are always a hot commodity and he is still only 28.

mk - I think it's dumb. It think Rizzo is thinking we can get 85% of what Gorzo did from Duke for like 20% of the $$$. Fiscally that makes sense but the Nats aren't in that position anymore. You don't fly pennants for most marginal wins per dollar.

Froggy - Boooo the term "man-crush"! but I will have to pick a new favorite player.

Donald - I don't think he did it to be classy. I think he did it to free up the $. I don't think he was sure of anything last year, pitching wise and wanted to keep the depth. Now I don't think he cares.

Ollie / Froggy - the one thing they do lose the the opportunity to trade Lannan (and Flores and Gorzo) at deals that were perhaps below market value (it arguable). FA compensation at this point really is only going to be an issue with the best FAs.

blovy8 said...

Whatever teams are looking at Joe Saunders ought to say the hell with that 6 million he wants.