{"id":826,"date":"2011-03-14T15:13:54","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T19:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=826"},"modified":"2011-09-07T12:22:30","modified_gmt":"2011-09-07T16:22:30","slug":"ladsons-inbox-31411-my-answers-to-his-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=826","title":{"rendered":"Ladson’s Inbox 3\/14\/11; My answers to his questions."},"content":{"rendered":"

A running post, my answering the questions that Nats MLB beat writer Bill Ladson<\/strong> answers on a (mostly) weekly basis.\u00a0 here’s Ladson’s 3\/14\/11 mailbox post<\/a> with his answers.<\/p>\n

Q: Is it too early to say Drew Storen lost his chance of being the team’s closer?<\/strong>
\nA: I think it was too early to say this even last year, when Storen was good but not fantastic in the closer role.\u00a0 We wouldn’t have acquired a 103mph throwing Henry Rodriguez<\/strong> otherwise.\u00a0 I think Storen *eventually* gets the role but until then its a mix between him, Tyler Clippard<\/strong> and Rodriguez depending on the night.\u00a0 Riggleman likes to give relievers their assignments for the night ahead of time and seems certain to go closer-by-committee.<\/p>\n

Q: Why do the Nationals keep taking chances on injured pitchers like Chien-Ming Wang and Cla Meredith, when a guy like Kevin Millwood is available? <\/strong>
\nA: Because Millwood was awful last year?\u00a0 4-16, 5.10 era<\/a> and an 83 ERA+.\u00a0 Though he was effective in 2009, his 07 and 08 numbers were in line with his 2010 numbers.\u00a0 2010 was the last year of a 5yr\/$60M contract.\u00a0 If the Yankees, who *desperately* need starters, aren’t biting on Millwood (or even Jeremy Bonderman<\/strong>) at this point then nobody will.\u00a0 Besides, I’d much rather pay a 22-yr old prospect the major league minimum to put up a 5.00 era and a mid-80s ERA+rather than a veteran who would command 2-3 times more at a minimum.<\/p>\n

Wang is a special case; I think the Nats spent the $1M guaranteed this year as a follow-on to their $2M investment last year.\u00a0 $3M is a good gamble on a pitcher who won 19 games two years in a row in the AL East.\u00a0 Meredith (i’m pretty sure) was NOT injured coming into the season, and his TJ diagnosis was a surprise.\u00a0 He’s already released and should have only cost the team a few thousand in spring training stipends and meal monies.<\/p>\n

By and large, it seems that you can gamble with one injury reclamation project per spring.\u00a0 And they are good gambles; the league is filled with pitchers who have returned from major injuries on non-guaranteed contracts to contribute.<\/p>\n

Q: With the Nationals signing first baseman Adam LaRoche to a two-year deal, have they lost faith in Chris Marrero, and should they consider trading him at this point? <\/strong>
\nA: It is a fair point.\u00a0 I think the Nats got stuck between two situations; Marrero not being ready for a full time major league gig for 2011 and a quality first baseman not wanting to come here on a one-year deal.\u00a0 So they bought 2 years of LaRoche and probably cost Marrero a year of development time.\u00a0 They have not lost faith in him … but to rise to the majors as a first baseman you have to have 30+ homer power.\u00a0 This isn’t the 80s when a skinny Don Mattingly<\/strong>-like first baseman can arise and prosper.\u00a0 You need production out of that position.\u00a0 Until Marrero displays that, he’s stuck in the minors.<\/p>\n

Q: If Danny Espinosa starts off the season cold, who will come in as the second baseman? <\/strong>
\nA: Nobody, really.\u00a0 The team is basically all in on both Desmond and Espinosa to start 150+ games at their respective positions this year.\u00a0 Alberto Gonzalez<\/strong> is not a lock to make this team versus Alex Cora,<\/strong> and neither can really hit a lick.\u00a0 Jerry Hairston<\/strong> can backfill but is no more than a role player at this point in his career.\u00a0 There is a significant gap from the majors to our 2nd base prospects Kobernus <\/strong>(who has not played like a 2nd rounder at all) and Lombardozzi<\/strong> (who played well in the AFL but is still needing minor league time).\u00a0 We all better cross our fingers these guys don’t get hurt or struggle badly.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you see Jerry Hairston Jr. taking significant at-bats away from Espinosa and Ian Desmond — potentially retarding their progress? <\/strong>
\nA: Not at all; once-a-week starter and late inning defensive replacement to spell their legs during the grind.<\/p>\n

Q: How can you be even remotely upbeat about Morgan? His base-running decisions last year were terrible and his foot speed is supposed to be his biggest offensive threat. I like the guy’s heart, but I doubt he’ll be anything but a disappointment this year. <\/strong>
\nA: I believe Morgan will break camp as the leadoff hitter\/center fielder, but will probably only be given about 2-3 weeks to show he’s back on track at the plate before the team goes with Rick Ankiel<\/strong> or Roger Bernadina<\/strong> in center.\u00a0 If this happens, Morgan’s time in the majors may be close to complete; he’s 30, has a history of behavioral issues from last year, and isn’t getting any faster or younger.<\/p>\n

Q: Are you surprised that Laynce Nix is facing an uphill battle to make the Nationals’ 25-man roster? <\/strong>
\nA: Why would anyone be surprised that an outfielder on a non-guaranteed contract is having problems making a team with 5 outfielders on major league contracts?\u00a0 Nix’s success was always insurance over the likes of Morse and Ankiel not working out.\u00a0 If a team wants to trade for him, all the better.\u00a0 He doesn’t exactly fit the Mike Rizzo defense-first profile of outfielders as it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A running post, my answering the questions that Nats MLB beat writer Bill Ladson answers on a (mostly) weekly basis.\u00a0 here’s Ladson’s 3\/14\/11 mailbox post with his answers. Q: Is it too early to say Drew Storen lost his chance of being the team’s closer? A: I think it was too early to say this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonnatsbaseball","category-chatmailbag-responses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=826"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2338,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions\/2338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}