10/11 offseason

[Lintyfresh85]

Desmond is not a SS, Espinosa is.

I don't think that could be more clear.

[Vega]

I think we should sign as many upside starters as possible. (Chris Young, Brandon Webb, John Maine when he's non-tendered.)

[PANatsFan]

I think we should sign as many upside starters as possible. (Chris Young, Brandon Webb, John Maine when he's non-tendered.)

I think the team should trade for a decent 1B/OF option and a good starter and leave the injured guys in the infirmary.

[welch]

Desmond is not a SS, Espinosa is.

I don't think that could be more clear.

Seems clear to me from Espinosa's range and confident fielding, plus his shaky hitting. Typical good glove, bad hit SS. He has a big swing, so maybe, someday, he will learn how to hit. Right now, my enduring memory of Espinosa is a big swinig at a ball diving into the dirt on the outside corner.

Memory of Desmond is that he looks nervous on a hard-hit ball right at him.

Switch Desmond and Espinosa. And hope. This does not look like a strength.

[PANatsFan]

Seems clear to me from Espinosa's range and confident fielding, plus his shaky hitting. Typical good glove, bad hit SS. He has a big swing, so maybe, someday, he will learn how to hit. Right now, my enduring memory of Espinosa is a big swinig at a ball diving into the dirt on the outside corner.

Memory of Desmond is that he looks nervous on a hard-hit ball right at him.

Switch Desmond and Espinosa. And hope. This does not look like a strength.

Espinosa is an all or nothing hitter. I don't feel he's shaky. He's got Mark Reynolds potential from 2B or SS. That kid is a winner. Desmond needs to win me over again.

[welch]

Unfortunately, Espinosa's hitting reminds me, too much, of Maxwell. Hard swing -- that's grounds for hope -- but misses. Looks like he'll have an entire season to learn to hit major league pitching. I'd put him at SS, where the team could benefit from his fielding.

[tomterp]

Switch Desmond and Espinosa. And hope. This does not look like a strength.

Playing second ought to cut down on Desmond's throwing errors quite a bit.

[hammondsnats]

More accurately, Desmond for being slightly below the SS average in every category.

yeah let's get on him for his rookie season ... there's no chance of him improving on those numbers/cutting down errors is there.

[UMDNats]

yeah let's get on him for his rookie season ... there's no chance of him improving on those numbers/cutting down errors is there.

Averaged just about 30 errors every year in the minors, and he's never been an OBP guy at any point in his career (.326 career minors OBP). Barring some substantial change, he's likely to improve slightly (major league coaching), but I can't get real excited about our "shortstop of the future" being a .330-.335 OBP guy with 25-30 errors a year.

Would love to be wrong.

[UMDNats]

Playing second ought to cut down on Desmond's throwing errors quite a bit.

Unfortunately the team seems 100% opposed to any of this kind of thinking.

[hammondsnats]

Averaged just about 30 errors every year in the minors, and he's never been an OBP guy at any point in his career (.326 career minors OBP). Barring some substantial change, he's likely to improve slightly (major league coaching), but I can't get real excited about our "shortstop of the future" being a .330-.335 OBP guy with 25-30 errors a year.

Would love to be wrong.

they are pretty confident that his errors will go down.  if he has a rough year this season, i can only imagine it'll be espinosa's job.  but his glove was better the second half of the season and despite the last week, his bat was pretty awesome (.300+ average).

honestly, it doesn't matter to me if they flip flop positions, but i guess our think tank sees/knows something we don't.

if there were better options (bringing in hudson and placing espionsa @ ss, etc), i'm all for it.  right now i guess there's not.

[hammondsnats]

Playing second ought to cut down on Desmond's throwing errors quite a bit.

[ladson] don't worry dunn won't be here next year, so that number will go down [/ladson]

[Sharp]

yeah let's get on him for his rookie season ... there's no chance of him improving on those numbers/cutting down errors is there.

The fantasy article this was based on expects him to improve significantly powerwise and doesn't care about defense, otherwise they wouldn't be calling him "flawed," just straight-up bad.  But his plate discipline has always been terrible.

[hammondsnats]

The fantasy article this was based on expects him to improve significantly powerwise and doesn't care about defense, otherwise they wouldn't be calling him "flawed," just straight-up bad.  But his plate discipline has always been terrible.

fair enough

[Sharp]

fair enough

It's not the article itself that's fantastic .

[JCA-CrystalCity]

while I'm very much in the "espinosa is a shortstop and a waste at 2d" camp, I don't object to playing him one (and only one) season at 2d primarily alongside Desmond.  It'll give DE a chance to establish himself as an MLB hitter.  I don't want the change to be permanent.  If it turns out we have two MLB starters between ID and DE, then we can trade one.  SS is a premium position and to have two starters who are still making MLB minimum is a huge asset.

