With all the hubbub about the Nats efforts in this winter's free agent sweepstakes, it seems to me that we have forgotten about another potential issue? Why haven't the Nats resigned Ryan Zimmerman? Has anyone else beside myself, been asking themselves that question? Please correct if I am wrong, but didn't Zimmerman say that he did not like to talk contract during the season and looked to this winter to get a new contract? I believe, he also indicated that if the Nats did not sign him before the start of the 2012 season, he will probably become a free agent next winter. I remind folks that the Phillies need a new third baseman, and probably would be more than accommodating to sign Zim for whatever he wanted. So what has any one else heard on this matter?

Now we are talking!

The Lerner's have shown DC and me the money, so now I won't rant about them being cheap any more.

Worth is a great investment even if for only 4 productive years. He's got power, speed, defense, and he's a clutch hitter.

He is also a great community person and club house addition.

I will now go out of my way to get people to go to the Nats games to show Mr. Lerner my gratitude. Now just a few more suggestions.  I know Mr. Rizzo knows all of this, but also get one blue chip starter, and one blue chip relief pitcher. The rest of the team will fall into place. Baseball is one of the most psychic games out there. Don't tell me why, but great players who are leaders, make other players on the same team look better. Attitude and confidence explode. It's contagious.

Please, oh please, get a larger radio network. It should cover all of Virginia down to and into N. Carolina, into West Virginia. and , yes, into Maryland to the Eastern shore. Then please get a powerful flag station like WTOP-FM, or 97.1, 106.7, something other than the 50 watt powered WFED-am, which you can barely get outside the beltway, and of course, with all the am static to boot. Let's act like a major league team. Next, consider charted buses from the outlying areas, particularly, Virginia.

Consider a combination or just a Nats Express via the VRE train. It stops at L'Enfant Plaza, just a few blocks away, really an easy metro ride away.

Finally, build some parking garages. Most still drive. Remember it's quite unpleasant to ride the Metro with a family from anywhere during rush hour when most fans have to compete with the crunch of commuters going home. Schedule more business person special day games, have different agency or U.S. Govt. Department nights, and schedule more day games during the freezing cold months of April and late September. The sunshine helps a lot. Next really start having the Nats meeting people out in the surrounding neighborhoods in DC and greater Metro area, ad not just to season ticket holders and luxury box folks. We are in the Great Recession and a lot of people need something to take their minds off of things. Baseball has always proven to be a real pick me upper during hard times like the Great Depression and the Great Wars. This means a lot to many younger, future fans. Build up the future fan base by giving special rates to groups of youngsters under 16. School is still in, during the months of April, May and September!

I know their there's an important business end to this great  game, but the Capital City needs a winner. The late Abe Pollin and the present owner of the Caps, Ted Leonis knew how to do it and knew how important it was to the city. Let's fly right and build the Nats together (fans and ownership) to the day we will win the Big One!

Respectfully,and thank you, Mr. Lerner

Wxguy

I pose a question here for all to comment on. Do you think that the balance in the quality of MLB will ever be fair?

Dear Mr. Selig, MLB sucks. Competition in MLB is non-existent, and is getting worse. Every year for he last ten, it has been the same old teams except for maybe the Rays. And the rich get richer from playoff and series money.The lower tier of baseball is forever domed to mediocrity because of the giant imbalance in income by some teams,mainly from their own small TV and radio networks. Unless you have a Steinbrener, or a Leonis, or a Snyder, who at least spend some money to really try to develop a team ( Snyder's choices don't count), most teams are domed, especially those in small TV markets. The Nats are domed a couple of ways. One, the stupid Peter Angelos owned TV MASN network contract, and the really stupid Nats radio network which I believe consists of 3 low powered radio stations including DC's 1500 am which you can barely get beyond the beltway. I can go anywhere in Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina and listen to the Orioles games loud and clear. Who the hell is running the TV radio contracts? Finally, the performance of the owners, so far, has only confirmed to me that they are not interested in developing the Nats, only in pay-as- you go financing, and the strong possibility they will be able to sell the ball club sometime in the next 5 years claiming lack of fan support. They will make a huge profit because the suckers in Las Vegas, or the Carolina's, will be willing to pay a huge sum for any MLB team, even the Nats.  The performance of the Nats, the last two weeks has been appalling and embarrassing to MLB. I see no really outstanding candidates like a Zimmerman, in this last month when teams bring up their best new prospects. I salivate as I watch other young teams with fewer first round players than the Nats who will definitely be stars in the near future. Just look at the Braves in this past week's series. They will be real contenders over the next couple of years. It's the same old problem, poor owners, especially ones who meddle into the day to day club operations undercutting the club's president , GM's and even the manager. I still predict Stan the Man will leave the Nats soon. Here's a long time, knowlegable baseball guy who the Lerner's continue to hinder in his task of day to day club operations.

