BREAK UP THE F-ING NATIONALS

yeah but with his injury i dont think theres any need to rush ramos back as the primary starter. he may still be the catcher of the future but id be really surprised if he's #1 this season.

apparently morse isn't keen on being a dh, but i imagine thats where he'll end up. he's a solid enough outfielder if need be but had almost no range so i dont really see teams being desperate to put him out there.

He's got a big bat though. I honestly didn't think there'd be so many teams looking at him. Couple more teams in the AL East are looking at him as well.

DeathFromAbove1979 wrote:
Wasn't Ramos drafted to be the catcher here? Zuke was brought in to help Jesus from getting beaten down for the rest of the season. He was AWESOME in relief and not bad at batting, but I always thought it was Ramos job to keep…

Kurt's role is to teach Ramos, and he knows this.  Ramos is not ready to be the everyday catcher with that young staff.  Kurt's got one more year left on his contract (I doubt they exercise the option for 2014) and when he leaves it's Ramos' job.

Developing a catcher is one of the toughest jobs in baseball.  Kurt's got the proper pedigree to do that.

I wouldn't mind them alternating, it'll be good to see Ramos get back on the field!

Anyone going to Nats Fest? I'm getting tickets this weekend…

Plus the Marley songs they into him with are the best player into music you're going to get.

vansmack wrote:

DeathFromAbove1979 wrote:
Wasn't Ramos drafted to be the catcher here? Zuke was brought in to help Jesus from getting beaten down for the rest of the season. He was AWESOME in relief and not bad at batting, but I always thought it was Ramos job to keep…

Kurt's role is to teach Ramos, and he knows this.  Ramos is not ready to be the everyday catcher with that young staff.  Kurt's got one more year left on his contract (I doubt they exercise the option for 2014) and when he leaves it's Ramos' job.

Developing a catcher is one of the toughest jobs in baseball.  Kurt's got the proper pedigree to do that.

Soriano.  Whoa.

Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard, Rafael Soriano. Whoa.

DeathFromAbove1979 wrote:
Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard, Rafael Soriano. Whoa.

That's a lot of right arms.

Shemp wrote:
Soriano.  Whoa.

Wow.  2 years, $28 million, vesting option for a third year at 120 appearances for another $14 million.  The Nats aren't joking around making their second highest paid player a relief pitcher AND giving up their first round draft pick.

The pundits are going to hate this deal.

vansmack wrote:

Shemp wrote:
Soriano.  Whoa.

Wow.  2 years, $28 million, vesting option for a third year at 120 appearances for another $14 million.  The Nats aren't joking around making their second highest paid player a relief pitcher AND giving up their first round draft pick.

The pundits are going to hate this deal.

well what do you think?

vansmack wrote:

Shemp wrote:
Soriano.  Whoa.

Wow.  2 years, $28 million, vesting option for a third year at 120 appearances for another $14 million.  The Nats aren't joking around making their second highest paid player a relief pitcher AND giving up their first round draft pick.

The pundits are going to hate this deal.

28th pick in the draft? Rumors are Clip could be dealt to fill out some of the farm system as well.

Clip and Morse go in a double deal? Who knows.

talk about overpaying for a reliever.  way way too much money. 

hutch wrote:
well what do you think?

First thing I thought was "what's wrong with Burnett?" when I could get their lefty off them for less than half of what they Nats just dropped on one year of Soriano, who would be the third righty in their 7-8-9 bullpen.

Then I thought why didn't they go after Affeldt if they're going to throw that kind of cash around for a 33 year old, and then they could have had a solid lefty and some chump change to throw around.

I next turned to the Dodgers, who likely drove the price on Soriano up, and wondered what they were going to do.

Now I've had a little time to look at it, and I think they overpaid, but they have the cash, Soriano has been consistent and effective throughout 5 of his last 6 seasons, but they still have a glaring hole in their rotation without a solid left handed reliever.  Maybe the Morse deal for a lefty is closer than we know.

It's still a lot of cash for a reliever.

Kilgore of the Post suggested it earlier this month:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2013/01/06/what-about-rafael-soriano/

Shemp wrote:
Kilgore of the Post suggested it earlier this month:

Sort of.  He said if they don't sign LaRoche, then sign Soriano to a ridiculous one-year deal.

Instead they signed LaRoche, and gave Soriano a ridiculous 2-year deal with a 3rd year vesting option based on appearances, not performance.

The one thing he got right:  When a preposterously wealthy, 87-year-old man wants to win a World Series, anything could be possible.

This is clearly a move to do just that.

75 year old Lefty Darren Oliver back to Toronto for $3m.

"In 2012 the southpaw posted a 2.06 ERA and a 52-13 K/BB ratio in 62 appearances, and held lefty bats to a .234 average. But like many of Oliver's seasons, he was even nastier versus right-handed hitters, limiting them to a .196 average and just five extra-base hits last season."

These are the kind of things that make me shake my head about the Soriano deal.

I don't know how Billy Beane does this shit, but I love it.

Morse back to Seattle (where he came from).

AJ Cole back to the Nats (where he came from in the Gio trade).

And I can only guess the A's got cash?

EDIT: The A's will reportedly also send two prospects to be named later to the Nationals to complete the deal.

Oakland gets catcher John Jaso, presumably to replace Suzuki.

damn, quite a rapport built lately between rizzo and beane

hate to see morse go, but three prospects isnt a bad return.

Article on Mike Rizzo and a little look into how he does business…

http://www.federalbaseball.com/2013/1/14/3874236/the-refreshingly-honest-reign-of-washington-nationals-gm-mike-rizzo

Bummed to see The Beast leave. Someone better make A-ha their walk up song! I want baseball here already! ACK! Anyone know when single game tickets are available?

i still get chills watching take on me rendition from Game 5.  loved morse, but he was a pathetic outfielder and injury-prone. even with that said, i'd rather have him than laroche. 

getting back AJ Cole is nice.  better to get a prospect back that you know something about rather than depend on scouting reports.  the next likely suitor, the red sox, don't have many guarantees in there farm system.  this at least has a lot of upside.