As for offseason moves, as a fan of both the Red Sox and the Nats, I like the idea of a deal built around Ellsbury and Willingham.   Willingham would fit nicely into LF for the Sox, while Ellsbury could slide into leadoff for the Nats.  Maybe get add in a middle reliever (Burnett, ideally, from a RS perspective) and get back another MI or C lower prospect.  You do that, and find a first baseman (preferably LH power, but RH would be OK) and the line up starts looking better, I think.  There'd still be room for one more OF upgrade here, but that could be a lesser FA or another deal.

[hammondsnats]

while I'm very much in the "espinosa is a shortstop and a waste at 2d" camp, I don't object to playing him one (and only one) season at 2d primarily alongside Desmond.  It'll give DE a chance to establish himself as an MLB hitter.  I don't want the change to be permanent.  If it turns out we have two MLB starters between ID and DE, then we can trade one.  SS is a premium position and to have two starters who are still making MLB minimum is a huge asset.

As for offseason moves, as a fan of both the Red Sox and the Nats, I like the idea of a deal built around Ellsbury and Willingham.   Willingham would fit nicely into LF for the Sox, while Ellsbury could slide into leadoff for the Nats.  Maybe get add in a middle reliever (Burnett, ideally, from a RS perspective) and get back another MI or C lower prospect.  You do that, and find a first baseman (preferably LH power, but RH would be OK) and the line up starts looking better, I think.  There'd still be room for one more OF upgrade here, but that could be a lesser FA or another deal.

or as i've said all along ... both get comfortable at where they are and stay there, or as some have alluded to, you switch them.

[Potomac Cannons]

Desmond is not a SS, Espinosa is.

I don't think that could be more clear.

Espinosa is probably the better one defensively but Desmond's range is above average at SS (8th in MLB this year).  If he'd just make the simple plays he'd be considered one of the best defensive players at SS.

[Rizzone]

Espinosa is probably the better one defensively but Desmond's range is above average at SS (8th in MLB this year).  If he'd just make the simple plays he'd be considered one of the best defensive players at SS.

If Justin Maxwell could hit, he would be an all-star. If Cristian Guzman had power, he would be a great SS. If Shawn Hill could stay healthy, he would be a pitcher. If Nyjer Morgan had a straight head, he would be a fine player. It's easy to say that he would be one of the best SS if he could make simple plays, but the fact is that he can't and has not shown the ability to do it in his 7 years of professional ball. He is what he is: Good range, strong arm, horrific hands, and bad decision maker.

[Lintyfresh85]

I think we're all in agreement on not wanting to get rid of Desmond, and I'm afraid some people think that... we (I) just want him moved to 2B, to put the better of the two defenders at SS. Plus, Espinosa's hitting profile is more valuable at SS than it ever would be a 2B.

[Potomac Cannons]

I think we're all in agreement on not wanting to get rid of Desmond, and I'm afraid some people think that... we (I) just want him moved to 2B, to put the better of the two defenders at SS. Plus, Espinosa's hitting profile is more valuable at SS than it ever would be a 2B.

I'd leave it alone to start this year.  With that said, if ID keeps airmailing balls and kicking the easy ones, then it's time to flip the two.  Add in Lombardozzi's continued development and ID could make a valuable trading piece since the tools are enough that someone else will love the chance to fix him.

[hammondsnats]

Espinosa is probably the better one defensively but Desmond's range is above average at SS (8th in MLB this year).  If he'd just make the simple plays he'd be considered one of the best defensive players at SS.

agreed. 

towards the end of the year, he started eating plays instead of trying to make a highlight dive/stop/throw.  but we need to see more of that out of him.

[Vega]

I don't understand why some say that Espinosa should be moved to shortstop because his hitter profile is more valuable there than at second. Assuming that we keep both him and Desmond, it doesn't matter which position they play from an offensive perspective because they'd both be in the lineup anyway.

[HalfSmokes]

The thought is Espinosa has the better glove and you'd want the better glove at ss

[hammondsnats]

I don't understand why some say that Espinosa should be moved to shortstop because his hitter profile is more valuable there than at second. Assuming that we keep both him and Desmond, it doesn't matter which position they play from an offensive perspective because they'd both be in the lineup anyway.

that's the same with my line of thinking.  who cares what league average is, if they both get the job done.  that's what i'm hoping, i don't care where they play.

and if espinosa's value is high for a 2b then it evens out with desmond @ ss (if that makes any sense).