10 Bold Predictions For the Nationals in 2014

2013 was a year of disappointment for the Nationals. After being everybody’s favorite to win the World Series, the Nats fell flat on their face, missing the playoffs by a handful of games. As we turn the calendar to 2014, we make several bold predictions for the Nats this year.

10. They are not done this offseason

Over the course of this offseason, the Nationals have traded for Doug Fister and Jerry Blevins, and have signed Nate McLouth. To many experts, the Nationals have completed everything that they needed to this offseason and are ready to start the 2014 season. However, I still believe that Mike Rizzo and Co. have one more trick up their sleeves. Earlier this off season, the Nationals were rumored to be in on several free agents, including catcher John Buck and infielder Eric Chavez. Since then, Chavez has re-signed with the Diamondbacks. However, Buck is still available. While the Nationals seem content with Jhontan Solano and Sandy Leon being the backup catchers, and Buck’s asking price being a little hefty for a backup, the Nationals might surprise people by making this small move. They could also still be in the market for a utility infielder or a lefty power bat. Be on the look out for the Nationals to make another under-the-radar move.

9. Wilson Ramos plays 125+ games this season

In an interview during the winter meetings, GM Mike Rizzo was asked about signing another catcher. Rizzo responded that he thinks Ramos can play most of the season. He was quoted as saying, “I don’t know what the average everyday catcher caught … what, about a 125-128 games? I think he can take on that load.” Many people thought that this claim was ludicrous, since in the past two seasons, Ramos has played in a total of 103 games. However, it is possible for Ramos to achieve this feat. In 2011, Ramos’s rookie season, he was able to play in 113 games, while still sharing time with Ivan Rodriguez. However, in 2012, Ramos tore his ACL, and missed the majority of the season, and this year, Ramos dealt with numerous hamstring issues. The injuries have caused people to lose faith in Ramos’s abilities to stay healthy. However, Ramos changed his approach on the basepaths later in the season last year, so that he wouldn’t injure his hamstring again. That change in approach allowed Ramos to stay healthy and fresh in the second half of the season. It also allowed Ramos to play in 20 consecutive games at catcher, before a double header forced Ramos to sit. If Ramos can pick up where he left off, there is no reason to believe he won’t play at least 125 games.

8. Doug Fister will receive Cy Young votes at the end of the season.

By far the Nationals’ biggest move this offseason was the acquisition of starting pitcher Doug Fister in exchange for Ian Krol, Robbie Ray, and Steve Lombardozzi. By making this trade, the Nationals filled out their rotation, adding one of the most undervalued pitchers in baseball. This upcoming season, Doug Fister will show baseball how good he is by not just being one of the best pitchers in the vaunted Nationals rotation, but in all of baseball. Over the past three seasons, Fister has, in terms of fWAR, been the ninth best pitcher in the major leagues, just behind Cy Young Winners Justin Verlander, David Price, Clayton Kershaw, and Max Scherzer. Fister is also making the transition from the AL to the NL — in 12 career starts against the senior circuit, Fister has a 2.09 ERA. Although that is a small sample size, it bodes well for Fister’s transition.

7. Strasburg won’t be ready by Opening Day

A few weeks after the season ended, Stephen Strasburg underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow. While Strasburg wasn’t the only National to get surgery (Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche also had surgery to repair various injuries), Strasburg’s is the most worrisome, as he has already dealt with numerous injuries throughout his career. This new injury that Strasburg suffered this season is only another addition to Strasburg’s long and well-documented injury history. Historically, the Nationals have been very careful when handling Strasburg and his myriad injuries. Don’t look for him to be rushed back if he the Nationals don’t feel that he is ready.

6. Danny Espinosa will play 120+ games this season in DC, and will start in at least half.

Espinosa’s 2013 was an unmitigated disappointment for both himself and the Nationals organization. After a very good rookie year, Espinosa suffered a slight “sophomore slump” in 2012, batting .247/.215/.402 and leading the league in strikeouts with 168. In 2013, things only got worse for Espinosa, as his average dropped to .158, and he whiffed in 28% of his at bats. Then, in June, Espinosa was sent to the minors, where he continued to struggle, batting .216/.280/.286 in AAA Syracuse. While Espinosa struggled all of last year, both in the majors and the minors, he still has a good shot of making the major league roster out of spring. His plus defensive abilities make him valuable as a defensive replacement in the later innings. However, I think that Espinosa will be used for more than that. At the end of the last season, the Nationals had first round draft pick Anthony Rendon as their starting second baseman. Rendon had a good rookie year, hitting .265/.329/.396 with 1.5 fWAR. However, one of the Nationals main concerns with Rendon is that he is often injured. Throughout college and even in his pro career, Rendon has dealt with various injuries, including one in 2012 which cost him most of the season. Of course, no one can really predict an injury. But the Nationals will want to keep Rendon healthy, and one way that they could do that is by limiting his playing time, and having Espinosa make starts at second. Combine that with the fact that Rendon will see some time at third base, with Ryan Zimmerman seeing occasional time at first, and it seems likely that Espinosa will get some solid playing time this year.

