{"id":3032,"date":"2011-11-16T13:29:30","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T18:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3032"},"modified":"2011-11-16T13:29:30","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T18:29:30","slug":"ask-boswell-111411-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3032","title":{"rendered":"Ask Boswell 11\/14\/11 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Glad to see the Ramos situation handled with no violence or harm. Photo ESPN screengrab via wvec.com<\/p><\/div>\n

I somehow missed last week’s Tom Boswell<\/strong> chat; brain fart I suppose.\u00a0 Either that or I got caught up in work and life and never got to it. However he only took three baseball-related questions this week, so I dug back and answered last week’s chat too.<\/p>\n

Here’s the 11\/14 version<\/a>.\u00a0 Despite Redskins meltdown, he did manage to squeeze in some baseball and Nats related questions.<\/p>\n

As always, I edit the “questions” for clarity and pen my own response before reading Boswell’s.<\/p>\n

Q: What are the chances that the kidnappers in Venezuela took the wrong person? <\/strong><\/p>\n

A: The implication being, why kidnap Wilson Ramos<\/strong> when he’s the one with access to all the money.\u00a0 Wouldn’t it be better to kidnap (say) Ramos’ brother or another relative, then squeeze Ramos for cash?\u00a0 Answer: yeah that does make more sense frankly, unless the kidnappers had plans of grandiose and were thinking that the Nationals franchise or MLB in general would pay a multi-million dollar ransom.\u00a0 Boswell notes that we may eventually find out, as it is in Venezuela’s best interest to get to the bottom of the story to preserve their winter league.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Why would any MLB player return home to face the violence or risks that Ramos did?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: A sense of country, a sense of pride, home-sickness, visiting family, or a sense of loyalty to the grass roots programs that enabled the player to make it.\u00a0 Take your choice.\u00a0 Foreign players returning home in the off-season will never stop.\u00a0 Boswell doesn’t really answer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: Worse Owner: Snyder or McCourt<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: McCourt <\/strong>by far; he took a cherished franchise and bankrupted it for personal gain.\u00a0 Snyder <\/strong>has done nothing but vastly increase the value of the Redskins.\u00a0 In that respect he’s one of the BEST owners out there.\u00a0 So what if the Redskins are headed for another sub .500 season; the stadium is still sold out, idiots, er I mean “Redskins Fans” are still paying $60\/day to park, and a hot dog and beer at the stadium still sets you back nearly $20.\u00a0 If you want change, stop giving Snyder thousands of dollars and stop going to the games.<\/p>\n

\n

Here’s the 11\/07 version<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Q: Since the Nats are a year away, do the pursue Grady Sizemore as a stop gap and if he plays well trade him and get value like Matt Capps?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: That’s not a bad idea in theory, but in reality I’m pretty sure Sizemore<\/strong>‘s days of being a productive and (more to the point) reliable outfielder are done.\u00a0 The Nats NEED a center fielder; they don’t need another experiment (Nyger Morgan<\/strong>) or another stop-gap (Rick Ankiel<\/strong>).\u00a0 I’ll bet Sizemore doesn’t get more than a veteran FA deal (1yr, $1.5M) based on his injury history.\u00a0 And he’ll go to a team that already has OF coverage and could use him as a DH or a 4th OF.\u00a0 Boswell says forget Sizemore and look at Coco Crisp<\/strong>.\u00a0 Or wait til the Rays non-tender BJ Upton<\/strong> and go after him.\u00a0 I concur<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Q: Why are the Nats looking for a #3 starter, like Mark Buehrle? It seems like they have more than enough pitching between Strasburg, Zimmerman, Wang, Detweiler, Lannan, Peacock, Milone.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: A good question … unless you don’t really trust your rookies.\u00a0 Detwiler <\/strong>had a few good starts in September, but the previous two years of trials didn’t turn out so well.\u00a0 Peacock <\/strong>and Milone <\/strong>similarly looked good in September … is that enough?\u00a0 Buehrle <\/strong>is a known quantity, a better pitcher than most of the above, and would allow the team to enter 2012 with a relatively veteran rotation.<\/p>\n

