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Friday, June 05, 2009

Thomas Boswell - Nats’ Route to the Bottom Starts at the Top - washingtonpost.com

News flash: The Nats stink.

When 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 résumés and prayer. In the past, the Nats have had injury excuses and cheerful long-term timetables to shield them. 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.

Jim Furtado Posted: June 05, 2009 at 01:05 PM | 8 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
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1. Moneyball can't buy you love (Joey B.) Posted: June 05, 2009 at 01:22 PM (#3207468)

I'm glad I didn't predict that they would be better than the Marlins, like just about all of the projection systems did.

2. Famous Original Joe C Posted: June 05, 2009 at 01:32 PM (#3207484)

I'm glad I didn't predict that they would be better than the Marlins, like just about all of the projection systems did.

Howard M. was trying to convince us all they'd be better than the Braves at one point, IIRC.

3. Moloka'i Three-Finger Brown (Declino DeShields) Posted: June 05, 2009 at 01:52 PM (#3207512)

There's still time for that, too!

4. bfan Posted: June 05, 2009 at 02:16 PM (#3207541)

At least 2 of the high-priced free agents he has the Braves acquiring in the article were trades; McGriff and Neagle. I didn't bother to check them all; those I just knew off the top of my head.

5. The elusive Robert Denby Posted: June 05, 2009 at 03:23 PM (#3207644)

I thought it was all those double plays that Adam Dunn hits into that was killing the Nats.

6. fra paolo Posted: June 05, 2009 at 05:20 PM (#3207806)

To be all serious, what's killing the Nationals is the inability to strike batters out, too many walks and unexpectedly bad fielding. Yesterday, on the Dibble thread, I linked to a blog at the Washington Post which you can read here.

Even Mike Rizzo admitted today that the team's front office overlooked defense when constructing the team this offseason. "I think there's some validity to that, yeah. I think our concentration was on trying to score more runs and becoming a more potent offensive team." But Rizzo also said, "the unexpectedness or the degree of the defensive decline is what is surprising and frustrating."

Even relative to their RZR's last season, Nationals' players are underperforming. The outfield is particularly bad. According to THT's current table, the league average OF RZR is .908, while the Nationals come in at .834. Given the next lowest is .880, that's horrendous. The infield is much nearer the league average, so all the fuss over 'infield practice' is misplaced. It's outfield practice that they need.

Using THT stats some more, the K/G ratio for the Nationals is 15th in the league. They are not the worst at issuing free passes, but all the other teams on 4.0 BB/G are about 25% better on K/G and over 50% better on Plus/Minus in the field.

It's really a perfect storm of bad play. Is that the GM's fault? Well, probably all Nationals' fans would like to set a stake up in The Mall and subject Bowden* to an auto da fé, taking Fire Jim Bowden literally, but I'm not sure if we can blame him entirely for fielders fielding below some established norm he could at least have looked up.

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* There's also a large faction that wants two stakes, one for Manny Acta.

7. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader