Nationals Baseball: Out of Blogfice

Friday, December 20, 2013

Out of Blogfice

Some random notes before checking out for XMAS (well maybe - you never know when inspiration will hit)

On the whole bench thing, overall this should be a good offense. The talent of the offensive starters 1-8 should be Top 5 in the league* but injuries can kill those expectations. We saw that last year. Injuries took out Ramos, Werth and Bryce for various time frames. Add in a regression from LaRoche and a collapse from Espinosa and you get a offense that took 2/3rds of the year to get back together.

There is no reason for the Nats to be sure that can't happen again. So you can either plan for it now, with the best bench possible or adapt to it later, with trades. Since Rizzo seems to be more of a "set it and forget it" guy when it comes to rosters, I think it's important we set the bench to be as good as possible.

I don't think they have to replace Espy, Moore & Solano/Leon, you can take a gamble here or there, but if they don't replace at least two I'll be disappointed.  If I were to bet I'd say most likely to be here is Solano/Leon, then Moore, then Espy. Why Solano/Leon? Way I see it, if Ramos does go down again then trade, but hope it doesn't come to that.

Yes, there can't be a perfect roster (or more accurately it's really hard and expensive to do it and no one  does it so don't blame the Nats for that) but there are holes and it'd be silly not to try to address it. It might not be the best plan for the future, but constantly planning for the long haul can cause you to miss the opportunities in front of you. The Strasburg sit followed by the 2013 they had should be a blaring klaxon warning everyone of that.



JW - you're not offering enough for Belt, even if the Giants don't love him they'll see that.

z11/blovy8 - The Yanks will score runs (yes their gain is better than their loss.. at least from what those guys put up in 2013) but are in trouble if they don't find pitching (the Tanaka situation isn't looking good right now). With the talent out there I hope they don't break the cap for an arm (Arroyo for 2 is my hope). I expect the Rays to run away with the East. Stats-wise I don't like the Red Sox as much as everyone else. A lot of best / 2nd best years put up last season, pitching depth is an issue, Bogarts is real deal but no guarantee of great 2014 and Middlebrooks/Bradley Jr are question marks.

Anon - cass is right - if the Nats didn't up with Syracuse they would have had to find someplace else to play and Syracuse would have to find another team to use their facilities. Usually what you see is a major league team deciding to move on from a place for better facilities/location and teams shuffling around after that move.

*For those of you focusing on the great last couple of months the Nats put up as proof of a powerhouse 2014 team, I'll remind you that the team was together in July as well. Gotta factor that in.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the replies, Cass/Harper.

I suppose that was the obvious answer, just the part about the Chiefs (and all these other minor league teams) not "existing" without an MLB-team stocking them with players takes a little to wrap your head around. It's like the minor league teams provide a framework, and some mlb team comes along and slots in.

Harper said...

yes - and teams can (and do) totally disappear. Just a couple years ago a group from Pensacola bought the Carolina Mudcats moved em while the former owners of the Mudcats bought the Kinston Indians and took over the Mudcats name (though not their space in AA, they stayed where Kinston was in A ball) End result - no more Kinston Indians.

Dr Trea (formerly #werthquake) said...

Am i the only one that shakes his head more and more each day that similar or better closers to Soriano last winter sign for a fraction of the price (Benoit, who i would prefer, 2/15.5) and NOT surrender a critical first round draft pick?

Zimmerman11 said...

Happy Holidays everyone! See you all next year :)

John C. said...

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate that, and an appropriate midwinter festival wish to everyone else!

I would be surprised if Rizzo isn't constantly exploring ways to improve the roster. I also wouldn't be surprised if ultimately there are only minor moves made on the way in, because (for example) Choo is too expensive in money/years/draft choice/player that would have to be dumped to be worthwhile. At this point I think signing Desmond to an extension is more important for the team going forward than who the 25th guy on the bench turns out to be.

Harper said...

C&S - not the only one but I will say I appreciated the roster building effort (just didn't appreciate that it kind of ended there and Apr-July was spent not fixing the inevitable problems - Can't be halfway "all in")

John C - desmond I think is given. ZNN worries/interests me. Big chip.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas! May Santa bring a WS victory.

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