{"id":3174,"date":"2011-12-02T15:02:02","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T20:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3174"},"modified":"2011-12-09T09:41:38","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T14:41:38","slug":"nats-off-season-news-items-wrap-up-12211-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3174","title":{"rendered":"Nats Off-season News Items Wrap-up 12\/2\/11 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3252\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/MarreroChris_natsofficial_via-curlyw.mlbblog.com_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3252\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3252\" title=\"MarreroChris_natsofficial_via curlyw.mlbblog.com\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/MarreroChris_natsofficial_via-curlyw.mlbblog.com_-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/MarreroChris_natsofficial_via-curlyw.mlbblog.com_-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/MarreroChris_natsofficial_via-curlyw.mlbblog.com_.jpg 448w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3252\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tough break this week (well, two weeks ago) for Chris Marrero.  Photo unknown via curlyw.mlblogs.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Weekly wrap-up of Nats and other baseball news that caught my eye.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Nationals In General<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In a minor move, the team <a href=\"http:\/\/hardballtalk.nbcsports.com\/2011\/11\/27\/nationals-re-sign-carlos-maldonado-to-minors-contract\/\">re-signed<\/a> its own AAA minor league free agent <strong>Carlos Maldonado<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/washingnats\/status\/140894794653237248\">per tweet<\/a> from <strong>Bill Ladson<\/strong>.\u00a0 This sets up our catcher depth for most of the system (Flores\/Ramos, Solano\/Maldonado, Norris\/Leon, and Nieto\/Fritas) and gives the team some flexibility with the inevitable injuries.\u00a0 Frankly Norris&#8217; poor 2011 season jeopardizes his progression; he&#8217;ll obviously be repeating AA in 2012 and needs to show some improvement to keep his oft-repeated &#8220;close to the majors&#8221; prospect status.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chris Marrero<\/strong> tore his hamstring and had surgery, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.csnwashington.com\/blog\/nationals-talk\/post\/Torn-hamstring-shelves-Nats-Marrero?blockID=602330&amp;feedID=6358\">two weeks ago<\/a>.\u00a0 Two weeks ago!?\u00a0 How did this little nugget stay hidden for so long?\u00a0 Most of the beat reporters had the story on 11\/29 and had the same opinion as I; this probably frees up a bench spot for someone like <strong>Tyler Moore<\/strong> or perhaps another veteran 1-year FA.<\/li>\n<li>Nats are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2011\/11\/nationals-interested-in-mark-derosa.html\">apparently interested<\/a> in <strong>Mark DeRosa<\/strong>.\u00a0 No big surprise; we have basically zero competent utility infielders under contract right now.\u00a0 DeRosa can be 2012&#8217;s version of <strong>Jerry Hairston<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Sorry to hear that Masn beat reporter <strong>Ben Goessling<\/strong> is <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/masnBen\/status\/142006154535514112\">leaving to join the St. Paul Pioneer Press<\/a>.\u00a0 No word on his replacement.<\/li>\n<li>Per the soon-to-be-departing Goessling as well: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/masnBen\/status\/142332243069779968\">Toronto continues to collect ex-Nats players<\/a> and signs <strong>Garrett Mock<\/strong> to a minor league deal.\u00a0 I&#8217;m starting to sense a <strong>Jim Bowden<\/strong>-esque obsession on the part of <strong>Dana Brown<\/strong> with our farm players.\u00a0 So be it; if they were that good when he was here, we wouldn&#8217;t have been ranked in the bottom 5 farm systems of the league.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Espinosa<\/strong>, <strong>Ramos<\/strong> and <strong>Strasburg<\/strong> on <strong>Keith Law<\/strong>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/blog\/nationals-watch\/2011\/dec\/1\/strasburg-ramos-espinosa-make-keith-laws-top-50-un\/\">best 50 under 25 list<\/a>.\u00a0 Harper still too young to consider.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Free Agents\/Player Transaction News<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There remains to be questions whether or not <strong>Yu Darvish<\/strong> will <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yardbarker.com\/blog\/mlbbuzz\/uncertainty_persists_over_star_pitcher_darvish\/8323531\">actually post this off-season<\/a>.\u00a0 Rumors of a divorce complicating his posting persist, and its now been a week since the end of the NPB season with no word of his posting status.\u00a0 (<strong>Jon Paul Morosi<\/strong> reports).<\/li>\n<li>Here&#8217;s some non-news: <strong>Mark Buehrle<\/strong> won&#8217;t come &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.sbnation.com\/2011\/11\/26\/2588164\/mark-buehrle-free-agent-white-sox\">cheap or short<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Here&#8217;s <strong>David Schoenfield<\/strong>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/blog\/sweetspot\/post\/_\/id\/18705\/nl-east-three-fixes-for-each-team\">3-fix suggestion<\/a> for each team in the NL east.\u00a0 His suggestions for us?\u00a0 <strong>CJ Wilson<\/strong>, putting <strong>Werth<\/strong> in CF and signing a corner outfielder, and decide whether <strong>Davey Johnson<\/strong> is the long term answer.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not sure the 3rd issue matters in the least: Johnson is only 69; there&#8217;s plenty of recent evidence showing guys who are older and less accomplished can be successful in the majors.\u00a0 His argument for Wilson makes sense; he&#8217;ll cost half of <strong>Pujols\/Fielder<\/strong>, wouldn&#8217;t be stressed as our &#8220;Ace&#8221; with Strasburg and <strong>Zimmermann <\/strong>around, and will only improve as he goes from the AL to the NL.\u00a0 I like his Werth answer honestly; I think Werth could hold his own in Center for at least one season, perhaps two.<\/li>\n<li>Baseball America&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseballamerica.com\/online\/prospects\/prospect-pulse\/2011\/2612636.html\">Rule5 Preview, part 1 <\/a>(may be subscriber only).\u00a0 I definitely see some players the Nats could experiment with, given that they are looking for a 7th bullpen arm and a utility infielder.\u00a0 He mentions our own <strong>Brad Meyers<\/strong> as a possible draftee, but not one of the marquee names out there.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ken Rosenthal<\/strong> says the <a href=\"http:\/\/msn.foxsports.com\/mlb\/story\/washington-nationals-show-interest-in-free-agent-1B-Prince-Fielder-Cuban-OF-Yoennis-Cespedes-112811\">team is really on<\/a> both Prince Fielder and the cuban-FA <strong>Yoenis Cespedes<\/strong>.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not &#8220;against&#8221; the interest but am surprised by it.\u00a0 Does the team really want to just give up on <strong>Adam LaRoche<\/strong> that quickly?\u00a0 Do they really think Cespedes could play in the majors in 2012?<\/li>\n<li>Well, there goes one of my Nats-trade candidates; the <a href=\"http:\/\/sportsillustrated.cnn.com\/2011\/baseball\/mlb\/11\/30\/rockies-angels-trade.ap\/index.html\">Angels acquired<\/a> catcher <strong>Chris Iannetta<\/strong> from the Rockies for prospect <strong>Tyler Chatwood<\/strong>.\u00a0 My working theory was that the Angels, who have too many outfielders and especially two many guys who can play center field, would be open to trading one of them (specifically <strong>Peter Bourjos<\/strong>) to the Nats for a catcher prospect.\u00a0 Maybe it still can happen.\u00a0 Of course, Rizzo actually has to be in the country in order to make deals (when this trade went down, Rizzo <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/sports\/at-baseball-winter-meetings-nationals-mike-rizzo-is-usually-predictably-unpredictable\/2011\/11\/30\/gIQA1WSIEO_story.html\">reportedly was in the D.R.<\/a> scouting Cespedes).<\/li>\n<li>Its just a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2011\/11\/mlbtr-live-chat-4.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MlbTradeRumors+%28MLB+Trade+Rumors%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">MLBtraderumors chat<\/a>, but <strong>Tim Dierkes<\/strong> is well respected, at least in my opinion.\u00a0 He has the Nats as potential FA suiters for most every major name.\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>Edwin Jackson<\/strong>, <strong>Mark Buehrle<\/strong>, Cespedes, <strong>Fielder and Pujols<\/strong>, even <strong>Jimmy Rollins<\/strong>.\u00a0 Geeze.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>New Labor Deal Items<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The new CBA seems almost custom-written to drive out the Tampa Bay Rays.\u00a0 This <a href=\"http:\/\/rays.scout.com\/2\/1133422.html\">scout.com article summarizes it nicely<\/a>.