Lerner say LANC

[NatsDad14]

JZ, Desmond, Zim, Detwiler, Roger, Espinosa, Burgess, Hood, Kobernus, Storen, Myers, Norris, etc., etc., etc.  Go ahead and ignore the freakishly obvious, it will just add more credence to other points you attempt to make.

Hardly a great core. JZ is coming off of Tommy John, he is an unknown. People are too quick to hype up Desmond. He had 1 good season in his minor league career and it was aided by BABIP. Zim is the best 3B. Detwiler is still a question mark. I don't get you hyping up Bernadina. He is an average defender and average hitter with average power. Hardly anything special. Plus, he has some plate discipline issues. I would expect someone to put up better numbers than he is doing when he has a platoon advantage 90% of the time. I like Espinosa, but his offense has stalled right now in AA with a .707 OPS. Burgess could be good, but his plate discipline could be exploited at a high level. Hood is way too far and his plate discipline is Adam Jones-like. Plus, he hasn't shown much power this year. Kobernus is an overrated prospect. He doesn't take walks, has non-existant power. He is putting up Wil Nieves like offensive numbers for the 2nd straight year. Storen is good, but he is a relief pitcher and they don't provide that much value. Meyers is good but he is still in AA and will turn 25 this year. Time is running out on his prospect status. Norris is a legit prospect, but his defense is awful and if he can't play catcher his value takes a tumble.

I see a lot of question marks on that list. Compare your list to teams like the Rays, Braves, Reds, its not on their level. We are closer to teams like the Pirates than the Braves.

[Nathan]

The idea, for the eternally slow here, is that we have legitimate major league prospects at our positions of need.  Most of the lower tier teams can't say that.  The team has shown a legitimate plan to become a consistent contender and now has the appropriate baseball people in place to make that pay off.

Of course some people here think this thing should take 3 weeks instead of 4-5 years like every other team that has built its system properly.

See how much less douchey that comes off?  You usually have excellent points but a lot of people don't read or accept your opinions because you come off as an arrogant prick.

If the team signs Harper and Cole, I'm officially on the Lerners are not cheap bandwagon.

I'm not on the LAC side anyway, more of LAI, but yes, that would be very nice.  It's too bad we'll have to wait until like 3 seconds before the deadline before we know if Harper will sign.

[PowerBoater69]

The idea, for the eternally slow here, is that we have legitimate major league prospects at our positions of need.  Most of the lower tier teams can't say that. 

Independent minor league rankings I've seen say that we are very weak compared to other teams with hitting prospects. 

[shoeshineboy]

Independent minor league rankings I've seen say that we are very weak compared to other teams with hitting prospects. 

There's no doubt that they are. The Lerners and Kasten want credit for simply doing what all teams would do. They have a lot of catching up to do. MLB did a number on the farm, and that takes several years to overcome. The Lerners' cheapness at all levels of the organization under the Bowden years didn't help. One year of Rizzo has shown an improvement, but there is a long way to go. This ownership just wasn't interested in improving as much as they were about protecting their bottom line - thus the inexcusable embarrassment of the last few years while thumbing its nose at the local fan base. It is smart to work on building pitching and identifying a core before going off and spending a lot on the FA market. But they made a lot of missteps along the way that cost them and took a step back. Rizzo is doing a better job, but they have some more opportunities this year to make some good moves that can take another step or two that they need to do. When you're in the cellar for two years, you can't just keep pace with other organizations.

[PC]

When you're in the cellar for two years, you can't just keep pace with other organizations.

Sub-cellar.  This team looked up to the cellar.

[PowerBoater69]

Our DH is Willie Harris
Ted Lerner sets the team budget
∴ Lerner is cheap

[imref]

We've also only had a decent gm for about a year now.

[Minty Fresh]

There's no doubt that they are. The Lerners and Kasten want credit for simply doing what all teams would do. They have a lot of catching up to do. MLB did a number on the farm, and that takes several years to overcome. The Lerners' cheapness at all levels of the organization under the Bowden years didn't help. One year of Rizzo has shown an improvement, but there is a long way to go. This ownership just wasn't interested in improving as much as they were about protecting their bottom line - thus the inexcusable embarrassment of the last few years while thumbing its nose at the local fan base. It is smart to work on building pitching and identifying a core before going off and spending a lot on the FA market. But they made a lot of missteps along the way that cost them and took a step back. Rizzo is doing a better job, but they have some more opportunities this year to make some good moves that can take another step or two that they need to do. When you're in the cellar for two years, you can't just keep pace with other organizations.

I understand your point and frustration, but the FO has to do something about public relations.  This team was a PR nightmare when they took over and they seemingly spent the first few months figuring out how to be MLB owners. 

The fact that they HAVE to trumpet every draft pick like they're the next coming of Mike Stanton (Christ) speaks volumes.  For most posters on this board, we understand that what the FO is doing is merely keeping pace, but to the casual baseball fan they've got to sell this team.

I know it looks slim now but look how far they've come in a year and a half.

[shoeshineboy]

I understand your point and frustration, but the FO has to do something about public relations.  This team was a PR nightmare when they took over and they seemingly spent the first few months figuring out how to be MLB owners. 

The fact that they HAVE to trumpet every draft pick like they're the next coming of Mike Stanton (Christ) speaks volumes.  For most posters on this board, we understand that what the FO is doing is merely keeping pace, but to the casual baseball fan they've got to sell this team.

I know it looks slim now but look how far they've come in a year and a half.

Yes, their PR is horrible. I have no problem with them hyping the draft picks, especially Strasburg and Harper. My issue is that they use the signings as examples of a willingness to spend more money. They did this with Tex, Chapman, and others when they didn't even spend it. The reality is that they are spending less than before due to the elimination of some salaries. They also talk about the signing bonuses as a big deal. All teams do this. A team as bad as this one needs to do more than other teams, when this organization has actually done less at all levels. And I really don't think they have done a good enough job rebuilding the farm. The last several drafts were ok for any team with an already established farm, but it is not enough to truly restock it with quality.

I guess I don't see much in the farm to get really excited about. But more than that, I get annoyed with Kasten's BS about it. He acts like they have done all this investment in drafting and developing the young players, but then points to all the young guys like Lannan, Stammen, Martin, Desmond, etc. that were all in the system before they even took over ownership. 

The difference now is that Rizzo understands that the GM and his staff get judged by the big league product, so he has focused on improvements there in the near term. But being the worst team in baseball, they were able to be in the right place at the right time to land Strasburg. By letting Soriano walk, they were able to get Zimmermann who will likely pan out. But I think that Rizzo knows that he needs to go out and try and get an Oswalt to get a solid rotation anytime soon. If they are lucky with a lot of ifs (Zimmermann, Wang, Detwiler), then 2011 will be a big opportunity. But they can't count on all three and may only get one if any to truly be front-end option.

In the past, the MO seemed to be to go with a razor thin level depth and potential and hope they get lucky. That pretty much leads to the cellar more often than not. Rizzo seems to want to hedge his bets a lot more. That's why the core of this team right now is far from homegrown.