The Nationals Don’t Seem to Get It
Posted by Zach Sanders on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Even without Jim Bowden, the Washington Nationals still don’t seem to understand one simple thing: Pitching is important!
With the Lastings Milledge/Joel Hanrahan trade for Nyjer Morgan/Sean Burnett, the Nationals displayed exactly why they are likely to land another high pick in next year’s amateur draft.
When a team such as the Nationals has an outfield and hitting surplus, the best thing to do is trade it for a weakness, in this case pitching. When you have extra of a position, you should never trade it for the same position.
With Stephen Strasburg coming soon (hopefully), the Nationals need to get their act together to maximize the six years of team control they have over him. Because let’s be honest, Strasburg is unlikely to stay a National once he hits free agency. The best thing the Nats can do is build a core of young players that will improve along with Strasburg, mainly another young starter or two.
Strasburg and Zimmerman are a solid combo, but two starters aren’t going to win you a title anytime soon. By trading a great prospect for a Juan Pierre clone, the Nationals display their futility once again. Not to mention, they trade away a potential closer who has just run into some bad luck and defense this year.
Until the Nats figure out that they will need pitching to win, they will forever be a franchise in the dumps.
This column is a joke. Lastings Milledge did nothing for the Nats, he couldn’t figure out how to play center field, he blew off meetings, so good riddance. How many times did Joel Hanrahan blow a lead this year out of the bullpen? Granted, most of the Nats bullpen staff does the same, and in my humble opinion, they should all be dumped. But please, the Nats have an abundance of good young pitching and all they need is some experience in the bigs which is what Lerner/Kasten/Rizzo/Acta are doing for them.
Will the trade put the Nats in the World Series? Probably not, but how long are you supposed to wait for dead wood to come alive before you move on and try something else?
I have no problem with them dealing Lastings, I just have a problem with the return they got for him.
Hanrahan may have blown leads, but he is still a solid bullpen piece who could be much better if he had any kind of defense behind him.