\u00a0 I wonder what the Tampa ownership group said about these negotiations as they were going on.\u00a0 Clearly their methods of gaining advantages through player development and stockpiling draft picks are now obsolete.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jim Callis<\/strong> reports via twitter but <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlbbonusbaby.com\/2011\/11\/28\/2592254\/jim-callis-drops-a-bomb-shell\">captured here<\/a> some more restrictive items about the draft we&#8217;re finding out.<\/li>\n<li>Teams in the 13 smallest markets now enter a <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/news\/article.jsp?ymd=20111130&amp;content_id=26059392\">Competitive Lottery<\/a> for picks.\u00a0 A quick analysis of the 13 teams selected (from Ben Goessling&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.masnsports.com\/the_goessling_game\/2011\/11\/nationals-not-eligible-for-first-competitive-balance-lottery.html\">article<\/a>: the Diamondbacks, Orioles, Indians, Royals, Athletics, Pirates, Padres, Rays, Reds, Rockies, Marlins, Brewers) almost identically mirrors the 13 smallest teams by MSA (in smallest to largest order; Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Baltimore, St. Louis, San Diego, Minneapolis, Seattle, Phoenix).\u00a0 The only deviations are the Athletics and Marlins, who would easily be amongst the smallest markets in baseball once you isolate Oakland from San Francisco&#8217;s MSA, and Miami from Ft.Lauderdale.\u00a0 Tangotiger posted an interesting discussion on the same topic (where in the comments I posted this same analysis) on his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insidethebook.com\/ee\/index.php\/site\/comments\/cba_are_the_cardinals_a_small_market_team\/\">blog here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>General News; Baseball and other.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It looks like the NBA has finally <a href=\"http:\/\/sportsillustrated.cnn.com\/2011\/basketball\/nba\/11\/26\/nba.lockout.ap\/index.html\">gotten its act together<\/a>, announcing a tentative deal to salvage the season on Nov 26th.<\/li>\n<li>An <a href=\"http:\/\/nybaseballdigest.com\/?p=41615\">interesting take<\/a> on the Bill James &#8220;game score&#8221; statistic.\u00a0 (click here for a list of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/play-index\/game_finder.cgi?type=p#gotresults&amp;as=result_pitcher&amp;offset=0&amp;match=basic&amp;min_year_game=1946&amp;max_year_game=2011&amp;series=any&amp;series_game=any&amp;WL=any&amp;team_id=&amp;opp_id=&amp;throws=any&amp;HV=any&amp;game_site=&amp;temperature_min=0&amp;temperature_max=120&amp;wind_speed_min=0&amp;wind_speed_max=90&amp;wind_direction_tolf=1&amp;wind_direction_tocf=1&amp;wind_direction_torf=1&amp;wind_direction_fromlf=1&amp;wind_direction_fromcf=1&amp;wind_direction_fromrf=1&amp;wind_direction_ltor=1&amp;wind_direction_rtol=1&amp;wind_direction_unknown=1&amp;precipitation_unknown=1&amp;precipitation_none=1&amp;precipitation_drizzle=1&amp;precipitation_showers=1&amp;precipitation_rain=1&amp;precipitation_snow=1&amp;sky_unknown=1&amp;sky_sunny=1&amp;sky_cloudy=1&amp;sky_overcast=1&amp;sky_night=1&amp;sky_dome=1&amp;Role=anyGS&amp;DEC=any&amp;orderby=game_score&amp;c1criteria=game_score&amp;c1gtlt=gt&amp;c1val=90&amp;c2criteria=&amp;c2gtlt=eq&amp;c2val=0&amp;c3criteria=&amp;c3gtlt=eq&amp;c3val=0&amp;c4criteria=&amp;c4gtlt=eq&amp;c4val=0&amp;c5criteria=&amp;c5gtlt=eq&amp;c5val=1.0&amp;c6criteria=&amp;firstgames=&amp;firstteamgames=&amp;ajax=1&amp;submitter=1&amp;z=1\">20-best scores<\/a> in the last 70 years).\u00a0 Highest ever recorded: an 18-inning shutout pitched by <strong>Carl Hubbel<\/strong> scoring a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/boxes\/NY1\/NY1193307021.shtml\">127 game score<\/a>.\u00a0 <strong>Kerry Wood<\/strong>&#8216;s 20-k 1-hitter is the highest score in the last 25 years, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/boxes\/CHN\/CHN199805060.shtml\">scoring 105<\/a>.\u00a0 This was also the highest-scoring 9-inning game in baseball history.\u00a0 My initial guess on the best ever game pitched would be <strong>Harvey Haddix<\/strong>&#8216;s 12-inning perfect game, lost in the 13th inning.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/boxes\/MLN\/MLN195905260.shtml\">Here&#8217;s the box<\/a>: it scored a 107.\u00a0\u00a0 The highest ever recorded Nationals game score?\u00a0 <strong>John Patterson<\/strong> in 2005 pitched a 4-hit shutout with 13 K&#8217;s, worth a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/boxes\/WAS\/WAS200508040.shtml\">score of 92<\/a>.