Ian Desmond in short and Christmas movies

For those that don't want to read a super long Desmond post here's the gist:

It's likely that...

• Ian remains a Top 5ish SS over the next two seasons, with fair defense and good power.
• Ian's power has seen it's best days. He likely won't top the low 20s in HRs more than a couple times the rest of his career. 
• Ian remains a Top 15 SS most of his next contract. This is less about Ian, who will decline, and more about his peers, who are generally older.  
• Ian will get a contract after next year that will top the 5/80 that the Nats essentially offered. (discounting bought out arbitration years)

It's up in the air that...

• Ian can adjust his approach to best fit his declining power.  He has the speed to be a 2B/3B hitter but achieved great success as a free-swinging HR hitter.
• Ian's will be a viable shortstop beyond those two years. Last year's fielding numbers note a decline in range but single year numbers are iffy.
• The Nats can replace Ian with anything comparable if they let him walk. The prospects are questionable and the FA market weak. Rizzo though has shown himself adept at the deal.

If you believe he can adjust and last year's fielding numbers were a fluke then it is probably a good idea signing Ian long term.

If you don't believe he can adjust and think last year's fielding numbers were a sign then it's definitely a good idea to let Ian go.

If you are inbetween - then the deal probably dictates what you think. I think the Nats shouldn't go past 5 years (+1 arb year). Price is less of an issue for me.

Christmas Movie Reviews (I watch a ton of these things)

In case you get stuck at a home without internet and need to choose between this terrible movie or that terrible movie let me guide you through the morass. I can move this elsewhere if you don't want it clogging up all the valuable Nats news such as "Hairston is a FA"!  Also understand for "watchability" I have a tolerance for these things that ranks right up with captured KGB agents. Your personal watchability rankings may vary.

12 Men of Christmas
X(Mas)-Factor: Someone wore red in an early scene.
Kids acting: Not a mop-top to be seen.
Watchability: I like Kristin Chenoweth. Pushing Daisies was great!
"Hey it's"! : Kristin Chenoweth! Anna Chlumsky! That regular guy from Cougartown!

You'll find a good number of these were pitched to the network as a regular movie, where some room of suits told the writer "it hits females 35-49, but right now we're looking for holiday movies. If you can Christmas it up by 20%..." The writer went back, found and replaced "Office Party" with "Christmas Party" and $$$! Start 15 minutes in and you'd never know it's a holiday movie so if you are a hater, it's a good movie for you. Hater.

The movie itself is standard "city girl learns something from country folk, and they learn something back" but not as overbearing as that theme usually is. Less "heartless bitch delivering baby cows in the rain" and more "slightly fancy girl doing scenic rock climbing". It also features pre-Veep Anna Chlumsky so you can spend parts of the movie waiting for her to swear acerbically (spoiler: happens one time but that's when you were flipping channels).

I give it 6 out of 10 rudolphs.

Christmas on the Bayou
X(Mas)-Factor: Pere Noel says "Der are sum t'ings"
Kids acting: Yep, and nervously singing too!
Watchability: Champagne and Slim-Fast
"Hey it's"! : Ed Asner! Markie Post! Randy Travis! Apparently people from One Tree Hill but that's not a show I watched!

Did I mention that last movie was about a hard-charging marketing executive from NYC? Well this movie switches it up and it's about a hard-charging marketing executive from NYC... with a child. See because marketing is not what Christmas is about! Now buy what is on the commercials during this movie!

Again we get the heaping helping "small town people know what life is all about" treatment because people who live in cities are apparently terrible. We also get an added dash of it being in the South, because small town people in the South make small town people in the North, West, or MidWest look like Sex and the City extras. The official Christmas rankings of "realness" goes from most real to least:

Farmers
Ranchers
Small Town Southerners
Small Town Non-Southerners
City Folk
NYC Folk
LA Folk

But get past the inherent triteness and the acting isn't terrible, the kid is not central to the movie, and watching Ed Asner play a cajun Santa is bon temps jumbalaya Lash Leroux! If you can get over the plot trying to make you believe she so hurt by a previous bad marriage that years later she can't even think about dating, this'll do as background noise.

I'll give it 5 out of 10 corn cob pipes.