Doublin' Down, with Ruben Amaro, Jr.

[jaa36]

You know the phrase "addition by subtraction?" Well, that's exactly what we did here. The last straw for me was when Hun Kim suffered a torn thumb ligament he only missed two weeks rather than the two months that Bryce Harper missed. It's been the latest in a litany of concerns I have about Harper.

1. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 14 year old. I think I was the president of the student council, but it's not like I was having people write magazine articles about it or something. That's just arrogant.
2. He never hustles- all those slow trots around the bases when he hits home runs make me sick.
3. He hardly eats any Korean food at all.
4. At the office Christmas party, he yanked off my non-denominational holiday tie to show everyone it was a clip-on. Like I've got time to learn how to tie one of those things!
5. He has a stupid name, and no cool nickname like "Seoul Crusher" at all.

At any rate, once he came back from the DL, I shopped him around and the only team that wanted him was Milwaukee. So I sent him and four prospects to the Brewers for two veteran pitchers, Daniel Hudson and Norogumi Chikafuji, the "Kyoto K-Artist." I've always says that pitching is 90% of the game- hitting and defense are 35% each, and playing the game the right was is the rest- so this helps to shore up an area that proved to be a weakness due to all our injuries. Hudson and Chikafuji are both proven winners, with 27 wins between the two of them this year so far. As for the prospects, I don't know anything about them, other than that Jimmy Yezzo is a first baseman who was hitting .327 in AAA but was clearly blocked by Pujols and Howard.

Good riddance to Harper. Maybe I'll look at him again in the future when he has some experience.

I also took under consideration Assistant GM CatKnight's recommendation for a 10-year extension for Koji Uehara. That's just excessive, but I did give him a two-year extension with a vesting option for the third year. A little trick I call "negotiation."

[jaa36]

Well, some pesky rules got in the way and I wasn't allowed to trade Bryce Harper after all- something about a waiver claim on one of the players. I spent the whole month trying to work something out some other version of the trade to get him to Milwaukee, but nothing worked, so I let him rot away in AAA Syracuse instead. The funny thing was, I gave his locker away to some rookie and sent all of Harper's stuff to Milwaukee anyway! He was super pissed and made this funny little mopey face- I kind of enjoyed that part.

Anyway, it was a bummer too because it meant we didn't have an opportunity to improve the pitching staff. Now I'm sure Hudson and Chikafuji will end up winning 20 games apiece and the Brewers won't want to do the deal in the offseason when the waiver wire can't stop me. Regardless, the top priority of the offseason will be: trade Harper.

The team must have been rattled by all the trade talk in August because we went just 6-22. All part of the plan!

[jaa36]

We finished with an even 100 losses, which just goes to show what an impact injuries and disappointing performances had on our team. Bryce Harper, who never wants to play, tore an abdominal muscle to miss the end of the season- I think this was a ploy to keep me from trading him, but rest assured, Bryce J. Harper will no longer be a Washington National by the 2019 season.

The end of the season gave us an opportunity to play some rookies, like Francisco Pinto, Jimmy Yezzo and Luke Dykstra, all of whom were slated to be included in the Harper trade. Pinto had a 0.78 ERA and Yezzo and Dykstra both hit over .350, but you know that they would slump horribly if I put any of them in the lineup next year.

A look at some of the key Nationals this season:

Hun Kim hit .292 with 28 homers and 91 RBI, leading the Nationals in all three categories. Kim does not like flying, so next season we plan to travel from city to city on the "Seoul Train," which will lead to all kinds of other marketing opportunities.

Bryce Harper hit .236 with only 9 home runs because he is a terrible human being.

Ryan Howard ended up hitting .208 with 19 homers and 52 RBI in just 345 at-bats, so would have been on pace for another 40-homer, 100-RBI season if it weren't for Albert Pujols, who somehow hit only .197 with seven home runs. Pujols has three more years on his contract to turn things around.

Catcher Russell Martin hit just .209 but provided a lot of veteran leadership.

Ryan Zimmerman showed he still knows how to produce, with 20 home runs and 79 RBI.

