Tag Archives: matt purke

Required Reading for Nats Fans

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Rendon comes in as the No. 1 Prospect on this list

It’s about that time when Prospect Rankings are going to start coming out across the various websites, and here is one to peruse this morning from Bullpen Banter.

I think the commentary here is really spot-on: the Nationals have some high-ceiling guys with injury concerns up top, a couple other nice pieces (Goodwin, Meyer, Skole) and then a whole bunch of marginal guys who might not ever be big-league starters. This isn’t the worst news because, remember, the Nationals had the best record in baseball last year. There is quite a bit of talent already at the major league level and with a team like that it’s probably better to have a system with a couple high-ceiling guys than a system with more sure-thing, lower-ceiling guys. The Nationals have another lottery-ticket player lower in the rankings in Matt Purke, but as the guys at Bullpen Banter mentioned, anytime a player has shoulder issues, you should be concerned. VERY concerned.

I was a little surprised by no Nathan Karns on this list, but then again the guy is 25 years old and has yet to pitch above A ball. He may have great numbers so far, but he is going to need show up at higher levels to really merit a higher ranking.

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 →

Nationals cash in big at signing deadline

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Goofy

The Nationals might have had their most productive day of the year Monday when they broke the bank again at the signing deadline, inking their top five picks to contracts. This came against the industry predictions that the team wouldn’t have the funds to lure players like Matt Purke or Brian Goodwin away from the possibility of re-entering the draft next year and going high in the draft (Baseball America’s Jim Callis said today that if Purke had come back for another year at TCU and pitched the way he did as a college freshman, then he would have gone 1-1 in 2012).

The Nats have continued to invest in the draft, which seems to be where they can get it right. Free agent signings like Jason Marquis, Adam LaRoche and, of course, Jayson Werth? Maybe not so much. But right now the Lerners are showing tremendous faith in Mike Rizzo’s scouting department to find the diamonds in the rough (Danny Espinosa and Jordan Zimmermann are a few easy examples off the top of my head).

This organization’s emphasis has clearly been to build through the draft from day-one of the Rizzo era. And they may have taken their biggest step forward on Monday. In a BA chat Wednesday, Callis mentioned that the Nats now have a top-ten farm system, if not top-five. In today’s game where younger players are being more and more highly valued (and I would argue overvalued), that gives the Nationals a great deal of assets. Continue reading →

Important week lies ahead for the Nats

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Swag

And it has nothing to do with the series against the Cubs or the series against the Phillies. No, the deadline is approaching for the Nationals to sign their draft picks. The deadline is set for midnight on August 15th, and it seems the Nationals have made little progress to this point.

This isn’t a huge shocker, since, due to MLB’s arbitrary rules, no one really negotiates until they HAVE to (sort of like the NFL lockout negotiations). Teams push it up until the very edge, as the Nats have done the past two years with both Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.

Both of those years, the Nats set records for investments in their draft picks (owed mainly to the large contracts of Harper and Strasburg). In addition, the Nats went over-budget on picks like Sammy Solis, A.J. Cole and Robbie Ray.

And the strategy has paid off with an increasingly potent farm system. With the Nationals making little headway in free agency (aside from, you know, this guy), their biggest improvements have to come through the draft. It’s a staple of the so-called “Plan,” which I believe is either in Phase 2, Part B or some other cliche-riddled stage.

And it’s a smart idea. If a team consistently just signed all of its draft picks (including those late-round gambles that you have to pay over-slot for), they would have a tremendous farm system, which, in today’s game, is becoming more and more a hallmark of a winning organization.

This year, the Nats have their work cut out for them signing the top four picks. They were blessed with an abundance of picks at the top of the draft, but with that comes increased expectations in terms of dollars spent in their draft budget. Anthony Rendon, Alex Meyer and Brian Goodwin were three of the top 34 picks in this year’s draft, and they will want to be paid accordingly. Continue reading →