The Bryce Harper Watch

[imref]

You think Strasburg vs. Price is a dominant mis-match?  You might be right, but it's too early to tell IMHO.

[Lintyfresh85]

Absolutely.  Every single GM would trade Price for Stras without a second's thought. 

Are you sure?

Do you think Strasburg would be 8-2 with a 2.29 ERA in the AL East right now?

[DPMOmaha]

Are you sure?

Do you think Strasburg would be 8-2 with a 2.29 ERA in the AL East right now?

Right now?  Maybe not, but after a season and a half in the bigs, absolutely, he could very well be at that level or better.

[Lintyfresh85]

How much better can one really be?

[UMDNats]

How much better can one really be?

Ubaldo Jimenez?

[Lintyfresh85]

Ubaldo Jimenez?

I guess.

Price leads the AL in ERA and wins... two goals that I'd love to see Strasburg meet.

[tomterp]

Are you sure?

Do you think Strasburg would be 8-2 with a 2.29 ERA in the AL East right now? will have a more productive career from this point forward?

Fixed.

Answer, yes.

[imref]

i don't think any of us would complain if Strasburg's career paralleled what we've seen from Price so far.

[Salamander Man]

Absolutely.  Every single GM would trade Price for Stras without a second's thought. 

Very doubtful.  Especially with how Price has pitched this year.

[I ride Nats]

I guess.

Price leads the AL in ERA and wins... two goals that I'd love to see Strasburg meet.

Personally, I would hope Strasburg would accomplish that in the NL rather than the AL, but thats just me

[CJames0569]

Here is the video (below) of the call Harper got ejected on, judge for youself but it clearly looks like the called "3rd strike" was in the opposite batters box. As Harper walked back to the dugout he drew a line with the bat representing where the ball went as if to show the up where the strike zone was and flipped a little dirt in the process getting him tossed. If you ask me the ump had his finger on the trigger just waiting to throw him out.

http://minors.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/06/harper_ejection.html

[UMDNats]

Here is the video (below) of the call Harper got ejected on, judge for youself but it clearly looks like the called "3rd strike" was in the opposite batters box. As Harper walked back to the dugout he drew a line with the bat representing where the ball went as if to show the up where the strike zone was and flipped a little dirt in the process getting him tossed. If you ask me the ump had his finger on the trigger just waiting to throw him out.

http://minors.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/06/harper_ejection.html

Wow, that wasn't even close.

[Lintyfresh85]

But, at the same time... you can't draw a line in the dirt to show where you thought the pitch was.

Ichiro was even ejected for doing it.

[cmdterps44]

But, at the same time... you can't draw a line in the dirt to show where you thought the pitch was.

Ichiro was even ejected for doing it.

Its badass. Maybe Harper will be the fire this team needs to kick K-Rods ass when he throws high heat.

[imref]

almost as bad as Oswalt getting tossed, a terrible call.

[UMDNats]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/draft2010/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=5248377

Some parts I like:

"He's told me a number of times, 'Coach, I just want to be a kid playing baseball with my friends. I don't want to be a superstar. I just want to be a player,"' Chambers said. "And I'm like, 'Well, Bryce, it is what it is. In my opinion, you're a superstar."'

"He's an awesome teammate," Kirk said of Harper. "He'll get down the line and do some things that you'd think a superstar wouldn't do. Every day he works harder and harder to get better. He's not one of those guys who thinks, 'Oh, I'm good, so I'm going to take a break here and there.'"

Said Roach: "He's a great kid and I love him to death. We'll mess with him a little bit and say things like, 'You're the best ever.' But he takes it good. He doesn't walk around with his head held high or his nose in the air or anything."

"It happens everywhere he goes," Scott Dysinger said. "People are on him; harsh stuff, and guys making fun of him. It's all jealousy. They're not going to make fun of someone who sucks. They're always going to talk crap about someone when they're better. That's just how it is."

[Smithian]

Its badass. Maybe Harper will be the fire this team needs to kick K-Rods ass when he throws high heat.

After the first pitch inside of his first career at bat against Philly, I want him to throw his bat down and charge the mound and whoop hopefully J.A. Happ's ass and set off an old fashioned brawl. Announce to the league the Nationals are no longer the 'Natinals'.

A fire thrower like Stephen Strasburg and a young phenom full of piss and vinegar like Bryce Harper are just what this team needs. We're a soft team with the softest throwing guys in the league and passive players.

Capps and Clippard are only guys right now who we have who will even try to throw a high velocity fastball. Willie Harris, Willingham, Pudge, and oddly enough maybe Adam Kennedy are the only guys on this team right who I'd expect to start throwing punches if it went down. I won't even speculate to the idea if we have a pitcher who will throw inside to protect our guys.

[Terpfan76]

You know, I think Strasburg might have the stones to put a hitter on his ass and more importantly, I think he has the command of his pitches to do it with out plunking someone. Aside from him, I'm really not sure who else does. Capps might, but he's not going to be in the position to be doing that kind of thing. If we add Oswalt, he also has the stones to put some gas under someones nose.

[Lintyfresh85]

Honestly, just sign Dibble to a one day contract. He'll take care of things in a hurry.

[Terpfan76]

Back on topic. I really look forward to seeing Harper mature as a Nat and become a great player for this team but at the same time, I don't want to see him lose his intensity. If Harper gets tossed once in awhile because of playing the game hard, but not dirty, I can deal with that. If he ends up being Milton Bradley or someone like that, well I'll hope that guys like Dunn, Zimmerman and the Hammer can help to prevent that from happening or we can at least get a ton in trade for him.

Man I wish we had a player like Will Clark. He was my favorite player growing up and it would be great if we had someone with his intensity and clutch hitting ability.

[The Chief]

Honestly, just sign Dibble to a one day contract. He'll take care of things in a hurry.

Knowing how you (and a few others) feel about Dibble, I can't tell if this is an insult or a compliment

[Smithian]

I honestly wouldn't mind Dibble being used as an advisor during Spring Training. He was a great pitcher himself, can help pitchers a bit(he has mentioned sometimes guys on the plane will talk to him for advice), and I'd love some of his attitude seep through this pitching staff.

[Terpfan76]

Honestly, just sign Dibble to a one day contract. He'll take care of things in a hurry.

Might as well sign up the rest of the Nasty Boys and perhaps see what "Dutch" Dalton, John Kruk and Lenny Dykstra are up to lol... Hell, Nolan Ryan can probably still touch the upper 80's lol

[NJ Ave]

Ahh, the old clutch hitting canard! Love that challenge!

Will Clark overall career slash line: .303/.384/.497 for a career OPS of .880, or an OPS+ of 137. Great player.

Will Clark career "late and close" slash line: .288/.383/.478, for a tOPS of 96, or slightly worse than his overall production. He also had only 5 seasons where he outperformed his overall season OPS in "late and close" situations, against 10 seasons where he underperformed in those situations.

tOPS when ahead: 103
tOPS when behind: 95
tOPS in "high-leverage" situations: 108

Taken together, it means Will Clark, if anything, performed slightly better than usual in higher leverage situations (situation with higher outs, later in the game, with more runners on base) when his team was already ahead.

He was a tough guy and a great hitter, but not any more of a clutch hitter than our imperfect memories make him out to be.

[I can Throw]

Man I wish we had a player like Will Clark. He was my favorite player growing up and it would be great if we had someone with his intensity and clutch hitting ability.

My Will Clark memory:

My friend went to the press conference for the Giants series in the Superdome. He asked Will if he could take a picture with him and Steve's 5 year old son (wearing a Giants jersey). "If you want my picture cut it out the newspaper".