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TEAM PRESIDENT SAYS “THIS IS JUST ABOUT ME.”

With his college aged son sitting beside him on the top ledge of the Washington Nationals dugout, curly W’s adorning the wall, Nats President Stan Kasten confirmed to the media that he would be resigning, effective at the end of this season.

He said at the beginning of his statements that he would talk today about his experiences with the team, and how and why his resignation came about, but preferred not to discuss his future plans, or go into any details about where he sees the team today or the progress in the organization, outside of very broad ideas.

He promised that he would talk about those things in more detail when the season was over, but for now, he wanted to confirm the news of his resignation and then “get back to baseball.”

“When I came here…in 2006, I made a commitment to stay for five years, through the end of the 2010 season.  About a year ago or so, I went to the family and told them I would not be staying beyond that five year commitment.  So what I’m here to tell you today is that I’ll be leaving the Nats at the end of the season.”

“Let me assure you:  This is just about me.  This has nothing to do with anybody else, or anything else, this is just about me.  What’s good for me, for my family, and my own personal expectations, goals, aspirations.  Purely that, and nothing else.”

“Leaving here is going to be hard.  But the decision to leave was not hard. It was just the right thing to do now.”

He stressed several times that any rumors or reports that there was a rift with ownership regarding financial support for the organization were absolutely inaccurate.

“I have a great relationship with the Lerners. We had really good talks, but at the end this was clearly what I wanted to do.  They have been great.  Yes, I think they would have been really happy for me to stay, but this is the right thing.”

Kasten expressed a strong feeling that he really felt ingrained in the community, and cited several prominent D.C. officials as friends.

“There’s going to so much that I’m going to miss.  First of all, I love DC.  I truly do.  I love living here, I love working here.  The people that I have met here along the way have been exceptional.”

 For the rest of Kasten’s comments, please visit Nats News Network.

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Let’s get one thing straight shall we fair readers?

Whether or not the Washington Nationals re-sign Adam Dunn has almost nothing to do with his defensive ability, contrary to what anyone at The Washington Post—whether it’s Thomas Boswell, Adam Kilgore, or this guy—might have to say about Dunn’s iron glove.

It’s all about the money.

More precisely, it’s about the money and years on the contract.

I’m certainly not knocking the guys at the Post. Bless the mainstream guys, they’re buying what the team is selling right now about their “defensive philosophy” and distributing that message to the masses. The team needs to gain a sympathetic ear with those fans when they fail to re-sign Dunn when he hits the free-agent market this off-season, accepting a four-year deal from either the White Sox or Yankees.

And it’s a lot easier to convince those fans that the player has a fatal flaw, essentially blaming the player for his shortcomings.

But it ain’t the truth.

Dunn’s camp—rightfully so—sees this as his last big payday.  They know that several teams lust after Dunn’s powerful left-handed bat, and will pay him to put his glove away. They also know, along with the baseball scholars, that Dunn’s career will follow one of two paths the next couple of years. 

Either Dunn continues to slug homers and drive in runs at a rate so prodigious he’ll be mentioned as one of the top three or four power hitters of his generation, or he’ll fall off the map so fast your head will spin.

I wrote about this back in July when Dunn’s name featured prominently on the trading block, and now watching the big guy struggle for the second straight season during the dog days, the debate has become even more focused.

Dunn’s supporters will tell you he has hit 35-plus home runs in each of the last seven years and could post a career-high batting average this season. Dunn’s detractors will tell you his homers, walks, and On-base percentage have all dropped the last three seasons and he has disappeared two August/Septembers in a row.

Both are correct. It’s Nationals’ GM Mike Rizzo’s job to figure out which trend will continue.

If Rizzo is confident that Dunn will follow the career path of Jim Thome, blasting 35-plus homers for the next four years, by all means he should lock up the slugger to provide a middle-of-the-order presence to take pressure off Ryan Zimmerman (signed only through 2013 himself) and Bryce Harper, once the prodigy makes his debut, probably in 2012.