5. Denard Span will hit over .300

In the 2012-2013 offseason, the Nationals acquired center fielder Denard Span for top pitching prospect Alex Meyer in the hopes that Span could be the franchise center fielder that the Nationals have long sought out. Span’s first year in D.C. was decent — while his offensive numbers were slightly below his career norms, he was one of the top defensive center fielders in baseball. However, in 2014, Span’s offensive numbers will make him as valuable on offense as he is on defense. In 2013, Span started off the year on a bad note, and was hitting .265/.320/.355 through the teams first 90 games. Then, on July 22nd, the Nationals fired hitting coach Rick Eckstein and brought in minor league hitting coach Rick Schu. Schu’s arrival brough marked improvement from Span, as Span managed to hit .303/.337/.418 through the teams final 62 games. Another reason for Span’s success might be a change of approach at the plate. On August 25, Denard Span received a text from his mom telling him “to swing the first pitch more often.” From August 25, until the end of the season, Span hit .336/.374/.451, including a 29 game hitting streak. While the league will probably adapt to Span’s new approach, his offense will still be more of a factor in 2014.

4. Jayson Werth will regress, a lot.

Last year, Jayson Werth had his best season as a Washington National, and possibly the best in his career, hitting .318/.398/.512 with a 4.8 WAR. Werth also finished 13th in the NL MVP vote, and was probably the best the NL offensively last season. While he did suffer a hamstring injury that kept him out for almost all of May, it didn’t detract from his amazing season. That being said, there is very little chance that Werth will be able to keep that up next season. In the past two seasons, Werth has missed almost 115 games with various injuries. Werth, who is turning 35 in May, is the Nationals oldest position player. Every year Werth gets older, he will be more likely to get injured, and it will be more and more difficult to overcome those injuries. While it is impossible to predict injuries, Werth might be the most likely offensive player to get injured.

3. Rafael Soriano wont be the closer by the end of the year.

After signing a two year, $22 million deal in the offseason of 2012-2013, Soriano became the closer for the Nationals. The team hoped that he could repeat his 2012 performance with the Yankees, where Soriano saved 42 of 46 opportunities and had a 2.26 ERA while replacing Mariano Rivera in the back of the Yankees pen. On the surface, Soriano’s 2013 campaign seems pretty good; Soriano saved 43 games, putting him in the top five in that category, and converted 88% of his saves, which was above league average last season. However, if we dig deeper into Soriano’s season, we see more troubling signs. According to Brooks Baseball, Soriano’s average fastball and slider speed were down almost a full MPH from 2012 to 2013. On top of that, almost all of his pitches had less vertical movement than in years past, making Soriano more hittable. His contact percentage was up to 88%, the highest in his career, and his WHIP was also a career high. Soriano is on the downswing of his career, and it is unlikely that he will improve in 2014. Moving Soriano from the closer role will be made easier because…

2. Drew Storen will return to his 2011-2012 form.

From 2010-2012, the Nationals seemed to have their closer of the future in Drew Storen. In his three season, Storen converted 52 of 60 save opportunities, including 43 of 48 in 2011, his first and only full year as closer. There were times in those three years where Storen looked like one of the top closers in baseball. Then, on one fateful night in October, everything changed. Come April, Drew Storen was no longer the Nationals closer. After being demoted to set-up man, Storen struggled through his first 47 appearances, collecting a 5.65 ERA with a .355 BABIP (batting average of balls in play). After a July 24th outing where Storen gave up 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning, he was demoted to AAA to work on his mechanics. After about a month in the minors, Storen was called back up to the majors. After that, he was a different pitcher. From August 16th (the day he was called up) to the end of the season, Storen gave up just 3 runs in a little over 19 innings, giving him a 1.40 ERA during that stretch. That Storen resembled the Storen who got those 43 saves in 2011. If Storen can keep that up in 2014, he will return to the closer role by the end of the season.

