Author Topic: One Player You Would Have Wanted To Have Been A Nat  (Read 1202 times)

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Offline Dave in Fairfax

  • Posts: 2010
Again, Freddy Freeman.
In the spirit of the scenario, what are the butterfly effects of this? If you have Freeman at 1st and Zimmerman at 3B, do you even draft Rendon, or do you draft him and keep him as a meh second-baseman? Or do you presciently give up on the from-2011-on oft-injured Zimmerman?

Offline imref

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  • Re-contending in 202...5?
In the spirit of the scenario, what are the butterfly effects of this? If you have Freeman at 1st and Zimmerman at 3B, do you even draft Rendon, or do you draft him and keep him as a meh second-baseman? Or do you presciently give up on the from-2011-on oft-injured Zimmerman?

The ideal situation would have been to trade for Freeman prior to the start of the 2015 season when the Braves were blowing up the team.  At that point Zimmerman had already shifted to first and Rendon had taken over at 3B (at the end of the year).  So getting Freeman then would have meant parting ways with Zimmerman or moving him to the bench (Tyler Moore was the backup).  That would have been a pretty good upgrade.

We still wouldn't have had a lead-off hitter, but man that middle of the order would have been something:

1. Taylor/Span (who was hurt a lot)
2. Werth
3. Harper
4. Freeman
5. Ramos
6. Desmond
7. Rendon
8. Espinosa

Offline Dave in Fairfax

  • Posts: 2010
Good point. I was not thinking in terms of trades. Although, in the real world, Zimmerman was already in his mega-contract at this point, so it would have been nigh impossible to move him at that point.

But speaking of the middle of the order, I remain fixated on that 2017 team which went wire-to-wire and fizzled in the NLDS. That middle of the order was arguably the best in MLB since Murderers' Row:

Bryce Harper - .319/.413/.595; OPS+ of 156; 27 doubles, 29 HR, 87 RBI
Ryan Zimmerman - .303/.358/.573; OPS+ of 134; 33 doubles, 36 HR, 108 RBI
Daniel Murphy - .322/.384/.543; OPS+ of 136; 43 doubles, 23 HR, 93 RBI
Anthony Rendon - .301/.403/.533; OPS+ of 139; 41 doubles, 25 HR, 100 RBI

I can't think of another team which had four players in the middle of the order who averaged over .300 with almost 30 HR and 100 RBI (technically 28.25 HR and 97 RBI). Even Murderers' Row technically only had two power hitters in Ruth and Gehrig.  And that's not even counting having a fairly good lead-off hitter with Trea Turner's .284/.338/.451 line with 24 doubles, 6 triples, 11 HR, 46 steals and 45 RBI. And probably Michael A. Taylor's best season as a Nat (.271/.320/.486, 23 doubles, 3 triples, 19 HR, 17 steals, 53 RBI). And Howie and Adam Lind.

That's why I went with a dominant starter, since when I look at the 2019 WS team I see the big difference as having a virtually interchangeable 1-2-3 rotation to dominate in a playoff series.  Although, to be fair, Gio Gonzalez was a 6.3 WAR player in 2017, so Rizzo and the Lerners probably thought they had that dominant playoff rotation. I don't think anyone, even those generally skeptical of Gio, would have predicted he would go only 8 innings with a 6.75 ERA in his two starts after a 2.96 ERA in 32 regular starts (201 IP).





Offline imref

  • Posts: 42504
  • Re-contending in 202...5?
Good point. I was not thinking in terms of trades. Although, in the real world, Zimmerman was already in his mega-contract at this point, so it would have been nigh impossible to move him at that point.

But speaking of the middle of the order, I remain fixated on that 2017 team which went wire-to-wire and fizzled in the NLDS. That middle of the order was arguably the best in MLB since Murderers' Row:

Bryce Harper - .319/.413/.595; OPS+ of 156; 27 doubles, 29 HR, 87 RBI
Ryan Zimmerman - .303/.358/.573; OPS+ of 134; 33 doubles, 36 HR, 108 RBI
Daniel Murphy - .322/.384/.543; OPS+ of 136; 43 doubles, 23 HR, 93 RBI
Anthony Rendon - .301/.403/.533; OPS+ of 139; 41 doubles, 25 HR, 100 RBI

I can't think of another team which had four players in the middle of the order who averaged over .300 with almost 30 HR and 100 RBI (technically 28.25 HR and 97 RBI). Even Murderers' Row technically only had two power hitters in Ruth and Gehrig.  And that's not even counting having a fairly good lead-off hitter with Trea Turner's .284/.338/.451 line with 24 doubles, 6 triples, 11 HR, 46 steals and 45 RBI. And probably Michael A. Taylor's best season as a Nat (.271/.320/.486, 23 doubles, 3 triples, 19 HR, 17 steals, 53 RBI). And Howie and Adam Lind.

That's why I went with a dominant starter, since when I look at the 2019 WS team I see the big difference as having a virtually interchangeable 1-2-3 rotation to dominate in a playoff series.  Although, to be fair, Gio Gonzalez was a 6.3 WAR player in 2017, so Rizzo and the Lerners probably thought they had that dominant playoff rotation. I don't think anyone, even those generally skeptical of Gio, would have predicted he would go only 8 innings with a 6.75 ERA in his two starts after a 2.96 ERA in 32 regular starts (201 IP).

No argument from me.  I just would have rather had Freeman hitting bombs for us instead of against us. :)

Offline zimm_da_kid

  • Posts: 7931
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Prime Carl Crawford.  Also fun fact he's only 39

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Prime Carl Crawford.  Also fun fact he's only 39
we went with Werth instead. I wanted Crawford here and Werth in Boston due to the ballparks and team needs as I saw them .  Better d, speed, leadoff here, rh power to balance A-Gon and replace Beltre there

Offline Smithian

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Ignoring top star players or I'd say Joey Votto for the 2010's.

I'd have taken Ian Kinsler. We plugged Turner, Espinosa, and a bunch of nobodies there over the past decade plus, and having had a player like him to lock that down would have been really helpful a lot of seasons.

Offline welch

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I reject this 2005 premise. In my alternate reality DC had a team when I was growing up and Ken Griffey, Jr. led them to 3 World Series.

Kevrock, here is your alternate reality: Calvin Griffith kept the Nats in Washington, so Washington kids and older fans kept cheering for Harmon Killebrew, Camilo Pascual, Bob Allison, and Zorro Versalles. Our Extended Senators won the AL pennant in 1965 and again and again, as we cheered for Tony Oliva and Rod Carew. Calvin sold locally in the 1970's, and the Nats continued to win. Throughout, the Washington Senators -- Nats for short -- were the dominant team in DC.