Not Dead Yet

Whew, this once a month posting schedule is punishing. Much like watching Chad Gaudin pitch. Which we won't have to do for at least two weeks.

Apparently the enormous sucking force generated by his 6.48 ERA placed an insupportable strain on his shoulder, causing inflammation. Get well, Chad, but not soon. And have your doctor take a look at Doug Slaten too, hmmm? He may have elbow tendonitis, or a prolapsed colon or something, dontchathink?

Coincidentally, Henry Rodriguez is ready to join the big club. God works in mysterious ways. The bullpen may still be shaky, but they just got much more intimidating.

It Is Finished

Photo by AP

Win the Battle, Lose the War?

Just keep repeating "It was only precautionary. It was only precautionary."

Ummm... it was only precautionary, right? Fellas?

Is this thing on...?

This Time Was Different

Years ago when I visited Yankee Stadium for the first time, I quickly realized that there was something different about that crowd. We exited the train onto the street and there was a hum and excitement that you could actually feel. It brought to mind the tension in the air just before a massive thunderstorm rolls in. At the time I chalked it up to just being at Yankee Stadium but after Steven Strasburg's debut last night I know different.

As I was walking to Rosslyn to meet Dave last night I had complete strangers walk up to me and ask if I was going to the game. People were plainly envious that I was heading to the ballpark. Then we got to the stadium and I started to feel that hum again. It wasn't quite as strong as that Yankee Stadium feeling but it was there. Then the capacity crowd gave Strasburg a standing ovation when he walked in from the bullpen and the feeling exploded like thunder. That was when it dawned on me why this was different. This game mattered.

Last night wasn't about opening a new ballpark, it wasn't about a family taking in the national pastime, and it wasn't about the guys going out for the night. Last night was about baseball. The product on the field was what mattered.

Something happened right off the bat that made it feel like something special could happen. The crowd chuckled when "Jaared" the saxophone player was introduced to play the national anthem but once he started we all stood up a little straighter. Nobody expected the soulful instrumental that followed. He got two different spontaneous cheers during his solo and that's saying something.

Then it was time to get underway. McCutcheon's liner to short made us all hold our breath but then we settled in to witness greatness. 7 strong innings, 94 pitches and 14 strikeouts. The homerun Strasburg gave up to Delwyn Young stung a little bit but in hindsight it served as a reminder that after all he is just a rookie.

And it wasn't just Strasburg that dazzled last night, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, and Josh Willingham provided their own fireworks. This was Strasburg's night but it was a team win. It was a win on a night when, for at least one game, the team had something concrete to play for. It mattered to the 40,000 plus fans, it mattered to the people watching at home, and it mattered to the Nationals. This time it was different.

Everybody Hurts

I know this is just the way things are done in baseball, but that doesn't make it any less aggravating. Jason Marquis has been scuffling since Spring Training. All the while, everyone from Rizzo to Riggleman to McCatty to Marquis himself swears up and down that it's mental, or mechanical, anything but physical. Then, all of a sudden they examine him and, lo and behold, his pitching elbow is chock full of grape nuts and ball bearings. Needless to say, he's DL-bound.

Okay, things crop up, I get that. Pitchers are used to a certain amount of pain, soreness and discomfort. Maybe it's hard to separate that from a new and different pain. That's why teams have trainers, team doctors, outside specialists, physical exams and MRIs. I'm no doctor, but floating bodies in the elbow doesn't sound like something you wake up with one morning after an ill-advised 3 am convenience store egg salad sandwich. After all, this is the same Jason Marquis whose 6.05 ERA last September got him left off the Rockies playoff roster.

Over the winter this franchise gave Jason Marquis more money than any pitcher in Nationals' history. I really hope they did their due diligence. This isn't Vinny Castilla for Brian Lawrence. There were a half dozen guys roughly equivalent to Marquis available this offseason, and somehow the Nats ended up giving $15M to the guy with the bum elbow. Seems like this has the potential to be another big black eye for the team's none-to-highly-regarded medical staff.

For all I know, "floating bodies" is the 2010 equivalent of Dontrelle Willis disorder. Jason Marquis certainly looks like a guy who could use a few weeks off and a low pressure rehab assignment. I'm not sure how time off is supposed to cure miscellaneous junk in the elbow though. Maybe it's a conservation of energy thing: floating bodies at rest tend to stay at rest? I guess we'll see. Is it June yet?

