{"id":2207,"date":"2011-08-25T11:37:26","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T15:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=2207"},"modified":"2011-11-20T19:37:03","modified_gmt":"2011-11-21T00:37:03","slug":"my-answers-to-boswells-chat-questions-82211-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=2207","title":{"rendered":"My Answers to Boswell’s Chat Questions 8\/22\/11 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Everyone's excited for the return of Strasburg. Photo via centerfieldgate.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Boswell’s weekly chat<\/a> had more Redskins questions than normal, but there was a slew of baseball questions in there as well.\u00a0 As always, questions are edited for levity\/clarity and I write my answer before reading his.<\/p>\n

Q: When is Strasburg coming back<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: Per Mark Zuckerman’s csnwashington article<\/a>, based on his regular 5-day rest and build up of innings, we should expect Stephen Strasburg <\/strong>back in the majors around September 6th or 7th, right in the middle of the mid-week LA Dodgers series.\u00a0 Wow imagine if he went up against Clayton Kershaw<\/strong>.\u00a0 Boswell guesses 9\/6\/11 but repeats over and again these are guesses, since rainouts have a funny way of ruining best laid plans for advance ticket buyers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Will the Nats go after Prince Fielder, as is being mentioned in the national press<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: I don’t think so; he doesn’t really fit the mold of the track-star\/plus-defender mentality that Mike Rizzo <\/strong>wants in his players.\u00a0 Plus, signing Fielder basically light’s Adam LaRoche<\/strong>‘s $8M 2012 salary on fire.\u00a0 And I don’t think the owners would take lightly to 1\/8th of their payroll being so blatantly wasted.\u00a0 I don’t think 2012 is the year that this team makes its big FA splash; I still see 2012 as an incremental building year, with 2013 the year to make a run.\u00a0 Boswell Agrees<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you agree with Kasten’s plan to fill the stadium with Phillies fans<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: Absolutely not.\u00a0 I don’t care how much money a sold out weekend series full of drunken low-lifes from Philadelphia generates for your team; its not worth the clear damage done to the psyche of the paying Nats fans who DO show up only to be treated like interlopers in their own stadium.\u00a0 Philly fans show up for one game and spend a few hundred dollars.\u00a0 Nats season ticket holders spend THOUSANDS of dollars and finance the team’s payroll.\u00a0 Which customer do you think is more important to keep happy?\u00a0 Boswell prints a letter describing what most of us went through opening day 2010, the first time the Philadelphia hordes descended en masse on Nats stadium.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Does Jayson Werth check his swing too much?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Not that i’ve noticed, but i’m not exactly glued to the television every time he gets to the plate.\u00a0 I will say that at sunday’s game he was clearly the victim of a horrible 3rd strike call, and then guessed wrong on another versus Halladay.\u00a0 No shame in that.\u00a0 He got enough clutch at-bats and hits this weekend to get an awful lot of good grace from fans.\u00a0 Boswell says its his natural swing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: Who will be here next year of this list?\u00a0 Desmond. Gomes. Livo. Wang. Gorzelanny. Pudge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Definitely here: Desmond.\u00a0 Hopefully here: Wang.\u00a0 Probably here: Gomes.\u00a0 Likely gone: Gorzelanny.\u00a0 Most certainly gone: Livo and Pudge.<\/p>\n

