Thomas Boswell article on the Nats

NATS:

I am going to write this entry in response to an article written by Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post entitled An Embarrassment Of Pitches. Boswell talks about the Nats off-season approach to building their rotation (which by the way will not be pretty this year) and how it has been less then stellar. He starts off talking about the inflation blip that the market went through this year and how the Nats are sticking to their plan whenever free agency is brought up. But then he goes on to absolutely paste them, and I quote:


Now, unless some purse strings get loosened in a hurry, the Nationals may be just one injury to their "ace" away from embarrassing not just themselves, but their sport.

Wow thats rather harsh! Actually it's an abuse of journalism. Boswell writes an article it seems about once a week, and they are not usually ground breaking stuff (from the ones I have read for the last 16 months) and to blindside the ownership like this is a slap in the face. What other ownership would go on record as saying they will not take "a dime out of the team for at least 10 years." Not Loria, how about Murdoch (oh he's gone), Steinbrenner (not bloody likely), Angelos? Please... this group is the best thing that could happen to the team, other cities would be ecstatic to have this group.

Boswell goes on to talk about the decline in attendance in the Nats second season (a natural tendency for a new franchise) and that the re-building has the potential to endanger the enthusiasm of the Washington fan base. If this really has the potential to be an issue, already, then MLB made a mistake by going back to DC. Building the franchise from the ground up ie: scouting and minor leagues is the only way that this franchise will become stable and if an informed reporter can't see that this is the only way, then the DC area is not worthy of the team.

Suggesting that ignoring Ortiz and Armas was not a smart move is ludicrous. Ortiz was 11-16 with a 5 + ERA in a huge stadium (3 out of the last four years his ERA has been over 5), how does that make sense? especially if he is to be a top three pitcher. He is now in Minnesota and if he is anything more then a 5th starter then wow that ERA could be huge. As far as Armas goes, how many opportunities do you give the guy? I am a carry-over Expos fan and I for one see this as an opportunity for the franchise to dump some luggage. Armas was 9-12 with a 5+ ERA, their are a lot of pitchers who could match those numbers and many of them are in the minors.

Now the fact that these guys could go out and pitch like veterans and potentially give you 200 innings is something to think about. But not at this stage in the franchise. It is a huge move in the right direction to try and find and develop their internal players rather then spending money and more importantly time with players who's future is dwindling. Yes Tim Redding is the same kind of player but he is not costing that much and he could be a find. I mean if he wins 7-9 games (assuming he makes the roster) then the franchise is still ahead because the money saved can go to signing draft picks etc.

All in all I think this is a stir the pot article from a journalist who doesn't want to work to hard but wants some attention. The pitching staff has the potential to be bad but the purge is necessary and some prospects will definitely take their lumps.

Let's look back at the Braves. Glavine was 2-4 (50 ip) with an ERA of 5.54 his first year and 7-17 with and ERA of 4.56 his 2nd. I'm not saying we have a Glavine in the organization, what I'm saying is our young guys need to pitch. Another example is Smoltz who was 2-7 (64 ip) with an ERA of 5.40, again not saying we have a star in the system like Smoltz but maybe O'connor and Chico can get the valuable innings and experience needed to make them MLB starters.

I for one always look forward to spring training to see who will develop and this year is no different even if the rotation does look like a minor-league one.