Nationals new 1B discussion

[hammondsnats]

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

And you post the same bullcrap over and over again.  What's your point?

[comish4lif]

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

With thinking like that, you might have overspent to get Carlos Peña. INstead of the last guy standing...

[PC]

With thinking like that, you might have overspent to get Carlos Peña. INstead of the last guy standing...

NOBODY should want Carlos Pena!

[PANatsFan]

What do you mean?

It's from Seinfeld - it means nothing.

[PC]

It's from Seinfeld - it means nothing.

But why associate it with Casey Kotchman?  If there's no connection then Adam Dunn could have been the Assman or Hunter Pence or Wolf Blitzer?

[PANatsFan]

But why associate it with Casey Kotchman?  If there's no connection then Adam Dunn could have been the Assman or Hunter Pence or Wolf Blitzer?

JCA called him the Kman. Kman=Kosmo Kramer=Assman

[PC]

JCA called him the Kman. Kman=Kosmo Kramer=Assman

Now it makes sense. 

[Kevrock]

Anyway, the Orioles are targeting Lee and offering him 1yr/8mil or something close according to MLBTR. I really hope we have a better offer on the table than that.

[RyanTheRiot]

If it's true that Lee turned down an $8 million offer from the Padres, then he's asking for $9- or $10-million / year

If we're talking about that kind of money, I would pass on Lee.  At least until his demands come down.

[spidernat]

[RyanTheRiot]

Lee and LaRoche can suck it.  Give me Nick Johnson on a one year deal and platoon him with Morse. 

[hammondsnats]

Lee and LaRoche can suck it.  Give me Nick Johnson on a one year deal and platoon him with Morse. 

you aiming for 100 losses again?

[cmdterps44]

Lee and LaRoche can suck it.  Give me Nick Johnson on a one year deal and platoon him with Morse. 

no. no no no no no..

Come the end of April we will have Morse playing 1b full time. Just no.

[Coladar]

no. no no no no no..

Come the end of April we will have Morse playing 1b full time. Just no.

Honestly, what's so bad about the latter part of your post? Could be worse, of course Riggles won't play him even if he has to use the bullpen at first base.

[houston-nat]

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.

Um... the Nats just negotiate that way. The best guarantee that the Nats are getting something done, is that we don't hear anything about the Nats for a week. For like two weeks before Jayson Werth MLBTR reported pretty much nothing about DC.

[comish4lif]

no. no no no no no..

Come the end of April we will have Morse playing 1b full time. Just no.

I don't mind Morse getting the 1B or LF job, but if he gets one of those and the Nats don't improve at the other from what we already have (Ankiel and Bernadina), then that's a step backwards.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Lee and LaRoche can suck it.  Give me Nick Johnson on a one year deal and platoon him with Morse. 

If you could credibly tell me Nick would be healthy for 100 games, I'd do it in a heart beat.  Unfortunately, trying to get someone to think that is likely is like trying to get insurance on a burning building.

We really need Nick like skills at the top of the order.  You can keep the Nick-like health, but we do not have anything resembling a high OBP guy ahead of Zimmerman and Werth.  Nyjer's Bill James projection is for .347, which is OK, but coupling that with no SLG is too weak to lead off.  Our likely #2 hitter, Desmond, projects as .328, which is intolerable.  Morse profiles better as a #2.

Sign Lee, bat Morse 2d.

Morgan
Morse
Lee
Zimmerman
Werth
Desmond
Espinosa
C

More guts, more intriguing, would be to sign a LF like Damon and play Morse in RF:

Damon
Morse
Lee
Zimmerman
Werth
Desmond
Espinosa
C

[Kevrock]

Honestly, what's so bad about the latter part of your post? Could be worse, of course Riggles won't play him even if he has to use the bullpen at first base.

Is it just Riggles? I'm mind-facting but it seems like the organization in general (Rizzo?) undervalues Morse and overvalues Bernadina.

I would love to see what Morse can do with a full year in the starting lineup but I doubt we'll see it.

[Ray D]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/555800-mlb-rumors-are-adrian-beltre-and-derrek-lee-ready-to-cash-in#page/2

"Phil Wood of MASNSports reported that Lee and the Nationals were close to a one-year deal, but the Orioles were upping their offer to the point where Lee's decision had become more difficult."

[Kevrock]

freak THAT. Offer more than the Orioles. After that three game series we deserve a pseudo victory.

[hammondsnats]

it should be simple just offer more money than the orioles would ... oh wait i forgot who owns this team

[cmdterps44]

Honestly, what's so bad about the latter part of your post? Could be worse, of course Riggles won't play him even if he has to use the bullpen at first base.

Because Morse is not a permanent first baseman by any means. He's never played there. He's an outfielder. I wouldn't mind him getting a starting job in the outfield, but going into next year with an experiment full time first baseman is a step backwards. Why even bother thinking about doing something like that when all we would have to do is go from 8 million to 9 million to get Lee here (if that is indeed what he is seeking).

[Ray D]

it should be simple just offer more money than the orioles would

Might not be that simple, we don't know what the Orioles are offering, could be a two-year deal.

[PANatsFan]

Might not be that simple, we don't know what the Orioles are offering, could be a two-year deal.

Or the Orioles can up the deal again after the Nats do. It's a good thing a lot of board members aren't GM's.

[Ray D]

But what it appears is going on is that there are two first basemen and two teams. Both prefer Lee, but not by much. The Orioles talks with LaRoche have stalled, only because they are waiting to see if they can sign Lee, and if he signs with us the Orioles will sign LaRoche. And vice versa.  So both the Nats and Orioles have offers on the table to Lee and it's a matter of him deciding, and LaRoche goes to the other team.   I don't see any reason why the two teams should get into a bidding war over Lee.  If he were the last first baseman standing that would be different.