A couple more things from morning stories and last night’s miserable defeat:
Lo Duca v. Zimmerman in Nationals Journal:
Barry pits the veteran hot head catcher against the young, even-keeled star third baseman. Apparantly, Zimmerman is calm about the six game skid. He pointed to the Tigers 1-7 record to say, essentially, the season’s still very young. Relax. Lo Duca, on the other hand, had a tantrum because he doesn’t really know how to lose. Welcome to Washington, Paul.
Zimmerman’s attitude is the right one, for now. For starters, the season is indeed quite young. Last night was awful, but we’re Nats fans. Last year was worse and despite the off-season changes, reality says we’re still on our way to building the team we’ll be in a few years.
It’s actually an exciting time for us. We have a new ballpark and lots of young talent. I know I’m guilty of over-selling myself on this 2008 team, but I’m trying now to re-adjust my expectations. I’m going to take comfort in watching these young guys learn the game. Zimmerman said of Bergmann last night:
“He’s a good pitcher…He’s got good stuff. He’s young, like a lot of us are. He’s going to learn from his mistakes. He doesn’t want to go out and do that. We all think that he’s one of the best guys we have, and we still trust him. The next time he goes up on the hill and it’s his turn to throw, we’re going to go in there thinking he’s going to dominate like he did for four innings this time but learn from his mistakes.”
So? Patience. Let them learn. The problem: mixed signals of the off-season and high ticket prices. When you bring in old veteran guys “to teach” the young guys, don’t expect to have a winning season on their backs (and paychecks). Lo Duca, Perez, Belliard, Young and Estrada are pieces that don’t fit long term, but were to serve as mentors to guide the young team or stopgaps to fill positions temporarily until prospects mature. They aren’t a recipe for .500 ball and Lo Duca needs to come to terms with that. Know your place, vet. This is a re-building team. Maybe we’re not here to win. Maybe we’re here to learn. Winning is nice. If Milledge, Bergmann, Chico, Lannan and Dukes are learning in the majors, you’d think maybe our young catcher would be too. Alas, the mixed singles. A half-plan for the future and a half-plan for today.
As far as ticket prices, how much can you ask your fans to spend to see a re-building team? How much do you spend to watch your team collapse 10-4? When do you start to ask questions about why entire sections are empty on weeknights? You’re asking a lot of fans while trying to build a stable fan base and that part is perhaps of more concern than the wins.
Now, a second thought. Within one day, MLB.com’s Bill Ladson and Washington Times reporter Dick Heller wrote dramatically different pieces on their expectations for Austin Kearns. I want to see Kearns succeed as much as anybody and sometimes it seems I’m the only person complaining, but when (if ever) are we going to see the numbers that the organization predicted? Heller writes, “Kearns is not a bad hitter, you understand, just depressingly average.”
“Part of the problem, his remaining advocates say, is that cavernous RFK Stadium turned many of his better belts into loud outs (Kearns batted .228 there in 2007). The club’s more intimate digs at Nationals Park are supposed to help increase his power numbers significantly, but the start of a new season has brought no dramatic upswing, if you’ll pardon the pun. Over the Nats’ first nine games, Kearns has batted .230 with no home runs and four RBI.”
Granted, the season is young. But waiting for Austin to show up is getting old. And his seemingly free pass by the media and the organization is getting old too.
Maybe it brings us to one more thought. The super blockbuster trade for the Nats in July of 2006 that brought Kearns, Lopez and Wagner to the team has yet to really pay off in a monumental way. Lopez’s struggles are evident and well documented. The thinking with Kearns was — wait till you see his numbers at our new hitter friendly park. We’re waiting. And Wagner — where is Wagner? He had shoulder surgery last May after a rough couple of outings. If anyone has read a single update on his injury, by all means, please send it our way.
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April 10th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Here’s your update on Wagner. http://nlcbl.baseball.sportsline.com/players/playerpage/402644. Labrum surgery is almost a death knell to pitchers.
as for Kearns, couldn’t agree more, as we discussed the other night. Larson predicted 40 homers from him, but he just doens’t have that in him. he is what his is, and those waiting fro more have either been disinformed by Ladson or are drinking the kool-aid from Jim Bowden.
but the Zim v. PLoD thing is the fun one. the Nats are supposed to be increasing their expectations, as Manny said all spring “we want to win ballgames”. does that jive iwth Zim’s “take it easy” aproach or Captain Red-Ass’ “we need to step up”. that’s the thing about PLoD, he can call the whole team out as much as he wants, but he need to look in the mirror first. but that’s his way. get up on a band-box and act like he’s a leader, even if most of the team thinks he’s just a old, broken-down steroid pusher.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Dave, I couldn’t agree more with the Lo Duca statements. I remember last year when he was throwing fits in the Mets locker room and calling out his teammates. It didn’t rally them then, and it won’t do it now. Any chance we can leave Lo Duca in NYC next week and kidnap Schneider back? He just doesn’t mesh with the dynamics of this team. I really think that he’s part of the problem and his antics are only going to make it worse.