Jeff Samardzija had a 3.57 ERA and was rewarded with a four-year extension with a fifth-year vesting option.

Jordan Zimmermann won 15 games but also lost 15, and had a 4.04 ERA.

Koji Uehara had a 3.17 ERA and 22 saves. No one in the bullpen had an ERA higher than 3.47, a mark of a solid veteran relief corps.

Heading into the offseason, the goals are:
1. Trade Bryce Harper
2. Trade Bryce Harper
3. Trade Bryce Harper.

[Ciccarelli]

Mr Amaro,

Have you ever considered adding minor league veterans on your minor league squads? Not only will it teach the youngsters grit and playing the game the right way, but it will also make those pesky statisticians and nerds happy with a winning minor league system. Winning begets winning, ya know?

Also I would recommend drafting a closer in the first round of the draft next year. Think of how many AMAROS he could have as a mere rookie!

Sincerely,
David Littlefield

[jaa36]

Originally Posted by Ciccarelli

Mr Amaro,

Have you ever considered adding minor league veterans on your minor league squads? Not only will it teach the youngsters grit and playing the game the right way, but it will also make those pesky statisticians and nerds happy with a winning minor league system. Winning begets winning, ya know?

Also I would recommend drafting a closer in the first round of the draft next year. Think of how many AMAROS he could have as a mere rookie!

Sincerely,
David Littlefield

Dave, what's up, man? It's great to hear from another former GM, even one as unsuccessful as you were. I remember when I was an assistant GM with the Phillies and you tried to trade for Ryan Howard every year. You were all like "I'll give you Kip Wells for him!" We always had a good laugh about that.

Anyway, these are both good ideas. I haven't bored you with all the intricate details of my organization, but I do commonly fill my minor leagues with capable veteran talent that is at the ready if someone on the major league roster suffers an injury. As for the draft, I've basically stopped paying attention to it at all, but this year I will take care that I select a closer in the first round, as in two or three years we will have to replace Uehara anyway.

[jaa36]

I finally completed my Bryce Harper trade, sending him, outfielder Brian Goodwin, and reliever Luis Avilan to the Brewers for the two pitchers I thought I had last year, Norogumi Chikafuji, Daniel Hudson, and Charlie Furbush. Chikafuji won 16 games last year and Hudson won 15, so our rotation is instantly better, as is our offense, as we no longer have to think about whether Harper will show up or not. I had everyone on the team spit on Harper on his way out, and built a giant throne in the locker room for Hun Kim.

Sadly, Ryan Howard left as a free agent and refused to negotiate with me- I guess he's looking for a guaranteed three-year deal somewhere else- which made the next move was a pleasant surprise. The Rockies offered Matt Adams, a 30-year-old first baseman who hit .289 with 30 homers and 105 RBIs last season, for a couple of worthless minor leaguers! Done and done- once again, Albert Pujols will have a fantastic backup.

I took a bunch of money out of some shoeboxes marked "scouting" and "player development" and put it under my mattress to spend on more free agent talent. This allowed us to sign versatile Ryan Raburn to a one-year $3.4M deal, get Russell Martin back on a two-year deal with a third year vesting option, and add Corey Hart and Brandon Moss to replace Bryce Harper. Easy peasy. With so many veteran relievers already locked in from last year, I didn't feel the need to add any more of them just yet!

This team is significantly upgraded from last year. With all the injuries last year, we had to move to window for winning the World Series back a year, but we're ready to go now.

[jaa36]

I don't know how to say this, but Hun Kim will miss the entire season with a torn labrum. I pleaded to Kim to play with only one labrum this season, but no go, he says that a labrum is required to play baseball. The only consolation I took was that with a year away from the game, he should come back even stronger next season.

It is a huge loss for our team. Probably the strategy we will have to take is to lose a hundred games this year so we win a hundred games next year.

Jeff Samardzija will also miss the season, but he's an afterthought compared to Kim, even though he makes $16 million this season.