On a related note, I'm ignoring Zimmerman's cramp in the hopes that it will go away quietly. If he misses any significant time expect a remix of my post on how this team's vaunted "versatility" really won't be of any use in replacing key offensive production.

Everybody Wang Chung Tonight*

Now this is dumpster-diving we can believe in. Per the Boston Globe's Pete Abraham, (via MLBTradeRumors) SP Chien-Ming Wang is on the verge of agreeing to a contract with the Nats. If this is what Mike Rizzo did with the money he saved on Adam Kennedy, that's alright by me.

Wang comes with an host of question marks, but so does everyone else available at this point. He's coming off shoulder surgery, so there's no way he's ready to start the season (his agent says mid-May, which makes me think maybe June 1st.) Wang's only pitched 137 innings in the last two years, and his numbers last season were atrocious, so we probably aren't getting the 2006 Cy Young runner-up, two-time 19 game winner. Even what he does well could be a problem.

Wang's a groundball pitcher. It may even be fair to say that he's the groundball pitcher. To be successful he needs a good infield defense behind him. The Nats have never had a good infield defense, particularly up the middle. Improving that defense was one of Rizzo's stated goals for the offseason, but the projected 2010 Dunn-Kennedy-Guzman-Zimmerman infield is still a huge defensive question mark.

Nevertheless, it's a great low-risk pick-up for the Nats, a welcome respite from the Bowden impersonator that signed Miguel Batista (Basil's man-crush notwithstanding) and Shawn Estes. It's also a good sign that Rizzo isn't resigned to a 2010 rotation of Marquis-Lannan and a 3-game forfeit. Pitchers and catchers report in just over a week, so everybody have fun tonight!

*Yes, I know how it's pronounced, but if Wang is Wong I don't want to be right.

Cui bono?

There's no upside for the Nats in Jordan Zimmermann's impending Tommy John surgery. It's all well and good for Mike Rizzo to talk about success rates and pitchers coming back stronger, but the bottom line is: The Nats just lost a key piece of their developmental puzzle for at least one year.

This is why baseball fans should have TINSTAAPP tattooed on their foreheads (preferably backwards, so as to be easily readable in the mirror.) This is why you trade Nick Johnson for Aaron Thompson and draft two pitchers for every position player. Baseball is a numbers game, in every sense of the word. From the statistics that measure accomplishment to the attrition that occurs at every level from little league to the majors.

The Nats did everything with Zimmermann that you're supposed to do with a young pitcher. They brought him along slowly, limited his innings, monitored his pitch counts and shut him down at the first sign of trouble. And his elbow exploded like a cheap firework anyway. It's a funny old world, innit?

The Nats don't benefit, and J-Z certainly doesn't, but this turn of events provides leverage to at least two pitchers in the Nats orbit. The first, obviously, is Stephen Strasburg. A failure to sign Strasburg, coming within a week of losing Zimmermann, would be a body blow to a franchise desperately seeking to claw its way out of national joke status. The second, less obvious beneficiary is FJB-nemesis Scott Olsen.

The much-maligned Olsen is likewise recovering from surgery, and there has been some suggestion that he will be non-tendered this offseason to avoid arbitration. Now that our pitching depth just got considerably shallower, Olsen's odds of securing a return engagement have improved dramatically. Hard as it may be to believe, when your alternatives are Stammen, Mock, Martin, Balester, Martis and an unknown cast of dozens, Olsen's not a bad bulwark.

Folks, that's a sad commentary on the state of the franchise's pitching 5 years in. Cui Bono? Nobody.

Cordero, Bray, Storen

Let's pay a visit to the Wayback Machine, shall we?

The year is 2003, and the Montreal Expos have just drafted a highly regarded closer out of a California college with the 20th pick in the first round of the MLB draft. Chad Cordero signs on June 27, 2003 and makes a brief, tantalizing 11-inning appearance for the big club. Over the next 4 seasons he averages 76 innings and 32 saves, including a league leading 47 saves for the 2005 Washington Nationals.

Unfortunately the workload takes a toll on The Chief who pitches just 4 major league innings in 2008 and undergoes surgery to repair a torn labrum. Having lost velocity on his already average fastball he's unceremoniously dumped at the end of the season. In 2009 he hooked up with the Mariners organization but has yet to make so much as a rehab appearance.

Jump back into the machine, and fast-forward one year.

