February 15, 2007

The Nationals NRI All-Star Team

Watson's post yesterday, highlighting the addition of Dmitri Young and Tony Batista (but sadly not Randall Simon) to the Nats spring camp, got me thinking. In addition to the 40 guys on the official roster, the Nationals have extended Spring Training invitations to an additional 33 players. These 33 Non-Roster Invitees (NRI) are an intriguing mix of washed-up has beens, disappointing never weres, and anonymous career minor leaguers. But more than that, there's THIRTY THREE of them! That's more than enough to construct an active (25-man) roster. So that's what I did.

I tried to choose players with the slimmest chance of making the actual 40-man roster this season, but also guys who have had at least a nominal big league career. I also largely ignored their listed positions on the Nationals.com NRI roster. Any document that lists Da Meat Hook primarily as an outfielder has no credibility. I've kept the analysis to a minimum. Should morbid curiosity prompt you, more info on these folks is available from any number of sources, including here.


So, without further ado about nothing, I present to you the 2007 Washington Nationals NRI All-Stars!!!


STARTERS

C Danny Ardoin

1B Dmitri Young

2B Tony Womack

SS D’Angelo Jimenez

3B Tony Batista

LF Abraham Nunez

CF Darnell McDonald

RF George Lombard


BENCH

C Juan Brito

1B Travis Lee

IF Jose Macias

IF Joe Thurston

OF Wayne Lydon

UTIL Tony Blanco


ROTATION

SP Jason Simontacchi

SP Brandon Claussen

SP Colby Lewis

SP Chris Michalak

SP Anastacio Martinez


BULLPEN

RP Jesus Colome

RP Mike Bacsik

RP Winston Abreu

RP Josh Hall

RP Luis Martinez

RP Felix Diaz


Now, you can quibble with a few of these guys. Brandon Claussen will almost certainly get a shot in the rotation at some point, but he's rehabbing and there's no chance he'll break camp with the big club. Dimitri Young or Travis Lee will be the Opening Day 1B if Larry Broadway falls on his face, but why wish ill on one of the team's few semi-talented quasi-youngsters? One of the Macias/Womack/Batista/Jimenez quartet will probably assume a utility infielder spot, but I have a shiny nickel for anyone who can correctly predict who it will be.


More than anything, I just wanted to give you, loyal reader, a sneak preview of the eventual 2007 World Champion Columbus Clippers. Happy Spring Training!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

For what it is worth... Mike bacsik went 11-0 as a STARTER in AAA in the PCL last year with an ERA or 2.79... He is a better bet than some to make the team as a Starter! Thanks for the good post!

J

Anonymous said...

Good stuff.

Scary thing is that if you take Claussen off your list, that could very well be 4/5ths of the starting rotation by May...

Anonymous said...

You've heard of the Ken Phelps All Stars? These might be the Enos Cabell All Stars.