Wow, did I write all that? Now it's you turn. Do you feel like me, and do you have any solutions to the present chaos known as the Nats? 

Is it that the Nats have caught the Redskins flu, or is it that the Redskins have caught the Nats flu?

wxguy

To stimulate more fan interest in the Nats, I thought we might watch the race for next year's first round draft pick.

The Nats are still in first place with a .649 winning, or should I say losing  average, on track for a 105 game losing record. In 2nd place, 4 1/2 games back are the KC Royals with a .614 average. In 3rd place and closing fast, is none other than B-Orioles , 8 games back with a .588 average.  In 4th place, are the Pitt Pirates with a .586 average, 9 games back.

If both the Nats and the O's finish 1, 2 in this race, this will make MLB very happy since they said our area can't support two teams. I wonder if we could combine teams, but then 0 + 0 = 0.

If the Nats get first round pick next year, it will be 3 years in a row. Is this a new major league record? This might add even more interest in this last month of baseball.

wxguy

OK, I know, because Guzzy is in the last year of his contract.
Come again?!?!? Here is one of the prime reasons the Nats are now in a hitting, winning combination, and you place one of the hot hitters on waivers. Does that make sense to anyone, or am I just dreaming? But once again, here's a high salaried player that the Nats are letting go to receive nothing in return, or replace him with a person who has a low salary (ala the Pirates business model).

wxguy

Been away all week. Far, far away from the disaster known as the Washington Nationals. I come back and another well known player is traded away for nothing. This continues to support my theory that the Lerner's are following the Bob Short scenario, and that is, if you trade, only trade away high salaries to get players  with low salaries to lower your team's overall salary total. This team owner is a joke and a penny pincher, whose aim is the bottom line. He spends nothing to improve this team and remains deathly silent. He is a sham and an affront  to the faithful fans of the Nats who must endure day after day this boring AAA team. When the fans stop coming, then what? My guess you'll start hearing about the lack of support and the possibility of moving this team to Charlotte, or Las Vegas, and make a tidy little profit in selling.

Do you really think they will sign Strasburg? Do you really think, he'll want to play here with this disaster?

wxguy

PIRATES: GM Neal Huntington wrote an open letter to the team's fans explaining that the decision to trade CF Nate McLouth to the Braves wasn't financially motivated.

The Pirates, who traditionally have one of the majors' lowest payrolls, are averaging a major league-low 16,588 in attendance. The low turnout is prompting speculation that the surprise McLouth deal last week was made to save money.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an editorial encouraging the Nutting ownership group to sell the team to owners who are more interested in winning. The paper wrote, "It's time Pittsburgh baseball had ownership worthy of the game."

Does this business model sound familiar? At least the owner took the time to explain his actions.

wxguy

In today's Washington Post, Friday, 5 June, Thomas Boswell, has taken off the kid gloves and let's the Lerners have it.