It's 2004 and the basically rudderless Expos organization selects a relief pitcher from the College of William & Mary with the 13th pick in Round One. Bill Bray signs on July 30, 2004 and begins his professional career with 5 unremarkable innings in the Florida State League. His major league debut comes almost 2 years later. Over 3 seasons (112 innings) he compiles an 8-7 record with a 3.86 ERA and 3 saves out of the bullpen.

In 2009, coming off his best season, Bray injures his elbow and opts for Tommy John surgery, putting him out 6 months to a year or more.

Time to bring the Wayback Machine back home.

It's 2009 and the Washington Nationals, the only team in baseball history to have two Top 10 picks in the same year, use their 10th overall selection in the 2009 amatuer draft to select Stanford University closer Drew Storen. Storen signs on June 10, 2009 for $1.6 million, significantly less than players taken with the 10th pick in years past.

Good Humour, Man

In medieval medicine, the four humours were the cornerstone of diagnosis. A proper balance of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile promised good health. An excess or deficiency meant it was time to break out the leeches. Sure there were rudimentary medicines, but leeches were what kept people coming back.

A certain segment of Washington Nationals fandom finds itself beset by a similar imbalance this spring. Understandably unaccustomed to the team's apparent excess of talented major league ballplayers, they have responded as any good surgeon would in the Dark Ages. "Let the bloodletting commence!"

The preferred prescription? Bleed off an outfielder. (With optional Nick Johnson trade therapy, depending on the severity of your individual condition.) Fans from the august St. Thomas of Boswell to the semi-nonymous rabble at Nationals Journal have signed on for this course of treatment. I covered this topic before, so I won't rehash. As Mike Rizzo, Manny Acta and others have noted, one injury can turn a surplus into a deficit mighty quick.

But there's another thing that bothers me about this line of thinking. It's the casual idea that our "treasure trove" of defense/health challenged OF-1B types is worth anything. It's easy to say (or write) "Trade Player X for another starting pitcher or prospects" as though it's simply a matter of filling out the paperwork. The implied logic is:

1. Player X (let's call him Continuings Sawedge or Houston Bearns) has terrible stats/work ethic/defensive shortcomings/body odor
2. ????
3. Someone will trade us a talented player that fills an immediate need or improves the farm.

That's the kind of business plan that keeps the Underpants Gnomes impoverished generation after generation.

The corollary is even better. Player X must be traded because he isn't good enough to start for the Washington Nationals. So the guy who isn't good enough to crack the lineup of our worst-in-baseball, 102-loss Nats is nevertheless a valuable trading chip. But he can't play because he'd be taking at-bats from more talented, valuable players, you see?

It's true that putting the best team on the field sometimes conflicts with the need to showcase players for a trade. The current climate, where teams are dumping multi-million dollar contracts right and left, makes the process of trading bad contracts even trickier. But if you really want what's best for the Nats, you should be rooting for guys like Kearns, Johnson and Milledge to play, and play well, at least until the end of July.

How Do We Blame This on JimBo?

Pulling a Patterson, the Nats today abruptly cut ties with SP Shawn Hill. Given that the team isn't exactly overburdened with starting pitching candidates, the timing of this move is surprising. Hill was working through his usual array of arm troubles this Spring, but got a clean bill of health (of sorts) from Dr. James Andrews and pitched a scoreless inning against the Marlins.

As with the Spring Training release of John Patterson almost a year ago today, the ultimate outcome is no shock to Nats fans, but it is another disappointment for a talented young pitcher who seems unlikely to ever fulfill his promise. Best of luck, Shawn. You and your sinking fastball will be sorely missed.

In a parallel move, the Nats signed veteran lefty reliever Joe Beimel to a 1-year, $2M deal. Couple the acquisition of Beimel and Julian Tavarez with Hill's departure, and I think it's fair to say that the rotation has leap-frogged the bullpen as the big question area for the team. Joe's already been annointed Manny's 8th inning guy, responsible for bridging the deadly Rivera - Hanrahan bullpen gap. So bullpen, settled; rotation, unsettled.

With Hill out of the picture, the competition for the two rotation spots behind Opening Day starter John Lannan, lefty Scott Olsen and enigma Daniel Cabrera just got a lot more urgent. Assistant/Acting GM Mike Rizzo seemed to suggest that Jordan Zimmermann was less than a lock to make the rotation out of camp, but unless new candidates join Collin Balester and Shairon Martis, it's looking hard to justify keeping Young Hov in Syracuse for two months.

