Nationals Farm Authority

Luis Atilano, Marco Estrada are also dead weight on about the weakest 40 man roster in baseball….added to English, Severino, Slaten that is 5 pitchers who would be on no other MLB 40 man roster. Rizzo has done some good work but not near enough..at best he has done 50% of what must be this winter if they are going to get any of the Suites sold when the 3 year leases are up this year.

Random fill-in-the blank Q–Bryce Harper projects as _______.

I would not be too quick to pass on Maxwell. If given a legitimate chance he will surprise people. I think this guy is good. He has not played enough to form an opinion

I do not expect them to drop the dead weight before they have some better 40 man people acquired Brain. The point was the improvements to the roster this winter by Rizzo are at best half what is needed and I still see at the very least 5 spots that need upgrading before Rizzo can claim this winter a success.

The rule 5 issue is small but I do not like trading picks as a strategy. RH Bull Pen guys that are at least as good as Mark B can be picked up without giving up anything. I would say looking over the rule 5 drafts that were made by all other team that any single player picked was better than someone on our current 40 man roster so I do not understand not making any pick at all after Mark B.

Bottom line for me as a fan is this team needs to show me they are not going to stand pat on a job half done this winter. I expect at least 5 more players to be moved onto the 40 man roster over the next 2 months.

Brian, any idea how involved the Nats are in the Chapman bidding? Seems like their biggest competition at this point is the Blue Jays. Anyone know what the character questions marks are and if they might stop Rizzo from going higher than other teams?

I don’t get the Estrada hate. He did OK this season in Washington. I’d rather have him on the roster and serve as a 7th/8th starter or an extra reliever than Atilano.

JayB :

It is not just Estrada….it is the 7-10 career AAA guys on the 40 man roster he represents. No other team in baseball would carry more than on or two of them and we have way to many for a team the revenue stream and market potential that the Nats have. Six years into this now….I expect more progress.

Who else fills up 40 man rosters? You need reserves. I can’t find the 7-10 career AAA guys you’re referring to, even if that was an exaggeration I don’t see more than a couple guys I would remove.

Interesting point Brian. My thinking was if the 40 man had more talent (players with higher potential then the Gonzoleszes and Guzmans could find themselfs on the bench or traded.

Not sure I understand why we can not upgrade our 30-40 range. Looking at other teams 40 man rosters you see much more talent in that range. I guess you are saying that the only way you get those guys is through Farm system? Why could you not have improved the 40 man by signing more FA like Marco S. at SS thus getting rid of the need for Gonzolezes and Guzman types? Those type of moves do not take time right?

Marco S would not have cost the Nats a pick due to last in baseball record last year right?

In any case we can always agree that Jimbo/Stan and mostly Mark L cost this team at least 2 years of development of the Farm. I am not sold that things have improved much in the Farm yet. Until this team commits to international signings we are playing with one hand behind the back.

As you may recall, I was one who wanted Rizzo to move fast this off season….so the situation you know say we are faced with (nobody left) would not be the case. Yes we are making progress but to my mind when you waste several years you need to move aggressively to make up for that self inflected wound. Signing international FA’s would speed the improvement greatly. Cuban and Japanese pitchers would really help…..Mark Lerner really hurt the team protecting Jimbo.

Question about Winter Ball…Nats have 2 position players with just 100 AB’s and just 1 pitcher with just over 20 IPed. Looking at other teams shows teams like the PIT who have 7 players with well over 100 ABs and 7 pitchers with over 20 IPed.

Both Nats and Pitt are supposed to be young teams working on developing players from within. Why are the Nats seemingly under utilizing the Winter Ball tool? Not including Dukes who we have already talked about here….Chico, Maxwell, Roger B., Mike Morse and Guzman all (just from the current 40 man roster) needed more playing time in 2009 or have specific issues they could be working on. Reading review of the Farm constantly produce comments like “strikes out to much” or “lacks defensive skills” and “needs to work on plate dicipline”. Guys like Burgess could be in winter ball. Guys like Guzman should be learning 2nd Base. I know Nats can not make a player go but so many other teams seem to be doing it….why not Nats?

Brian,

I do not see old Smiley (Lugo) anywhere on the big board….even at 23 he has to have some talent right?

I understand he can not get into the country, but talk about a guy who should be playing winter ball somewhere…..any work on what his status with the Nats is?

Losing a 2nd Round pick for a proven player…sounds like a good deal to me.

Thanks….I understand he will never play MLB but why then have the Nats not cut him loose? If he is still a Nats player then why would he not be playing winter ball given that is the only place he can move up the ranks for the forseeable future?

I was expecting you to say the complete failure of Nats to develop international (Latin) FA is the difference between Nats and Say Pitt or a host of other teams with much more significant Winter Ball participation. My response to that would be teams like the A’s who have several non-latin players working this winter. Names like Brown, Fox and Carter are all getting tons of AB’s this winter.

