tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post7722871721908934217..comments2023-10-20T04:28:04.547-04:00Comments on Nats320 -- A Washington Nationals Blog: Nats320 Winter Meetings Review With Phil WoodScreech's Best Friendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094199653375184305noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-73480222976426962992009-12-11T11:57:56.773-05:002009-12-11T11:57:56.773-05:00If you are making educated guesses on whom the Nat...If you are making educated guesses on whom the Nationals shall eventually sign this off-season as free agent pitchers, look to see if: 1. Rizzo once scouted or signed him originally for D-Backs; and/or 2. he played in his career for Braves. Bruney fits first criterion; Marquis, Smoltz, Gonzolez fit the second. My hunch is they would prefer to put the money they might spend on Livo towards paying Smoltz so they might pair a Hall of Fame battery for Sundays to fill the stadium and the like, and spend $10 million on Marquis whose record is similar to Garland's overall anyway. If Smoltz is too expensive or unavailable, then money that would have gone to Livo perhaps better put towards trying to sign Mike Gonzolez for the pen. At the end of the day, I believe Nats will ink Marquis or Padilla, one more reliever, and ink back Livo very late in the process.<br /><br />As to infield help, still think they believe they can get Orlando Hudson, again late in the process, for economical terms. <br /><br />Trust in the braintrust banking on the familiar. All encouraging.<br />(Skins will sign Weiss as OC and draft Claussen to be "the next Tom Brady;" keep Zorn as puppet head coach, thus giving Vinnie C even more authority in 2010 - makes one happy to be a Nats Nut, doesn't it?)SenatorNathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10049860385485455410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-7171704247479168252009-12-11T11:39:26.139-05:002009-12-11T11:39:26.139-05:00SBF,
Thanks for the winter meetings coverage. I h...SBF,<br />Thanks for the winter meetings coverage. I have been watching MLB tv every night to get the latest info. <br /><br />I am happy with the Pudge trade and the the Bruney trade. I wish we made a run at Chone Figgins b/c he is so versatile and him and Tony Plush would have been awesome to watch on the basepaths.<br /><br />I wish we would have gone after a guy like Kevin Millwood but if Texas wanted bullpen guys, we all know we really don't have bullpen guys anymore.<br /><br />The real question is can guys like Ross Detwiller, Sharion Martis, Craig Stammen, & others live up to the hype. If Detwiller becomes a bust, we can blame that on Bowden, but it would def set the Nats back if he is a total bust.<br /><br />Spring Training will be here soon and I can't wait since college football season is over.<br /><br />Happy Holidays.VCUAlum Kylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08372061529526658414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-2795300432680554692009-12-11T11:27:57.649-05:002009-12-11T11:27:57.649-05:00It's all well and good to say that a manager n...It's all well and good to say that a manager needs to hold players accountable, but still that can only go as far as the players you have. If Player A who maybe isn't all that good in the first place slacks off and you hold him accountable for that by sitting him down, then you're reduced to putting in Player B who is worse than A anyway, because otherwise he'd have been playing in the first place. The thing that holds players accountable and keeps them from getting comfortable with their laziness is the presence of a young and hungry guy behind them who realistically could take their job away from them. The Nats have never had that. And there's really nothing a manager can do about that other than in the short term. Benchings, chewing outs, fines or whatever might get a guy to improve for a couple of games or a week, but sooner or later he's going to realize the emptiness of that threat because there's no one breathing down his neck for his job.<br /><br />The bottom line with Manny Acta is that there was nothing he could have done to change things as long as all his players were lousy. It sure would have been nice to see what he could have done in the second half with Nyjer Morgan and without Cabrera and that godawful first half bullpen.An Briosca Morhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06855174362787324401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-11467462904914386432009-12-11T08:45:08.251-05:002009-12-11T08:45:08.251-05:00Two things:
1) We need to sign Livan Hernandez. H...Two things:<br />1) We need to sign Livan Hernandez. He likes being in DC, he's good for around 200 innings, and based off the deals he's signed for the last two years I don't think he can honestly be that expensive.<br />2) Not to beat a dead horse, but my main issue when anything involving Acta is brought up is the lack of apparent discipline on the team while he was manager. Yeah he didn't have the best personnel, and I thought he was too passive in non playing "small ball," but what really killed me was the amount of errors we committed. It doesn't matter what team you field, people need to be able to make routine plays, and be held accountable if they don't. Acta didn't do that.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12295507035800192056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-42767314573005431822009-12-11T07:53:50.943-05:002009-12-11T07:53:50.943-05:00SBF-
Thanks. Quality work that fills part of the ...SBF-<br /><br />Thanks. Quality work that fills part of the void in coverage, as always.<br /><br />+1/2St.Positively Half St.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07048223068323120438noreply@blogger.com