Could Tavarez be a potential 5th starter candidate? Kip Wells? Jason Bergmann? A bionic Matt Chico? More importantly, why do the Nats seem to end up in this position season after season? You're telling me that it wouldn't have been worth it to overpay for Jon Garland just to pencil in 200 league-average innings between Olsen and Cabrera? Maybe a healthy Shawn Hill was always a pipe dream, but by my count, the team's starting pitching depth just went from marginal to non-existent.

What's the statute of limitations for blaming Jim Bowden for things?

A Hill Too Steep

The odds have been against Shawn Hill for a while now. Recurring arm injuries aren't the sort of thing that just up and go away one day. Ask John Patterson. With Hill's latest setback necessitating a visit to Dr. Andrews his road to full recovery just got that much longer. It was almost a year ago today that I posted the following:

As far as I can tell, Shawn has everthing you need to be a first-rate major league pitcher except the ability to pitch for an extended period of time. Let me be clear. I'm not ragging on Shawn Hill. I don't think he's dogging it, or faking, or exaggerating his pain. I've just reached the point where I believe the guy will never pitch 100 big league innings in a season, much less 200. Through no fault of his own, his arm simply won't let him do that.

Unfortunately, that appears to be every bit as true today as it was then. Hope dies hardest, and maybe Shawn's forearm pain is just a natural part of his getting back into a pitching program. But I doubt it. First Patterson, now Hill. Everyone please pray that Stephen Strasburg isn't next in the line of Nats' aces that never were.

It's fine for Manny Acta to say that Hill was never really in the Nats rotation plans, and it's probably even true. That doesn't change the fact that if he can't go the pitching staff looks perilously thin. Lannan, Olsen, Cabrera, Balester and Zimmermann is okay to get through a season, but of course all five won't, and the depth behind them is not pretty.

Shairon Martis has looked good so far this spring, but he needs more seasoning. The other starter "candidates" have looked awful. If Hill can't go, the team may have to pull Jason Bergmann or Garrett Mock out of the bullpen again. Which makes the already suspect bullpen that much more fragile.

I'm a firm believer that relief pitchers are the most fungible players in baseball, but you still have to have the bodies. Maybe the Nats can cobble together a bullpen from Joel Hanrahan, Saul Rivera (assuming they survive the WBC) Jesus Colome, Steven Shell, Terrell Young and two lefties yet to be identified. But somebody from the front office should probably start sending love letters to The Chief, just in case.

To add insult to injury (quite literally), Washington got blitzed 10-2 by Detroit. (Box Score) Honorary 25-man roster spots go to: nobody, they stank up the joint.

Every Time I'm Out, They Drag Me Back In

Toward the end of last season I basically tuned out baseball. The Nationals were horrible and I was fighting for last place in our fantasy baseball league so I just stopped paying attention. It was easier than trying to care. I did watch the World Series but it just took me ten minutes and a trip to Google to remember who won. Then again I might be blocking out the Phillies win.

I spent all winter watching football and I didn't give baseball a second thought. I knew that the Yankees had signed every free agent on the market and I heard that the Nats made an offer to Texeira but it was a blip on my sports radar. Between the ongoing steroid allegations and investigations and the Nats becoming a punchline in the MLB there didn't seem to be any reason to care. I was fully ready to embrace March Madness and the Masters. Baseball could wait.

That was until we signed Adam Dunn.

I'm not foolish enough to think that Dunn is going to be a panacea for this franchise but it's something to get excited about. We finally have a decent bat in the lineup to provide some protection for the guys at the top of the batting order. More importantly, the Lerner's went out and spent some money and it was on the guy that seemed to best fit what we needed. Washington got their man. Boswell over at the Post is even happier than I am.

With baseball being such a long season, a little chemistry and a little luck can make any team competitive. I don't know if Dunn, Willingham, and Cabrera can be the catalyst we need but as spring training rolls around I'm starting to pay attention.

Trade Nobody

Nationals fans, like mothers-in-law, are adept at quickly finding the gray cloud in any silver lining. All offseason long, the refrain has been "We need a lefty bat for the middle of the lineup!" When we get said slugging lefty, the conventional wisdom immediately becomes, "OMG! Too many outfielders! Why did they (trade for Willingham/sign Dunn)?! The Nats are soooo dysfunctional!!1!".