Boswell, an outstanding sports writer, does it respectfully, but directly. I quote,"...When the problems go this deep, the causes should be sought at the top, not the bottom. Accountability doesn't lie with a pitching rotation full of rookies, or a bullpen built on tissue-thin resumes and prayer.... But now the blame---and the solutions, if any--surely must lie at the top with the billionaire Lerner family and team president Stan Kasten." ( I would disagree that the problem is Stan Kasten)  Boswell closes with, " The reasons for that damage, like any hopes for the future, start not with relievers, coaches or even managers. They start right at the top. And can only be fixed there."

We have maintained over the past couple of years that the problem has always been at the top. My conspiracy mindkeeps asking why the Lerners are doing this? My theory, given the Lerners' real estate and development background, is that they purchased a team (Think a parcel of land or a building complex.) and now they spend as little as possible to develop it, knowing that inflation will eventually cause the item to appreciate in price. They then sell the building/team to some sucker at a much higher price in about 5 years or so, and make a nice little profit. To hell with the folks who live near, or in the development.  The alternative conspiracy theory is that MLB never wanted to be in DC, because it is too close to Congress, the body who controls the holy grail of business, the Anti-monopoly laws which baseball guards so closely. What do you think about my theories?

Finally, I wonder when we will hear from the Lerner's concerning this inferior product they are selling. This team they own is a disgrace to major league baseball, and something one would not expect of the Lerner 's generally quality development. I predict that soon we will hear from them indicating that the fans aren't supporting the team and they may have to sell or move the team. The team's marketing stinks! From the where are the Nats on TV game, to the weakest radio network in baseball, to little, if any, real contact with area groups, to overpriced tickets,etc.,etc.

Have we passed the point of no return???

wxguy

Tis the season to trade. June is especially a big month, when winning teams (the haves) try to obtain the best palayers from the losers( have-nots) for the second half run.

While it's not new news the Mets are going all out to get Nick Johnson from the Nats to replace aging and ailing, Carlos Del Gado. So much so that the rumor is the top Nats scouts (Do we have any?) are going all out scouting Mets' AAA and AA rosters, ,hopefully,  for pitching.This trade seems all but imminent.

But let's stop a minute. Here again is a decent player of quality, and a fan favorite!

Someone we can enjoy as a true major league player!

True, I think he is in his last year of contract next year??, but what will the Nats get in return? Probably another has been or never will. At least, Johnson is a solid, consistant player who has overcome a lot of adversity with his injuries. He is also another player who wants out from the Nats and its cheap skate owners.He is just another quality player who knows that withe present ownership, he will never enjoy the thrill of playoffs, and possible participation in the World Series.The Nats are rapidly becoming a farm team for the big boys like the Mets. This just like the old KC A's were with the Yankees. Major league baseball is rapidly becoming the haves and have-nots via free agency and big money. It is losing it's competitiveness.

Will ever be any joy in Nats town???

wxguy

In today's Wash. Post, Tom Bozwell, writes about the possible peril of Manny Acta's job. In fact, Bozwell says this firing could occur by All-Star break.

I maintain that Manny Acta is being made the Scapegoat for the demise of the Nats,

when, in fact, the real culprit is none other than the owners of this team, the Lerner's.

Are sportswriters afraid to say anything about the cheap, penny-pinching, micro-managing Lerner's. At some point, somebody with some guts will tell the real story of the Nats ownership. This team was dead on arrival when the Lerner's took over.

Bowden, of course, was the arrogant, loser General Manager, who traded fan favorites for nothing and traded away folks who maybe were past their primes, but still brought leadership and a competitive, excitement to our Nats. Yes, that was Livan Hernandez, the other night, going 9 innings for Mets beating our Nats. When was the last time a Nat went 9 innings? Remember Soriano, Ryan Church, Brian Schneider, etc. These were not superstars, except for Soriano, that at the very least, provided excitement, leadership, and experience. They were fan favorites, but Bowden traded them away alienating the fans. The inflated expectations we were told about, regarding the great minor league prospects, and how, in just 3 years we would see a turn around, ended when the cheap skate owners failed to really go after some blue chips players especially pitchers, and then failed to sign a top draft pick. The owners have alientated the city with their deliquent failure to pay rent on the stadium because a few ofices were not finished in time.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that Manny Acta is one of the best , young managers in baseball, who, if given some real major league players, especially pitching, he could really go somewhere with this team. I'm afraid the owners have now alientated Manny enough now, so he is Mets bound no matter what. He deserves an owner and a team with great players. I predict he will win the World Series in 2010 with the Mets. By this time next year Manny will be gone, Stan Kirsten will be gone, and the Nats will have not signed Strasburg. All of which, dooms this team for another decade, or until the Lerners sell out.

