Mark Scialabba--Director Minor League Operations: "Jeff is a really exciting player to watch. He runs very well. He’s got quick wrists. He’s strong and aggressive. He’s got the approach like Cristian Guzman when he swings the bat--and we like that." I don't like that. I don't like it at all. I'd be happier if he didn't swing as much as Guzman does. Now the pitches he DOES swing at, go ahead an Guzman them all you want.
“The scouts also have a relationship with the players. And once we get them into our system, we begin to instill in them The Nationals Way--playing the game, playing the game hard, playing the right way. At that point, they really begin to understand what discipline is on a professional level. Coming out every day, being on time, be ready to play--have respect for your managers. So we want good character in our players. That’s what our scouts really try to acquire. However, sometime makeup and character don’t always mesh. You can have players with really good makeup on the field, but are problems off the field in character. We try to instill good character, discipline in our players off the field, not just on the field--through our coaches, employee assistance program, through out trainers--we just try to instill that discipline from the top all the way down to the bottom of the minor leagues.” -- Now we know why Elijah Dukes is unemployed.
Rizzo: "When you trade for Bartolo Colon and trade away the young talent they gave away in that trade--to win today because your sight is only on today only--is the main lesson I learned from that situation.”
Good god YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfect, awesome, outstanding. I like the fact that you reference a deal from this organization even though it was before your time. Keep the memory of that debacle alive as a warning to others.
Now, please take a second lesson from this hot mess: It pays to be the team DEALING the overrated vet. You get better faster that way.
Mike Rizzo: “Those are certainly breeding grounds for players. They have quite a passion for the game also. 33% of all players in the major leagues are not from the amateur draft. So they are being acquired through international scouting, signing the players and those types of things. It’s become a huge focus for all the organizations in baseball to be successful internationally. We made steps in that direction and made a focus on international baseball.” -- As absolute a non-answer as you will find in the greater DC area. And that is saying something since DC is the #1 producer of non-answers to actual questions in the world. "Steps in that direction?" a "Step in that direction" would be writing a check.
Unrelated note: First Potomac Nationals game of the year on Saturday. Marcos Frias gave up two home runs but nothing else. Martin Beno struck out four . . . and on three of them the catcher had to throw the guy out at first. IOW, he got 3 K's on balls in the dirt. I don't know if that means he has a great breaking ball or if it means he had a 55ft curve and A ball players can't tell the difference.
The P-Nats won 4-3 because of Pat Kelly. Who's Pat Kelly? Why he's the Lynchburg manager who had his 1B playing one step from the line in the 8th Inning with Burgess at the plate and no outs. One routine ground ball DIRECTLY at where the 1B usually plays later and the P-Nats had the tying run on base. I could understand it somewhat if they were playing the Ryan Howard/Adam Dunn shift for a dead pull left hander but they weren't. To my thinking, it more likely for Burgess to hit a ball where he did rather than just over the bag so playing to prevent the off chance of the extra base isn't worth increasing the chance of a lead off single. As it turned out, that's exactly what happened.
Lombardozzi on base 4 times. Patient and had some good swings.
Pretty sparse crowd for a Saturday night. Ended up pelting the crowd with foam Microsoft windows figurines obviously ordered for a full house. Rough estimate would place the number distributed at 20,000 for a crowd of maybe 750. At least the firework show was impressive. Good job on that Mr. Silber!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment