Nationals Rumors: Young, Swisher

What's with the Nationals and being in on guys they should not be. Heh, Michael Young now, why?

Hudson-2b Guzman-ss Zimmerman-3b Dunn-1b Willinghan-lf Dukes-cf Milledge-Rf Flores-c That's a really good lineup and 3 and 5-8 are all intercangeable even though hudson could bat 3rd and you move zimm to 5th or even 6th if willingham and duke are having good years.

...

Gotta agree here. If the Nationals are
able to trade for say a Nick Swisher and sign Adam Dunn and Orlando Hudson then they will be a very dangerous team. All they would need is dependable pitchers to give them a chance to win and they should be set. (Maybe not for this year but definitely for the future)
Lineup
C Jesus Flores
1B Adam Dunn
2B Orlando Hudson
3B Ryan Zimmerman
SS Christian Guzman
LF Josh Willingham
CF Lastings Milledge
RF Nick Swisher

Rotation:
SP Scott Olsen LHP
SP Daniel Cabrera RHP
SP John Lannan LHP
SP Collin Ballester RHP
SP Shawn Hill RHP

Closer: Joel Hannrahan RHP

?

Kulaid:
The free agent market is always a great place to find players that once where and may once again be something special. I think if the Nationals sign (Adam Dunn, Orlando Hudson) they will be in on low risk high reward bargain type pitchers. A few names come to mind.
Randy Wolf, Braden Looper, Paul Byrd, Mark Prior, Odalis Perez, Mark Mulder, Jason Jenings, Freddy Garcia

Also, while the Braves goal isn't necessarily to compete in 2009, they are setup to win in 2010 and beyond, and possibly in 09 if things break right for them. The Nats really don't have any plan at all. They are miles from winning yet are linked to a ton of free agents that make little to no sense for them right now. I can't understand all the Braves bashing. It is just weird to me. They are probably setup better then any team in the NL East, yet people talk about them as if they are a joke.

If the Nationals sign Dunn and Hudson, the offense looks complete - Dunn at first, Willingham joining Milledge in Dukes in the outfield. What about pitching?

First of all, John Lannan was an extremely solid pitcher last year (one of the NL leaders in quality starts), but he may be due for a bit of a sophomore slump. Balester is expected to be a solid, not great but solid, starter, if he will have his act together next year. And Scott Olsen we know can devour innings.

On the other hand, Daniel Cabrera is pretty high-risk. Jordan Zimmermann is a pretty amazing prospect (check out scouting video of him pitching in a snowstorm, I think on MLB's website) but whether he will be playing at a major league caliber in 2009 is an open question. Shawn Hill will be either injured or, maybe, in the bullpen.

Stephen Strasburg should join the team at the end of the summer, but until then there will be some measure of uncertainty. I think, though, that if Lannan, Balester, Olsen and Zimmermann can be a fairly competent rotation, this can be a surprising - mark that very surprising - team.

I appreciate you sticking up for the Braves nrmax, though I'm not quite sure recon1 is really even worth it. I can't even tell if he is a Nats fan or someone who just holds an irrational hatred for the Braves organization. If you want to compare the two organizations right now, its not even really close. The Braves have far more young, homegrown talent (as opposed to once highly ranked prospects that were cast off from their original franchises because of character flaws) with McCann, Yunel, KJ, and Jurrjens as well as a far, far superior farm system. They also have a clear plan in place to sign veteran players to reasonable deals for fewer years in order to hold down the fort while they continue developing one of the top farm systems in baseball.

Honestly, for all the heat that Frank Wren has taken, what bad move has he made this offseason? He refused to get in a bidding war with the Yankees on Burnett, he refused to give up more than any other team has been willing to discuss in return for Peavy, and he lost out on Smoltz because the Red Sox were willing to guarantee more money and returning to Atlanta was clearly nowhere near as big of a priority to Smoltz as he led us to believe. I think the Vazquez trade looks solid at worst, and there is a lot of upside in that move, and while we don't know the numbers yet on Kawakami, he seems like a very good gamble. Throw in the fact that the Braves still have 20 million to spend in a strong FA market where few other teams seem all that interested in spending big money, and the Braves could be in line for some more bargains before the offseason is over.

The Yankees should trade for Austin Kearns, then they should trade away Xavier Nady for a pitcher (not to the Nationals, but to whoever). If Kearns is healthy and in RF, then an OF consisting of Kearns, Damon and Swisher would be sound from both sides of the coin (offensive and defensive). Swisher could play CF with the defensive upgrade in RF and such a trade would free up payroll for the Nationals to make a move on Dunn or O-Dog.

"The Yankees should trade for Austin Kearns, then they should trade away Xavier Nady for a pitcher (not to the Nationals, but to whoever). If Kearns is healthy and in RF, then an OF consisting of Kearns, Damon and Swisher would be sound from both sides of the coin (offensive and defensive). Swisher could play CF with the defensive upgrade in RF and such a trade would free up payroll for the Nationals to make a move on Dunn or O-Dog."

Why would the Yankees trade Nady and trade for Kearns? Nady >> Kearns.

why is it that every time this site posts a rumor about the Nationals trying to do something to improve their team, a whole bunch of Yankee Hat-Wearers come in and starts bitching about it?

I mean damn, heaven forbid the Nationals make an attempt at improving. who the hell do they think they are, the Yankees?

the nerve of these 100 loss teams, trying to get better.

Kearns is awful. Both offensively and defensively. He is just as bad as Nady in RF, except atleast with Nady you have the offense. Even if last year was a fluke year his career numbers will still put him well above Kearns. Swisher is not an option for CF as has been stated by Cashman multiple times. Gardner is a very good defensive center fielder and will be batting 9th in a very good lineup. If he hits .260 that is enough. He hit above .300 in the minors and that could maybe translate to the majors by the end of the season.

Swisher was acquired so easily because the White Sox panicked and took the first decent trade proposal thrown at them. There was and still is a plethora of corner outfielders on the market and many predicted that Swisher would not be able to be moved because a team would opt to sign one of these free agents instead. For some reason teams would rather trade for Nady or Swish than to sign one of these free agents to a 3 year deal.

Cashman was criticized early in the winter for not offering Abreu arbitration and for trading for Swish. Looks like he had the market pegged better than any other GM this offseason. But of course all he can do is throw money around right?

@ yanks09

I am not going to argue you that Kearns is a great player, but I will at least contest that he is a awful outfielder.

As a Nats season ticket holder (yes, some of us do exist) I have been able to see Kearns play over the past couple of years, and while he can dissappoint with the bat, he was always a very solid RF, who could play CF if necessary. He even put up what I thought was a gold glove performance in 2007.

Kearns is awful. Both offensively and defensively. He is just as bad as Nady in RF,

Posted by: yanks09 | January 13, 2009 at 12:58 AM

you should stop speaking now.

Coming from someone who watched Kearns play for the past season and a half, and wants him off my team as soon as humanly possible:

Kearns can't hit a lick, but he is a Plus defender in RF, and suitable in CF.

his offense is deplorable, but his defense is stellar.

if you knew anything about anyone other than the Yankees, you'd realize that.

stick to talking about the Yankees, because it's pretty obvious it's the only team you know even the slightest thing about.