Reading up on the potential trade and player veto that reportedly went down between Our Washington Nationals and The Kansas City Royals for Zack Greinke the past six weeks, we are not disappointed the swap didn't go down. Washington's farm system isn't developed enough yet to dump four prospects for a veteran, former Cy Young Award Winner, still in his late 20's. Maybe one to two years from now, but not as 2010 is about to change over to 2011.
D.C.'s Team is still attempting to get over the .500 mark for first time since baseball returned to the Nation's Capital. Zack Greinke wouldn't drastically change things overnight. Mike Rizzo has a lot more work to accomplish for that to happen. Greinke is a very good pitcher and his talent would certainly make Washington's starting rotation better over the next two guaranteed years of his contract, but at what cost?
According to Sports Illustrated, Drew Storen and Danny Espinosa were two of the four Nats offered to Kansas City. The Royals wanted Jordan Zimmermann too. Our GM Mike Rizzo rightfully said no. Making two holes in your lineup just to fill one is not the way to build any team. The Milwaukee Brewers are advanced enough to make such a trade, and they did, because The Brew Crew feels they are close to contending and have dispensable talent necessary to let go for a title run.
Washington is simply not there yet, not even close.
Storen, Espinosa, Zimmermann, Wilson Ramos, Ian Desmond are making strides. Jesus Flores is finally making progress after two years of injury. Byrce Harper is getting people excited about his 18-year old powerful bat and Stephen Strasburg is rehabbing back to health. For the first time since The Montreal Expos transferred here, a core group of true home grown products are rising to the Big League roster simultaneously.
It's time to see what they can do.
If Our Washington Nationals were close to contending and Zack Greinke would put Mike Rizzo's team ever so closer to reaching that goal--then make that deal--like The Brewers did this weekend. But today was not the right time to make such a swap. Washington must get better overall, first, to make such a trade worthwhile.
Besides, Greinke vetoed a trade to D.C. anyway. He didn't want to play here. So there is really no loss.
If the Nats want to compete, now is the time to get elite players to actually have a chance
ReplyDeleteIf we have to give up several prospects, so be it. Chances are none will ever be as GREAT as Greinke.
Why Nats fans continue to over-value prospects is beyond me. Sure, Strausberg and Harper are exceptions but others are worth trading if we can get ELITE PLAYERS
I wouldn't call it over valuing prospects, but you shouldn't make a trade that give you more holes to fill than you had before the swap. No reason to take two steps back to move one forward if you can't make the next move. Washington can't really do that at this point.
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing conflicting reports about this. According to your account, SBF the deal didn't go down because the price that the Royals were asking for was too high for Nats GM Mike Rizzo. But I'm hearing elsewhere that the Nats and Royals were close to a deal for Greinke but it was killed because Greinke invoked his no-trade clause.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people in the Nation (and I'm not talking Red Sox land) agree with SBF---it would be nice to have a Cy Young Award winner, but the price seems awfully steep. Let's see how the guys we kept do in a couple of years.
I want to register my strongest agreement with Nats320 on this one. This was NOT the time to sacrifice our prospects--the seed corn of tomorrow's championships--for Greinke.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine the fan reaction when Greinke flames out, and Espinosa, Desmond, and Zimmermann are going on to All Star careers? We do NOT want to lose these guys we've developed.
I looked up Greinke's stats for the last 4 seasons. (Year, win-loss, and ERA follow.) 2007/7-7/3.69; 2008/13-10/3.47; 2009/16-8/2.16; 2010/20-14/4.17. That's a 46-39 record over four seasons.
AppleDawg, you said, "...chances are none {of our Nats' prospects} will ever be as GREAT as Greinke." 46-39 over four seasons is GREAT? I don't think so.
Our plan, from Stan to Rizzo, is to develop talent through a rebuilt farm system. If we want to switch over to the failed Redskins' model, then, by all means, trade all our prospects for Greinke. I say no. Stick with the Plan.
Right on Nats320.