1. Bryce Harper will finish top 3 in the NL MVP vote.

Last April, this seemed like it was going to happen in 2013. Harper started off the season on a tear, hitting .356/.437/.744 with 9 home runs in the month of April. Then, on April 29th, Bryce Harper flung his body against the wall in Atlanta, bruising the entire right side of his body. After that night, Harper wasn’t the same player. From April 30th until May 13th, Harper batted .138/.297/.241. His batting average dropped almost 50 points in the matter of two weeks. Then, on May 13th, Harper made things worse by running face first into the wall at Dodger Stadium, further injuring his side and his knee. These injuries kept Harper in and out of the lineup for the next two months. He ended up missing the entire month of June due to his injuries from running into the walls. After his various run-ins with the wall (see what I did there?), Harper’s performance dipped considerably. While it wasn’t expected for him to keep hitting at a .356/.437/.744 pace, he was surely expected to do better than what he did. If Harper hadn’t run into those walls, he could have had a year for the record books. Barring another wall collision, Harper will have a phenomenal third season.

Backing Up the Nationals’ Backstop

The Nationals must shore up the catching corps behind Wilson Ramos

We’ve only just entered the new year, but the Washington Nationals have already all but wrapped up their offseason. The team hasn’t been quite as active as in offseasons past, but General Manager Mike Rizzo has made several moves that have the potential to help the team respond after a disappointing 2013. The biggest move, of course, was the trade for starter Doug Fister, the addition of whom gives the Nationals a starting rotation that ranks among the best in the league. But Rizzo’s lower-profile moves, the acquisitions of outfielder Nate McLouth and left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins, make the team far more complete, filling some of the biggest remaining holes. However, Rizzo still has a small but glaring hole to fill — backup catcher.

It is not clear that Rizzo believes this to be a problem. After all, his primary catcher, Wilson Ramos, emerged as one of the better-hitting backstops in the National League over the second half of the season — in fact, his 12 second-half home runs and .454 slugging percentage were both tops among NL catchers. Moreover, despite incurring myriad injuries over the past two years, from a torn ACL to recurring hamstring troubles, Ramos finally appears to be healthy. The organization feels so confident in Ramos’ health and production that Rizzo made this statement to the media:

I don’t think he needs any more regular time off than any other front-line, full-time catcher,” Rizzo said of Ramos. “He can play regularly. I don’t know what the average everyday catcher caught … what, about a 125-128 games? I think he can take on that load. And if that’s the case, we feel good about what we’ve got as our backups.

Of course, this seems like wishful thinking. Ramos hasn’t stayed injury free in two full seasons, and has never caught more than 108 games in his four year big-league career. Over the past two years, Nationals backup catchers have accounted for 259 games behind the plate, and the results haven’t been good. Kurt Suzuki, Jesus Flores, Jhonatan Solano, Sandy Leon and Carlos Maldonado have combined for a .226 batting average and .335 slugging percentage over 798 at-bats, more than a full season’s worth. But the debacle hasn’t just been limited to offense. Despite his reputation, Kurt Suzuki has ranked among the worst defensive catchers in baseball in terms of pitch-framing — in 2013 alone, Suzuki cost the ballclub 9.1 runs (about the equivalent of one win) with his subpar pitch framing.

If Ramos goes down for an extended period of time, the Nationals will be left with just Solano and Leon, two players with a combined 50 games of MLB experience. And even assuming that Ramos can play the 125-128 games, there is still a need to acquire a catcher for the other 35. At this point in the offseason, the catching market is looking very thin. The biggest piece left on the market is John Buck, a player with starter-caliber power but not much else. The holes in Buck’s game (low BA/OBP, poor defensive skills) make him available as a high-quality backup.

But if the Nationals do not feel comfortable with Buck, they can seek to acquire a catcher via trade. Earlier this offseason, the Pirates traded for veteran backstop Chris Stewart, giving up 22-year old minor league reliever Kyle Haynes.  Stewart’s bat is exposed with extended playing time (as the Yankees saw this year), but his glovework is among the league’s best — in fact, his 22.7 runs saved through pitch framing was second in the major leagues in 2013.  Stewart, and players like him, have skills that aren’t easily quantified, and thus are undervalued.  Brewers’ backup Martin Maldonado, who despite a poor bat (he hit .169 last year) still adds value with his glove (saving 10.4 runs with his pitch framing in just 47 starts behind the plate) might be a good target for the Nats.

