2007 Roster

[2k6nats]

barring FA signings (which Kasten said would not happen.)

ROTATION

John Patterson
Brian Lawrence
Mike O'Connor
Shawn Hill
Billy Traber

BULLPEN

Chad Cordero
Luis Ayala
Jon Rauch
Ryan Wagner
Chris Schroeder
Micah Bowie
Saul Rivera
LINEUP

LF Soriano
2B Lopez
3B Zimmerman
1B Johnson
CF Escobar
RF Kearns
2B Vidro
SS Guzman
C Schneider


Barring that:

Guzman returns and plays SS and Lopez to 2B, there is no getting rid of Guzman point blank.

Ramon Ortiz is not resigned.  He IS the 2006 ace of the staff, but hes not the direction we want to take.

Soriano re-signs  

Vidro is not traded.  I wish he would be, but for the sake of this post, hes not, as I couldnt even begin to speculate what we could get for him.

EVERYONE IS HEALTHY  :!:

Robinson (or whoever is managing) keeps Soriano in the leadoff spot  

[sportsfan882]

If O'Connor and Hill can pitch like they did when the first got called up and not pitch like they did before they got hurt and/or sent down, if Lawrence can come off the injury and be solid (we have Lawrence signed for next year, right?), if Patterson can regain old dominating form, and if Traber can pitch like he is pitching now, the rotation may be alright...  That's alot of Ifs though.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

I really think Kasten is going to have to do some FA signings.  Not that I really want him to but that is basically the same team we have now and it is not effective.  Several options for us have been closed off by certain decisions so how he is going to acquire certain pieces remains to be seen.

I think the one issue that has taken the forefront, especially these past few days, is not the signing of Soriano or the health of the pitching staff but whether or not FR is going to be here and if not, who is his replacement.

[UMDNats]

I don't know if Lawrence will be here - isn't there a club option for next year? I don't think the team wants to pay him 3-million plus when they aren't sure on his health. They can get another FA.

We need bullpen help, bad. That should be Kasten's first priority - then starting pitching.

[Dave B]

I think i heard lawrence is owed something like 5 mil or a 500k buyout.  It has been speculated the team will cut him and maybe sign him back for cheap.  I think possibly the same can be said for Drese.  Day comes back from injury as well. Though he might not be anything to get too excited about.

The problem with you lineup, 2k6nats, is two 2B

[expos96]

Indeed the line up has 2 2B players.

Although Soriano very wants to play lead off, it might strongly be considered to let him start as 3rd hitter.
He said he couldnot play outfield, but look how he adjusted...
Perhaps next year is a good year to start him 3rd in stead of 1st.
Lead off would be Lopez or Vidro. Lopez is the guy to be there and we've seen that Vidro is an excellent hitter as long there is nobody on base. Just let other hit him in then!

An option for 2nd player is or Johnson or Zimmerman, they are both so often on base...

I very much liked Saul the past weeks. I would certainly give him a chance next year.

Is it a fact, that it is impossible to keep all your roster healthy for a whole season? Then you should at least have a few backups there.

The following come in my mind:
Anderson
Castro
Harper or Fick
PH: Daryle Ward (like our pinch hit master)

But what to do with Casto: do you play youngsters of the bench or just let them play?
I'm not sure about Ryan Church, he started ok, but now with all those kk's.

And the rotation?
That's probably the must difficult one.
If next year is considered a 'building' year then perhaps we just have to go to the younger guys and wait how they perform.
Brian Lawrence will probably be gone, like Tony Armas and Pedro Astacio.
Perhaps Jason Bergmann is then a possibility...

[hammondsnats]

-Cut ties w/ Drese
-sign Lawrence for cheap to see if he's got anything left
-I like to see what a healthy mix-n-match of Day/Hill/O'Connor/Traber can do to take 2/3 spots of the rotation
-bergmann should be a spot starter/long relief
-ayala is healthy
-trade vidro
-have kory casto on the mlb roster
-cut damian jackson
-make sure marlon anderson, robert fick, brandon harper, alex escobar and daryle ward are on the bench
-re-sign soriano


-thats it for now.  i'm so ticked with the way they're playing now, i don't even want to think about next season.

[ChestRockwell]

re-sign Soriano, but keep him at lead off?

[UMDNats]

I know that for me, I want as many young guys as possible. Kasten wants to "semi-rebuild" - that is, he'll keep good veterans (Kearns, Soriano, Ayala, Johnson, Schneider, Patterson) but wants to have good young guys. In my eyes, we need to have Hill, Casto, and O'Connor with the big club for at least most of the year. Bergmann can be our long-relief. He shouldn't be a starter. Keep Traber in the same level as O'Connor and Hill. Patterson will get hurt early on (hopefully not), so there will be an opening there.

[PC]

At least half of next years' pitching staff should not currently be in the Nationals organization.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Patterson will get hurt early on (hopefully not), so there will be an opening there.