Fair enough….when you have back to back 100 loses what you see as my negativity I see as a search for possible positive steps they could be taking to improve their own self inflected wounds.

Sorry I come off negative…..I will give it a rest in deference to you as I greatly respect your views….Honestly as you know I love the Nats and just want them to do all they can to improve as fast as they can….Winter Ball seems like something that would help the farm system and others seem to use it much more.

We’ll all have a lot more to talk about in just over a month. Viera will bring a thaw.

JayB, it’s no so much your negativity as lack of knowledge of minor league workings and team systems. If you don’t like some of the guys on the 40-man right now, how do you propose to replace them? There are 29 other teams and everyone has basically the same plan when it comes to the 40-man roster. There aren’t gangs of major-league caliber guys out there playing in the indie leagues that you just make a phone call and have them swing by to sign up.

Most of your posts show that you don’t have a real good grasp of players. “Oh, just cut that guy and sign someone else”"No need to trade someone, just sign someone else”. Do you really think Rizzo is trying to make an easy job hard? it’s not a fantasy league or anything.

You’re a fan but I get the impression you never played the game and don’t know anyone who really has. Most of my friends are done at this point but I was good friends in college with most of the players who came in and out over the 4 years I was there and met a lot of guys from other schools. Then, guys on their teams in the minors and MLB. At one point, I had 7 pretty good friends in the bigs at the same time and quite a few more guys toiling away from high-A to AAA.

Does that make me an expert? Far from it, but a lot of your posts are silly to guys like me who have even remote insight into the madness that is professional baseball. For a guy like Brian, it has to be frustrating putting up with the potshots from a guy who quite frankly simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Cont….you are correct that I do not know much about building a farm system…I never was drafted…I come here to learn what is going on and try to find ideas on how Nats could improve faster. Problem is that so many people here are perfectly happy with a joke of MLB team. They seem to think that the goal is to win MILB games…..incremental improvement and backslides must be the only way forward. I think you could sign Japaneses pitchers, Cuban pitchers, FA and build the farm system all at the same time…..I do not see any barrier except will of ownership that keeps Rizzo from turning the team into a winner this year. Look at SEA 100 loses to contender in one year. Lots of bad trades but by constant pressure to improve they are now winning and building….it can be done.

So again, you know zero about how major league systems are built and run. You position seems to be “I know good players and have determined that the Nats have players who aren’t good. They need to be cut and good players signed”. Is that your position? Can you get that typed up and emailed over to Rizzo because I had never thought of it and I bet no one else has either.

The Nats should not have traded for Bruney, who was a solid reliever on the World Series champ. Better to “use the pick” as you put it to sign some high-A reliever and keep him in the bigs all year because he’s better than Bruney. Awesome, I’m sure Rizzo will feel pretty stupid when you relay that opinion to him.

As far as “hit against a 300 game winner” what exactly does that mean? Did you play for a Div A college team or did you just take a few swings one afternoon in practice when you were visiting friends on the team? Forget it, it’s not important, but I’ve noticed your posts on this board are usually of the “WTF” type and always negative.

But you did answer the question when you say you “may not know farm development or roster rules”. That’s very apparent.

Ok, so cut Bruney because the guys who have been cut and non-tendered by other teams are better than a member of the world champions. And, to improve the 40 man, you advise signing up all the Dominicans, Venezualens, Koreans and Japanese as possible. Awesome plan. which Japanese and Korean players are going to sign a AAA contract to come play in the International League for us? Which unsigned Latin American players are awaiting a spot in the Nats rotation or to start at 2nd base? I realize that no one has ever scouted or signed players from these areas so major league-ready pitchers and fielders are just sitting around the dugout somewhere waiting on a contract.

I think you’ve watched way, way too many baseball movies to think that all you need to do is turn down a side street and before you is Sidd Finch or Roy Hobbs, just waiting for the magic moment to arrive….

Yeah, the Orioles signed a Japanese starter last year who lasted about a third of a season and will be a very expensive long reliever this year. And regarding Chapman, the operative phrase you used is “I think”. The Nats apparently finished second in that bidding, i think they went well and beyond reasonable to do so. The Reds are taking a massive risk there, it may very well pay off. Then again, a guy with little documented history may end up going nowhere. Or he may end up being 28 and not 22. Or who knows what.

IFA or Kearns and Young

JayB your act is getting old. Patience is a virtue my friend. I’m all in for the Nats. 1yr/2yrs/5 or 10yrs… I’ll go back to lurking…

Cal Ripken…Hubie Brooks for a spell….tall shortstops or tall women..whats wrong with the paradigm??? LOL!!