Now, I would have thought the answer to the question above was obvious. Willingham and Dunn are both good (not great, but good) professional baseball players, something a professional baseball team needs to be successful. Last season is not nearly far enough in the past for Nats fans to be forgetting that their beloved team played Felipe Lopez in LF and Kory Casto at 1B last season. Not as some sort of existentialist commentary on the folly of roster construction, but because those were the best available options at the time. So the sudden angst at having too many good (not great, good) players for too few starting spots strikes me as odd to say the least.

First things first, let's address the wierd, "Why trade for Josh Willingham if you're going to sign Adam Dunn?" complaint that has arisen in some corners of the Natmosphere. Seems to me that the answer is, "We weren't going to sign Adam Dunn, we were going to sign Mark Teixeira. And when we made the trade for Willingham we hadn't signed either." The Nats aren't the Yankees. They can't plan to go out and sign anybody and feel anything close to 100% certain that the deal will get done. The Teixeira saga, and Dunn's reported initial reluctance to come to DC, should make that abundantly clear. To suggest that the Nats should have avoided making any moves to improve the club while they waited for the Teixeira market to shake out is just, well, wierd. (How'd that work out for the Angels? Kendry Morales and Bobby Abreu?)

Next is the question of where everybody plays. It's true, the Nats have too many outfielders on the 40-man roster. Nine (Bernadina, Davis, Dukes, Harris, Kearns, Maxwell, Milledge, Pena, Willingham) even before accounting for Dunn. But if you look closely those numbers decline fast. Three are likely headed back to the farm. Bernadina so that he can play everyday, Davis to get a little more seasoning in the outfield, and Maxwell because, God love 'im, he makes NJ look like Cal Ripken, Jr. It's clear that Willie Harris is Manny Acta's super-utility safety blanket and he probably has as good a shot at starting at 2B as in the outfield.

Just like that we're down to five (Dukes, Kearns, Milledge, Pena, Willingham) plus Dunn for three spots. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Pena is the odd man out of this group. I love me some Wily Mo, but he's a trade low/waiver claim waiting to happen, unless he's still reovering and can potentially be stashed on the DL. That gives you four outfielders rotating through three spots, which isn't a problem given normal days off, injuries, platoon splits, etc. Except now there's Dunn. Disaster? Catastrophe? Disastrophe? Hardly. This is where Dunn and Willingham's overlapping skill sets (good eye, good power, suspect LF/1B defense) can become an asset.

First baseman Nick Johnson is an exceptional talent with an incredible knack for freak injuries (broken cheek, bruised heel, broken leg, torn forearm tendon). Getting 120 healthy games out of Nick is a blessing. Counting on him for 120 games is pure folly. Both Dunn and Willingham can "play" 1B in a pinch, and while neither is Albert Pujols, both are likely to be an upgrade on the Dmitri Young/Ronnie Belliard/Kory Casto alternative. When Nick plays, Dunn is in left and Willingham spells both of them off the bench. When Nick sits Dunn and Willingham share LF/1B duty, with Milledge, Dukes and Kearns rotating through the other 2 outfield spots. If (when) Nick breaks down, the Nats' roster "problem" becomes a necessity.

To suggest that the Nats have to, or even should, trade one of these guys is short-sighted. With Willingham and Dunn on board the club has the flexibility to listen to offers, but is not, as some have said, forced to move anyone. Yes, the club could still stand to improve second base or the starting staff. Now they have the pieces to do that without exposing themselves to a potentially season-altering injury.

FWIW, this seems to be the team's position as well. (But I swear I started writing this first!)

They Grow 'Em Big Down on the Farm

Sure, the HOF vote came out today, and yes, Blyleven got screwed again, but Nats fans have weightier issues to contend with this offseason. Official WaPo Nationals "beat writer" Chico Harlan takes time of from researching his groundbreaking 15-part expose on competitive yak calling to drop some Nats knowledge on us.

Apparently top P-Nats 1B prospect Chris Marrero was a wee bit hefty last year. Also described as "fleshy", "doughy", chunky, pudgy, rotund, stout and thickset, Marrero came in to last season at 235 lbs and proceeded to eat his way through the greater Woodbridge, Virginia pizza delivery market. NTP has obtained this file photo of Chris at a post-game buffet following a victory over Winston-Salem:

You know those cabs are just empty calories, right?