wxguy

Well just watched Hanaran, or whatever his name is, blow yet another save.
This guy couldn’t close last year. Did he marry Lerner’s daughter? I sit and watch
as the Marlins staff, almost to a man, throws 90 plus, and I watch the Nats with virtually nobody who break 90. Oh yes, Hanahran throws 90, as straight as an arrow. Great batting pitcher. Bad pitching takes the wind out of a good hitting team.
So what is the problem folks? Fielding, pitching, the manager, the coaches,hitting?
Fielding is a problem because we can’t seem to field the same team more than 2 games in a row. It’s certainly not Manny Acta, he knows the game,period, and so do the coaches for that manner.

It’s the pitching folks! A coach told once that pitching is probably 60-70% of the game.
You will win once and while with good pitching with scores like 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, etc., but not more than 5. The Nats must go 7 runs every game to win with this pitching staff.

The ultimate problem is the ownership! Let no one kid one’s self. Someone suggested
trading Kearns beacuse he makes $ 9mil. The top pitchers in the league are getting much more than $9 mil. By the way who’s the highest paid person in MLB? A pitcher.
Someone earlier mentioned a list of names of pitchers available before the season started. Yes, some were time worn , former star pitchers, but would still be able to win a few. Some say Manny is using the bull pen too much. Are you kidding? With a starting staff like the Nats, any team would wear out its relief staff, but the problem is not just the lack of starters, but a crew of minor league relievers, and no closer.

Friends, you know as well as I that the deep, systemic problem (like the term they use when discussiing the economy ) is the ownership. As I have said before, the penny pinching Lerner’s are the real, unfortunate root of the problem. Unfortunately, the damage has been done, and no player with any talent will play with this team, now or the future. The new player scouting system also sucks big time. I would bet the Lerner’s are penny pinching there too,

So now we wait for the Messiah to come in the form of Strasburg. Wanna bet he won’t sign with the Nats either. No friends the only saving grace we have is if the Lerner’s decide to sell to someone who is willing to spend and invest in a good team. Someone like Angelo in Baltimore. Did I say that?

Make me a believer,
Wxguy

Yesterday, trying hard to be not too pessimistic, I said the Nats had noooo

pitching at all with the present staff. Was I right or what? Folks, this is getting real ugly.

When will the club house fights start? When will Manny lose his cool?

I would if I had a bunch of totally dead arms as my pitching staff. The problem is that the Nats do have a decent batting lineup. So what if they can't field. We will just have to play offense. The trouble is that eventually bad pitching in some strange way kills a hitting teams morale in some mystifying way.

God, the Nats picthing is awlful.Starting pitcher Cabrara, who called top 90. Then look at Rivera who comes in the 6th with a tie, and promptly hits two batters in a row and then gives up back to back homers. Ouch!

Lord, please send rain tomorrow!

wxguy

I draw everyone's attention to this morning's (Friday, 26 Sept. 2008), Tom Boswell's Washington Post column in the Sports section. Tom, one of the most respected sports writers in the nation, especially for baseball, finally tells it like it is. However, in his skilled matter, he does it very gently and politely. Tom is still being nice to the Nats because he knows what is going on behind the closed doors. He knows Stan Kasten, and Manny Acta are extremely talented individuals who know what they are doing, but are being micromanaged by inexperienced and cheap owners. It will be a darn shame if we see either leave the Nats organization by 2010. I'm undecided on Bowden as GM. He made a couple of good moves, but made many bad moves and reminds me of the typical low budget, perennial last place, general manager.

