Rule 5 picks

Looks like the Nationals are keeping two Rule 5 picks.It begs the question: How many Rule 5 picks can a team have? I’m not the Nats GM, but if I were, I would have looked into this.

For fun, let’s look at what regular Nats players we would want to keep. I should note that there are definitely players the franchise wants to keep, but if they have options, the team can send them down to the farm, then that’s where they would go (Matt Chico is a good example).

John Patterson: I don’t think he is “ace” material, but he’s the closest thing the Nats have. So we’ll keep him. Plus – and this will be a recurring theme – he could be trade bait.
Jon Rauch: Gotta keep him. He was solid last season and if he can continue the solidness, he may be decent trade bait.
Chad Cordero: Trade bait.
Brian Schneider: He’s a leader. And the team needs a guy like this to work with the pitching staff. Keep him.
Nick Johnson: Another fan favorite. Plus, he’s hurt so he won’t be taking a roster spot for awhile.
Ryan Zimmerman: What can you say… he’s the face of the franchise and will put up awesome numbers.
Austin Kearns: Solid half-a-season and he could be excellent trade bait. Gotta keep him.
Ryan Church: There’s just something about him. What that something is, I do not know. But let’s keep him.

The total (minus Nick Johnson because he’s on the DL): 7. Thus, the Nats have room on the roster for 18 Rule 5 picks. If that Nats had done this, the entire franchise would be re-stocked with talent. Of course, they would probably lose 140 games this season.

Why am I doing this?

I wouldn’t fault you for assuming I hate the Nationals. But that’s not exactly the case. Do I think the Nats are awful? Yes. Do I want them to be awful? No.

Are there reasons out there to hate them? Yes. Do I buy into all those reasons? No.

But there are fundamental questions about this franchise that have to be dealt with. The big one: Direction.

One reason to despise the direction of this team stems from the Alfonso Soriano debacle. Yes, it was a debacle. Because the team chose not to trade him, the franchise is worse off. Imagine if they had traded him last season. They could have got major league-ready starting pitching and probably a decent bat too. But they didn’t. So not only is the major league club worse off, the organization on a whole is worse off.

The trade deadline last season was an opportunity to help re-build the franchise. They chose not to do this. (I will admit, however, they didn’t do exactly nothing. Matt Chico may positively contribute at some point.)

So it’s not that I’ll enjoy the Nats losing this season. It’s just that they will. And that they probably deserve it. And that someone has to blog about it.

Tigers take care of Nats

The Nationals could muster just one hit against the Tigers last night. Congratulations Austin Kearns!

It wasn’t all bad, though. Matt Chico threw 4 solid innings. In fact, Tim Redding wasn’t all bad either.

The reason the Nats are going to be so bad this year is because of the starting pitching. So seeing potential starters for the Nats do well bodes well for the team. So it’s a happy day.

Great day!

The Nats had the day off today. Do you know what that means? That's right! They did not lose! Which is like almost a win!

First Post!

This is my first post. Sweet!

On this blog I will chronicle the Washington Nationals' season. This could be the worst season ever for a professional baseball franchise. So let's all sit back and watch how crappy they can be!! Sweet!

And no, I won't say "sweet!" all the time.