{"id":8416,"date":"2014-01-13T09:01:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-13T14:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=8416"},"modified":"2014-01-13T09:01:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T14:01:05","slug":"ladson-inbox-1914","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=8416","title":{"rendered":"Ladson Inbox 1\/9\/14"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Is<\/a>

Is Zimmermann getting a contract extension?.Photo Manuel Balce-Ceneta\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

You know spring training is coming close when\u00a0Bill Ladson<\/strong> does two mailboxes in two weeks. \u00a0Here’s 1\/9\/14’s version<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As always, I write my response here before reading his and edit questions for clarity as needed.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Most of the talk about a middle infielder for the bench is centered on\u00a0Danny Espinosa<\/a>. What are your thoughts about\u00a0Jeff Kobernus<\/a>? I would play him and trade Espinosa.<\/b><\/p>\n

A: I think the talk is focused on\u00a0Danny Espinosa<\/strong> since, right now he seems like the best option thanks to the trade of\u00a0Steve Lombardozzi<\/strong> and the lack of any other real competitors. \u00a0Zach Walters<\/strong> hit 30 homers in AAA … but by some accounts is a very poor defender. \u00a0I can’t find his minor league fielding stats but others have pointed out that he made 30 errors last year in AAA. \u00a0Jeff Kobernus<\/strong>\u00a0has been playing outfield lately; he played 2nd in college and earlier in his pro career but can he even play short stop? \u00a0New signees\u00a0Jamey Carroll<\/strong> and\u00a0Mike Fontenot<\/strong> can both play 2nd and SS … but aren’t exactly MLB quality guys any longer; Fontenot spent the entire year in AAA in 2013 and Carroll is a guy on a minor league contract nearing 40 who hit for a 40-something OPS+ in 2013.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself; what do you ideally want out of a backup infielder? \u00a0They have to be a plus defender (apparently knocking out Walters), they have to be able to play 2nd and SS (knocking out Kobernus). \u00a0Espinosa is a fantastic defender, a short stop in college with a rocket arm who many once upon a time thought was a better short stop than\u00a0Ian Desmond<\/strong>. \u00a0Right now, I want to see if Espinosa can re-gain his former self and use everyone else in this discussion as a fallback plan.<\/p>\n

Trade Espinosa? \u00a0Can you define the term “selling low?” \u00a0That’s the last thing the organization wants to do right now. \u00a0That being said, Ladson continues to be insistent that Espinosa will be traded before opening day. \u00a0His prediction for the opening day backup infielder is “lets see what happens in spring training.” \u00a0Strong stance.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Is Bill Bray still with the Nationals? If I remember, he had health issues. Any chance he could be in the mix for a lefty slot in the bullpen?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: Bill Bray<\/strong> is a\u00a0Minor League Free Agent, and according to Baseball America is still unsigned<\/a>. \u00a0Even if he did re-sign with Washington, it’d be on a minor league deal, meaning he’d have to be added to the 40-man to be in the mix for the loogy. \u00a0That already puts him behind several guys;\u00a0Jerry Blevins\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Xavier Cedeno<\/strong> for sure, and likely\u00a0Sammy Solis<\/strong> if the first two guys failed. \u00a0Bray also has to show he’s healthy, which he hasn’t really done in quite a while now. \u00a0I hate to say it, because i’ve got a soft-spot for him (he’s from Virginia Beach and i’m friends with his cousin), but he may be looking at retirement. \u00a0Ladson says he’s not ready until May but wants to stay in the organization; lets hope they throw him a bone and give him a minor league deal.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Are the Nats pursuing any other lefty relievers, or is\u00a0Jerry Blevins<\/a>\u00a0all there is to it?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: I’d guess the team is pursuing other lefties, but not actively. \u00a0I’m sure there will be a couple of MLFA signings here and there to provide some competition in Viera. \u00a0Ladson reminds us that they’re thinking about both Solis and\u00a0Ross Detwiler<\/strong> as lefties out of the<\/em> pen.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Any word on F. P. Santangelo re-signing for the 2014 season?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: No idea. \u00a0I thought he was a fine broadcaster so I hope he comes back; didn’t realize there was a question. \u00a0Ladsons says they’re both back for 2014, after which Santangelo’s contract expires<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Tyler Moore<\/a>\u00a0is an enigma. He seems to have all the tools to be a regular .280 hitter with 20 homers. Why does he appear to only be in the Nats’ plans as a bench player?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Moore is an enigma<\/a>; is he the power hitting slugger (one homer every 15.6 ABs) in 2012 who bashed his way to an .840 OPS or is the overmatched, strike-out-one-out-of-every-three times guy we saw in 2013? \u00a0I’d hope he’s closer to the former than the latter, and thus can still be a servicable righty power bat off the bench. \u00a0Why is he just a bench player? \u00a0Because he’s not better than any of the guys ahead of him? \u00a0I would have thought this was kind of obvious, looking at\u00a0Bryce Harper<\/strong> and\u00a0Jayson Werth<\/strong> and their accomplishments and status on this team. \u00a0Ladson assumes Moore is a backup firstbaseman, I guess, but says Moore isn’t going to be platooning with Adam LaRoche<\/strong> either.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Do you think it is likely that the Nationals will sign both\u00a0Ian Desmond<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jordan Zimmermann<\/a>\u00a0to contract extensions this offseason?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Likely? \u00a0No. \u00a0I think at least one (Desmond) gets done, and we may see the other guy (Zimmermann) get moved in a cost-containment move with the team thinking ahead to its rising minor league players and its need to pay both\u00a0Harper<\/strong> and\u00a0Strasburg<\/strong> sooner than later. \u00a0Ladson sort of agrees.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know spring training is coming close when\u00a0Bill Ladson does two mailboxes in two weeks. \u00a0Here’s 1\/9\/14’s version. As always, I write my response here before reading his and edit questions for clarity as needed. Q:\u00a0Most of the talk about a middle infielder for the bench is centered on\u00a0Danny Espinosa. What are your thoughts about\u00a0Jeff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[184,820,182,164,135,114,2172,115,392,2123,43,1050,51,19,38,142,235,1786,1146],"class_list":["post-8416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chatmailbag-responses","tag-adam-laroche","tag-bill-bray","tag-bill-ladson","tag-bryce-harper","tag-danny-espinosa","tag-ian-desmond","tag-jamey-carroll","tag-jayson-werth","tag-jeff-kobernus","tag-jerry-blevins","tag-jordan-zimmermann","tag-mike-fontenot","tag-ross-detwiler","tag-sammy-solis","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-steve-lombardozzi","tag-tyler-moore","tag-xavier-cedeno","tag-zach-walters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416","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=8416"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8420,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416\/revisions\/8420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}