Tag Archives: grady sizemore

Nationals going with Davey- for better or worse

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I'm baaaaaaack.

The Nationals are bringing back Davey Johnson as their manager for the 2012 season. Forgive me if I didn’t leap for joy as I typed those words. Look, I have written before that I’m not the biggest fan of Johnson’s. I think he made a litany of bonehead, in-game moves during the 2011 season. He may have a calming presence in the clubhouse and be a well-respected baseball mind, but ultimately, a team, needs that baseball genius to win the World Series. This year’s championship is a classic example: perhaps no manager did a better job of creating a cohesive clubhouse than Ron Washington (and he certainly had an interesting cast of characters to bring together). But when it came down to crunch time, the abrasive Tony La Russa came up with the magic buttons in Game 6 and 7, even after an admittedly dreadful managerial performance in Game 5.

Hot Stove Thoughts

I really can’t write any more at this point about Johnson, because that’s just the reaction this hiring inspires: ehhh. So let’s move on to some more promising news: the Indians declined Grady Sizemore’s option, making him a free agent.

This, Nationals fans, is something to take note of. Everyone should be cheering for Mike Rizzo to go out and land Sizemore, as opposed to having to trade anything of value for a piece like B.J. Upton or Denard Span. Sizemore, when healthy (which I understand is the biggest if in the world), is EXACTLY what the Nationals need. You couldn’t create a better player from scratch to fit into the Nationals lineup next year. He plays solid defense, hits leadoff, hits for average, is a left-handed bat and is, by all accounts, not a problem child (looking at your here, Mr. Upton). This would allow the Nationals to not have to fool around with a Jayson Werth/Bryce Harper experiment in center field (which would decrease this team’s defensive capabilities significantly) and they don’t have to give up a piece like Drew Storen in a trade (nice try, Twins). Continue reading →

Another option for Nats’ free agency

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Prompted by today’s column by Thomas Boswell, who really is a must-read for his Nationals columns (his other columns, maybe not as much), I thought it might be prudent to present the other side to the Nationals’ free agent dilemma. If you remember, I wrote a few weeks back that the Nationals should push for Prince Fielder and Grady Sizemore in free agency (among others).

While I still believe Sizemore should be pursued this off-season (if he is available), since he should be a relatively cheap option with a lot of upside, I’m starting to rethink Fielder. Not only would his contract have a massive impact on the Nationals ability to make moves, but it would cost the Nats a first-round pick, given Fielder’s status as a Type A free agent. And then you still have to pay Adam LaRoche next season, further tightening your budget.

I agree that the Nationals eventually need a middle-of-the-order slugger. I don’t agree with Boswell that the Nationals can just fill their lineup with high-average players, similar to the way the Cardinals have built their lineup. The Cardinals can do that because they have one thing the Nationals do not: Albert Pujols, arguably the greatest slugger of the decade. The Nationals have some nice pieces in Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse, but they don’t have a Pujols (which is all right, because neither do a lot of teams, and they still manage to win). The Rangers don’t have a Pujols either, but what they do have is a collection of 20-30 home run hitters, making their lineup a murderer’s row for opposing pitchers (just look at what they did to Tampa Bay, which has a strong pitching staff). The Nationals are going to add at least one more bat with some thump to the middle of their order.

But who says it has to be this off season? What if the Nationals were to wait a couple of years until after the 2013 season (when Strasburg and Zimmermann would finally be free of their innings limits, and Bryce Harper would be an established big-league regular, if not a star) and pursue a different first baseman. Buster Olney wrote today that the Reds might not be able to afford Joey Votto, last year’s NL MVP. Votto would be 30 at this time, presumably in the prime of his career. Unlike Fielder, Votto plays outstanding defense at first base (not that Fielder is awful defensively, but he certainly isn’t in Votto’s neighborhood), which would fit more with what Mike Rizzo is trying to build in Washington (I mean, Rizzo signed LaRoche almost exclusively for his defense).

In the meantime, the Nationals should make locking up Ryan Zimmerman their first priority. Zimmerman didn’t have an outstanding year, mainly because he had to battle injuries the entire year. Maybe the Nationals can use this as an opportunity to get a small discount on Zimmerman, who is already going to command a contract at least the size of Jayson Werth’s (and deservedly so). In the not so distant future, the Nationals are going to have to pay big money to keep stars like Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and eventually Bryce Harper. It would help if they had some money available in the near future, so that they can try to negotiate early with these players (although since Scott Boras is both Strasburg and Harper’s agent that probably won’t happen).

They can still make smart, market-savvy acquisitions (like pursuing Sizemore). But this way, they won’t have to overpay and mortgage the future for a player like Fielder or C.J. Wilson. They can continue to invest in the draft, and then maybe spend their saved riches in a couple of years when they truly are in the “one player away” zone.