However, if Rizzo sees the decline in yearly stats and consecutive late season slumps and envisions Richie Sexson or Mo Vaughn, then he should run—not walk—away from any long-term deal and wish Dunn vaya con dios.

It’s true Dunn has been one of the game’s biggest run producers in his career, and that descriptions of his defensive abilities range from “improving” to “one of the worst fielders in the game,” depending on whom you wish to listen too.  But comments about his defense being the reason the Nats will or won’t re-sign Dunn are a red herring.

Please visit Nats News Network to find out why.

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The Nationals’ Mike Morse has become an intriguing source of power for fantasy owners.  With eligibility at first base and the outfield, his value is certainly diminished, given the depth of other options, but looking at the numbers there’s certainly a chance he is usable (statistics are through Monday):

213 AB, .296 AVG (63 Hits), 10 HR, 30 RBI, 29 Runs, 0 SB, .343 OBP, .502 SLG, .340 BABIP

His OBP is a number that jumps out at you.  He has posted a walk rate of just 6.1 percent, while striking out 22.5 percent of the time.

Drafted in the third round of the 2000 draft, Morse has played all over the diamond in a lengthy minor league career.  In 2,695 AB he posted a walk rate of 6.9 percent and a strikeout rate of 19.6 percent.  In other words, the rates he has shown this year are highly believable.  That certainly doesn’t bode well for him likely replicating a usable average moving forward.

Of course, if he could hit for an excessive amount of power, then perhaps, but there are questions there as well.  He had only 66 career minor league home runs, never hitting more than 17 in a season prior to 2009 (when he hit 16 in the minor leagues and three for the Nationals).

Thus far he’s posted a HR/FB of 16.1 percent, which wouldn’t necessarily be unbelievable if it weren’t for his history.  It’s tough to say that he hasn’t given us enough of a sample size to know what he is, either.  With that many at-bats and so few home runs, it’s hard to argue with.

He’s 28 years old, so he’s not a 22 year old who may be just finding himself in the game of baseball.  We know what Morse is (barring a huge swing similar to Jose Bautista’s), so he’s not likely to be a 30 HR hitter.

You couple the likely decline in power (which we may already be seeing as he has gone 13 straight games without a home run) with a potential problem in the average department and there’s a lot not to like.  Depending on your format he could have value, but there are likely to be better options available to you.

Leave him on the waiver wire at this point.

What are your thoughts on Morse?  Is he viable for the rest of 2010?  Would you pass on him?

Make sure to check out our Fantasy Baseball Minor League Player of the Year Awards:

• Atlanta Braves
• Kansas City Royals

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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Derek Lowe hasn’t lived up to the lofty four-year, $60 million contract the Atlanta Braves gave him two winters ago.

Lowe has produced a combined 5.0 WAR (wins above replacement) over the last two years, which makes him an average starter.

Last year, he had his highest ERA since 2004 and was giving up over 10 hits per nine innings. This year, Lowe has been better, but still not worth $15 million a year. He has a mediocre 4.22 ERA and an unimpressive 1.32 WHIP.

However, even at 37-years-old, Lowe can still be a money pitcher when it counts.

“DLowe”, as I used to refer to him in his Boston days, still can pitch at his best when his team needs him the most.

In his last start against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Lowe tossed six innings of one-run ball and last night against the Washington Nationals, Lowe might have pitched his best game since hurling a no-hitter against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2002.

Lowe allowed just six hits, no runs, no walks, and he struck out 12 over an impressive eight innings of work. Granted, he was facing a lineup that had Roger Bernadina batting third, but it was still impressive.

While Lowe had his slider working yesterday (20 percent swings and misses on his slider), it was his signature sinker that really came to the party. Lowe threw 44 sinkers last night and threw an impressive 72 percent of them for strikes.  He pounded the lower-half of the strike zone. As a result, seven out of the 11 balls the Nationals put in play were groundballs.

I know pitching well against the Pirates and the Nationals might not say much.