The team isn’t ready to give up on Desmond; they like him as a leader and he’s turned into a pretty good fielder.\u00a0 Wang remains to be seen; has he pitched well enough so far to earn a 2012 contract?\u00a0 Probably not quite yet … but he also isn’t under a club option for 2012 either (a topic for a future post).\u00a0 Gomes’ acquisition was a mystery; he’s a lower-performing right-handed version of Laynce Nix<\/strong> but without the left handedness.\u00a0 He’s making $1.75M this year and certainly wouldn’t get that on the open market, so he’d likely accept arbitration from the team if it was offered (which should have been the primary reason we traded for him, to get his compensation pick).\u00a0 Gorzelanny seems destined for a non-tender; he didn’t get used for 13 straight days and clearly isn’t getting back into the bullpen.\u00a0 He probably looks for a rotation spot elsewhere in the league.\u00a0 Livan looks to be closer to retirement than another contract offer, as he’s regressed badly this season.\u00a0 Finally Pudge; If I were Ivan Rodriguez i’d go looking for one last shot with a winner.\u00a0 He’s likely to get a 2-year deal as a backup but his days of starting are probably over.\u00a0 Boswell agrees with me on most of these opinions<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: Are any of the prospects they drafted in 2011 considered top 10 in their farm system?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Absolutely!\u00a0 In fact the 2011 draft may go down as the day this franchise turned.\u00a0 Rendon shoots up to probably be the #2 in our system behind Harper.\u00a0 Meyer and Goodwin are top 10 right out of the gate.\u00a0 And Purke, if he turns out to be healthy, is a 1-1 talent (i.e., #1 draft pick in the 1st Round) who may be right up there with Harper and Rendon.\u00a0 Someone asked what the Nats top 10 looks like in Jim Callis’ latest Baseball America chat<\/a> and he said, “Off the top of my head, I’d start their Top 10 like this: Harper, Rendon, Peacock, Cole, Meyer, Goodwin, Purke (move him up if he proves to be healthy). Looks like a possible top-five system, definite top-10.”\u00a0 Boswell says the top 4 guys are all top-12 prospects right now<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: Should Clippard replace Storen as the closer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: No.\u00a0 For two reasons: Clippard is a better arm and therefore gets used in more high leverage situations.\u00a0 The fact that the Nats can do this with their best reliever is fantastic.\u00a0 Second; the 8-9 guys are used to their roles, are pretty successful in those roles, so why mess with it?\u00a0 Boswell says they’re both excellent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you see the Nats as NL East contenders in three years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Absolutely.\u00a0 I see it even before then; we’re slightly below a .500 team this year w\/o our Ace starter and with huge chunks of the season missed by our supposed #3 and #4 hitters.\u00a0 A full season with Strasburg at the helm plus replacing Livan’s poor starts and Zimmermann’s continued improvement should see this team easily move above .500.\u00a0 Then you spend money in the FA-rich 2012 off season and prepare for a playoff run in 2013.\u00a0 Boswell’s succinct answer: Yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: What “letter grade” do you give Harper on the year?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: A+.\u00a0 He was the 2nd youngest player in low-A and owned it as if he was playing against the JV team.\u00a0 He then was (easily) the youngest player in AA and held his own.\u00a0 Its a common mistake to remember that if he was playing by the rules, he’d have been a high school senior in April instead of playing ball in Hagerstown, and that he wouldn’t have even signed til 8\/15 instead of having hundreds of at bats.\u00a0 How can you not say he’s met all expectations and exceeded them?\u00a0 Boswell takes a rather nit-picky view and says he’s a year further away than what he thought.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Should the Nats management take a page from Leonsis’ playbook and actively discourage Phillies fans from coming to games?<\/p>\n

A: Tough call; clearly they enjoy the revenue bump as discussed above, but the Nationals fan experience is beyond awful.\u00a0 Maybe wait until you’re a good enough team to draw on your own and then start discriminating against the 215 area code.<\/p>\n

Q: Is Adam Dunn finished?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: No, but he really needs to re-think his approach to the game.\u00a0 Why he has fallen off a cliff is probably a combination of factors; new league and new pitchers, pressure of the contract, pressure of being the “savior” of a big-market team, new ballpark, new city and moving your family, but most of all a new position (DH) that may leave him “bored” and “unfocused” during games.\u00a0 But he’s always relied on his talent and physical abilities in the off season to bring him around and at his age perhaps its time for him to work harder in the off-season.\u00a0 Boswell didn’t really answer this question, just noted that Dunn’s plight is unprecedented<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: What would you say if you were the Nats owners\/management to Bud Selig’s “singling out” the team for going over-slot to sign its draftees?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I would have told Bud Selig to f*ck off.\u00a0 Boswell was more diplomatic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: How hard is Jordan Zimmermann’s innings limit?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: I’d say its pretty solid.\u00a0 Why possibly jeopardize him in 2011, even if you don’t believe in innings limits or think that its bunk science.\u00a0 Besides, we really need to give starts to Strasburg and possibly to one from Meyers, Milone or Peacock.\u00a0 Shut him down, tell him to take an early vacation and see you in February.\u00a0 Boswell points out a great point: at 162 innings Zimmermann qualifies for year-end award lists and top 10s, which he’s currently on.\u00a0 He’ll get it and then be pulled<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boswell’s weekly chat had more Redskins questions than normal, but there was a slew of baseball questions in there as well.\u00a0 As always, questions are edited for levity\/clarity and I write my answer before reading his. Q: When is Strasburg coming back? A: Per Mark Zuckerman’s csnwashington article, based on his regular 5-day rest and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,14,5],"tags":[139,184,17,262,185,35,257,164,365,37,426,52,114,146,115,440,149,43,177,41,301,166,129,183,463,38,464,125,176,34,128],"class_list":["post-2207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonnatsbaseball","category-chatmailbag-responses","category-natsgeneral","tag-adam-dunn","tag-adam-laroche","tag-aj-cole","tag-alex-meyer","tag-anthony-rendon","tag-brad-peacock","tag-brian-goodwin","tag-bryce-harper","tag-bud-selig","tag-chien-ming-wang","tag-clayton-kershaw","tag-drew-storen","tag-ian-desmond","tag-ivan-rodriguez","tag-jayson-werth","tag-jim-callis","tag-jonny-gomes","tag-jordan-zimmermann","tag-laynce-nix","tag-livan-hernandez","tag-mark-zuckerman","tag-matthew-purke","tag-mike-rizzo","tag-prince-fielder","tag-stan-kasten","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-ted-leonsis","tag-tom-boswell","tag-tom-gorzelanny","tag-tommy-milone","tag-tyler-clippard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207","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=2207"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2229,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207\/revisions\/2229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}