The Nats Thread (old thread link inside, too many load issues)

[Duckus]

Call me optimistic, but I just don't see the downside of the Haren deal.

1) He has to pass a physical

2) It is a 1 year deal.

3) We are not asking him to be our ace. He just needs to fill in the role as the #5 guy in the rotation. He just needs to be slightly better than he was last year.

Don't get me wrong, I am not expecting him to be amazing. His declining velocity and injury history is troubling. But hard to see the downside about a 1 year deal like this.

Also, Rizzo has earned my trust 100% when it comes to these things. Until the record proves me otherwise, I trust his talent evaluation.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

It's no different than Edwin Jackson last year. What was the downside on that? Not much outside of him not being consistent.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

Call me optimistic, but I just don't see the downside of the Haren deal.

1) He has to pass a physical

2) It is a 1 year deal.

3) We are not asking him to be our ace. He just needs to fill in the role as the #5 guy in the rotation. He just needs to be slightly better than he was last year.

Don't get me wrong, I am not expecting him to be amazing. His declining velocity and injury history is troubling. But hard to see the downside about a 1 year deal like this.

Also, Rizzo has earned my trust 100% when it comes to these things. Until the record proves me otherwise, I trust his talent evaluation.

Just that our rotation is pretty thin if he goes down again. But otherwise, I agree.

[MattFancy]

Not a bad deal with Haren. If he stays healthy, he could be a very good #3 or #4 guy.

[ixcuincle]

Seven million dollars buys you about one WAR nowadays. Plenty reason to believe Haren can be a 2 WAR pitcher next year. Plus the worst case scenario isn't too bad because its a short deal. Not sure there's a single team in baseball this wouldn't have been a good deal for.

[stevemcqueen1]

It's no different than Edwin Jackson last year. What was the downside on that? Not much outside of him not being consistent.

Might have been able to do better than him. Also I don't want us to have him be our only option and get burned if he goes down with injury.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Might have been able to do better than him. Also I don't want us to have him be our only option and get burned if he goes down with injury.

That's Chien Ming Wang is for, duh

But for real, who would you have preferred as a #5? Cause Haren, if healthy, is probably the best 5 in baseball.

[stevemcqueen1]

That's Chien Ming Wang is for, duh

But for real, who would you have preferred as a #5? Cause Haren, if healthy, is probably the best 5 in baseball.

Yeah you're probably right. The guy I would have liked the most is Trevor Bauer but that probably wasn't realistic. Who knows what his price tag would be? Plus who knows if he'd be ready for the bigs in April?

Greinke was probably a pipe dream too. But how about having him as your #4?

I hope management doesn't try and use money as an excuse not to bring back LaRoche though.

And I don't want to get stuck with our ****s in our hands if Haren can't go. I don't want to have to rush Matt Purke up, and I don't know who our other option is right now.

[GoSkins0721]

Burnett to the Angels on a 2-year deal. No $$ amount in the article

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/s...ar-deal-source

[Dan T.]

Burnett had a career season for us last year. He was going to get paid.

As for starters, a forgotten guy who really impressed me in his limited time with the club was Christian Garcia. Davey said he may give him a shot as a starter, and he's intriguing. He's big - 6'5" and 215, throws a 96 mph fastball, a knuckle curve, and a changeup. He's recovered fully from his 2010 Tommy John surgery - he had a 0.85 ERA in the minors last year, then looked good in a limited shot with the Nats - 15 Ks in 12.2 innings pitched, 2.13 era.

[stevemcqueen1]

The more I think about the Haren deal, the better it looks.

I see it as us leveraging all of our huge bargain deals to go out and overpay for an overqualified #5. When you look at it like that, it makes sense to spend that money. It's pretty crazy that a 98 win team can have it's #5 be it's highest paid player. But that's what you get with Desmond, Harper, Morse, Espinosa, Ramos, Zimmermann, Strasburg, Ross, Span, Storen, Mattheus, and Clippard all on very, very favorable deals.

We're not going to have chances to spend this kind of money on a #5 down the road once we have to pay Desmond, Harper, Zim, and Strasburg salaries commensurate with their value.

Plus I just saw 160 million being batted around as the estimate for Greinke's contract. Good God.

So with all of our holes filled, I think we can turn our gaze to just acquiring prospects so we can keep a bunch of cheap talent around.

[Dave25]

I think LaRoche eventually comes back for a 2 year deal. J.P Howell signs to replace Burnett as the lefty specialist in the bullpen and Morse gets traded to the highest bidder (hopefully for pitching prospects). Then I think we are done and wait for spring training...and with the news that the NHL lockout is almost over and RG3 and the Skins playoff run it will be here before we know it.

[10]

[StillUnknown]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...pects-2012-13/

updated top 15 Nationals prospect list

Kind of surprising that even with our lack of depth, Purke isn't mentioned. Injuries must be worst than we thought.

[stevemcqueen1]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...pects-2012-13/

updated top 15 Nationals prospect list

Kind of surprising that even with our lack of depth, Purke isn't mentioned. Injuries must be worst than we thought.

They must be. Though they did put Rendon second. Hard to tell what to make of Purke right now.

Speaking of Rendon, if he stays healthy, I think it's getting more likely each year that Ryan is going to eventually move to first to accommodate Rendon.

It looks like our system thins out a whole lot after the top three. Now that we've got a good team in place for the immediate future, seems like it's time to start replenishing the farm.