BREAK UP THE F-ING NATIONALS

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

they resolved those issues by weakening their biggest strengths:  baseballs best one through four rotation and losing cabrera's protection completely changes this teams dynamic.

Smyly is supposedly read to step in at the #4. Not that worried about the rotation. I agree about Miggy's protection. V-Mart rebounded really nicely the last half of last season so hopefully he'll do admirably.

[gaaaaaaaaah]

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/06/nationals-sign-nate-mclouth/

seems like an overpay but i dont mind the idea of a solid 4th outfielder in the mix for the inevitable time off by any of the starters. obviously the bench was a major weakness last year

[hutch]

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/06/nationals-sign-nate-mclouth/

seems like an overpay but i dont mind the idea of a solid 4th outfielder in the mix for the inevitable time off by any of the starters. obviously the bench was a major weakness last year

G   AB   H   2B   3B   HR   RBI   R   BB   K   SB   CS   AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS
146   531   137   31   4   12   36   76   53   86   30   7   .258   .329   .399   .729

[hutch]

this trade i like more....a lefty reliever blevins although smackie will say "never deal with beane"... and they have, again.... it seems like Rizzo has some kind of relationship with Beane because he keeps going back there...

[gaaaaaaaaah]

very impressed by this offseason so far

its like rizzo, for all his stubborn tendencies, took all the major criticisms of last season (weak bench, no starting pitching depth, no lefty reliever, etc) to heart and slowly crossed each one of the list this time around. still a few small pieces to work on but so far so good

[vansmack]

The Nationals were definitely on a mission to plug three holes, and have done it at little cost.

Burns was a no-brainer for Beane - Minor League player of the Year with a .425 OBP for a leftie specialist that isn't as good as his best leftie in the pen.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

The Nationals were definitely on a mission to plug three holes,

Heh.

[vansmack]

Good review for the Nationals (and Halo's),  not so much for the O's:

http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=10127149

[stevewizzle]

not listing detroit = total cop out

[vansmack]

not listing detroit = total cop out

I don't know.  I thought the same thing at first, then I realized that all of their moves are about the future and not the now.  They will be big winners when they resign Scherzer and Cabrera, but until then it's hard to argue that this years team is better than last years team.  Sure, the franchise is in a better position for the future, but that's not what Stark was grading.

From a production view, Kinsler isn't an upgrade over Fielder TODAY and Smyly isn't an upgrade over Fister TODAY.  Adding Nathan misses the point of Detroit's bullpen problems - it wasn't simply an isolated closer issue.  Their problem was depth, and they've maybe made the ninth inning better, but they opened a new hole moving Smyly to the rotation.   

Castellanos is still a question mark, Iglesias is an upgrade defensively, but not offensively, and Rajai Davis has no bat - he'll probably even platoon with Dirks.

Not sure you can give them high marks.  Yet.

[vansmack]

i dont want a bad contract getting in the way of possible zimmermann/desmond/harper/strasburg extensions

jason (dc)

would it be smart for the nats to extend harper coming off a down year? 10/140 sounds good to me. what would harper cost?

David Schoenfield  (2:56 PM)

Sure, would be smart for the Nationals, but won't happen. You can pretty much guarantee that Scott Boras will take Harper to free agency.




If you makes you makes you feel any better, at about 3AM this morning I realized the most likely scenario with Trout is that he goes through an unprecedented arbitration process because he has nothing to lose, costs the Angels $15m, $25m and then $30m in his last three arb eligible seasons, and then he still signs with the Yankees in 2018.

[shemptiness]

Good review for the Nationals (and Halo's),  not so much for the O's:

http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=10127149

As an Orioles fan I'm reserving judgment until Opening Day.

[stevewizzle]

i dont want a bad contract getting in the way of possible zimmermann/desmond/harper/strasburg extensions

jason (dc)

would it be smart for the nats to extend harper coming off a down year? 10/140 sounds good to me. what would harper cost?

David Schoenfield  (2:56 PM)

Sure, would be smart for the Nationals, but won't happen. You can pretty much guarantee that Scott Boras will take Harper to free agency.




If you makes you makes you feel any better, at about 3AM this morning I realized the most likely scenario with Trout is that he goes through an unprecedented arbitration process because he has nothing to lose, costs the Angels $15m, $25m and then $30m in his last three arb eligible seasons, and then he still signs with the Yankees in 2018.

harper and trout are gonna look damn good in pinstripes.

[hutch]

If Harper takes it to the next level I believe the Nats will keep him...so far though I dont think his performance warrants a mega-contract...

[hutch]

the more interesting question is what happens with Tanaka..


coudl a team give the 20 million potsting fee and send a player as compensation

you gotta feel for the japanese team that would have stood to get 20-30 million more if they only hadn't changed the rules .. they should have said "we are changing the rules effective 2014" or something

to make a change and have it affect players this offseason..seems unprofessional