Even without Kim, our 2019 lineup is pretty impressive:

2B Ian Kinsler
SS Adeiny Hechavarria
3B Ryan Zimmerman
RF Corey Hart
LF Brandon Moss
C Russell Martin
1B Albert Pujols
CF Austin Jackson

And the rotation still includes Norogumi Chikafuji, Daniel Hudson, Jordan Zimmermann, and A.J. Cole, and brings back Koji Uehara as the closer. As I think about it, we'll be hard pressed to lose a hundred games with this team, and we might contend for the World Series even by accident.

[jaa36]

Well, the good news is that we are in middle of the pack in the NL East, fourth place. The bad news is that our record is 8-20 so far. Our top hitter, veteran Ryan Zimmerman, is hitting .267 with five homers and 10 RBI. But Adeiny Hechavarria, Corey Hart, Brandon Moss, and Albert Pujols are all hitting under .200. What gives? I'm sure they miss Hun Kim's bat in the middle of the order, but no one could have predicted this kind of regression from these veterans.

It's important to keep in mind where you are in the "success cycle" as a team. For example, the success cycle started in Philadelphia when I showed up, and then I put the pieces in place for their success for after I left, as they now have an 18-10 record. In our case currently, I'm still dealing with the aftermath of the last administration. I had initially thought when I came to Washington that the moves that I make would be enough to overcome all the problems that cropped up before I showed up. It turns out that wasn't true- my staff hadn't correctly assessed where we were on the success cycle. I explained it all to Ted, and he's OK with it, but it's always a bummer when you don't when every year.

[Koprnkc]

Wow!


Did not take you long to run the Nationals Franchise into the ground.


I assume that you are using the marines technique of destroying a recruits self worth so that they can build them up and make a better soldier of them. In this case, you have destroyed the Nationals sense of pride and worth, so that you can build them up to have more grit, and thus be a better team.


Now, when do you start the process of building the team back up? And did you take this technique from the Marines, or did they take it from you? I am guessing that at some point in your past, you worked as a consultant for the U.S.M.C., and that they adopted this plan from you.


Nice Job.

On a side note, it appears to me that some staff members are only there for a paycheck. You give a manager as much veteran gritted talent as you have, and they fail to win a 100 games, well, seems to me they need to hit the bricks. A new manager may be in order. Casey Stengel has more grit now, then any manger out there, matter of fact, the old timer is covered in grit (probably 6 feet of it), I think he could turn this team around. Why hell, just prop him up at the end of the bench, a manager is nothing more then a button pusher anyway right?

[CatKnight]

The Nationals had a sense of pride and self worth? When did that happen?

[jaa36]

Originally Posted by Koprnkc

On a side note, it appears to me that some staff members are only there for a paycheck. You give a manager as much veteran gritted talent as you have, and they fail to win a 100 games, well, seems to me they need to hit the bricks. A new manager may be in order. Casey Stengel has more grit now, then any manger out there, matter of fact, the old timer is covered in grit (probably 6 feet of it), I think he could turn this team around. Why hell, just prop him up at the end of the bench, a manager is nothing more then a button pusher anyway right?

You are absolutely right. I haven't gotten a single motivational slogan out of Tony Pena so far, so he gets the ax in favor of a 128-year-old Casey Stengel. The former Yankee and Met manager has been dead for over forty years, but should still be a step up from Pena. I figure if Jack McKeon could do the job at age 80, why not Stengel?

In the meantime, the Nationals are 14-43 overall, last place in the NL East. The team is dead last in runs scored and batting average, and most disappointingly, only tenth in home runs. Take a look up and down this lineup and tell me how unlikely the Nationals have been:
Jennings .276
Hechavarria .195
Zimmerman .239
Hart .218
Moss .150
Kinsler .186
Martin .166
Pujols .175

Crazy, right? Five out of eight guys under .200?

The pitching has been a big disappointment as well. Even Koji Uehara has a 6.66 ERA- an ominous sign.

I always say that when you are this unlucky, you are bound to have a good string of luck coming up. Smart money says we'll back up at .500 by midseason. The good news is, we're just five games out of third place in the division.