\u00a0 <strong>Strasburg<\/strong>&#8216;s 14-K debut was worth a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/gl.cgi?id=strasst01&amp;t=p&amp;year=2010\">75<\/a>, though interestingly his final 2011 start (6 innings of 1-hit ball over the Marlins with 10K&#8217;s) earned a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/gl.cgi?id=strasst01&amp;t=p&amp;year=2011\">78<\/a>.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/play-index\/game_finder.cgi?year=0&amp;n1=&amp;id=&amp;type=p#gotresults&amp;as=result_pitcher&amp;offset=0&amp;match=basic&amp;min_year_game=2005&amp;max_year_game=2011&amp;series=any&amp;series_game=any&amp;WL=any&amp;team_id=WSN&amp;opp_id=&amp;throws=any&amp;HV=any&amp;game_site=&amp;temperature_min=0&amp;temperature_max=120&amp;wind_speed_min=0&amp;wind_speed_max=90&amp;wind_direction_tolf=1&amp;wind_direction_tocf=1&amp;wind_direction_torf=1&amp;wind_direction_fromlf=1&amp;wind_direction_fromcf=1&amp;wind_direction_fromrf=1&amp;wind_direction_ltor=1&amp;wind_direction_rtol=1&amp;wind_direction_unknown=1&amp;precipitation_unknown=1&amp;precipitation_none=1&amp;precipitation_drizzle=1&amp;precipitation_showers=1&amp;precipitation_rain=1&amp;precipitation_snow=1&amp;sky_unknown=1&amp;sky_sunny=1&amp;sky_cloudy=1&amp;sky_overcast=1&amp;sky_night=1&amp;sky_dome=1&amp;Role=anyGS&amp;DEC=any&amp;orderby=game_score&amp;c1criteria=game_score&amp;c1gtlt=gt&amp;c1val=70&amp;c2criteria=&amp;c2gtlt=eq&amp;c2val=0&amp;c3criteria=&amp;c3gtlt=eq&amp;c3val=0&amp;c4criteria=&amp;c4gtlt=eq&amp;c4val=0&amp;c5criteria=&amp;c5gtlt=eq&amp;c5val=1.0&amp;c6criteria=&amp;firstgames=&amp;firstteamgames=&amp;ajax=1&amp;submitter=1\">There&#8217;s about 10 games<\/a> out there in the 80s range, including an 88 that I can&#8217;t possibly think who could have thrown.\u00a0 Is anyone a baseball-reference subscriber?\u00a0 I use the site multiple times per day; I should probably register and pay for my time.<\/li>\n<li>From the great blogger TangoTiger<strong>, <\/strong>an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insidethebook.com\/ee\/index.php\/site\/comments\/expos_tribute_video\/\">Expos Tribute video<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>From another great blogger <strong>Rob Neyer<\/strong>, a news item about the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.columbian.com\/news\/2011\/nov\/29\/boldt-balks-baseball-proposal-dies-countys-hands\/\">future of baseball<\/a> in the Portland, OR area.\u00a0 Portland does not have a single pro baseball team in the area, not even a short-season or Indy league team, despite being roughly the same size population wise as the MLB cities of Cleveland and Cincinnati, and being larger than Kansas City and Milwaukee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Weekly wrap-up of Nats and other baseball news that caught my eye. Nationals In General In a minor move, the team re-signed its own AAA minor league free agent Carlos Maldonado, per tweet from Bill Ladson.\u00a0 This sets up our catcher depth for most of the system (Flores\/Ramos, Solano\/Maldonado, Norris\/Leon, and Nieto\/Fritas) and gives the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,534],"tags":[184,123,506,182,72,514,504,510,124,53,508,135,137,509,253,90,516,115,234,112,461,507,440,513,517,439,43,110,312,515,339,505,512,183,364,38,264,511,235,147,393,300],"class_list":["post-3174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonnatsbaseball","category-natsgeneral","category-weekly-news","tag-adam-laroche","tag-albert-pujols","tag-ben-goessling","tag-bill-ladson","tag-brad-meyers","tag-carl-hubbel","tag-carlos-maldonado","tag-chris-iannetta","tag-chris-marrero","tag-cj-wilson","tag-dana-brown","tag-danny-espinosa","tag-davey-johnson","tag-david-schoenfield","tag-edwin-jackson","tag-garrett-mock","tag-harvey-haddix","tag-jayson-werth","tag-jerry-hairston","tag-jesus-flores","tag-jhonatan-solano","tag-jim-bowden","tag-jim-callis","tag-jimmy-rollins","tag-john-patterson","tag-jon-paul-morosi","tag-jordan-zimmermann","tag-keith-law","tag-ken-rosenthal","tag-kerry-wood","tag-mark-buehrle","tag-mark-derosa","tag-peter-bourjos","tag-prince-fielder","tag-rob-neyer","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-tim-dierkes","tag-tyler-chatwood","tag-tyler-moore","tag-wilson-ramos","tag-yoenis-cespedes","tag-yu-darvish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3174","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=3174"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3254,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3174\/revisions\/3254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}