But if the Braves are going to go into and deep into the playoffs, they are going to need Lowe to step up.

With Lowe leading the Braves to victory last night, the Braves moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants in the NL Wild Card race.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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The Washington Nationals have 19 games remaining in the 2010 season.  If they win three of them, they will avoid losing 100 games for the third straight season.  It’s little solace for Nats fans that harbored illusions of a wild-card berth when the team got off to a 20-15 start.

Since then, the Nats have gone 40-68, a .370 winning percentage.  All those losses make for a long season, and if you pile on Stephen Strasburg’s injury, Nyjer Morgan’s bouts of immaturity, and Adam Dunn‘s looming contract status, one could understand if this Nationals team continues to limp down the stretch, playing out the string in another miserable season record-wise.

It’s human nature to underperform in unpleasant working conditions, but Nats fans don’t want to hear that after they were promised at the beginning of the season that this year was “about results.”  Fans are tired of hearing the same platitudes heaped upon the opposing starting pitcher, and the “we played hard” mantra night after night after night.

After Sunday’s loss—No. 83 on the season—a 6-5 decision to the Florida Marlins, manager Jim Riggleman held an “All Hands On Deck” meeting with his players and coaches.  It’s something he’s done before this season, but after what the thought was a lackluster effort from his squad, he felt like he needed to get some thing out in the air.

“I just thought our energy level, our body language early in the game, was not up to the standards it’s going to take for us to be a ballclub that goes to the next level. I just didn’t feel like we were getting after it early,” Riggleman said.

He asked for input from his coaching staff as well, and described the meeting to reporters after the game.  “This is what I see, this is what the coaches see, this is what (general manager) Mike (Rizzo) sees, this is what the fans see, so if anybody in the room thought that was acceptable, then they need to be made aware that we certainly don’t think it’s acceptable.”

While the words were appropriate given the situation, and the sloppy play against the Marlins—and five consecutive losses—one has to wonder if they were effective to their intended audience.

But has this group of players already tuned him out?  Riggleman actually said in his postgame press conference, “Sometimes when the same person keeps giving the message, it starts to fall on deaf ears.”

Seven-plus months, and a 162-game schedule makes for a very long season.  But how many times do you need to remind players that are playing for their jobs to play hard?

“I think the losing wears on you, but it’s a 162-game schedule, it’s a nine-inning ballgame,”Riggleman said. “That’s what you sign up for, that’s what you give.”

Riggleman then gave an unsolicited critique of the situation in the Nationals clubhouse.

To hear his critique, please visit Nats News Network.

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Cuban defector Yunesky Maya made his debut last night for the Washington Nationals against the New York Mets, and let’s just say he got off to a rough start.

The 29-year-old (so they say) gave up five runs, five hits, and two walks in five innings of work. One of those hits was an absolute bomb by Mets’ rookie first baseman Ike Davis.

After watching Maya pitch last night, I would say the Nationals have Daisuke Matsuzaka 2.0 on their hands.

Maya featured a fastball that averaged around 90 mph, a change that was in the low-80s and two types of curveballs. Like fellow Cuban defector Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, Maya has a lollipop curve that goes from 12-to-6 in seemingly slow motion, and a nice, sweeping curve.

Also like Hernandez, he has a little deception in his motion where he tucks his glove behind his front leg when delivering the ball.

I think that’s where the comparisons to El Duque end where the comparisons to Dice-K begin.

Like Dice-K so often does, Maya kept nibbling and nibbling and nibbling last night. He refused to challenge hitters with his fastball. Out of the 87 pitches Maya threw last night, only 38 percent were fastballs. That can’t happen at the major-league level. It’s okay to nibble if a pitcher gets ahead of the batters, but Maya only threw first-pitch strikes to 12 out of the 21 batters be faced.

If Maya wants to be successful at the major-league level, he is going to have to be more aggressive in the strike zone and go after hitters more. If not, his pitch count will rise and he will just be one of those bend-but-don’t-break, five-inning pitchers.