[jaa36]

Casey Stengel has made a big difference so far- the Nationals were a hot 11-14 in June and we are now 25-57 overall. We had the first overall pick in the draft, but the draft is SO BORING so I had Herschel run it for me. He picked a catcher that he intended to turn into an ace closer, but we had no money allocated for the player and couldn't sign him. D'oh!

The two pitchers we got in the Harper deal, Norogumi Chikafuji and Daniel Hudson, must be in opposite world this year, because instead of winning ten games apiece by the all-star break, they have both lost ten games apiece. It's important to remember that pitchers are ultimately responsible for winning or losing games- you can see it on their stat sheet. In a situation where your offense only scored one run, the pitcher is expected to pitch a shutout, and that's not happening with this team. When the team doesn't score any runs, the pitcher isn't expected to allow any either. Of course, when your offense scores seven runs, it's perfectly fine to allow six.

Sadly, at the midpoint of the season, no one on the team has even ten home runs. I hoped to pick up Ryan Howard to give us a boost, but he is still unwilling to negotiate with me- some loyalty from that guy! I probably should have given him a three-year deal the last time around.

July is always the season for trades, so I'm hoping I'll be able to work something out to bolster our bullpen.

[phillyboy19]

We picked a catcher and hope to turn him into an ace closer. This is genius.

[Koprnkc]

Its obvious this team is just not gritty enough, nor does it hit enough home runs. Yes, it has Vets, but.......not VETS. I propose you should talk to Bonds, Aaron and Mays. Think about it! An outfield made up of the grittiest, home run hittingest players to ever play the game. Why those three have close to 2000 career homeruns! Heck, thats probably more then all the Nationals players combined!

Put Bonds in Center, Aaron in Right and Mayes in Left. (I doubt Mayes can cover as much ground as he used to due to his being extremely gritty now, but his arm should be sufficient to play left field.) I dont think it would take much to talk all three players out of retirement. Besides, what is retirement other then extended free agency!

[phillyboy19]

Originally Posted by Koprnkc

Its obvious this team is just not gritty enough, nor does it hit enough home runs. Yes, it has Vets, but.......not VETS. I propose you should talk to Bonds, Aaron and Mays. Think about it! An outfield made up of the grittiest, home run hittingest players to ever play the game. Why those three have close to 2000 career homeruns! Heck, thats probably more then all the Nationals players combined!

Put Bonds in Center, Aaron in Right and Mayes in Left. (I doubt Mayes can cover as much ground as he used to due to his being extremely gritty now, but his arm should be sufficient to play left field.) I dont think it would take much to talk all three players out of retirement. Besides, what is retirement other then extended free agency!

Bonds isn't gritty enough plus he used steroids and u wanf to keep ur team clean. I would get the grittiest player ever. Babe Ruth.

[jdono927]

Originally Posted by phillyboy19

Bonds isn't gritty enough plus he used steroids and u wanf to keep ur team clean. I would get the grittiest player ever. Babe Ruth.

Lou Gehrig had true grit, Ruth was lazy at times, but Gehrig was always gritty

[phillyboy19]

Originally Posted by jdono927

Lou Gehrig had true grit, Ruth was lazy at times, but Gehrig was always gritty

Yes but 1. we are talking about outfielders. If you don't agree with me on Ruth how about Ty Cobb he played a little out field.

[Rurik]

If you're really looking for grit, get Walter Johnson to play centerfield. His 417 wins must mean something, and you could probably get him for a discount since he used to play in D.C.

So what if he only played around a dozen games in the outfield? His cannon of an arm makes up for any lack of playing time.

[jdono927]

Originally Posted by phillyboy19

Yes but 1. we are talking about outfielders. If you don't agree with me on Ruth how about Ty Cobb he played a little out field.

Oh I thought we were talking about players, but either way Gehrig is an update over Bryce Harper, and yes Ty Cobb had lots of grit

[CatKnight]

Maybe Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio while you're at it. They fought a world war and still came back to hit plenty of homers. THAT is grit!