The Nats Thread

[James Ford]

Is is too early for me to to say fire the manager?

Charlie Morton=terrible interview
Doug Fister=future broadcaster

[hutch]

Is is too early for me to to say fire the manager?

Charlie Morton=terrible interview
Doug Fister=future broadcaster

not really.. never liked the hiring in the first place...

but they just don't have enough offense.....they needed to add another strong bat in the offseason...it just looks like the same problem as most of last year.. the pitching is great but they don't score enough runs.....its hard though when you dont have zim, harper or laroche! some of those guys out there look like scrubs..

[gaaaaaaaaah]

i dont think its fair to make any judgement on williams yet. hes definitely made some questionable calls but with the lineup hes had to send out there lately being near 500 is a miracle.

if the nats cant string together a few weeks of great baseball once guys start coming off the dl i could get on board with disliking williams, but until then im giving him the benefit of the doubt. injuries arent his fault. (although you could certainly argue harpers injury is partially on williams)

the defense has been atrocious though, and that might be one thing you can attribute to williams.

plus for better or worse rizzo will give him more than one season. that hiring was his big move as a gm and i dont think he'll admit it was a failure that soon. whether he should or not is another discussion

agree that a lot of the bench additions arent really working out (and espinosas strong start is proving to be a fluke, though thats probably more a result of being thrown into the starting lineup every night), but the opening day starting lineup isnt lacking big bats imo. hopefully the injuries are out of the way by the all star break and they can finish strong. in the meantime theyve got to hang around 500 however possible. anything can happen but you gotta imagin the marlins will fade soon, so itll come down to the nats and braves, with the nats absolutely needing to win or sweep a few series between them

[hutch]

i dont think its fair to make any judgement on williams yet. hes definitely made some questionable calls but with the lineup hes had to send out there lately being near 500 is a miracle.

if the nats cant string together a few weeks of great baseball once guys start coming off the dl i could get on board with disliking williams, but until then im giving him the benefit of the doubt. injuries arent his fault. (although you could certainly argue harpers injury is partially on williams)

the defense has been atrocious though, and that might be one thing you can attribute to williams.

plus for better or worse rizzo will give him more than one season. that hiring was his big move as a gm and i dont think he'll admit it was a failure that soon. whether he should or not is another discussion

agree that a lot of the bench additions arent really working out (and espinosas strong start is proving to be a fluke, though thats probably more a result of being thrown into the starting lineup every night), but the opening day starting lineup isnt lacking big bats imo. hopefully the injuries are out of the way by the all star break and they can finish strong. in the meantime theyve got to hang around 500 however possible. anything can happen but you gotta imagin the marlins will fade soon, so itll come down to the nats and braves, with the nats absolutely needing to win or sweep a few series between them

what are these big opening day bats?

Laroche we knew would be injured because he always is.... Harper is so far HYPE.. he is not a proven big bat except in those stupid commercials.... that leaves Zimmerman who also is evidently breaking down...

They had the exact same problem last year and did nothing to make sure they wouldn't be in the same position this year... I'm sorry but Span is barely good enough...

that leaves Werth , Desmond and Ramos..I like Rendon a lot too....

also, the other problem they have which is the same as most of last year is that the clutch hitting is very poor..with runners in scoring position they seem to tense up.....You would have thought Matt Williams could have made some difference there...

Obviously they need to keep Williams for two years.... I was sort of joking around but he should be in the hot seat when they have a losing record a quarter of the way through the season...regardless of injuries..

[gaaaaaaaaah]

span shows flashes of being a great leadoff guy, and hes fantastic in center, but yeah, cant really argue that he hasnt been a bust. its hard to string much offense together with a leadoff guy with a sub-300 obp. will be interesting to see what rizzo does with the position next year. harper to center zimmerman to the outfield?

laroche has actually been a reliable presence over his career (except one season), so i was figuring hed be an anchor in the middle of the order. hopefully his return sparks things a bit.

harper has been more hype than results, agreed, but last april was proof for me that hes more than capable of great things if he can stay on the field. his commercials are the worst though. cant blame him for taking the money but put up some numbers before the ad blitzing gets underway

not really even sure what to say about zimmerman. that situation is a mess, but hes definitely still a big bat.

desmonds been the most frustrating guy on the team for me. considering the rumored contract he turned down this offseason hes got a ton to prove right now.

rendons been a joy to watch, even though hes slumping a bit now.

considering theyve had the starting lineup on the field for half a game this year, its hard to really judge this team. theres certainly plenty of concern though

[DeathFromAbove1979]

This team has become frustrating to watch. Same problems they had last year. I don't know how they can go game to game and just strand runner after runner. I think last week or 2 weeks ago they were in a game and loaded the bases TWICE and managed I think about 1 run in both situations. 3 hits in their last 30 ab's? Uy. I get that they have guys out, but wasn't the bench supposed to be BETTER this year?

I agree about watching Desmond has been frustrating, but he usually comes on more towards the 2nd half of the season.

It seems this team can only score with the long ball. I thought Matt Williams was going to force more stolen bases? I guess when base runners are so few and far between [or maybe just runs] he doesn't want to sacrifice those bodies. I don't know what to think. There's no doubt it's frustrating.

[vansmack]

Thank you for Burnett.  Bullpen was the glaring weakness last year in Anaheim and I LOVE a solid lefty reliever.

I'm sure most of you have forgotten all about him, but it's been pretty sad to watch.

He missed almost all of last season, came back a week ago and was so happy, only to go down again last night.  His return was 3 batters before leaving last night, just about in tears.

[DeathFromAbove1979]

That sucks!

[vansmack]

Torn UCL,  will require a second Tommy John surgery and is out for the rest of this contract.

[James Ford]

As long as he gets paid, probably doesn't matter to him.

Torn UCL,  will require a second Tommy John surgery and is out for the rest of this contract.

[DeathFromAbove1979]

Uy. Last night's game. I watched right up until the 5th or 6th and considered it over. Started doing some errands. Then checked Twitter and saw Wilson Ramos tied it. Went back down and watched the game again. This team really knows how to put on clinics for how to strand runners. AGAIN. LOADED BASES. ZERO RUNS. Did they strand 16 last night? Insane! They couldn't get a friggin pop fly!?!?

At least the Blackhawks/Kings game was good.

[hutch]

Nats are very painful to watch right now.....

I have a lot of sports options on my cable... watching the Nats feels kind of like torture in comparison to many of the others...can't see it improving during the World Cup.

Rendon is slumping so bad too...sad...

[DeathFromAbove1979]

Can't be hot all season. It is a shame. It sucks that he's hitting his slump while everyone else seems to be. At least I'm busy all weekend so I probably won't catch any of the games.

[vansmack]

Zim to Left Field starting tonight.  I wasn't going to see the Nats next week when they're here, but now I will.  I love watching professional athletes learn new positions!

[DeathFromAbove1979]

Was bummed out I couldn't make it to his rehab starts. Those are always fun. I went down there when Werth was doing his stint last year. Excited! Having Zim back in the line-up definitely doesn't hurt!