Another angle; sign Buehrle (or Oswalt <\/strong>for that matter, the goal with both is the same; to find a vet innings eater who can win) and non-tender Lannan<\/strong>.\u00a0 This saves $4M or so, and then you have Detwiler, Peacock and Milone compete for #5.\u00a0 I’m not saying this is a wise direction at all mind you; Lannan is a known quantity as well.\u00a0 A sub 4.00 era who allows more base-runners than you’d like but who gets results.\u00a0 Boswell notes that with Wang<\/strong>‘s signing, we don’t NEED another starter but may end up with one.\u00a0 And he says don’t sleep on Yu Darvish<\/strong>, who apparently the Nats brass has been asking about for years.\u00a0 Great.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: How accurate is Adam Kilgore’s article projecting the Nats salaries<\/a><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: In my opinion, he was probably guessing low (he guessed $62M prior to any Fa signings).\u00a0 \u00a0 Per my own calculations I project the Nats salary rising from last year’s $68M range to at least $72M before any more FA signings after Wang.\u00a0 I’ve got $49M in guaranteed salaries to guys already signed for 2012, plus $15.9M for arbitration raises, plus around $6.7M for the min-salary guys.\u00a0 This also assumed we were tendering both Lannan and Gorzelanny<\/strong>.\u00a0 But this is all hypothetical anyway.\u00a0 In reality the only number that matters is the payroll ceiling given to Rizzo<\/strong> by the Lerners.<\/strong> Boswell hadn’t read it and didn’t comment, then went off on a tangent on Davey Johnson’s pirate ship<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q: What do you think the Nats will do with Norris? It looks like his path is blocked due to Wilson Ramos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A: I’d say that eventually they trade Jesus Flores<\/strong> to bring up Norris<\/strong>, then allow Norris to compete with Ramos for starts.\u00a0 There’s never a bad thing with having depth; it allowed the Twins to trade Ramos to acquire a resource they felt they needed in Matt Capps<\/strong>, whether or not you though it was a poor trade or not.\u00a0 So eventually maybe Norris becomes trade bait as well.\u00a0\u00a0 Boswell didn’t really say what he thought would happen to Norris, just that its a good thing to have this “problem.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Hey Boz At what point do you have to look at Jose Reyes as the catalyst the Nats need<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

A: Hopefully, never.\u00a0 As I opined here<\/a>, Reyes<\/strong> played well above career values in his contract year and seems sure to regress and disappoint.\u00a0 Boswell agrees, noting also rumors of character\/clubhouse issues that led to the Mets collapse a few years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I somehow missed last week’s Tom Boswell chat; brain fart I suppose.\u00a0 Either that or I got caught up in work and life and never got to it. However he only took three baseball-related questions this week, so I dug back and answered last week’s chat too. Here’s the 11\/14 version.\u00a0 Despite Redskins meltdown, he […]<\/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":[111,188,35,37,360,383,369,367,256,39,43,113,339,434,129,122,179,51,297,38,366,125,176,34,147,300],"class_list":["post-3032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonnatsbaseball","category-chatmailbag-responses","category-natsgeneral","tag-adam-kilgore","tag-bj-upton","tag-brad-peacock","tag-chien-ming-wang","tag-coco-crisp","tag-dan-snyder","tag-derek-norris","tag-frank-mccourt","tag-grady-sizemore","tag-john-lannan","tag-jordan-zimmermann","tag-jose-reyes","tag-mark-buehrle","tag-matt-capps","tag-mike-rizzo","tag-nyjer-morgan","tag-rick-ankiel","tag-ross-detwiler","tag-roy-oswalt","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-ted-lerner","tag-tom-boswell","tag-tom-gorzelanny","tag-tommy-milone","tag-wilson-ramos","tag-yu-darvish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032","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=3032"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3063,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032\/revisions\/3063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}