Comments on: Nats cornering the market for middle-of-the-road starters

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:35:13 +0000

Tell us all about Loria, Todd. Then tell us all about what happens when perpetually second-division teams are permitted to pocket their luxury tax windfalls instead of being obligated to reinvest it in payroll as in a certain unnamed other professional sport which, not coincidentally, supplanted baseball as the most popular sport in the country in my own sordid lifetime. Yes, Loria is a niggardly bloodsucker who has done to his teams what Frank Lorenzo did to Eastern Airlines. But as you note, he acts with the empowerment of his pimps up at MLB headquarters. Paul: I do understand where you're coming from, but I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree here. What the Gnats need (aside from a respite from the kind of deliberate exploitation that Loria represented as mere incompetence while in Montreal, and now represents as - get this - fiscal responsibility down here) is an injection of heart, competitiveness and the delusions that enable playing over your head. Mediocrity is like water: it never changes into something that'll flow uphill. Look west a few hundred miles. See that slagheap that used to be a pround baseball franchise? It's called Pittsburgh.

By: Jim Fitzgerald

Jim Fitzgerald — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:37:47 +0000

I think the Nats will come along although it may be slow in coming. At least I hope they will. Garland could be a great addition.

By: Todd Boss

Todd Boss — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:56:06 +0000

The Nats are where they are; years of criminal mismanagement by MLB and then by Jim Bowden have left us with an awful MLB team and no farm system. So we have to overpay to get guys to come here. We’ll never get a top of the line pitcher or hitter (see last off season when we offered more $$ for Teixeira than anyone else) until we are more spectable.
So we’re doing what we can; slightly overpaying for middle-of-the-road starters to get us to a point where we can compete, maybe be .500. By then, we’ll have some production from the farm system and can augment with better FAs.
Until then, you have to consider the situation before writing snarkey immature headlines designed to provoke the fan base. Its not our fault MLB allowed Loria to basically gut the entirety of the team’s staff with no recourse.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:14:17 +0000

If you haven’t noticed, a “mediocre” rotation is exactly what the Nats need right now. They aren’t deluded enough to think they have a potential contender, but an upgrade to mediocre in the pitching department could bring them close to .500. They realize that contending is still at least 2-3 years away, so any improvement from horrible to mediocre is a good thing.
And by the way, why are they compromising? It’s not like they were going to land Lackey or Halladay; who exactly are they supposed to build a rotation with?

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:22:41 +0000

That Gnats rotation is starting to look like the baseball equivalent of the health insurance reform bill, with one mediocre compromise after another. Nice stadium, though, and there’s some great Ethiopian food in town – and plenty of lawyers if you are unfortunate enough to need one.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:01:42 +0000

I don’t get it, why quote Rosenthal on something that the Nats beat writers/columnists have been writing about for weeks? Read any Washington Post coverage of the Nats’ offseason, and you’ll see Garland and Davis’ names, as well as many other “middle of the road” starters. The front office has been pretty open about their desire to grab two pitchers from a group of about 10… Garland, Davis, Pinero, Washburn, Livan Hernandez, Smoltz, Marquis, Padillia, etc.
And why is 3 years too long for a veteran, under-30 pitcher on a team like the Nats? Do you really think Garland would have trouble justifying a role in the rotation 3 years from now? I doubt it.