To this point, the Nationals have had a solid, if slightly understated, offseason.  But they have to make one more move — a small, but important one — before they can truly call the offseason a success.

Contemplating Extensions for Desmond and Zimmermann

The Washington Nationals are at an impasse. After the 2015 season, they are in danger of losing two of the biggest pieces of their recent run of success — Ian Desmond and Jordan Zimmermann. Over the last two years, Desmond has been the Nationals’ most-valuable position player by fWAR, Zimmermann the most-valuable pitcher. Both are entering their age-28 seasons, and could be due contracts that reach or exceed $100 million. So the Nationals have a decision to make; do they extend one or both, or can they afford to walk away?

Desmond, over the past two years, has developed into a top-flight offensive player at a position that has seen very few develop in recent years. Since the heyday of offensive shortstops midway through the last decade, the position’s offensive production relative to the league has diminished significantly; in 2007, shortstops slugged .402, 35 points better than they did in 2013. The relative paucity of offensive shortstops makes Desmond’s performance stand out even more; since his breakout in 2012, Desmond is tops in the majors in home runs by a shortstop, and ranks among the league leaders in slugging percentage, wOBA, and wRC+. Additionally, Desmond runs the bases well (a team-high 42 stolen bases in the two years), and according to UZR, is well above-average defensively (DRS, however, is much less impressed). All this, plus Desmond’s durability (he missed just 4 games last year) makes Desmond among the most-valuable players in baseball; his 10.0 fWAR from 2012 to 2013 was not only the highest by a shortstop, it was the 13th highest by any position player.

Moreover, the Nationals, who will presumably look to contend after 2015, lack any sort of replacement for Desmond in the near future. Of the top-20 prospects in the Nationals system (as rated by MLB.com), only one is a shortstop — Zach Walters. But Walters, despite impressive power numbers, is nobody’s definition of a suitable replacement for Desmond’s production — he had a .286 OBP last year at AAA, and made a league-high 31 errors. And the lack of replacements for Desmond extends to the free agent market — with the possible exception of Hanley Ramirez, few all-star caliber shortstops are due to hit free agency in the next two years, and none better than Desmond. It seems unlikely that the Nationals will find anything better than Desmond. Barring the unforeseen, extending him seems like the most sensible course of action, regardless of cost.

Jordan Zimmermann is a different story. It isn’t that Zimmermann is without value. He has been one of the most consistent starters in the major leagues — over the last three years, only ten pitchers have a better ERA than Zimmermann’s 3.12. He’s coming off his first 200 inning season, first all-star selection, and first season receiving Cy Young votes. Zimmermann has been an integral part of the Nationals’ rise from the basement. But with the Nationals having to free up payroll to retain Stephen Strasburg and eventually, Bryce Harper, the team has some tough decisions to make. And as hard as it will be, Zimmermann can be replaced. In fact, the Nationals might have an internal replacement for Zimmermann in the form of highly-touted prospect Lucas Giolito. Giolito, with a fastball that can reach triple digits and a very sharp curveball, has drawn favorable comparisons to Pirates starter Gerrit Cole and, of course, Strasburg. And by 2016, Giolito will be 21 — the same age as Strasburg was when he made his major league debut.

And even if the Nationals feel uncomfortable giving a spot in the rotation to an unproven prospect, they have many options on the free agent market. In the next offseason, James Shields, Max Scherzer, and Clayton Kershaw are due for free agency. While the Dodgers seem highly unlikely to let Kershaw slip away, the Nationals will still have several viable options they can choose from if they decide to replace Zimmermann via free agency. If they sign Shields or Scherzer, they could trade Zimmermann away for a solid return, a year before he was due to leave without the team receiving compensation.

Both Jordan Zimmermann and Ian Desmond have made invaluable contributions towards turning an 100-loss team into a bona fide contender. But it seems the Nationals could create a viable contingency plan if they lose Zimmermann; losing Desmond would leave a hole that would be much harder to fill.

Let Me Tell You Bout My Best Friend: The Nationals and A’s Story

Mike Rizzo and Billy Beane are the best of friends!

