Off day free talk thread
Can we get a thread to talk about whatever we want while we wait for Nationals baseball to come back tomorrow? Like a free talk Friday except it's Monday.
Posted Jun 8, 2015, 6:16 PM UTC
1979
Apparently Max Scherzer eats a huge roast beef sandwich before every start (part of his superstition). It's between 1/2 and 3/4 of a pound. He's been on ESPN throughout the day.
13
Quick, somebody take Stras and Gio and Zimm on an Arby's run!
2
Poor Doug :(
2
We'll take him twice when he gets back from rehab :)
1
usa usa usa usa usa usa us ausa usa usa usa usa usa usa usa
As I said in the other thread you literally have no excuse for not watching tonight. Because Bryce is watching. Therefore you should also watch the women's team against Australia. 7:30. Fox Sports 1. Be there.
10
you literally have no excuse for not watching
Fox Sports 1
8
Well, my excuse is that I'm American so I don't watch soccer, and it's probably because I don't know what's going on, but it's super-duper boring, like slightly more interesting than watching paint dry. However, you--and anyone else who wants to--is quite free to watch themselves.
3
But you're American and should support American teams playing for country i.e. the USWNT
Listen I am not going to tell you to watch games like Netherlands or maybe even Germany CIV which ended like 11-0 but watch these women. Bandwagon on. Because USA has historically come STRONG in women's soccer.
9
but it's super-duper boring, like slightly more interesting than watching paint dry.
Blasphemy! And possibly also heresy. But definitely blasphemy.
3
IM SAD THAT OUR YOUNG PLAYERS ARENT AS YOUNG ANYMORE :(((((
(EXCEPT FOR BRYCE)
9
It's definitely getting that way. But fortunately, I think the Nationals have some good talent coming behind them in their early 20s that will give the Nationals another run. I am concerned that other than Giolito, there's no clear cut starter to replace Zimm, Stras, and Gio once their contracts are up after 2015 or 2016.
7
Gio will be around through 2018 unless he ends up being absolutely terrible since the team has 12M options for '17 and '18.
I'm pretty confident they'll have a solid rotation. Between Joe Ross, Fedde, Cole and Giolito they should have a couple good arms coming up.
8
Don't forget about Reynaldo Lopez
4
Definitely. He's the dark horse candidate.
3
I hope so. It's been nice to have some young starters come up through our system to offset the cost of acquiring them.
Not to say that Gio hasn't been worth it but we were fortunate to get him for a good deal. Fister too, for that matter.
2
Ross was fantastic in that debut. AJ Cole has also shown some serious promise.
I also think the bullpen has a bright future - Barrett and Treinen have every potential to be those unhittable late inning guys.
6
I hope so because we really need them to step up and get better. Barrett is in his age 27 season. He's not a kid anymore. Treinen is a year younger.
Drew Storen's worst season was his rookie year (age 21). Financially, Treinen, Barrett, and Felipe Rivero need to be the core of our bullpen for the next few seasons. If Treinen and Barrett flame out, that's really going to put a lot of pressure on the team to find alternatives that aren't expensive.
1
I dunno, bullpens are usually pretty cheap to construct so if Treinen never pans out no big deal, unless Matt Williams continues using him in high leverage situations despite resounding evidence that he should be near the end of the bullpen.
2
Barrett, totally -- but Treinen could easily turn out to be HRod 2.0.
Also, I don't know if I'm ready to be excited about AJ Cole, and Ross, I think it's just too soon to tell. I'm honestly not worried about losing Strasburg, but I really want to keep Zimm and Fister around. Even Gio, I'm on the fence. If he weren't a lefty, he'd have been the odd man out in March.
1
By 2016 Fedde should be ready as should Lopez. Both of them have tremendous upside and a lot of talent evaluators think they're both better than Cole and/or Ross. Austin Voth is another guy who could surprise people, scouts don't love him, but he keeps getting results.
6
Well as we saw with Tanner Roark there's always the potential for someone from the minors to come out of nowhere and turn out to be a solid starter. Roark isn't that young (28) but he's under team control till 2020 so he can be a part of that "next generation".
2
This is very true. I just don't think you should build an organization around lightning striking.
I'm not giving up on 2015 yet but I'm getting a very bad "2013" vibe from this group right now (except for Bryce and Max, of course).
2
There's always a bad vibe when the team is losing. I suspect you didn't have that vibe in May. Seasons ebb and flow, it's rare to dominate wire-to-wire.
4
Rendon is back, so I am happy
7
I think we are going to alternate between sucking hard and being amazing every other month. April sucked, May was awesome, June is sucking, etc. I'm not sure how I feel about this.
7
It would mean we'll suck in October, so you should feel terrible about it :(
9
Well, it's not exactly far-fetched, given... you know, history.
4
You shut up and shut up now. >:(
cries
7
I have no idea what you're talking about. *ahem*
2
you clearly forgot about Augtember
3
I'm not mad... I'm disappointed.
5
Let's psychoanalyze players based on their baskets at the gala!
Aaron Barrett is simple and old-fashioned.
Jayson Werth has a wicked sense of humor.
Doug Fister loves animals. He especially loves eating them.
Max Scherzer likes to sign things.
Blake Treinen is cheap and a bit paranoid.
Danny Espinosa... likes popcorn?
Tanner Roark has excellent taste and isn't afraid to splurge.
5
Danny Espinosa also likes Scotch....Yup, still love Danny Espinosa.
6
lol at the value of Treinen's being $470 when everyone else's is over $1,000
4
Espi's is only 640
2
Yeah but popcorn
4
And Scotch!
