Our Conversation With Stan Kasten (Part Two)

As Sohna and I pick up Our Conversation With Stan Kasten, we are continuing our questioning of The Major League Team and how things will shape out at the conclusion of the 2008 Season. Of course no discussion about Our Washington Nationals would be complete without talking about the very fact that Our Number 1 Draft Pick for 2008 was not signed to a contract.

This very topic is where Part Two Begins:

How about the Aaron Crow stuff? Can you put some final words on the negotiations? (SBF)

“I am still disappointed. I can’t tell you that I am not disappointed, not because substantively it’s a big loss, because we are getting that same pick in 10 Months. It’s a delay and I don’t have time for delays. I need this (team) to be good as fast as possible. Delays are always setbacks. Having said that, last year we were among baseball’s leaders in signing draft picks. We were again going to be this year. I don’t want to go through the blow-by-blow again. There is no point to that. But, we really stepped up to make Aaron Crow, at the 9th pick, the highest paid pitcher in the draft. It probably wasn’t warranted, but we did it anyway. We offered it anyway. For whatever reasons, I will let him and his agents explain what their thinking was. I couldn’t tell you, because we were never allowed to talk to Aaron Crow. So, I really couldn’t tell you what the thinking was from the other side.”

“Again, Big Picture Wise, it’s not a necessarily a loss to us. We still have that same pick. It’s not a money savings. We need to disabuse people of that notion. This was not done for money. We still have that pick and we STILL HAVE TO PAY THAT PICK—10 months from now. So, there is not money savings here. We had the fallback. We had The Plan B. This is what the (Draft) system was designed to do as negotiated with the players. Expressly for this purpose, so some errant agent could not come in and try to hold some one up (for ransom) at the top of the draft. And that is why the Players Union negotiated with Management to say, OK—if you don’t sign your top pick—you get that same pick next year—to forestall this exact same thing from happening. And why that usually works is because the player has no fall back.”

“I know what our fallback was. We have the same pick in 10 months. I don’t know what the players fallback was and that’s kind of sad.”

I find it sort of amazing there are critics out there claiming The Nationals should have thrown whatever money Crow wanted on the table to sign him? (SBF)

“Well, that is why this sort of got out of hand this year, because that was done last year with one case at the top (of the draft). This year, all the agents said: ‘Let’s copy how that was done.’ You know what, it kind of worked for a lot of picks who got $6 Million Contracts, even though the first time a bonus like that was ever given, was last year at midnight. So, a lot of agents played that game and it actually worked in some cases.”

“OK, what does that mean for next year? This is rapidly going to become an impossible situation if you just say ‘Yes’ to everything. You CANNOT OPERATE THAT WAY. You cannot operate that way. And we certainly won’t.”

Just to clarify this last minute negotiating. If you sign a guy at midnight, is that a verbal commitment? Or how does that work? (SBF)

“Both sides file an email. We send an email in and there are no problems there. There is even a few minutes after the deadline when the paperwork is being filed.”

As long as the basic negotiation has been completed before the deadline. (The African Queen)

“Yes, exactly.”

Where does all this leave the Fans who are dying for a winner? (SBF)

“Once again, if you are a Big Picture Person, which I must be, you recognize we (Lerner/Kasten Ownership) has only been here two years, since July of ’06. There has been an awful lot of progress made in two short years. That really is not a lot of time. That is a short amount of time to make the progress we have made. I think we can already see, and I will let you do this work, you can already see the lineup you could project for ’09. Just from the people we have here now—OK—that is starting to look like, not only the youngest team in the league, but a pretty darn respectable team and pretty darn respectable defensively. I have some optimism about them offensively, as well, and younger pitchers being here now. You can do that work yourself—(SBF)—because I am not going to talk about who is going to be in the lineup come 2009, but I can already see the people who are here.”

“It’s coming, it’s here. As I said, I have been in this exact spot before and had the naysayers criticize me before. But, I don’t know a shorter or quicker way to do it to be good and BE GOOD FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.”

I have already stated the 2009 Nationals defensively, are a pretty solid team. (SBF)

“I think it’s an above average defensive team, which is a great start because all of a sudden your pitchers are better. (They are getting to the balls in the gaps and the holes—SBF). Yeah, and all of a sudden your pitchers are better and that happens to mirror my own experience in my history in the game.”

It’s too bad Alberto Gonzalez got injured right away; he showed some fine defensive skills at shortstop. (SBF)

“Anderson Hernandez is the same thing. We are putting those all-important pieces, I think, together. You take a look at Our Starting Nine for 2009, that’s your homework. But, they have to show up and be healthy. I don’t know what else to do if nine other guys have to play, if our nine backup guys have to play (again). That won’t be a very good team. But if our nine starters play, we will be alright.”