Some bloggers would take this opportunity to point out the myriad failures in this situation, from Marrero himself to the Potomac training staff to the big league club that apparently can't be bothered to keep an eye on it's top prospects and is too cheap to spring for a nutritionist, or failing that, a salad shooter. But that's not my style. I prefer to think that Chris Marrero was simply continuing a franchise tradition.

He looked at Nick Johnson and saw that 235 lbs wasn't enough weight to protect a first baseman from a broken leg, so he packed on five extra pounds. He looked at Dmitri Young and saw a two-time All Star and Comeback Player of the Year, so he added five more. He looked at Ray King, saw a total solar eclipse, assumed it was dinner time and... well, you get the idea.

Chris Marrero continues another tradition as well. He joins the long line of Nationals players and prospects, including Jesus Flores and Justin Maxwell who are "expected to be in shape for the start of Spring Training next month."

Patterson & the Prospects

From Bill Ladson comes the utterly unsurprising but still sad news that John Patterson is retiring from baseball at the age of 30. The former Nationals "ace" starting pitcher experienced another setback during rehab of his perennially injured right forearm. J-Patt was very good with ocassional flashes of dominance during the 2005 inaugural season. This was probably the finest outing of his Nationals career, and Dave and I were privileged to see it.

After 2005 recurring injuries took a toll on Patterson, who pitched a total of 72 innings over the next two seasons. The Nats took some heat when they cut ties with John in March of last year, but an attempted comeback with the Texas Rangers fizzled after yet another mysterious bout of forearm pain. It's an unfortunate way for a little piece of Nats history to leave the big stage, but NTP wishes John and his family nothing but the best in the next phase of their lives.

Meanwhile...

BBA's list of the Top 10 Nationals Prospects is here! The always excellent NFA is doing the legwork to try to piece together the full Top 30. Three pitchers and three outfielders made the top 10, and Smiley Gonzalez is the lone middle infield representative, which goes a long way to explaining the 2-year extension of GUZMANIA! in the Nation's Capital.

As expected, 2009 rotation candidate Jordan Zimmermannnnnn tops the list, followed by talented but erratic LHP Ross Detwiler, rehabbing 1B Chris Marrero and raw OF Michael Burgess. Beyond Zimmermannnnnnnnnnn (and perhaps Detwiler) all ten are a long way from major league ready. It should go without saying that the addition of two Top 10 picks in June 2009 will greatly improve the list.

Fat, Diabetic and on the DL is No Way to Go Through Life

Flyin' Meat courtesy of: Nick Wass/AP

Get well soon, Meathook.

Even though you're too sick to fly, did you know that railroads can move 1 ton of freight (or infielder) 436 miles on a single gallon of fuel?!?

WTF??!?

Dr. Lewis Yocum woke up this morning and saw his shadow, which as we all know, means 12-18 more months of Chieflessness. Where the f#ck did that come from?

I've often said I think the team's training and medical staff gets a bad rap. Injuries happen to everyone, and athletes are notorious for not being forthright about their health. But this goes beyond that. Now we're well into "Can't Anyone Here Read An X-Ray?!" territory. More than being a problem for the club, this is almost embarrasing incompetence. Cordero's been rehabbing a torn back muscle for months. All that time, and even before that, and no one noticed he had a torn labrum? If that's true, I would think it borders on malpractice. If the team knew and just didn't say anything, what's the point of that?

This isn't a common wear-n-tear type injury, and Chad's not some veteran warhorse. It's also not like Nick Johnson's annual, sure-as-the-summer-solstice season-ending trip to the DL. It's a whole other previously undiagnosed major injury on top of the major injury he was already on the shelf recovering from. For all those folks who have been looking for a litmus test for the Lerner's pocketbook, this is it.

You don't wanna sign big name free agents to ridiculous contracts? Fine, I can get behind that plan. But you've got to keep the players you have, and the youngsters you're trying to develop, healthy. Take the money you're saving by signing Guzman instead of Rafael Furcal and hire some doctors. The Dominican Republic is for recruiting SSs, not MDs.

Time to Call It a Season

Zimmerman out 4-6 weeks, minimum. I'd say it's been fun, but my pants would probably ignite.

To (mis)quote the classics: "Sorry folks. Park's closed. The Big Chicken out front shoulda told ya."




And to those harping on the team's beleaguered medical staff, no, this is not where they got their degrees. Possibly because they couldn't get in. Now, here, maybe.

3 - 159

Stay calm, it's a long season. This is just a bump in the road. At least they're in these games and they're still better than last...