Like Dice-K.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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The New York Mets beat Yuniesky Maya and the Nationals tonight 4-1.  Ike Davis’ three-run homer was the big hit.  Dillon Gee, also making his first major league start was the winning pitcher.

It was the first time both starters were making their major league debuts since the Tigers’ Rick Porcello and the Blue Jays’ Ricky Romero faced each other on April 9, 2009 and only the fifth such game since 1980.

As you may know, Yuniesky Maya is a 29 year old pitcher who was a major star in Cuba before he defected in September 2009.  In the 2004-2005 season, he led the Cuban Serie Nacional with a 1.61 ERA.  After a down year in 2005/6, he finished second with a 1.40 ERA in 2006/7.

He had a great season in his last year in Cuba (2008/9), where he went 13-4 with a 2.22 ERA, good again for second best in the Serie Nacional, and notched 119 Ks and allowed only 113 hits in 146 IP. 

His strikeout total was second only to Aroldis Chapman’s 130.  As you well know, Chapman has also gone on to bigger and more remunerative things.

Maya also has lots of past experience and success against top international competition.

The Nationals signed Maya to a four-year $8 million deal on July 31, 2010, which was really a three-year deal, when you consider that with two months of the 2010 season left, Maya is working to get back to where he was when he last pitched for Cuba at some time in 2009.

The Nats raced Maya through their minor league system, giving him only a total of five starts across three minor league levels (the rookie Gulf Coast League, the A+ Carolina League and the AAA International League).  He posted a 3.38 ERA with a line of 21.1 IP, 18 hits, one HR allowed and 10 walks allowed and 18 Ks.

Maya pitched better in his two AAA starts than he did in the low minors; but, he didn’t pitch enough at the three levels combined to say much more than he seems to know how to pitch, and his control might be suspect.

The Nationals have reasonably decided, since they’re going nowhere this season and have lost their top pitching prospect Stephen Strasburg for a year, there’s no down-side to promoting Maya now and letting him learn the major league game sooner rather than later.

While the odds are good that Maya will continue to get beat up this year in however many starts he has left before the season ends, the Nationals’ decision to give him $8 million was a calculated risk to take. 

Maya really was good in the Cuban league as recently as eighteen months ago, and he’s not particularly old (he’ll be 29, 30 and 31 from 2011-2013).

Maya really needs to have only two seasons out of the next three in which he’s an adequate 4th starter for the signing to be a good one for the Nats.  If he develops into any thing better than a 4th starter, even if for only one year, the Nats will get well more than their money’s worth.

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Nyjer Morgan’s latest suspension for charging Marlins P Chris Volstad for throwing behind him drew a ludicrous eight game suspension from Bud Selig, in addition to his previous seven game suspension currently under appeal.

Volstad allegedly threw behind Morgan in retaliation for a heinous crime: Stealing two bases in a row when his team was down by 10 runs.

Oh no. He’s lucky he doesn’t get suspended for that, too.

Apparently there’s some unwritten baseball rule somewhere that states that if your team is down by a zillion runs, you’re not allowed to try to claw your way back. At least the Marlins think so, and so Volstad intentionally threw behind Morgan.

If you were Morgan, wouldn’t you be just a little bit angry at someone intentionally trying to injure you with a baseball in response for trying to light a fire under your team?

They’re also unhappy with him for knocking over catchers at home plate. Which is something that no other baseball player has ever done. Certainly not Boston’s Ryan Kalish, who bowled over Indians catcher Carlos Santana and ended his season with a horrific knee injury. Better suspend him too.

If the two suspensions he’s facing hold up after appeals (they’re always reduced, so they won’t), he’ll be out for a total of 15 games. Fifteen games suspended for doing things that happen every season with little or no incident.

He doesn’t understand why they’re throwing the book at him, and I don’t either.