Do you feel the energy on this current team is OK, compared to earlier in the year when it appeared some were going through the motions? Lazy might be another way of putting it? (SBF)

“I never know if that is fair or not. I know the energy around a team that is winning is better than around a team that is losing. It’s kind of a chicken and egg thing. We all can, I think, hang on a little to how things felt that first week of August. All of a sudden the clouds cleared and we saw light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, it was followed by these past 11 games. But, I don’t have any concerns about energy. I think that when we work out the things we need to work out. When we get the players we need to have back here—the wins will come and energy will be there right along with it.”

How is moral around the clubhouse? (The African Queen)

“Moral is better when you are winning, Sohna. We don’t have any particular moral issues. We don’t have any particular clubhouse relationship problems. We don’t have those types of things. Still, in all, I will tell you there are a lot of examples of teams with bad relationships in the locker room that could still go out and win. So, that sometimes is overplayed. When the game ended (last Sunday August 17th), Manny pulled them in and his message to them was ‘Guys, you are playing hard, you need to continue to play hard, and you need to be optimistic and upbeat.’ He wasn’t screaming. He was trying to encourage them. Manny continues to encourage. Let’s remember for now—this is the youngest team in the league and, I think at this stage, they still need more of that (encouragement) than the other stuff (yelling and screaming), while still demanding the work and the effort that we must have.”

We ran into Manny at the Blood Drive last Saturday, his patience is unbelievable. (SBF)

“It is true. It is true. (Shaking his head back and forth in amazement) He is a believer in the gospel of optimism—as I would call it. And that is not an act (from Manny). There is nothing phony about it. That is how Manny is.”

Zimmerman was also there and he told us he is still having fun playing baseball. (SBF)

“Yeah, for those of us who are still fans, it would be hard to understand someone not having fun playing baseball. Come one. If nothing else, you should still be having fun playing baseball no matter what the circumstances are up here in The Major Leagues.”

Just on one player, do you feel Zimmerman has been set back at all in his maturing as a player due to injury and the team surrounding him? (SBF)

“I don’t worry about him Big Picture. He’s had a tough season. I think he has had a tough season. The first time he has ever had this type of injury. Again, once we turn the corner, we will be able to look back on this and, I would like to say laugh, but you never want to laugh about it (everyone chuckling). But, we will understand that it was a part of the building process and all the teams that are good now—I think—you can look back now and see where they were. They all went through this. Pick a team. They all went through this—all the teams recently good. And by the time they all got good, no one was thinking about those tough times anymore. I know that, so that is what we have to keep focusing on.”

Hopefully these rough times will make the good times that much better—more enjoyable. (SBF)

“It’s true. There is no question about it. Listen; there is nothing that has happened this season that has set the long term back—at all. It’s been a good year in the Minor Leagues, not just record wise, because I don’t go by records in the Minors. That is not the most important thing. It is nice that our records now are good in the Minor Leagues, but what is most important is the development of individuals. That is what the Minor Leagues are for.”

“Do yourself a favor, as you are mentally filling out your 2009 Lineup Here (Major League Club). Fill out your ’09 Lineup in Columbus. Do it yourself and tell me if you don’t have a full team of guys who are available to step right in or are about to be the next wave. Do it yourself and I think you shall see what I am talking about.”

There is some talent, although I would be curious to know whether you feel you have enough talent at all the positions? (SBF)

“No. We knew our first focus would be on pitching. Brother, we are really deep on pitching over the next three to five years. We have some corner people that are coming. But, we were short in middle infield. I think we have shored that up now with the two trades we made mid-season up here (Emilio Bonifacio & Alberto Gonzalez) and now for Anderson Hernandez. Now, we have backups and people to fill those positions. And we have guys coming, whether it’s Ian Desmond, followed right behind by Gonzalez. You have probably followed the kind of year he is having now. It takes time. I wish it didn’t take time, that would make my life a lot easier. But, this just takes time.”

Do you also feel that if the team does get into contention, you can now use your youngsters for trade bait? (SBF)

“No question about it. We have to think of that. You have to think of that. I am intrigued by what Arizona has tried to do in the last year. Did you know in the last 12 months they have given up 20 prospects—TWENTY! A, it speaks to the depth of their organization to begin; B, I presume it means they are working hard to replenish because you can’t be doing that very long and get away with it. That is an interesting way they have gone about it (to win). Now, they still only have a .500 team, roughly—right? (Yes, that is true—SBF) But, they are in a division where that will work.”

“But, no question, that (trading prospects down the road) has got to be one of our potential avenues to succeeding.”

I would imagine you feel Mike Rizzo (Assistant General Manager--VP Baseball Operations) has picked Arizona for some pretty good prospects? (SBF)

“Yes, but he is not the only one obviously. They have traded 20 guys. Oakland did a pretty good job taking guys from them. Cincinnati got guys from them. They keep doing that. It works for what they need.”

For a .500 club. (SBF)

“And yet—a first place club.”

And with that answer by Mr. Kasten, Sohna and I finished off our questions about Our Team--on the field. The Final 20 Minutes of Our Conversation took a different track, centering around the Fan Experience, the off the field concerns and questions. Those Final Words From Stan Kasten will post up tomorrow as Our Conversation With Stan Kasten concludes.