Nationals are building for future
http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spken2812809891may27,0,7519419.column
Ken Davidoff
What do you get for the team that has nothing?
For the Nationals and Mike Rizzo, their vice president of baseball
operations, the buzzword is "impact" players.
"Nick Johnson, or (Josh) Willingham, or (Austin) Kearns, anyone on our
roster, if we can make a good baseball trade and improve ourselves, not only
for our present but also for our future -- a player that can impact us -- we
have to make those kinds of trades," Rizzo told Midweek Insider Tuesday,
before his team lost yet another game to the Mets, dropping their record to
worst-in-baseball 13-32.
All right, let's back up for a moment. It's a mite harsh to say the Nationals
have nothing. Thanks in large part to Rizzo, who oversaw the club's last two
amateur drafts, there is some talent coming through the pipeline. Nats
veteran lefty Ron Villone, the former Yankee, called young outfielder Justin
Maxwell one of the best athletes he has ever seen in the game.
But Rizzo does have miles to go. He's the club's de facto general manager
because Jim Bowden, the first and only Nats GM, resigned in spring training
in the wake of reports that he was being investigated about his role in a
price-skimming scandal in the Dominican Republic.
Bowden sullied the team brand with the constant drama he generated. Just as
bad, he wasn't a very good GM. Bowden seemed to operate under the premise
that you can never have too many first basemen and outfielders.
Hence Rizzo's confirmation of Johnson, about whom I asked, and volunteering
of Willingham and Kearns as potentially available players.
Johnson, now 30, is having the sort of season the Yankees envisioned of him
10 years ago, when he put up a .525 on-base percentage for Double-A Norwich.
The lefty-hitting first baseman has a .436 on-base percentage and .460
slugging percentage and has played in 44 of the team's 45 games.
Alas, nearly all of Johnson's seasons have been disrupted by injuries, so
teams in need of first basemen or designated hitters -- like the Mets and Red
Sox -- will be reluctant to give up too much.
Rizzo denied the reports that the Nats and Boston had discussed a deal that
would send Johnson to Boston for reliever Manny Delcarmen. Said Rizzo: "That
was never proposed to anybody. That was never rejected by anybody. It was
fabricated by somebody."
When we followed, "There were never any discussions or parameters involving
Johnson and Delcarmen?" Rizzo said, "No."
In any case, as Rizzo said, he wants players with high ceilings, whether they
currently play in the majors or in the low minor leagues.
Willingham, primarily a leftfielder, has put up a respectable .820 OPS and is
making just $2.95 million this season, while the rightfielder Kearns has an
underwhelming .730 OPS and is making an unwieldy $8 million with a $10
million team option (or $1 million buyout) for 2010. Both Willingham and
Kearns hit righty; the Mets, with Carlos Delgado out and Gary Sheffield
surging, are more in need of a lefty bat right now.
The Nationals season has largely been undone by their bullpen, which has 13
blown saves to eight saves. They're already out of contention for 2009. The
key, now, is to develop promising kids like pitchers Shairon Martis and
Jordan Zimmermann, showcase face of the franchise Ryan Zimmerman and keep
moving forward. With the youngsters that are here now, and with trades to
bring more youngsters aboard.
"Certainly, the roster flexibility affects what we do. It's part of the plan
that we have to play with," Rizzo said. "So we're trying to get more
balanced. We're trying to get more athletic, and younger, and better, in each
facet of the game. I think we have the personnel in place, either here on the
major-league side presently and on the minor-league side for the future, to
do so."
Perhaps. Rizzo, who has earned the full-time GM job he hasn't yet received,
helped put together the talented Diamondbacks team that made the 2007
National League Championship Series. But the next few months are important,
too.
Obligatory Strasburg Question
Part of Rizzo's professed optimism is tied in with the fact that the
Nationals own the first pick and the 10th pick in this year's amateur draft.
As everyone knows, San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg is widely
regarded as the best prospect out there, and he's represented by Scott Boras.
The Nats have little choice but to select Strasburg. Rizzo has said
repeatedly, "If the draft was today, he'd be our guy," and he cited that
quote when asked Tuesday.
"So what if the draft was today" Midweek Insider followed up.
"If the draft is today, I don't think anything has changed," Rizzo said.
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