Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

[3rdAnswer]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=250828120

This is crazy. Looks like DC will just be like the Royals were a couple of years ago. They were a good story in the middle of the season, but they are now playing exactly how we all thought they would at the beginning of the season.

My concern is...next season will they play well again, or will they perform like their roster suggest they should and finish at the bottom of the NL East? Throughout the season I always felt like they needed just one more big bat and they'd be fine. Hopefully this off-season they can improve on their team while keeping most everything the same.

Also, they should keep Frank Robinson...he's a wonderful manager and the last to blame of the Nats downward spiral.

[Stoud]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=250828120

This is crazy. Looks like DC will just be like the Royals were a couple of years ago. They were a good story in the middle of the season, but they are now playing exactly how we all thought they would at the beginning of the season.

My concern is...next season will they play well again, or will they perform like their roster suggest they should and finish at the bottom of the NL East? Throughout the season I always felt like they needed just one more big bat and they'd be fine. Hopefully this off-season they can improve on their team while keeping most everything the same.

Also, they should keep Frank Robinson...he's a wonderful manager and the last to blame of the Nats downward spiral.

We didn't "all think" that the Nats would be in last place at the end of the season first of all, when the season started I predicted they'd end up in second place, to much ridicule. Even after all that they have done this year, all the naysayers like you (no offense) are coming out from their hiding spaces and acting like the first half never happened. Every team has trouble now and then, and when your big bat is Jose Guillen that can mean alot of trouble, I mean the guy is SUPER streaky. Considering what they did in the off season last year and how it has panned out, I think they've had a pretty good run. Don't forget that Ohka only had 3 wins last year, and I predicted at least 10-12 for him this year, also to much ridicule. The Nats are suffering from injury and fatigue, methinks....their team chemistry is volatile, and it has been that way since they were the expos, liable to blow up at any moment (start sucking) or conversely liable to explode (start winning). They picked up Guzman and Castilla for under 5 mil (if I remember correctly) and traded juan rivera for jose guillen, which is a good trade if you're planning to give Guillen some support as well. In terms of saving as much money as possible but still putting together a team worth watching at a time when you are switching both identity and stadium? They did VERY WELL in the off season last year. If they follow that up this year with the acquisition of some power to back up guillen and a starter or two that can last more than 7 innings without ending up like Livan, I'd put them right back up towards first in their division next year. Despite having a great Bullpen, they still need a little more fire in the pen, preferrably a long reliever.

A few small things.

That is literally all that it will take to make the Nats a playoff worthy team. A few small things. Their current roster does not suggest that they would not play well, it suggests that it's volatile and having factored that in, that it is still not quite good enough to take honors, perse. Every team has their ups and downs, their bad streaks and their good streaks. The thing to remember is that they aren't 10 or 15 games out of first place like you (most likely inadvertantly) make it seem with your statement that they have "completely fallen off", they are like 5 or 6 games out of first. Add it up for crying out loud, there's a reason that there's no team with like 80 or 90 wins right now, and it's because most if not all of the teams have the potential to win games, when that happens you get a bunch of really good teams and just barely not so good teams, one with 70 wins at this point and one with 55-65, mainly because the chances for the big teams to win as much as they used to are cut down by the fact that every team has the talent to win if they want to. The DEVIL RAYS have the best record in the MLB since the AS break. THE DEVIL RAYS!! I just watched the so-called "Last Place M's" play the series of a lifetime against the AL leading White Sox, to win only one, but play so hard and devotedly that they had more chances to win than they normally would. This two or so weeks after they were playing as if they literally were the Royals, making like 5 errors a game! This is a very good season because nobody is guaranteed to win it all based on anything, there's going to be like 15 teams literally racing for the wild card DOWN THE STRETCH!!

Instead of picking on a team like the Nats who are in NO SHORTAGE OF SUCH THINGS, howabout you just pay your respects to the fact that this is one of the most competitive seasons we may see since the wild card started. Better yet, pick on the Yanks, who despite the fact that instead of leading the AL like their fans said they would at the end of this year, are now having trouble trying to make the Wild Card? Howabout poking fun at all the Yanks fans who DESPITE ALL THIS STILL have trouble letting go of the whole "WE'RE GOING TO WIN IT ALL" thing!!!

Seriously, no offense, but there are so many better things to nitpick about than the Nats, who after all they HAVE done this season DESPITE MAJOR ADVERSITY, do not deserve to be treated this way. In the words of the great Rodney Dangerfield:

No Respect, I tell ya. No Respect."

[3rdAnswer]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

Woah woah woah, I think you've got me all wrong. How am I a "naysayer"? I still think they can make a run, but the truth is that they are playing awful baseball right now.

[PdiddyPop]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

You can't keep winning when being outscored all season. It's going to catch up sooner or later, and those 1 run winning games come to a end too. I think that pitching staff is on their last legs. They have pitched esp Livan way too many innings, because the offense couldn't help them out. If they had a bullpen and a consistant offense they could keep it up. However, nobody can keep up a 22-9 or whatever they were at pace all season long.

[CoRruPt-]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

The Nationals don't have a solid starting rotation, simple. Any team that is considered a contender has a good rotation, and the Nationals just does not have that.

[SPTO]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

Well as i've said before they would fade during the stretch. It's not me being a naysayer but i've seen that happen in Montreal a couple times. I think the Nats have a solid base right now so it's not like they need an overhaul. If Bowden can continue to build the minor league system like previous GMs have then the Nats will have a bevy of good young talent coming up in a few years. Unlike previous years tho, they'll be able to sign their homegrown talent.

[DGetz]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

The Nationals don't have a solid starting rotation, simple. Any team that is considered a contender has a good rotation, and the Nationals just does not have that.

Thier starters ERAs are: 2.43, 3.57, 3.87, 4.53, and 4.98. Now of course some of that is them playing their home games in the one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the bigs, but their starter have still been solid.

[dkgojackets]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

A lot of people thought theyd be near the botton of the division, but at the time didnt know that 5 games over .500 would still get you last. They are still playing solid baseball, not as good as the beginning of the season where they won anything close, but I think this season has to be considered a success if you look at overall record.

[Vince]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

The Nationals don't have a solid starting rotation, simple. Any team that is considered a contender has a good rotation, and the Nationals just does not have that.

Sorry, but that is downright idiocy.

[ZM Punk]

Re: Nats Have Completely Fallen Off

Taking nothin away from the Nationals but they have greatlt overacheived this season. First off the pitching staff is very thin as it is and now your no. 1 starter has been overused. Second is that you have one of the most anemic offenses in the majors with the exception of Jose Guillen and Nick Johnson nobody on the team has exactly ripped the cover of the ball.

People say the Nationals done well in free agency but I disagree, Christian Guzman should not even be in the lineup and would not be had the nationals not over payed for him the guys below the mendoza line for christ sakes.

Vinny Castilla is about to have his job taken buy a guy that was drafted this past june. They need to be more careful signing free agents because a lot is riding on them bacause the Ntionals have the worst farm system in the majors according to baseball america.

By no means am I taking anything away from the Nationals they played good defense, had a phenomenal bullpen for most of the season, and I think Frank Robinson should be manager of the year. But thing aren't going to get any better for the Nationals this season, and with the division that they are playing in this might be the best season they will have for the next couple of years.