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MLB handed out suspensions today following Wednesday’s brawl between the Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals.  Nyjer Morgan received eight games (in addition to the seven game suspension he has been appealing for hitting a fan in the head with a ball he threw into the stands on August 21); Chris Volstad received six games; Marlins’ pitcher Alex Sanabia received five games, Gaby Sanchez and Nationals’ pitcher Doug Slaten and 3B coach Pat Listach each received three games, and managers Jim Riggleman and Edwin Rodriguez received two and one game suspensions respectively.

Frankly, an eight game suspension for Morgan seems just about right.  He charged the mound, but only after being hit by a pitch in the fourth inning and a second pitch was thrown behind his back in the sixth.  I don’t think MLB could reasonably suspend Morgan for either of the two big home plate collisions, mainly because they waited too long on the cheap shot Morgan took on Cardinals’ catcher Bryan Anderson last Saturday and the collision with Marlins’ catcher Hayes on Tuesday really wasn’t a play justifying discipline.

MLB does not have unlimited discretion in disciplining players, because the Players’ Association will file a grievance for any discipline that does not comply with prior precedents for similar conduct.  MLB could take into account Morgan’s previous suspension, but it’s also worth noting that MLB justified Morgan’s relatively long eight game suspension (five or six games seems like a more typical suspension for charging the mound and setting off a brawl in these circumstances) by handing out significant suspensions to the other players, managers and coaches involved in the brawl.

One has to suspect that Morgan’s recent spate of bad conduct has a lot to do with the poor season he’s having and the fact that he must at some level realize his major league career is in serious jeopardy.  He turned 30 in July, which is getting old for a marginal major leaguer.

Also, after a fine 2009 campaign in which Morgan was a solid lead-off man (.369 on-base percentage, 42 steals with a 71 percent success rate and a .757 OPS) and was also one of the Senior Circuit’s best defensive outfielders, (according to fangraphs’ UZR ratings), Morgan has been terrible in 2010.  His .317 OBP doesn’t cut it, and his center field defense (according again to fangraphs) has been a shade below average.

Not surprising then Morgan is either frustrated or determined to be more aggressive to try to get better results as the season winds down.

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Courtesy of Bill Ladson at MLB.com, here were Nyjer Morgan‘s comments this afternoon upon learning about his eight-game suspension for “three separate incidents” in the past week, including clipping St. Louis Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson instead of touching home plate, exchanging expletives with fans in Miami after bowling over Florida Marlins catcher Brett Hayes—ending his season with a separated shoulder—on Tuesday night, and the resultant brawl Wednesday night: 
 

“Man, they threw the book at me.  What did I do? I feel I haven’t done anything. They are blowing this way out of proportion because I’m a hard-nosed player—because I knocked over a catcher. They throw the ball at me. Come on, what am I supposed to do? I have to take this and try to keep playing.

I feel I haven’t done anything wrong expect for playing the game hard and play the game like it’s supposed to be played. Wow. I don’t know what else to say. It’s just a fact that people are blowing this way out of proportion. I don’t think you should be suspended for hitting a catcher…I don’t understand what I did wrong to get an eight-game suspension. They make it seem like I’m Mike Tyson.”

Morgan has appealed this current suspension, since he is in Friday night’s lineup (hitting leadoff, no less), and he has appealed the pending seven-game suspension for throwing a ball into the stands in Philadelphia, injuring a patron. His original hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, but has been pushed to next Friday, presumably so they can handle both cases.

The league can’t appreciate Morgan making these further statements in the press, and it certainly won’t help him in the hearing.

Morgan should consider himself fortunate that he “only” got eight games. 

Marlins pitcher Alex Sanabia got five for his part, and the video shows him throwing a couple punches on the bottom of the pile and then getting tossed around like a rag doll by Adam Dunn.  If Morgan got just three more games than Sanabia, with the Cardinals incident and the yelling at fans incident lumped in, Morgan is lucky he didn’t get two weeks.

It amazes me that Morgan appears so clueless to not realize what he’s done, unless this is still part of this “underdog tough guy” act. I also wonder why his agent hasn’t taken it upon himself to shut his client up.

But I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me.

Find out why it shouldn’t surprise anyone at Nats News Network.

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