Summer Project: Fixing Baseball Teams

I decided to go back in time a bit to a week ago to review Intern Bill’s post on fixing the Washington Nationals. It is apparent he couldn’t fix his own sink, much less a baseball team.

- Firesale: There are assets on the good ship National that are worth selling. Tim Redding is a pitcher whose above-average performance this year is probably an anomaly, but he is cheap enough and still arbitration -eligible, so that he has value. Same for Odalis Perez, a lefty who is costing less than $1 million. Dmitri Young, who is getting on base at a nearly .400 clip, also has value. All-Star Cristian Guzman, also in the last year of his contract, can also be moved.

I guess Tim Redding is above average, he has a 103 ERA+, but he only has 78k to 41BB, so it’s not like he has been John Danks this year. I don’t think the Nationals could get anything worthwhile for him. Odalis Perez has a 1.50 WHIP, so I don’t think opposing teams are beating down Jim Bowden’s door to get a hold of him. And Christian Guzman just signed a two year extension, so that’s out

- Let the talent leave and acquire draft picks: “The Plan,” as espoused by Nationals fans, is to take high ceiling amateur players in the draft, and pay them exorbitant amounts of money. They have already had success with prospects OF/1B Chris Marrero, SP Collin Balester, and major leaguers SP Matt Chico, and 3B Ryan Zimmerman. The loss of Odalis Perez after the season might net them two picks in the 1st round, thus probably getting another haul of amateur talent that have a high probability of making an impact on the major league team. This might be preferable to trades.

First off, they do not take high ceiling guys, that is retarded. Ryan Zimmerman, although he was a top 10 pick, was about as safe of a bet as there is. Colin Balester has an over 5.00 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. He sucks. Same with Matt Chico. And there is no no no no no way Odalis Perez will be a type A free agent. How fucking retarded is this? Type A guys are CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, not Odalis Perez.

The Nationals are in the midst of a rebuilding process that will hopefully put them in the position to contend long term. Any moves that can help that process will a positive development for the future.

I’ll believe it when I see it.