Will we soon be better than the Nats?

[eddie83]

22 minutes ago, Frobby said:

You have to give them some credit on Zimmerman and Rendon.   Pretty sure every team would have chosen Strasburg and Harper.    But it’s nice when top picks more or less live up to expectations.  

Sure. Just pointing out once they stopped drafting high they stopped drafting well. 

[LocoChris]

Nats should definitely trade Scherzer. They can start rebuilding their farm with the haul he’d bring, even as a rental. Their window is closing fast and they could end up in the situation the O’s were in the early 2000s if they aren’t careful. 

[foxfield]

1 hour ago, spiritof66 said:

I sure have no idea, just an observation.

The Nats have a large advantage over the Orioles in that they play in a division where the teams' revenues are fairly well balanced (other than Miami's). It remains to be seen whether Steve Cohen, the Mets' multi-billionaire owner, will change that situation by spending, on payroll and otherwise, in a way that undoes the teams' rough equilibrium in resources. But even if that happens, competing for wins and division titles in the NL East is likely to remain a more attainable goal than competing in the AL East.

I think this is an excellent point.  I would add to this, that to me it seems the Orioles will be owned by someone else in the not too distant future.  If that new owner were say tied to Under Armor or Amazon...the monetary situation could be much different in Baltimore.  But as the Yankees prove every year.  Having money is not the final determinant to winning.

1 hour ago, George Zuverink said:

Define “soon.” A fly’s lifetime soon? Geologic soon? CoC’s patience soon?

A Fly?  No. Longer than that.

Geologic?  I think sooner than that.

CoC's Patience?  Science hasn't proven that this quality exists.  (But I believe that it will be discovered right around the time that a wealthy non angelosian owner takes the reins and declares a bright new fully funded future is upon us...but CoC is likely to await proof before fully getting on board.)

[Just Regular]

Or, will Max Scherzer (or any excellent player whose bank is made and cares slightly more about playoffs/legacy) prefer the Orioles to the Nationals for 2022 and beyond?

It'll be interesting to see the next 8 weeks if the lukewarm division keeps them afloat, or if things get 2018 Machado obvious with Scherzer.

I want to say Soto is a playoff core by himself, but I would have said the same thing about Cal after '83.

Flags Fly Forever.

It would have been bold to let Strasburg walk after that postseason, but I'm sure some super-rational on NationalsHangout would have been calling for it even so.    I don't think Strasburg will cost them Soto like Davis cost us Machado (or at least, Machado Probability), but I suspect Turner '23 will be a tough retain and perhaps in Summer 2022 trade market for anyone that misses all the FA this year.

[Frobby]

Bump…

Big sell-off by the Nats in the last 48 hours, shedding Scherzer, Turner, Hand , Hudson and Schwarber.   Strasburg is having surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, which is not an easy thing to come back from.   

The good news for the Nats is they have a lot of payroll flexibility next year.   They can choose between a rebuild and a reload.   I haven’t studied the return on the trades very carefully, but obviously they made dramatic improvements to a woeful farm system.   

So, worse than the O’s next year?   Maybe not, but they’ve got work to do. 

 

[Sports Guy]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Bump…

Big sell-off by the Nats in the last 48 hours, shedding Scherzer, Turner, Hand , Hudson and Schwarber.   Strasburg is having surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, which is not an easy thing to come back from.   

The good news for the Nats is they have a lot of payroll flexibility next year.   They can choose between a rebuild and a reload.   I haven’t studied the return on the trades very carefully, but obviously they made dramatic improvements to a woeful farm system.   

So, worse than the O’s next year?   Maybe not, but they’ve got work to do. 

 

Well they starting with a top 5 player in the game.  That helps.  
 

But they have made some poor moves that have hurt them in a big way the last few years.  Otoh, they did win their title, so f it, it’s worth it.

Long term, we will see.  I have a lot of confidence in Elias and the players we have in the system now…I have very little confidence in ownership.  
 

Its the opposite for the Nats.  
 

Which one is more important?  Confidence in ownership or confidence in the rest of the organization?

[wildcard]

Who?  If Nats are bothering you get some bug spray.

I am questioning why Elias is not promoting Adley, Grayson and Westburg.   That is more important to me than any bug problem.

[LTO's]

Letting Turner go to LA is a huge risk imo. That's a guy they should be planning to break the bank for. Now that he's showing more power I think it's fair to say he's a 5 tool player. 

[Sports Guy]

22 minutes ago, LTO's said:

Letting Turner go to LA is a huge risk imo. That's a guy they should be planning to break the bank for. Now that he's showing more power I think it's fair to say he's a 5 tool player. 

But for how much longer?  He’s a FA after next year.  He will be in his late 20s and has been oft injured.  Do you want to bank on that guy for a long term deal? 
 

I think they made the right decision to trade him.  Whether or not they got the best deal possible for him, who knows.  Maybe if they dealt him separately they could have gotten more.  I don’t know that but I do think trading him and not extending him was the way to go. (Could argue that you wait until the offseason to trade him but he has had so many injuries that I can see not taking the risk)

[Ruzious]

20 minutes ago, LTO's said:

Letting Turner go to LA is a huge risk imo. That's a guy they should be planning to break the bank for. Now that he's showing more power I think it's fair to say he's a 5 tool player. 

Yeah, that really surprised me.  Letting Harper go made sense, and then not fighting hard to keep Rendon wasn't unreasonable, but not even trying to keep Turner... well, at least they aren't going all in on their approach - getting rid of all their valued veterans and getting some top prospects in return.  They chose a plan and went all in on it - gotta respect that.  And that's why they're likely to bounce back.  

[Ruzious]

Just now, Ruzious said:

Yeah, that really surprised me.  Letting Harper go made sense, and then not fighting hard to keep Rendon wasn't unreasonable, but not even trying to keep Turner... well, at least they aren't going all in on their approach - getting rid of all their valued veterans and getting some top prospects in return.  They chose a plan and went all in on it - gotta respect that.  And that's why they're likely to bounce back.  

Sorry, meant to say at least they ARE going all in on their approach.  

[Can_of_corn]

Which franchise gets back to 500 first?

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

Never. The Nationals can draft competently and rebuild competently unlike the Os. They take BPA and don’t wait for values of players to fall to nil before trading. At least the O’s likely got more for Armstrong than they did current All Star Yaz. But I am told daily that Elias is a genius…funny. Os will be “rebuilding” until Angelos passes. I have stated that several times and I am not just pulling that out of arse. Most people around the team understand that, but there’s your hope window. 

[SteveA]

The answer to the question to me comes down to whether our ownership spends money when it is appropriate in our rebuild.

The Nats are stuck with potential big albatross contracts for Corbin and Strasburg, while we get out from under our albatross contract in 14 months.

So we might actually be more able to spend money to bring in talent than Washington starting in 2023.  Which would be an advantage to us.  IF our owners spend when the time comes.  

[Matt Bennett]

1 hour ago, LTO's said:

Letting Turner go to LA is a huge risk imo. That's a guy they should be planning to break the bank for. Now that he's showing more power I think it's fair to say he's a 5 tool player. 

After the World Series they picked Strasburg over Rendon to pay. Now they're picking Soto over Turner. Probably eyeing a huge extension to make him a Nat for life.