{"id":1490,"date":"2011-05-24T12:27:19","date_gmt":"2011-05-24T16:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=1490"},"modified":"2011-09-07T12:21:22","modified_gmt":"2011-09-07T16:21:22","slug":"my-answers-to-boswells-chosen-chat-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=1490","title":{"rendered":"My Answers to Boswell’s chosen chat questions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Tom Boswell from the Washington Post (Photo via pbs.org)<\/p><\/div>\n

I like Tom Boswell<\/strong>‘s WP chats.\u00a0 They’re usually scheduled 11am mondays (they used to be on Wednesdays) and unlike many Washington area sportswriters takes a large amount of baseball related questions.\u00a0 He usually writes long-winded interesting responses that usually include nuggets of information that you’ve never really heard elsewhere.\u00a0 His latest chat<\/a> featured a ton of interesting questions that I thought I’d take a stab at (my answers first, then an interpretation of Boswell’s.\u00a0 In most cases i’ve paraphrased the question for levity).<\/p>\n

Q: Is Riggleman’s job in danger<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: In danger??\u00a0 If anything, Riggleman should be asking for a pay raise.\u00a0 His best player has played in 7 games, his two major FA acquisitions are hitting .172 and .247, and his GM handed him a bullpen that was 3\/7ths unusable.\u00a0 Yet the team is hovering around .500 and is a mediocre offense away from having a winning record. (Boswell Agrees).<\/p>\n

Q: (paraphrased) Should the Nats keep Matt Stairs<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: My answer is pretty clear<\/a>: No, we should DFA him right now and bring up either Marrero <\/strong>or Aubrey <\/strong>from AAA to give the team a fighting chance at some more offense off the bench.\u00a0\u00a0 (Boswell thinks Stairs is sticking around because the AAA alternatives are mediocre and because Stairs is as good a defensive firstbase-man as Morse <\/strong>or Marrero.\u00a0 I’m sorry, but I have a real hard time believing that.\u00a0 Morse is a converted short-stop!\u00a0 And Marrero is actually playing every day, as opposed to what Stairs has been doing for the past 3 years of his career (namely, sitting on his ass for 8 innings and then swinging out of it in the 9th a few times a week).<\/p>\n

Q: (paraphrased): How much blame does Rizzo’s roster creation deserve for our last place team?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: A fair question; one can certainly nit-pick the Willingham <\/strong>trade (as I have done<\/a> in this space), complain about the bullpen construction (as I have also done<\/a> in this space) and question the $126M Jayson Werth<\/strong> signing (along with every other MLB pundit on the internet).\u00a0 But, you have to also acknowledge his moves that have paid off (Nix<\/strong>, Coffey, <\/strong>and Hairston<\/strong> signings, Gorzelanny<\/strong> trade in particular).\u00a0 For me, I still think we sacrificed Willingham and his offense at the alter of increased defensive prowness in left field (where we now have the defensively challenged Nix patrolling) and we’re seeing it in the lineup.\u00a0 You don’t just replace #5 hitters who consistently put up 130 OPS+ numbers.\u00a0 (Boswell posted some unnerving slash lines for the road outputs of both Willingham and Werth that show they’re essentially equal hitters.\u00a0 Great).<\/p>\n

Q: (paraphrased) Did the Nationals play scheduling games with the quick-draw 5\/17 phantom rainout<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: Yes, they did.\u00a0 Instead of barely getting above gate for a Tuesday afternoon game while the kids are in school, the team cancelled the game early and (most likely) schedules it as a day\/night doubleheader on the first Saturday in July when the Pirates come back to town.\u00a0 In addition, they got to skip a turn for Jordan Zimmermann<\/strong>, guaranteeing one more start later in the year.\u00a0\u00a0 Its too bad, since we were planning on attending, but a 1pm game on Saturday in July will be fun too.\u00a0 (Boswell more or less agreed, also noting that our bullpen was fried and could use a day off).<\/p>\n

Q: (paraphrased) Is MLB actively trying to weed out PED users<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: No, nor can or will they ever.\u00a0 Those older vets who were around during the Steroid hey-dey are for the most part nearing retirement or already admitted users … but there’s no retroactive penalties for someone like Alex Rodriguez<\/strong>.\u00a0 All he has to look forward to is a series of $30M checks, increasing irrelevance as his skills erode, eventual daily front-page ostracism from the NY papers as he nears the end of his ridiculous contract, and then a 5-year debate over how many votes he’ll eventually get (but not be elected) in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility.\u00a0 (Boswell more or less agrees).<\/p>\n