Earlier today, the Nationals and the Athletics made another trade. The Nationals acquired LHP Jerry Blevins from the A’s in exchange for the Nationals minor league player of the year, OF Billy Burns. It seems like the Nationals and the Athletics do a trade at least twice a year. Mark Zuckerman of CSn Washington tweeted that the Nationals and A’s have been trade partner SEVEN times since 2010, which was Mike Rizzo’s first year as GM. We take a look at all of the trades that the Nationals and A’s have made together since 2005.

(All Information From mlbtradetracker.com)

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
Chris Snelling	May 2, 2007	Ryan Langerhans

This trade was a small one, that ended up being big for the Nationals, even though neither of the players ended up being that good. Snelling only played 6 games for the A’s, hitting .350 in 25 at bats. Langerhans tenure with the Nats lasted longer, playing in 176 games over the corse of two seasons with the Nationals. Langerhans was then traded for a 6’5″ power hitting shortstop by the name of Mike Morse.

WINNER: Nationals

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
Jermaine Van Buren	June 26, 2007	Player to be named later

Who?

WINNER: Who?

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
Josh Willingham	December 16, 2010	Corey Brown Henry Rodriguez

 This was the first of many Mike Rizzo, Billy Beane transactions. Willingham was in the last year of his contract and the Nationals wanted to get some value out of him. So they decided to trade him to the A’s for fireballing RHP Henry Rodriguez and outfield prospect Corey Brown. Willingham performed well in Oakland, hitting .246 with 29 HRs, good enough for a 2.3 WAR. However, the two players didn’t pan out like the Nationals hoped. Rodriguez struggled to find his control throughout his tenure with the Nationals and Brown has been nothing more then a September call-up for the Nationals.

WINNER: Athletics

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
A.J. Cole Brad Peacock Derek Norris Tommy Milone	December 22, 2011	Gio Gonzalez Robert Gilliam

Gio Gonzalez was coming off a career year in Oakland. He had a 3.12 ERA, had a 129 ERA+, and was worth 4.3 WAR. The Athletics thought they weren’t close to contending and were hoping to get a lot of the great year Gonzalez had. The Nationals were getting close to being relevant, coming off an 80-81 year, second best in franchise history at the time. They had plenty of pitching and catching deal, and were looking to build on their success. The Nationals agreed to send top pitching prospect AJ Cole, September Call-Ups Brad Peacock and Tommy Milone, and power hitting catcher Derek Norris to Oakland in exchange for Gonzalez and minor league pitcher Robert Gilliam. In 2012, Gonzalez was a near Cy Young winner, pitching the Nationals to their first playoff berth since FDR. His second year with the Nationals was also extremely good. Milone has been the only player who has been beneficial for the A’s, posting two good years for the A’s in the back of their rotation. However, Norris, Peacock, and Cole all struggled in their first year in the A’s organization, and Peacock and Cole were both traded last offseason. 

WINNER: Nationals

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
David Freitas	August 3, 2012	cash Kurt Suzuki

After losing catcher Wilson Ramos to an ACL injury in May, the Nationals were down to there back up catchers for much of the season. By August, they were in desperate need for a catcher, with starter Jesus Flores barely holding on. The Athletics had a surplus of major league catching, with former National Derrek Norris, recently acquired George Kottaras, and Kurt Suzuki. The Nationals and A’s made their only midseason transaction, sending Kurt Suzuki and cash to Washington in return for minor league catcher David Freitas. Suzuki was key in helping the Nationals get their first playoff berth, having numerous clutch hits, earning him the nickname “Clutch” from teammate Ryan Zimmerman.

WINNER: Nationals

Seattle Mariners acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
Michael Morse	January 16, 2013	John Jaso
Comment: 3-team trade between Mariners, Nationals, Athletics

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
John Jaso	January 16, 2013	Player to be named later (Ian Krol) A.J. Cole Blake Treinen
Comment: 3-team trade between Mariners, Nationals, Athletics

This trade still hurts some Nationals fans. Fan favorite Michael Morse was the odd man out in D.C. when the Nationals acquired Denard Span from the Twins. John Jaso wasn’t needed in Seattle because of up incoming prospects Jesus Montero and Mike Zunino, and the Mariners were in the market for some hitting. The A’s needed a catcher because recently acquired catcher Derrek Norris did not pan out the way that the A’s had hoped. These three teams decided to do a three team deal, sending Michael Morse from D.C. to Seattle, John Jaso to Oakland, and minor league pitchers Blake Treinen, A.J. Cole (who was traded to Oakland from D.C. one year earlier), and a PTBNL (Ian Krol). Morse dealt with injury problems throughout 2013, and was traded from Seattle to Baltimore in August, after hitting .226 in 72 games. Jaso suffered a concussion midseason and was replaced by Stephen Vogt. Cole and Treinen had very good years in the Nationals low minor league system, and Krol ended up having a very good year in the Nationals bullpen, and was a key part of the Doug Fister trade this offseason.