3
Thornton's was cheap too but it was full of, like, books and stuff instead of fancy gizmos.
3
I feel like the contents of Treinen's basket were purchased in a hotel gift shop at the last minute.
2
Did anybody here go to this thing? I'm mad at myself for not trying to sneak in.
It was at the Marriott Marquis by the convention center, and I totally walked right past Span (in a tux) as it was letting out. He was with his wife, so I didn't bother them, but I maintain that I totally would have blended right in in my Nats tshirt and jeans. I could've waltzed right in, I tell ya.
2
No, but I think I know what I'm doing next year.
5
$500 for the cheapest ticket. No way I could pay to get in.
Now sneaking in is quite an intriguing option...
4
A guy that rides my bus is a Mets fan. Smart ass pulled out his Blackberry to check the standings as soon as I got on the bus this morning. Dude still has a Blackberry... WTF?
5
So do the royals have a voting robot or something?
4
What baseball podcasts do you all listen to? Currently I listen to Nats Nightly, but I'm looking for something more in-depth that is relevant to, say, the NL East. What do you recommend?
3
I highly recommend Effectively Wild, not a Nats podcast, but as for Nats podcasts NatsGMdotcom, Red Porch Report and the Nats Blog. Also enjoy the Jonah Keri podcast and the Baseball Tonight podcast depending on who's on and what they're talking about.
2
I will check those out, thanks!
For those of you who are wondering:
Effectively Wild: Two young guys who are very interested in 'the numbers' (sabermetrics), as well as in other, sort-of pedantic features of today's baseball. Detailed and interesting.
2
I feel like we have had so many dang off days.
3
We have, but we haven't lost any of 'em.
3
Bryce Harper 2
Australia 1
3
Off day ? the draft is today. Did the Nats get anybody ?
3
We didn't have a first round pick since we signed Scherzer, not sure how many rounds they did today.
1
Can someone change the ticket exchange thing so it doesn't utterly suck? It's a huge pain to enter tickets in. It was much better the original way when it was just a simple spreadsheet wiki. It was a good idea that somebody tried to improve and instead made it 1000 times worse. There are now 0 tickets listed.
2
We would definitely take suggestions. If the people want a change, we'll give 'em a change. I don't necessarily think that just because there are 0 tickets listed currently, it's the format that is putting people off.
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I can tell you that it is the format that has stopped me from listing. It was initially set up as a simple excel sheet that anyone could edit. Perfect. Takes two seconds, I can freeform any notes. I have 1 ticket to like 30 games.
On the other hand it would take me 2 hours to enter on that ridiculous form, not worth my time at all (not an exaggeration -- every game must be entered individually and there are ~20 required fields).
I would gladly do it if I could just input onto a spreadsheet. You aren't going to get many submissions of tickets at all with that ridiculous, long, and limiting form. And with no content, nobody is ever going to use it as a buyer either.
1
I'm disappointed right now. The thing that has been kicking me all season is how seamingly unprepared we are for Zimmerman's slump, the rotation injuries, the "bullpen," and Desi's very hit or miss days.
2
Yeah, Rizzo has done an excellent job and it may be quibbling, but he sucks at building the bottom of a roster. Nats always seem to be bad in the 20-30 spots on their roster.
2
Do we actually think Rizzo will get Zobrist, what do we think he'll have to give up, and do we actually want this to happen?
Apparently, our alternative is to put Espinosa in LF.
2
I like Espinosa in LF because he's looking more and more like the Nats starting SS next year and he needs the AB's. Not to mention he's been the Nats 3rd or 4th most valuable hitter this year without playing every day.
3
I definitely like the idea of giving danny as many ABs as we can afford, but the first time he ever played lf was... Yesterday. Zim made the transition look easy last year, and I love Danny, but I just don't know if he would be successful over there for more than a few innings in an emergency.
1
Well we know Danny could throw better than Zim...
I'm still not 100% sold that this Danny is real, but right now he's one of our hottest bats and we need offense. I thought Espi should've played 1B yesterday instead of Moore and I'd be okay with giving him starts in LF too. Make him a super-sub. Basically, make him Zobrist.
I just don't see how you take him out when he's one of your hottest bats. You can't sit Escobar or Rendon. You're not going to bench Desmond for any serious length of time, but maybe a day off would be nice. So that leaves LF where we're getting nothing offensively. Though to Taylor's credit, his defense has been outstanding after that awful beginning.
5
I'd definitely love to see Danny's rocket arm in LF, I just worry that he won't transition as smoothly as Zim did. He's probably our best candidate to move if he can do it.
1
I think it's a valid concern, but Espi is a much better athlete than Zim, much faster, much stronger arm. Also, he's one of the best infielders out there at going back on balls. If Michael Morse can play a passable LF, certainly Danny can too, IMO.
1
Depending on the next McLouth Update (seriously, he's supposed to be hitting and fielding so theoretically he could be back soon-ish) we may not need him.
If 2015 McLouth hits like 2014 McLouth we might need Zobrist anyway though.
3
The USA-AUS match is crazy, right now.
2
Love me some America Ninja Warrior.
2
I forget who cost the Nationals a 1st round pick this year.
1
Of course, Scherzer. Dur.
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Fortunately this draft class kind of stinks.
3
From what I've heard the like 3rd-10th rounds are slightly better than normal in that the mid-level talent is better than it normally is, but that the first and second rounds, where you'll normally find future stars, is just not very good.
1
Desmond is finally worth positive fWAR at 0.1!
#VoteDesi
I'm too busy writing in Jeter for SS in both leagues
#OnlyHalfKidding
Right past a diving Jeter...the National League wins the game.
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