Discussion: Mike Rizzo's Team-Building Strategy

It's hard to argue that Milledge's upside was worth all the headaches off the field. The guy was a problem in the clubhouse with the Mets, and the problems actually seemed to get worse in Washington. Good luck to the Pirates with that one...

the stat geeks can talk all they want about milledge's upside, but there is no baseball stat for bats**t crazy! bad move by the bucs to sign this diva.

That's got to be the quote of the night, kevin.

I think that is absolutly the right thing for the NATS to do. I would take constant good performance from 2 guys everyday over the possible huge upside of Lastings. This was a great trade for the NATS.

Loving the commentary the past few days from the people who have seen Hanrahan's Baseball Reference page, but have never actually seen him pitch.

for the Pirates sake, I hope they never consider making Hanrahan a "closer". He can't handle that kind of pressure. when the game is out of reach, he pitches well, or at least competently.

He completely implodes when the game is on the line.

I really don't have a big problem with this trade, but the reasoning behind it is completely backward. Reliability over high yield? Isn't that pretty much the same things as taking the 'safe' guy instead of the kid with upside. The result of that strategy is inevitably mediocrity.

I don't agree with the "reliability over potential" line from Chico. Getting Morgan, to me, was all about cultivating the potential of the pitching staff. Even if Milledge reaches his ceiling, he's not a center fielder. And there's much more potential in the rotation as a whole than there is in Milledge. And instilling confidence that these guys can pitch to contact and still get outs is huge. It's just like getting run support for young pitchers.

FIP (fielding independent pitching) shows how well these young pitchers have been performing. All three of these guys also have high BABIPs and low LOB%

Zimmermann: 4.65 ERA, 3.55 FIP
Stammen: 5.44 ERA, 4.32 FIP
Detwiler:5.24 ERA, 3.83 FIP

It's still a hard to evaluate trade because Milledge has sooo much upside, but having Morgan benefits those young pitchers both short term and long term.

Next step: listen on offers for all the vets, including Dunn.

"Reliability over high yield? Isn't that pretty much the same things as taking the 'safe' guy instead of the kid with upside. The result of that strategy is inevitably mediocrity."

You could have said the same thing about the Lee/Podsednik trade. A big bat was traded for a guy who turned out to be the right piece. I'm not swaying Morgan brings a championship to Washington, just saying the Nats needed outfield defense and desperately. With Morgan, they get that and they deal from a position of strength... the only thing I don't get is why the hell Sean Burnett is implied to be a good reliever. In all honesty, the Pirates probably came out ahead in the deal, but this wasn't a bad deal for the Nats.

"Milledge was unavailable for comment, but his father, Tony Milledge, said last night that he hopes going to the Pirates will bring a fresh start.

"Lastings is thrilled to death, I can tell you that," Tony Milledge said by phone from Palmetto, Fla., the family home just across the river from Bradenton, the Pirates' spring home and Lastings' birthplace. "I'm telling you this is a good kid, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his dad. Tell the people in Pittsburgh, please give this kid a chance. He'll give you the shirt off his back, Pittsburgh."

3rd times a charm!

A couple things:

I think Milledge's "head case" problems were a bit overblown in DC. Is he a Cal Ripken or Tony Gywnn, no but he's not exactly Milton Bradley either.

I think this is a win for the Pirates. Simply put they traded two guys at their peak value (Burnett may have been a top prospect 5 years ago but hasn't been a valuable piece for some time) for a pair of players at their lowest possible value. If the Nats had tried to package Milledge and Hanrahan together this past offseason, they would have gotten a good return. Milledge was coming off a great 2nd half and Hanrahan was the best he's been in years. Also both guys were former 'Top prospects' so the pedigree factor was there as well.

I love fangraphs and read Dave Cameron religiously, but he's dead wrong here. Morgan has some value, but he's easily replaceable, Burnett is a soft-tosser, and Milledge and Hanrahan actually have some upside. It's an easy win for the Pirates and a risk well worth taking.

I have been a full Nats STH for the entire run in Washington and I've been a baseball fan since 1970. I have never seen two worse baseball players than Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan.

I cannot understand why all these so called experts talk about 'upside' with Milledge. When you see him play you see he has no baseball instincts. He takes the wrong routes on fly balls, throws to the wrong base, doesn't properly position himself to throw when making a catch, mediocre hitter, cannot hit in the clutch, and had a bad attitude. He was late for the pre-game meeting and was even late for his own surgery to repair his hand that he broke because he cannot bunt.

Joel Hanrahan is single handedly responsible for at least seven Nationals losses this year. Calling him a closer is like calling a short guy "stretch". He NEVER, NEVER did the job as a closer. When you saw him get up in the bullpen, you knew the game was over and that the Nats were going to lose. All this talk about 'stuff' is nice for scouts, but when you see a guy blow game after game after game after game for your team, common sense has to take precedence over 'stuff'.

I don't know that much about Nyger Morgan and Sean Burnett but if even they never play a game for the Nationals, this trade was a steal for the Nats. Addition by subtraction.

"Milledge was unavailable for comment, but his father, Tony Milledge, said last night that he hopes going to the Pirates will bring a fresh start.

"Lastings is thrilled to death, I can tell you that," Tony Milledge said by phone from Palmetto, Fla., the family home just across the river from Bradenton, the Pirates' spring home and Lastings' birthplace. "I'm telling you this is a good kid, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his dad. Tell the people in Pittsburgh, please give this kid a chance. He'll give you the shirt off his back, Pittsburgh."

3rd times a charm!

Posted by: BuccoNation | July 01, 2009 at 07:50 PM

Haha, just wanted to say I lived in Bradenton, Fla for 9 years, weird coincidence.

A few things: Tim, check Chico Harlan's resume before you give him much cred.

If your going to critcize someone, at least address the right person, Tim didn't post this Brian Shephard did, it says so right under the headline.

Milledge may eventually blossom but I just don't think it was going to happen in DC. I think he is more valuable if he is able to learn to play CF. His bat is not as good for a corner OF. The Nats had to get a legitimate CF and Morgan should fill that role. The CF defense has been horrible all year. They have some good young starting pitchers and having good defense behind them can help their confidence.
I do like Hanrahan but the Nats had to get new blood in the bullpen. Maybe they follow this trade up with a Villone or Beimel trade.