I'm just saying.
It's true. Better fielder, better hitter. He was even smaller than Lombo. 175 pounds on baseball reference? That's like 160 in the real world right? Still in the majors and likely to sign for 2014.
Carroll's story always amazes me. He didn't look like he'd be long for the majors in 2005, maybe a couple more bench years then back home to coach community college ball or something. But then he turned himself into a fairly decent little player. Ignore 2007 and from 2006-2012 he was about a 2 win a year WAR player. Or look at in another way, from 2006-2012 he was about the 20th most valuable 2nd baseman. That's not much but it says - worth starting for somebody.
He's one of the last inaugural Nats out there. There's Zimm of course. He'll almost certainly be the last. And Marlon Byrd who became a good player pretty much the minute the Nats let him go. He'll at least play out his newly minted contract. There's Endy who after the Nats didn't understand his (admittedly limited) value plied his slap-hitting good D trade across several teams (along with possibly the best HR robbing catch in playoff history. Oops I might be slighting Jayson Werth. OK Endy has possibly the best legitimate HR robbing catch in playoff history) He might be done though as time has taken away his defence. There's Luis Ayala, who almost pitched himself out of the game, then came back in 2011 to give a few teams good enough bullpen innings. There's Jon Rauch who was pretty solid before last year, but couldn't hook up with another team after a decent AAA stint with the O's caused him to opt-out. Both of these guys could and probably should end up in some organization, at least as AAA filler.
Then there's Brendan Harris. How crazy is that? The guy had one decent year in 2007, which convinced the Twins they could use him as a super-sub (they couldn't). Got a chance to be organizational depth for the Orioles (failed). Got same chance to be that for the Rockies and performed so well that the Angels thought... he might be worth starting? Based on PCL-inflated stats? No wonder that team is failing. After crashing out of the majors there he was tried as org depth for the Yankees (failed) and Rangers (failed) and yet he will be invited to Spring Training for the Dodgers. Crazy.
Maybe it's because he's scrappy and white?
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Don't forget Chad Cordero's attempted (and failed) comeback last year. He got an Spring Training invite with the Angels and appeared in 58 games for their minor league teams, most at triple A. He, uh, had a sub-4.00 FIP in AAA but his ERA was much worse. Not expecting to see him in the majors again, but he at least played most of the year in organized ball.
Nationals Carroll wasn't better than Lombo. He was another guy who got a LOT better after leaving. Just sayin'...
By the way, this blog posting essentially ensures that Lombo will be an average second baseman in the league for five years.
Bring back as many former Expos as possible. I'll even take Colon! I've seen rumors that the Nats are in on Scott Downs...
Bartolo Colon, 4O, Athletics
Jamey Carroll, 39, Twins
Scott Downs, 37, Angels
Luis Ayala, 35, Braves/Orioles
Endy Chavez, 35, Mariners
Bruce Chen, 35, Royals
Jon Rauch, 34, Marlins
Maicer Izturis, 32, Blue Jays
Brendan Harris, 32, Angels
And let's not forget the players who were sent to CLE in exchange for Colon... Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips!
All these guys are FA's (minus Izturis)... not many former Expos left. Colon doesn't really count. I can see Harper basically covered the list in his post, based on who is likely to continue in the bigs. Good work, sir!
OMG... we have clearly progressed beyond this... !
Looks like the Nats signed Nate McLough.
McLouth is certainly an upgrade over most fourth-outfielder candidates, and is being paid that way as well. Given Werth's brittle health, Harper's habit of ramming himself into solid objects, and Span's sometimes questionable offense, this is a sensible decision; it might also be a good bet-hedge if they consider sitting LaRoche and having Werth play 1B more often than anticipated
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