WINNER: Nationals

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
Kurt Suzuki Cash	August 23, 2013	Dakota Bacus

About one year after he was acquired by the Nationals, catcher Kurt Suzuki was sent back to Oakland, as the Nationals didn’t have a need for him with Wilson Ramos getting the majority of the playing time. The Nationals received minor league pitcher Dakota Bacus, a player better known by his alter ego, the Whitewall Ninja. Suzuki went on to hit .303 in his short time back with Oakland.

WINNER: Athletics

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
Fernando Abad	November 25, 2013	John Wooton

Signed to a minor league contract last November, Fernando Abad was called up in May to be the Nationals lone left handed reliever. Abad did not disappoint, posting a 3.35 ERA in 37.2 innings in the bullpen. After the season ended, the Nationals DFA’d Abad. Two days later, the A’s and the Nats worked out a trade for Abad to be moved to Oakland for minor league pitcher John Wooton. It was reported today that the A’s intend on using Abad as their LOOGY.

WINNER: Athletics

Oakland Athletics acquire	Date	Washington Nationals acquire
Billy Burns	December 11, 2013	Jerry Blevins

This offseason, the A’s have gone trade crazy, acquiring such relievers as Jim Johnson, Luke Gregorson, Fernando Abad, and Drew Pomeranz. In order to make room for their new acquisitions, the A’s needed to make a trade. The Nationals have been looking for a left handed reliever for some time. The Nationals and A’s made another swap; LHP Jerry Blevins for minor league speedster, OF Billy Burns. This trade gives the Nationals the left handed reliever they always wanted.

WINNER: Too early to tell

Footnote: Mark Zuckerman wrote a piece while I was writing this about why the Nationals and A’s are such common trade partners.

The Night Before Fistmas

‘Twas weeks before Christmas at Nationals Park,
The ballpark was empty, and awfully dark,
But in one little office, a man sat in wait,
Wondering how he could make his team great
His name was Mike Rizzo, and he hatched a plan
To trade for a starter, but who’d be his man?
Jeff Samardzija is cheaper, but not all that great.
And that Max Scherzer fella? Too expensive, I’ll wait.
On Scherzer, Samardzija, and David Price too,
He asked about all, but not one would do
He was perplexed, even puzzled, confounded, confused!
He’d thought of most everything, but not been enthused!
Till one day it hit him, as he sat in the dark,
“What about Fister?” He’d ask on a lark.
So he called up Dombrowski, GM of Detroit,
To see what team weaknesses he could exploit.
“I hear you have excess of starters to trade,
“I like your guy Fister,” Mike hoped and he prayed,
That Dave didn’t want him, or didn’t think highly
Of his pitcher, Doug Fister, maybe he preferred Smyly.
“He’s tall, but with no real mechanical flaws,”
He mentioned, just hoping there’d be no guffaws.
“We know you’ve been trying to free up some cash,
“By trading a starter from your loaded stash
“In this sort of thing, we’d be keen to help out,
“We’ll work out a trade, and it won’t be a rout.”
And Dave thought for a while; his cheeks seemed real rosy
He responded to Mike, “Hey, we like Lombardozzi!
“He plays all positions, he can field, he can hit,
“But he helps us the most on account of his grit.”
Rizzo sat in his chair, pondering what he had heard.
A taker for Lombo? Wow, that’s just absurd!
“And throw in that Krol guy,” Dombrowski then quipped.
“And we also wonder, “Can Jordan be flipped?”
But Rizzo was steadfast; Jordan wouldn’t move.
“Maybe Rob Ray, maybe then you’ll approve?’
Rizzo let out a smile, he’d gotten his guy,
And he hoped that his even-keeled tone would belie
The joy that he felt; he’d accomplished his goal!
He’d gotten Doug Fister, and hadn’t lost Cole.
And all throughout Natstown, the people rejoiced,
The pitcher they got was their number one choice.
Beloved by the coaches and also the SABRs,
They stood in approval of Mike Rizzo’s labors.
They went onto Twitter and said, with good reason,
World Series or Bust! And to all, a good season.