They're being installed next to the cupholders at Nationals Park.

Nope, sorry, can't do it. We're well and truly boned. The team is getting worse as the season goes along. The starting pitching is atrocious and the hitting, if possible, is worse. I know fans as sometime prone to hyperbole and overreaction in the face of adversity (see Detroit Tigers, The) but at least the front office is maintaining a calm and levelheaded approa... oh wait, Jim Bowden is in charge. Nevermind.

So that's what that button does...

Wholesale changes are afoot. Cordero up, Bergmann down. Wily Mo back, ??? gone (please be Willie Harris, please be Willie Harris). So much for being patient with guys coming back from injury. I expect Elijah Dukes will be cleared for pinch-hitting duty by Tuesday and Shawn Hill will be your Sunday starter next week.

Meanwhile the sparkling new park plays host to a team that's deteriorating before our eyes. First it was winning close games, then losing close games, then getting good pitching but no hitting or vice versa and now the wheels are coming off. Yesterday Lastings Milledge (who's still better than Nook Logan, dammit) holds the ball in centerfield as the runner goes from 1st to 2nd on a single up the middle. That font of veteran leadership, Paulie LoDown, doesn't even attempt to block the plate as a runner scores from 3rd on a groundout to Ryan Zimmerman.

While all this is going on, fans are not showing up in record numbers. (Anecdotal evidence suggests that opposing fans love the new park, particularly the two solid rows of Braves fans behind me yesterday afternoon.) As people in the media and basement-dwelling bloggers alike begin to wonder why fans aren't showing up management gets defensive and makes panic moves like bringing Wily Mo back early from injury rehab and demoting Jason Bergmann because yeah, he's the problem with the starting pitching staff.

Panic moves inevitably produce stupid quotes like this one:

Whoever pitches best here is going to pitch here. It's a little different than before. That being said, [Bergmann] needs to step it up. He has three pitches. He has enough stuff. He just needs to execute it.

Jason Bergmann was here because he was one of our best pitchers coming out of Spring Training and he'd shown flashes of brilliance when he was healthy last season. Sure, maybe he really is best suited to long relief, but to suggest that he's a less viable option that Tyler Clippard (5.40 AAA ERA) or Collin Balester (5.06 spring ERA) is just not credible. Not that that's ever stopped JimBo before.

As for WMP, I love me some Wily Mo Power as much as the next guy, but he's not the silver bullet solution to this team's offensive problems. Unless Wily Mo can teach Austin to hit balls out of the infield, or give Lastings better pitch recognition than Helen Keller, the Nats are still going to struggle at the plate. Which will probably spark another round of panic moves, which means I'll be writing this post again in two weeks.

Over The Hill

Coming into this spring, I thought the Nats had cornered the market on mysterious, non-specific forearm injuries to pitchers. Then SF Giants lefty Noah Lowry goes and gets himself exertional compartment syndrome, possibly a first for a pitcher. Now that this condition has been identified, I fully expect John Patterson to come down with it by Tuesday next. Turns out the same injury derailed the promising painful-to-watch career of one-time 49ers QB Tim Rattay. Must be some forearm-tightener in that Bay Area water. But I digress. The point is, I'm done with Shawn Hill.

As far as I can tell, Shawn has everthing you need to be a first-rate major league pitcher except the ability to pitch for an extended period of time. Let me be clear. I'm not ragging on Shawn Hill. I don't think he's dogging it, or faking, or exaggerating his pain. I've just reached the point where I believe the guy will never pitch 100 big league innings in a season, much less 200. Through no fault of his own, his arm simply won't let him do that.

Shawn's like the female supporting character in every 80s teen movie ever made. You know she'd be a stone fox if she wasn't saddled with the giant plastic-framed glasses and the inexplicable semi-perm. The one who always shows up to the prom at the end of the movie looking like sex-on-wheels. That's Shawn with his sinker. It's a beautiful pitch wrapped in a lousy package.

Except here's where the analogy goes haywire. Because even after you take Shawn to the salon and get him all prettied up, teach him to do his stretching exercises, open up that forearm and rearrange the spaghetti, it looks like you're still stuck with a dominant pitch and a subpar pitcher. Again, I'm not saying that any of this is Shawn's fault exactly, that's just the way it is.

One way or another, Shawn Hill's going to be making a few hundred grand this season. Maybe he can use that time to show someone else how to throw his sinking fastball.