Fire Rizzo

[Baseball is Life]

He wants Strasburg to get more groundballs and stop being Strasburg.

Sigh.

FWIW, Verlander credits his successs this year to pitching to contact more. It's not about getting Ks, it's about getting outs.

[Lintyfresh85]

And Verlander leads the MLB in strikeouts.

[Evolution33]

Pitching to contact isn't a thing. The pitcher doesn't control if a batter makes contact or not. All a pitcher is doing is making their pitches and trying to hit a terget. If they want to call throwing more strikes pitching to contact who cares.

[Slateman]

And Verlander leads the MLB in strikeouts.

Verlander has a much more refined change up and he has a slider. Verlander also took several seasons to put it together like he has in the past couple seasons. It takes a little while sometimes for power pitchers to learn how to be good pitchers

[Kevrock]

Second consecutive ten game improvement.

Don't fire Rizzo.

[Evolution33]

Second consecutive ten game improvement.

Don't fire Rizzo.

He had nothing to do with it all his moves were awful he wanted to trade Zimmerman for Yuni Betancourt because he can do more crunches, and if Rizzo were a real GM he would have been able to make a move like trading for Rasmus so the Nationals could finish as well in the division as the Blue Jays.

[Rasta]

Second consecutive ten game improvement.

Don't fire Rizzo.

This!

The guy ain't perfect and has made mistakes but from 59 wins to 69 wins to 80 wins and Strasburg hasn't really been there too much yet.  Add in Harper/Rendon in a year or two.

The Nats are headed in the right direction. 

[tomterp]

He had nothing to do with it all his moves were awful he wanted to trade Zimmerman for Yuni Betancourt because he can do more crunches, and if Rizzo were a real GM he would have been able to make a move like trading for Rasmus so the Nationals could finish as well in the division as the Blue Jays.

 

[The Chief]

Just like I said - shiners are the bigger trolls.  Time to make a list for them too I guess.

[Kevrock]

Just like I said - shiners are the bigger trolls.  Time to make a list for them too I guess.

And who's going to make a list for you? King of BABAB.

Edit: Meaning, in your efforts to promote your trolling hypothesis, you are popping up in multiple threads to troll the trollers. What's the difference?

[The Chief]

And who's going to make a list for you? King of BABAB.

Edit: Meaning, in your efforts to promote your trolling hypothesis, you are popping up in multiple threads to troll the trollers. What's the difference?

Actually I only have one thread, and it's not even public.  I merely comment on existing instances.  If shiners/LANC didn't troll, I wouldn't comment

Nice acronym though

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Zuckerman on how the Nats were acquired. 

I think he misses the point: once you get beyond the draft choices, other than one player acquired by each of Beinfest, Minaya, and Bowden, every other player currently on the 40 man roster plus 60 day DL list was acquired by Rizzo.  Even 6 of the 20 draft choices are Rizzo boys, and really it is too soon to have anyone except the signees with major league contracts and Storen on Rizzo's 40 man.  Of all of Bowden's trades, and of all the FAs from that era, only Tyler Clippard is still on the roster. FJB indeed.

[PowerBoater69]

Zuckerman on how the Nats were acquired. 

I think he misses the point: once you get beyond the draft choices, other than one player acquired by each of Beinfest, Minaya, and Bowden, every other player currently on the 40 man roster plus 60 day DL list was acquired by Rizzo.  Even 6 of the 20 draft choices are Rizzo boys, and really it is too soon to have anyone except the signees with major league contracts and Storen on Rizzo's 40 man.  Of all of Bowden's trades, and of all the FAs from that era, only Tyler Clippard is still on the roster. FJB indeed.

Just as it is too soon to have a large number of Rizzo draft picks on the 40 man, it is too long after Bowden left to expect to have his free agents still on the team.  Prior to the Werth signing old man Lerner did not approve of any contracts longer than two years (with the exception of Kearns). 

[DPMOmaha]

Zuckerman on how the Nats were acquired. 