Then there are the owners, the Lerner family. The Lerner's are worth about 4 times as much as the Yankees' Steinbrenners, yet act as if they are running some shopping mall in a low budget, ghetto area. The present state of this team is directly the fault of this quiet, yet openly, supposedly, totally in love with baseball. But behind closed doors, the Lerners appear to be tight wad, micro-managing, short term for profit, owners. The whole organization below the Lerners is in a deep morose. Under this type of management in any business, the owners might make a short term profit, but at what cost to the morale of those below them. Why did the team have so many injuries this season?. Yes, we had a lot of injury prone players, but I believe that when one is depressed and plays with little enthusiasm you tend to get hurt. And this team played overall like a depressed with little enthusiasm. This was not the manager's fault, the President's fault, or even the GM's fault. This attitude started at the top, the cheap and micro-managing Lerners. To quote Boswell,.."Does a cheap suit unravel?"

The warning signs started with the failure to sign Soriano last fall. It proceeded to the lack of signing or even pursuing any free agent in the winter. Then the treatment of Cordero with his injuries. The trading away of very average, but very popular players, Church and Schneider (Did they ever realize how popular these guys were with the young fans?). No trades of significance in July. No resigning of the franchise player, Zimmerman, or contract extension for the great, young manager, Acta. The season long battle over paying rent to the city because, ".. the stadium was not complete on time", just to squeeze a few more bucks into the Lerner coffers. The arrogance about the failure to sign their top draft pick (Do you think any top player will play with Nats as long as the Lerners are the owners? The word is obviously out on the street.).

I thought they really wanted a winning team, but now I realize who owns and is developing the land around the new stadium, the Lerner's. You wonder  why there is no parking? The Nats to the Lerner's are a means to an end, the development of their real estate assets. The Nats, are in no way, the center of their attention. I still feel you will see the Lerner's sell the Nats in 5 years or so. They will make a huge profit.  The new owners will move the team to Las Vegas. It has happened before in DC, and I see no one in Selig's MLB or Orioles organization praying like I am, that a new, white knight with deep pockets and willingness to risk his money for the love of the game, coming to the rescue. The Nats need a Brooks Brothers suit, not a JC Penny's special!

wxguy

Well, just to continue the turmoil, the Nats have now ended their connection to Columbus, Ohio as a AAA affiliate. This lasted all of two years with the former Yankee AAA city. Now the question is where the team will put its top minor league team. probably far from the DC fans and sportswirters to hide the fact that the "Plan "is not working. The Wash. Post seems to feel Syracuse, NY, will be open when the Blue Jays farm team leaves. The logical place would be in Richmond, VA, because of its closeness to DC. The Braves are leaving there after some 40 years. Richmond, however, needs a new stadium up to AAA standards, and I'm sure the Lerners will do nothing to help in that area. 

Now here's the surprise sleeper that the Wash. Post mentions in passing, as a possible new location for the Nats AAA team. Now since I'm big on the whole Lerner strategy as to where they are going with ownership of the Nats, that is, keep all costs low and sell the team for twice what it is worth in about 5 years, the magic city mentioned as the next possible location is none other than Las Vegas, NV. Yes, that's right, Las Vegas, the town that lost out to DC for the Nats. If the Nats move their farm team to Las Vegas, I believe, that will be a good indicator as to where the team might be headed in about five years. The strategy here is to build up fan support for the Nats organization than sell and move the team to Las Vegas, land of gold and honey. All of this will be after the Nats Lerner organization continues to field a minor league team with poor marketing and relations with the city resulting in ever decreasing fan attendance. This  all will give the Lerner's a reason to sell the team for a huge profit under the pretenses that DC cannot support a team, but somehow Baltimore can. I believe a secret deal or agreement was made long ago between the Lerners, MLB, and Peter Angeloes dealing with this whole scenario.MLB does not want to be in DC.

