{"id":8431,"date":"2014-01-17T09:37:09","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T14:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=8431"},"modified":"2014-01-17T09:37:09","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T14:37:09","slug":"ladsons-inbox-11514","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=8431","title":{"rendered":"Ladson’s inbox 1\/15\/14"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lots<\/a>

Lots of speculation on Zimmerman’s near future position. Photo AP via tbd.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Rapid fire! \u00a0Nats mlb.com beat reporter Bill Ladson<\/strong> didn’t even wait seven days to release his latest inbox, this one dated 1\/15\/14<\/a>. \u00a0 We just got done arguing about the last one! \u00a0He must have a huge backlog of questions from baseball-starved fans who can’t wait for pitchers and catchers to report (we’re less than a month away now; Nats report date is 2\/13\/14<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Btw; I heard it from a friend of a friend that the Nats may have given extension offers to both\u00a0Ian Desmond<\/strong> and\u00a0Jordan Zimmermann<\/strong> this week; havn’t seen that news pop up on any beat reporter RSS feeds or elsewhere yet. \u00a0But if true, its good to see the dialog opening up now as opposed to deep into spring training. \u00a0Stay tuned and lets see if these rumors turn out to be true!<\/p>\n

As always, we write our responses here before reading his and edit questions as needed:<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0What was the reason behind signing\u00a0Jamey Carroll<\/a>\u00a0and Mike Fontenot to Minor League deals?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: Because Syracuse loves having old, over the hill veteran guys playing middle infield for them. \u00a0No seriously, both\u00a0Jamey Carroll<\/strong> and\u00a0Mike Fontenot<\/strong>\u00a0profile as your typical aging veteran trying to hold on for one last shot, accepting a minor league\/non guaranteed contract with an invite to major league spring training so that they can compete for bench spots. \u00a0And this team absolutely has a need for middle infield depth after trading away\u00a0Steve Lombardozzi<\/strong> and given the question marks that come with other middle infield options on our roster Danny Espinosa<\/b> (has he remembered how to hit again?),\u00a0Zach Walters<\/strong> (can he actually play shortstop without booting every other ball hit to him?), and\u00a0Jeff Kobernus<\/strong> (is he even a middle infielder any more after focusing on the OF for so long)? \u00a0At this point, I think at least one of them will make the roster unless we make another trade. \u00a0Ladson says\u00a0Mike Rizzo<\/strong> loves depth and the team is looking for a backup to Espinosa. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0At which Minor League level will Lucas Giolito start this coming season after tearing it up with the Gulf Coast Nationals and Class A Auburn?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: In my big system-wide prediction piece in December 2013<\/a>, I predicted\u00a0Lucas Giolito<\/strong> will start in Low-A\/Hagerstown. \u00a0There’s no reason not to get him going in full-season ball, and low-A makes the most sense given his age. \u00a0In a perfect world he’d dominate low-A in the first half and get promoted to high-A\/Potomac for the 2nd half. \u00a0Ladson also says Hagerstown.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Am I the only one concerned about\u00a0Bryce Harper<\/a>‘s weight gain?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: Bryce Harper<\/strong> is\u00a0in his low-20s; he was always destined to “fill out” and gain more muscle mass. \u00a0It will only mean more ferocious power and hopefully more strength to help him slog through the 162 game schedule. \u00a0On the downside, it means less speed on the bases and probably less range in the outfield, neither of which is really too much of a concern for a premium power hitter. \u00a0 If it means that my dream of Harper playing center field and taking over the reigns from the likes of\u00a0Mickey Mantle<\/strong> and\u00a0Willie Mays<\/strong> as premium power-hitting CFers, so be it. \u00a0Ladson says there’s no worry<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0If the Nationals give Espinosa or\u00a0Jeff Kobernus<\/a>\u00a0a spot on the Opening Day roster, who would be the first player sent to Syracuse?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: I’d have to think Kobernus would be first expendible player; the team already has too many outfielders (3 starters in Harper,\u00a0Denard Span<\/strong> and\u00a0Jayson Werth<\/strong>, a backup in\u00a0Scott Hairston<\/strong> and a presumed 2nd backup in\u00a0Tyler Moore<\/strong>). \u00a0There’ s just no room for a third extra outfielder on modern teams; you need that 2nd bench spot for a guy who can cover the middle infield. \u00a0Ladson didn’t really answer the question, just saying that Espinosa would be “given every chance” to make the team.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Do you think the Nationals would move\u00a0Ryan Zimmerman<\/a>\u00a0to first base and trade\u00a0Adam LaRoche<\/a>\u00a0for a good starter or bullpen pitcher? They could move\u00a0Anthony Rendon<\/a>\u00a0to third base.<\/b><\/p>\n

A: I do not think the team would move\u00a0Adam LaRoche<\/strong> at this point. \u00a0You’d get almost no value back and would be creating a hole in your lineup that the team can’t easily fix. \u00a0If you think a team is going to give up a “good starter” or even a “bullpen pitcher” for a mid-30s guy who underperformed last year, then you’re fooling yourself. \u00a0Bill Ladson: stop taking dumb trade questions!<\/p>\n

Back to the question though; the team seems convinced that Ryan Zimmerman<\/b>‘s throwing issues are behind him, since he’s had more than enough time by now to recover from his Oct 2012 shoulder surgery<\/a>. \u00a0Btw, take a look at his baseballprospectus link<\/a> and look at his unbelievable injury history; I can’t think of another player with such a long list of maladies. \u00a0Now, once LaRoche is gone and the team is looking at a hole at first, a premium 3rd base defender wasting his talents at 2nd, and a litany of free agent options to provide cover at 2nd and\/or 3rd… yes we may see Zimmerman come back across the diamond. \u00a0Lets see what happens in 2014; if Zimmerman returns to gold glove form, we may be having a different conversation next off-season (as in, who are we getting to play 1B). \u00a0Ladson talks up LaRoche, calling him one of the best defensive firstbasemen in club history. \u00a0If LaRoche is so good, we must have really had a bad run of first basement. \u00a0LaRoche posted a -2.0 UZR\/150 last year, good for 17th of 19 qualified first basemen<\/a> in the league … sorry, hard to talk about how great defensively you are one of the WORST first basemen statistically in the league.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rapid fire! \u00a0Nats mlb.com beat reporter Bill Ladson didn’t even wait seven days to release his latest inbox, this one dated 1\/15\/14. \u00a0 We just got done arguing about the last one! \u00a0He must have a huge backlog of questions from baseball-starved fans who can’t wait for pitchers and catchers to report (we’re less than […]<\/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":[184,185,182,164,135,482,2172,115,392,852,161,1050,129,36,1881,142,235,279,1146],"class_list":["post-8431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chatmailbag-responses","category-natsgeneral","tag-adam-laroche","tag-anthony-rendon","tag-bill-ladson","tag-bryce-harper","tag-danny-espinosa","tag-denard-span","tag-jamey-carroll","tag-jayson-werth","tag-jeff-kobernus","tag-lucas-giolito","tag-mickey-mantle","tag-mike-fontenot","tag-mike-rizzo","tag-ryan-zimmerman","tag-scott-hairston","tag-steve-lombardozzi","tag-tyler-moore","tag-willie-mays","tag-zach-walters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8431","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=8431"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8436,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8431\/revisions\/8436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}