I think he misses the point: once you get beyond the draft choices, other than one player acquired by each of Beinfest, Minaya, and Bowden, every other player currently on the 40 man roster plus 60 day DL list was acquired by Rizzo.  Even 6 of the 20 draft choices are Rizzo boys, and really it is too soon to have anyone except the signees with major league contracts and Storen on Rizzo's 40 man.  Of all of Bowden's trades, and of all the FAs from that era, only Tyler Clippard is still on the roster. FJB indeed.

But I think that's exactly the point.  The post wasn't really about Rizzo or the Nats.  It's more about how the Cubs and their fans can't and shouldn't expect Theo to come in and fix things in one off-season.  Rizzo inherited a massive mess and has done an admirable job in cleaning it up and yet, still isn't all the way done.  He's just saying that Cubs fans shouldn't expect a miracle fix. 

[Ray D]

Rizzo inherited a massive mess and has done an admirable job in cleaning it up

I agree, but it must not be overlooked, that in the process of cleaning it up he has created one massive mess: the Werth contract

[DPMOmaha]

I agree, but it must not be overlooked, that in the process of cleaning it up he has created one massive mess: the Werth contract

I'm not willing to judge the outcome of that deal 14% of the way through it.  If he bounces back the next couple of years and is an important cog in a playoff or world series run, I'll be fine with it.  If, because of that contract we're able to attract other key players, then it's a good contract.  It's still too early to call it the worst deal in the history of baseball.  That's too blunt an answer for a remarkably nuanced situation.

[Lintyfresh85]

Werth doesn't have sway among players to bring in FA's, money talks, not a .230 hitting OF'er

[UMDNats]

Werth doesn't have sway among players to bring in FA's, money talks, not a .230 hitting OF'er

I agree money talks, but you and I have no idea what kind of impact Werth could have on free agents.

[welch]

I'm not willing to judge the outcome of that deal 14% of the way through it.  If he bounces back the next couple of years and is an important cog in a playoff or world series run, I'll be fine with it.  If, because of that contract we're able to attract other key players, then it's a good contract.  It's still too early to call it the worst deal in the history of baseball.  That's too blunt an answer for a remarkably nuanced situation.

It's just money. A team can spend money, but they are OK as long as they don't trade away good ballplayers. Money doesn't hit or field all by itself. That's the problem with the Yankees. Look up Doug Drabek to Pittsburgh for Rick Rhoden.

[Obed_Marsh]

Money doesn't hit or field all by itself.

Yet a foolish contract can entrench a underperformer in the starting lineup for many years.

[DPMOmaha]

Werth doesn't have sway among players to bring in FA's, money talks, not a .230 hitting OF'er

He's not the guy recruiting other players, that's Rizzo's job.  The whole contract to JW isn't about Werth himself.  The hope is that it's a signal for others that DC is a realistic place for a top FA the same way Thome was in Philly (someone who also didn't preform nearly to his contract) or Pudge was in Detroit.  Who signed that first deal is fairly irrelevant if it does indeed serve that purpose.  We'll know more this year and even more after next offseason when the FA class should be much deeper.  If it doesn't serve that purpose and/or the kids can't make up the difference, it will be the noose that hangs Rizzo.  If Werth bounces back a bit (which I expect him to) and Rizzo can get another top FA or two the next couple of offseasons, we'll be in really good shape.

[spidernat]

I agree money talks, but you and I have no idea what kind of impact Werth could have on free agents.

His smile alone should persuade at least two FA's to sign with the Nationals.

[cmdterps44]

His smile alone should persuade at least two FA's to sign with the Nationals.

but his ability to potentially sleep with other teammates wives is pretty negative!

[Obed_Marsh]

His sneer smile alone should persuade at least two FA's to sign with the Nationals.

Updated that for you. They should have added a smile bonus for more wins.

[UMDNats]

His smile alone should persuade at least two FA's to sign with the Nationals.

i see what you did there

but i think he'll only be able to win 1. now dmitri young....