Maybe I should change my name to "Nats Cynic'. I pray that I am wrong and the Nats will acquire a few major, blue chip players in the off season, but I don't count on it.

wxguy

Well, here we go again. I guess in the wisdom of the Nats marketing dept., the Nats have dropped 107.7 FM, the crystal clear, non-static voice of N. VA. That means N. VA is left with 1500 AM, the static filled, weak station, you can barely hear, inside the beltway, let alone outside the beltway. We certainly don't want the outer DC metro counties, Fairfax, Prince William, Loundon, Fauquier, Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, St. Mary's, to be able to listen to the Nats. After all maybe some of these folks might actually listen to the Nats games and become fans. They may even want to attend a game at Nats Park.

Does anyone really believe MLB wants the Nats to stay in DC???

Does anyone believe in the Lerner's "Plan" which to me amounts to pay as you go? in other words, the Lerner's are unwilling to use their own money to buy top players. Instead, they think can fool the fans into thinking they care about the team. All I see with the "Plan", is keeping labor (players' salaries) and  overhead costs way down, to make a quick buck and then sell the team for a profit when attendance drops below a certain threshold in about 4 years.

By  the way, read Tom Boswell's polite, but indirect hint ( Washington Post, Weds., 17 Sep. 2008, Sports section), about spending some Lerner loot to get some blue chip players next year, as if anyone would want to come here after the reputation of the Lerner's has leaked out.

wxguy

p.s. How about a poll on whether the Nats will lose a hundred games this year?

I love baseball. I love watching baseball. Why then am I unhappy?

With each passing day I become more convinced that, either the Lerners are completely dumb as to what it takes to produce a winning MLB team, or they are a bunch of tightwads out to make a quick buck by keeping labor costs to the absolute minimum, and then selling the team in about five years ala Bob Short, at twice what they paid for it? The Lerners, sons and father, are worth something in the neighborhood of $6-8 billion. They are probably 3-4 times richer than George Steinbrenner of the Yankees. So far they have shown  a total unwillingness to open the wallet and bring one or two blue chip players to the team. Everything they do relative to player costs is penny pinching. The latest example is letting their top draft pick get away because he wanted above MLB standard bonus, and a chance to play right away in the MLB. The last minute offers to Crow were a joke. They refused to sign him even though at least four other teams, including the Orioles, signed their first draft picks with bonuses above MLB minimum. They have had more than one opportunity to get a couple, or even, one blue chip player on this team to provide real excitement, team leadership, and around which to build a team. You don't build a team with all rookies, or a bunch of has beens that never were. Even the Braves back in the early 90's, late 80's, which Stan Kirsten constantly uses as  the example, had a couple of established blue chip players around which to build.

I won't go over all the other troubling signs as to how the Lerners are going to run this team, from not having any kind of a real radio network (of course, the Nats don't have many listerners, their radio network is almost nonexistent. Even Hagerstown, MD, a Nats farm team town, have no radio signal to listen to), to not resigning their number one player, Zimmerman, to a real major league contract, They have now created a reputation as penny pinching owners. Do you think any quality, blue chip players want to play here?

I'm not going to blame Jim Bowden, Manny Acta, or Stan Kasten, because I believe the Lerners have told the team not to spend to build this team. When or why are the sport writers in this town going to really challenge the Lerners as to their sincerity about spending money to make the Nats a champion???? The minor league Nats teams are only in the middle of the pack not the top. Our manager and key players have not been signed for long term contracts. Anybody who is making a million or more on this team, seems to be in danger of being released or traded in the next year.The honeymoon is over!

I predict that Manny Acta will leave this team within the next year and manage the Mets. I predict that the Lerners will either sell the team for a huge profit, or move it to Las Vegas within the next 5 years.

Gosh, I hope I'm dead wrong because I love National League baseball in DC. Please do something to prove I'm wrong. It very hard to pay major league ticket prices to watch a minor league team play.

wxguy