Nationals new 1B discussion

[Evolution33]

come on dude. first off, Future potential Free Agents don't count as "viable options for next year". They only become viable options when they sign with us.

secondly, Pujols will NEVER, EVER, leave St. Louis.

Pretty much what I meant. Why I asked who else there was.

[Ray D]

Pujols will NEVER, EVER, leave St. Louis.

For sure, Pujols isn't coming here.  I'm not so sure he will remain a Cardinal.  I don't think they have enough money to satisfy him, and I doubt he's going to give them a "home team" discount.

[Tyler Durden]

Where's he going to go?  I suppose the Cubs, if he likes their historical significance.  It would really be twisting the knife in the chest of St. Louis fans, though, if he went there.  Dodgers, maybe?

He's got to be so aware of his place in history and that's going to make it hard for him to leave.

[Ray D]

Red Sox still haven't reached agreement with Gonzalez yet (have they?).   Yankees could move Tex to the outfield.

[comish4lif]

Red Sox still haven't reached agreement with Gonzalez yet (have they?).   Yankees could move Tex to the outfield.

The Red Sox have not announced a deal with Adrian yet. There's speculation that they would not have made the deal without having the "parameters" of a deal in place. If the Sawx wait until after opening day to make the announcement, it pushes any resulting  luxury tax out a year.

[Ray D]

No matter, the Red Sox don't need Pujols, they'll win the AL East and likely the World Series. If the Yankees don't win the Series this year - very likely they won't - I think they'll go aggressively after Pujols (moving Tex to the outfield) and he won't be able to resist their offer.

[Tyler Durden]

Maybe the Yanks would trade Tex?  Is that crazy?  Yanks are the only place I could see Pujols going if he leaves STL.

[PatsNats28]

I think we should definitely sign a 1B in the next three days or so and move on.

[Lintyfresh85]

Casey Kotchman... come on down!

[Tyler Durden]

Please no on Kotchman.  I really hope the talk of Kotchman as a backup plan is not true.  Just putting Morse there for the year is way better than slogging through 2011 with a .700 OPS at 1B.  Kotchman sucks. 

[Lintyfresh85]

I was sort of joking... but then I realized it's probably closer to being true than I ever wanted to imagine.

Then I wept a little bit.

[blue911]

The Red Sox have not announced a deal with Adrian yet. There's speculation that they would not have made the deal without having the "parameters" of a deal in place. If the Sawx wait until after opening day to make the announcement, it pushes any resulting  luxury tax out a year.

The Sox haven't announced the deal because of the luxury tax. If they wait until after opening day the tax hit won't start until the 2012 season. 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

In a sense, Kotchman might be a great pairing with Morse at first.  In sort of a stinky sense, but a sense, nevertheless.  If Morse adapts to first well and Kotchman cannot hit, then K-man would be easy to bench.  If K-Man bounces back to his 2008 form (it's been about that long), then you would not mind him holding the job.  If Morse fades offensively, at least K-man would give you defense when he gets the bulk of the playing time.  If both play the position well, then K-man can be flipped.

Do I sense his nickname will be K-man if we sign him?

[PANatsFan]

Casey Kotchman, the Assman!

[hammondsnats]

still nothing new ...

O's like Lee according to Rosenthal, it'll take more than $8 million to sign him ... same old stuff we've heard. 

[PC]

Casey Kotchman, the Assman!

What do you mean?

[comish4lif]

still nothing new ...

O's like Lee according to Rosenthal, it'll take more than $8 million to sign him ... same old stuff we've heard. 

Rosenthal also said that Lee was $8M by the Pads and turned it down. Not sure why he'd do that....

[comish4lif]

I think we should definitely sign a 1B in the next three days or so and move on.

and if not in the next 3 days...then the 3 days after that!

[Coladar]

I don't understand why the hell we are waiting at this point. There are two guys left. Pick one and move on. If we wait, we not only risk losing out on our ideal candidate to the Orioles, who you see talks of them offering deals and talking with players/interest in players far more than talks of Nats with Lee and Laroche. MLB Trade Rumors has a story every day on the O's and Lee and LaRoche, and the Nats just mentioned as the other team interested. It seems the Nats are taking a wait and see attitude with 1B, a backseat to the O's.

And if the O's sign first, like I said, not only do you risk losing the guy you wanted, but then there's one guy left. He's in a far better bargaining position, since he's all thats left and he knows we need a first baseman. And there are still enough teams that could use a first baseman that you can't say it's mitigated by being the only team left. It hurts us in the end if the O's sign first, and right now that looks likely. And it makes no sense. Definitely disappointing, I thought for sure a deal would be done by today, or at least something that said we had picked between one or the other. The O's have varied between Lee and LaRoche over the past month. One week they focus on LaRoche, the next Lee. Right now they are on Lee. Like I said, the Nat's just seem to be waiting for the O's to pick, which is stupid. No other explanation makes sense for the length of time it's taking, and the lack of any substantive talks between the Nats and one of the two. The only surprise is it's taking the O's so long to pick. Is there really any advantage to waiting and seeing who the Orioles choose, and then being left with the scrap? Because I don't see any.

[comish4lif]

I don't mind that the Nats are pretty quiet about leaking stuff to the media. Having said that, I'm not sure what the hold up is from the Nats point of view.... decide which 1B do you want, and start negotiating. Unless...

The Nats are waiting til February and hoping that one of these 2 will be able to be signed up for pennies on the dollar. Or... dare I say it... Morse is the answer at 1B, and we have the 3 man "Emeril Lagasse" platoon in Left and Center with Bernadina, Ankiel and Morgan (BAM!).

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Maybe they hope that the Os will sign Lee, and then they can turn to LaRoche and say, "no one is offering you three years.  Here is our offer: 2 years, $16MM, with a team option for another year at $7MM. "

[PC]

Yes, heaven forbid you pay a little more to get the one you actually want instead of just settling.  

[spidernat]

Unless...

The Nats are waiting til February and hoping that one of these 2 will be able to be signed up for pennies on the dollar.

You know this is exactly what they are waiting for.

Yes, heaven forbid you pay a little more to get the one you actually want instead of just settling.  

That's the MO of this cheap ownership.

[hammondsnats]

Just go ahead and sign someone already.

[spidernat]

Just go ahead and sign someone already.

  Dude you post something like this 5 or 6 times daily.