Now, do I believe that baseball has rid itself of PEDs now?\u00a0 More or less I say yes.\u00a0 Anyone caught now is simply labeled a moron, and the players now see the stigma attached to their accomplishments if they get caught.\u00a0 I think this is directly related to the rather steep decline we’ve seen in offense over the past few seasons and marks a dawn of a new, interesting age in the game.<\/p>\n

Q: Are there more injuries now than before in Baseball<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: I don’t get a sense that more injuries are occurring this year versus years past.\u00a0 The Nats havn’t lost a single start to injury (a vast change from 2010).\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, I have no research to back it up.\u00a0 There’s a great injury database<\/a> online that is worth investigating if you are so inclined.\u00a0 (Boswell more or less agrees).<\/p>\n

Q: (paraphrased) Is Adam LaRoche’s lack of production really because of his shoulder injury<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: Yeah, I think it is.\u00a0\u00a0A slight shoulder injury for a first-baseman isn’t too difficult to get around; its not like you’re making a dozen high-leverage throws across the diamond per week.\u00a0 But a really bad shoulder injury will affect your swing.\u00a0 I’m predicting a DL stint for LaRoche ((Update:<\/strong> sure enough he went on the DL<\/a> 5\/24) and just hoping that he doesn’t elect\/be forced into Labrum surgery (which would blow the season for him and be a pretty significant blow to any chance this team had of realistically improving their record this year).\u00a0 (Boswell thinks he’s going to “rest” for a bit and compares LaRoche to Jason Marquis<\/strong> last year).<\/p>\n

Q: Were the Umpires “sending a message” with the odd Bernadina call on sunday<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: I don’t think so.\u00a0 But man the Nats have been on the receiving end of a lot of really bad calls lately.\u00a0 Rizzo certainly let it be known that he thinks that’s the case.\u00a0 Coincidentally, one of the major reasons pitchers need to be 100% stoic on the mound is near immediate and continual umpire retribution.\u00a0 I watched Yunesky Maya<\/strong> openly gripe about ball\/strike calls in a game last september and within a few pitches was called for a balk.\u00a0 At the very least the umpire will eliminate the outside corners, which greatly reduces a pitcher’s effectiveness.\u00a0 (Boswell thinks there may be some conspiracy theory involved).<\/p>\n

Q: How long will it take the team to fill the gaping holes it has in its lineup?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Perhaps a couple years, and a lot of money.\u00a0 Unlike pitching, teams can acquire hitting in free agency relatively quickly.\u00a0 Thinking of where we need to be in 2013; we’re set on RF, CF (Harper), 3B, 2B and C.\u00a0 We may need to look for help in LF, SS, and 1B.\u00a0 Ironically, two of those positions are the two spots you can hide sluggers.\u00a0 We may just live with Desmond hitting .220 at shortstop.\u00a0 But there’s lots of slugger options that can fill those two spots.\u00a0\u00a0 A quick peek at the pre-2013 FA list<\/a> shows some guys we could target.\u00a0 How about BJ Upton<\/strong> or Curtis Granderson<\/strong>?\u00a0 (Boswell thinks all 8 healthy starters this year are as good as last year’s team.\u00a0 I disagree.\u00a0 A ton of pop and power left in Dunn and Willingham).\u00a0 I don’t think spending the farm on Albert Pujols<\/strong> or Prince Fielder<\/strong> is the answer either.<\/p>\n

Q: Did Wilson Ramos make the wrong call on the 0-2 curve that cost the Nationals yesterday’s game?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Can’t say an 0-2 curve is the worst call out there.\u00a0 Usually with free swingers on 0-2 you go with either a rising fastball at their eyes or a curve that starts over the plate and ends up so far outside they can’t hit it with a broom.\u00a0 Zimmermann <\/strong>flat out missed with his curve; he said he was “trying to bounce it” and instead left it over the plate for a gopher ball.\u00a0 Every pitcher makes mistakes; great hitters turn those mistakes into homers.\u00a0 (Boswell agrees)<\/p>\n

This was fun; i’m going to do this again next week!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I like Tom Boswell‘s WP chats.\u00a0 They’re usually scheduled 11am mondays (they used to be on Wednesdays) and unlike many Washington area sportswriters takes a large amount of baseball related questions.\u00a0 He usually writes long-winded interesting responses that usually include nuggets of information that you’ve never really heard elsewhere.\u00a0 His latest chat featured a ton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chatmailbag-responses","category-natsgeneral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1490"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2335,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions\/2335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}