Is Anyone Fixing My Team?

1) Justin Upton is 21. He’s the future of our franchise. He’s one of the top-10 players in all of baseball in terms of trade value (factoring in current All-Star ability, many years of control, cheap pay-scale, unheard-of potential both offensively and defensively). I wouldn’t trade Upton for every player on the Nationals big-league roster.

2) Really? That’s the issue you’re going to have with Chad Qualls? Nevermind the production, I don’t like watching him before he throws the ball. So don’t.

3) Look at his numbers from June and July. Go to espn.com, search Chris Young, click on his “Game Log,” then look at his monthly numbers from June and July (OBP, SLG, OPS – the important ones).

4) He’s a free-agent at the end of this season (because we’re not picking up his option for $7M next season). He’s gone.

with nearly everything you said here, but I’d still like to welcome you to the Snakepit?

you may not agree with everything he said, he’s still got a right to his opinion and he does raise valid points….

This organization appears to be falling on it’s collective sword when it comes to baseball smarts. By that I mean, cutoff guys being missed, wrong angles taken on balls off the wall, bad, well loathesome, baserunning mistakes. It’s all that stuff that some of these guys should have had pounded into them from Babe Ruth level and on up, yet is sadly missing.

Look at the last few games for example, guys getting thrown out at 3rd, two in back to back innings, both of them rally killers. Guys not running on contact when at 3rd and the infield is playing back. Pickoffs of guys when in scoring position. Throwing thru the runners that are in the basepaths. What base to throw to in any given situation. Part of this has to do with players playing out of position, okay, I get that, but someone should be going over the nuances of playing those positions when guys get moved around shouldn’t they? Aren’t these the major bleeping leagues? When are the players accountable for the salaries that they are making?

How incredibly frustrating is it for everyone to see a reliever come in and walk the first guy that they face? How many times are we gonna see the bobble followed up by the incredibly improper throw that goes into the seats. Championships aren’t won by teams that are indifferent to defense and playing good percentage baseball. I think most of us would be happy if the team was simply able to compete by not shooting themselves in their collective feet. Our pitchers are getting affected by the gaffes taking place out in the field. The franchise needs to be aware that defense matters and if that isn’t getting done, who’s doing what to fix it?

As for individual players, I agree that CY needs to be sent down to regain his stroke, watching him go up there night after night is criminal if they actually believe that the guy is salvageable. If not, then give someone else a chance. I understand that there have been some bad deals that have depleted the prospect cupboards but you can’t dwell on that, you have to say if we’re in this for the long haul, then get what you can and give other guys a chance, it’s how the club got Reynolds to grow, maybe they can find another raw gem in the rockpile.

….generally when I’m drunk, my posts aren’t that long.

Is the starting rotation. We have Haren. We have Scherzer. But after that? A series of ifs, maybes and outright questionmarks. I am not really too worried about most of our positions – second-base perhaps excepted. However, the struggles of Petit, etc. have shown how important it is to have a good rotation, top to bottom. See Nick P’s article on the topic for more discussion of the topic, which I’d say is probably more crucial than Qualls’ crotch. :-)

But welcome to the ’Pit!

CY needs to go down to AAA and work out his swing. I think Chad Tracy is gone for next year, so Whitesell should get the full time job through August to see what he can do, then after September call ups, let the guy we got from the White Sox for Pena have the job through Sept. and see what you have for next year.

I agree with him that Upton is a real liability in the outfield: too many bone head plays. Too much chasing balls around, taking bad angles, etc. Too many bad throws. After one or two you would think he would learn (or someone would coach him).

What I cant see from just watching the games is how much teaching/coaching/practicing goes on during the time they arent playing. Many of the players on our roster havent gotten the kind of instruction that they would have gotten at the lower levels before they got here. So, unless they are getting it now (we should use a AAA or even AA type coaching approach for our big league team), how are they ever going to correct the rough edges of these players.

To me the biggest problem of this team is that there are too many players that have big upside AND big downside all at once: Upton has huge potential (we hope) and can hit BUT he’s a huge liability in the field. If either one of those wasnt true we wouldnt be talking about him (couldnt hit, he’d be in AA, could play defense he’d be a star). Chris Young is solid to very good in the outfield BUT he cant hit a lick. Reynolds can crush the ball BUT he strikes out a ton and defensively he can make outstanding highlight reel plays BUT he will also uncork a bunch of errors. Montero and Snyder are both very good catchers BUT a team really doesnt need two of them. Eric Byrnes can play outfield BUT he has this ridiculous contract and a hitting problem.

Managment seems to be mesmerized by the potential upside for these players and is hoping that they will all work out their problems in the bigs. Which may not happen. After a while its time to acknowledge the half empty part of the glass and make a move, especially when options exist (via trade or callup).

A team can have one or two question marks and/or one or two young players who have been pushed through the system too quickly, but when almost every position has major question marks, you are in trouble (not just now but for the future too). Can a management group that is comforatble with so many half full glasses fix this problem?

There have been some folks saying lately that Chris Young remains in a prolonged slump, one that has lasted basically the entire season.

We disagree and would like to quickly point out his numbers since June 5 (entering today):

95 at-bats, 25 hits, 10 doubles, three triples, three homers, 25 walks, .263 average, .418 on-base, .526 slugging, .944 OPS.

Those are excellent. Hard to say he’s still slumping, right?

Now, as a whole, his overall numbers aren’t good. He hasn’t done this long enough to make up for the awful start to his season. He was hitting .172/.215/.304 when this began and has only gotten up to .204/.296/.379.

He’s going to have to learn to avoid these long first-half dry spells that have plagued him the first two seasons. But it might be unrealistic to expect him to improve too much at this point. With this many major league at-bats under his belt, maybe he is who he is.

Is it possible for him to get his numbers back up to where they were last year? If he does, does his defense make him valuable enough?

whole thing here:
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/NickPiecoro

how many times am i going to have to point out that upton is the #2 rated NL RF and #3 rated RF overall. sure, he makes poor plays from time to times, but statements like this:

Too much chasing balls around, taking bad angles, etc. Too many bad throws. After one or two you would think he would learn (or someone would coach him).

are just plain foolish. are you kidding me? do you have any idea what it takes to be a mlb caliber outfielder? the kid played ss for 18 years and then was tossed into cf for another couple and then has taken up in rf for just the last couple. give the kid time. he’s going to be remarkable out there. seriously, in a couple years the guy is going to be one of the best outfielders in the league (he’s already one of the best rf) and you’re going to feel very foolish.

According to UZR, he’s the 2nd best rfer in the nl, and he’s the third best rf in the game. Yes, he makes bone headed mistakes some times. But…. He’s 21, and he’s only been playing rf for 3 years now. he’s only going to get better, not worse….

If you think Qualls’ adjustments are excessive, you should really go back and look at Steve Finley in action.

I gave him the nickname “Grab Your Pee Pee” Finley for a reason…now “Cup ’Yo Crotch” Qualls is showing us his best Michael Jackson impressions before each pitch…WTF?

This thread makes me sad. Upton to 2b? really? You’re going to make him completely relearn a position, and expect him to be better at 2b than in rf? Getting rid of Qualls cuz he touches his crotch too much?

what the hell are you people smoking?