Everything? Ha ha. No! Didn't you read the last post? There are some good and in the comments I mention the sort of neither good or bad (Garcia, Irvin, Parker, all the kids just getting their feet wet) But there are some bad things. You can't be 20 games under at the All-Star break on luck alone. Plan Ruiners Keibert Ruiz had a hot start making optimistic Nats fans say "forget about the last few years! Maybe he was hurt!" Nope. He stinks! Always bad behind the pl...
6 months ago
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With the team reeling there isn't much to say here but we generally start out with right so... Unqualified Successes James Wood is a bonafide star. All-Star. HR Derby participant. On pace for 40 homers, 100 RBIs, and 100 walks. He strikes out a bit much and never developed the skills in the field you'd hope but at 22 he's one of the best bats in the game and likely to get even better. He's a build around player. MacKenzie Gore is an ace. Maybe not a Skenes ...
7 months ago
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The Nats did not get better after the firings. The 1-5 run isn't anything off than expected, facing two good teams away from home 2-4 is the baseline with 1-5 and 3-3 happening almost as easy. This is not a good team, and it's still being run by Davey's guys so don't expect any miracles. The big thing that happened was the draft. I don't usually care much about the draft, but in the past the Nats having the #1 pick with generational talents has made me take a closer look at it. That was ...
7 months ago
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What's next? 1) New guys take over... for now. Mike DeBartolo is the new GM. He's young, with a business bent. He's been with the Nats a long time with a role in a lot of different aspects and he's familiar with analytics. Still I imagine with no baseball leadership experience and his history being the second guy on a team who just fired it's GM I assume he's a placeholder. Miguel Cairo, bench coach, is the likely choice for interim manager. What is on DeBartolo's...
7 months ago
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You all know how I feel. Davey deserved to get fired as much as any manager who won a WS has, at least on performance. His teams regularly underperformed expectations, including this year, and they regularly failed at the fundamentals, or at least it felt like it. I won't rehash it anymore. You can go back and read what I said a few posts ago. I think it's best for the Nats he's gone. Rizzo is more complicated. As others have pointed out, Rizzo has a skill s...
7 months ago
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DAVEY OUT! RIZZO OUT! The Post if you have it What was the final straw? You'd have to assume the lifeless play in the past month+ 9-23 since the end of May. The team looks bad. The feeling around the team is bad. More tomorrow later tonight. Too much to wait until tomorrow but you know I got kids stuff to do right now Ed Note- internet down and my cell reception at my house is spotty so nothing more tonight Ed Note 2 - It's back!
7 months ago
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Like the Nats in general They are now nearly what I feared they'd be last post. Worst of the rest. Only the Athletics are standing in their way. They are clearly behind the Marlins now. Hell so are the Braves. Things have gotten so bad the team is trying to get you excited for the idea of Paul DeJong coming back and DHing even though he can't hit. What the hell are we doing here people? Kick anyone over 27 to the curb. Just play kids...
7 months ago
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on the worst "trying" team in baseball The Rockies, despite sweeping the Nats, are historically bad. They are on pace for 37 wins. There literally should be calls from the game to replace the owner because things are so non-competitive in Denver. The White Sox are in a similar spot, Reinsdorf aging into a worse version of himself as owner often do stuck with a "back in my day we didn't pay players so much" mentality, trying to squeeze every last dollar from the team for...
7 months ago
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And Fire Rizzo. And Sell the Team Look I've been an advocate for Rizzo, who can deal with the best of them, and is perfectly acceptable at IDing long range contract targets (some bomb, some work out - that's just how it goes). But sticking by Davey here isn't about results or Davey's proven track record with kids (which doesn't exist), it's about keeping a guy who doesn't complain about the roster at all and works quietly with whatever he's given. Rizzo bombed in...
7 months ago
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Fire Davey. The man can't help but blame the players and I don't want that type of guy leading this team. Maybe a veteran team can ignore him or maybe he wouldn't dare anger those guys, but this isn't a veteran team. It's a team of kids and they need someone to support and shield them. There are numerous reasons to fire the guy. His behavior this weekend pushes that all aside to get to number 1. Even if you landed on "well he won the series and changing the manage...
8 months ago
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Are we talking about this blog or the Nats? Hey yo! After the nice run that ended with a sweep of Arizona the Nats have played, as we've gone over before, like you'd expect a 75 win team to play. Competitive enough that you would be surprised at them being swept in two straight series. Not good enough that you'd really expect them to win two straight series against better teams. And there are a fair number of better teams. The dregs of the NL remain the dregs, the...
8 months ago
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This doesn't have anything to do with the Cubs series. 1 of 3 from the Cubs is what should be expected and seeing Gore look like an ace again is great. However, we are in the "stats are real now" part of the season and last time we looked at the kids whose stats said real good things about them. CJ Abrams continues to be cool but I noted his propensity for extended cold streaks was keeping him from being special. That's not the point, he's still overall good. The only one with a real issue out...
8 months ago
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I'm thankful for a lot but I'm very thankful today that the Nats team is winning in strong fashion and not sneaking out close wins because if there's one thing that I hate (and as you can probably tell there are many) it's the trite re-use of the "Cardiac" nickname for any team of young players (Cardiac Kids!) or whose name slightly allows it because of a similar sound (CardiAc NAts!). That isn't happening here. I can breathe. I'm also thankful for a great weekend of Nats bas...
8 months ago
| 3 reads