Come on, we have to give Patterson the benefit of the doubt here.  Especially if we are willing to plan like Soriano will actually be a fully signed Nat next year.

I have faith!  AMEN!!!

[The Chief]

I hope we see a lot of young new faces next year.  Anything's better than watching another year of our current roster.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

I hope we see a lot of young new faces next year.  Anything's better than watching another year of our current roster.

And to think of "all the positives" we had to look forward to at the beginning of the year.... :wink:

[JMW IV]

re-sign Soriano, but keep him at lead off?

my question as well.

[expos96]

re-sign Soriano, but keep him at lead off?

my question as well.

Re-gign Soriano, but switch him to the nr 3 spot.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

It seems to be unanimous that it's Kearns in RF & Escobar in CF next year?  

Personally, I'd prefer Byrd and Guillen, but I know the former has little chance of being called back up, and the latter has zero chance of being re-signed.  Kearns is OK, but other than that dinger in Miami, he hasn't been doing much with either bat or glove, and unless that death mask expression is a stage face, he can't be too much fun in the clubhouse either.  :cry:

Escobar seems to be very brittle, so it's hard to imagine him staying off the DL for a whole season.  Church seems to have a torrid 3 or 4 games every time he gets called up before he goes cold again.  Too many variables! Marlon Byrd was (is?) a generally mediocre batter who whiffed a lot, but he did get on base a decent amount, and (more importantly) he consistently hustled his ass off in CF.  

If Soriano walks, who plays LF?

[2k6nats]

It seems to be unanimous that it's Kearns in RF & Escobar in CF next year?  

Personally, I'd prefer Byrd and Guillen, but I know the former has little chance of being called back up, and the latter has zero chance of being re-signed.  Kearns is OK, but other than that dinger in Miami, he hasn't been doing much with either bat or glove, and unless that death mask expression is a stage face, he can't be too much fun in the clubhouse either.  :cry:

Escobar seems to be very brittle, so it's hard to imagine him staying off the DL for a whole season.  Church seems to have a torrid 3 or 4 games every time he gets called up before he goes cold again.  Too many variables! Marlon Byrd was (is?) a generally mediocre batter who whiffed a lot, but he did get on base a decent amount, and (more importantly) he consistently hustled his ass off in CF.  

If Soriano walks, who plays LF?

Uhhhh, Byrd is no longer a National as in he was released, and Guillen has played his last game as a National.

[sportsfan882]

It seems to be unanimous that it's Kearns in RF & Escobar in CF next year?  

Personally, I'd prefer Byrd and Guillen, but I know the former has little chance of being called back up, and the latter has zero chance of being re-signed.  Kearns is OK, but other than that dinger in Miami, he hasn't been doing much with either bat or glove, and unless that death mask expression is a stage face, he can't be too much fun in the clubhouse either.  :cry:

Escobar seems to be very brittle, so it's hard to imagine him staying off the DL for a whole season.  Church seems to have a torrid 3 or 4 games every time he gets called up before he goes cold again.  Too many variables! Marlon Byrd was (is?) a generally mediocre batter who whiffed a lot, but he did get on base a decent amount, and (more importantly) he consistently hustled his ass off in CF.  

If Soriano walks, who plays LF?

Uhhhh, Byrd is no longer a National as in he was released, and Guillen has played his last game as a National.

Wrong, Byrd is still in this organization.  He has hit like 7 home runs in the last 2 weeks in New Orleans.  He has been on quite a tear and we will probably see him again before the end of the season.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

I was about to say, Byrd hasn't been released yet.  He is in New Orleans.

Personally, I don't think he is that hot and if we can trade him or make him a part of a package, I wouldn't shed one tear.

[expos96]

If Soriano walks, who plays LF?

Probably Kory Casto.
I definetily want the Nats to try to re-sign Soriano.
But the world doesn't end when they finally are not able to re-sign Mr. Soriano.
See the avatar of NotLD why this re-signing could fail.

[PC]

Guillen has played his last game as a National.

Not necessarily...

Washington Nationals right fielder Jose Guillen vowed yesterday to be 100 percent once spring training starts in February. But what uniform he will wear remains uncertain. Guillen will become a free agent in October.
    "These people [Nationals] already know me, I've already talked to [general manager] Jim [Bowden] and we've had some good conversations, and I'm pretty confident that I'm going to come back here," Guillen said.

http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20060810-120350-1140r.htm

[gozimm]

Guillen has played his last game as a National.

Not necessarily...

Washington Nationals right fielder Jose Guillen vowed yesterday to be 100 percent once spring training starts in February. But what uniform he will wear remains uncertain. Guillen will become a free agent in October.
    "These people [Nationals] already know me, I've already talked to [general manager] Jim [Bowden] and we've had some good conversations, and I'm pretty confident that I'm going to come back here," Guillen said.

http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20060810-120350-1140r.htm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo
please dont let him come back.  Actaully, with Kearns i still say there is a verry little chance that he comes back