Mailbag

Time for a Mailbag! The mailbag is the best blog gimmick in existence, no reason for me not to use it. These are actual questions from an actual reader (thanks Steve).

What do you think of your boy Portis? LeBron-esque move?

Steve is referring to Clinton Portis wearing a Phillies hat to practice the week the Redskins are playing the Philadelphia Eagles. Frankly, I don’t really care. Portis is not overly beloved by Redskins fans (he’s certainly not my boy) the way LeBron was in Cleveland, and he is not from the local area like LeBron was being from Akron, so there is no expectation that Portis would support the Nationals. Portis said he just didn’t even think about it, and I see no reason not to believe him. The Redskins have much bigger issues than whether Portis wears the right hat, especially if he doesn’t play in the game on Monday night. One such issue is who will run the 2 minute drill in that game, or whether the Redskins will be competitive enough for that to relevant.

What do you think of the Nationals front office?

At this point, it’s too early to tell. Mike Rizzo so far seems to have done a pretty good job, and his talent at scouting and drafting will be crucial for any long-term success the Nationals want to have. The two big points so far this offseason seem to revolve around acquiring a #1 starting pitcher and what happens with Adam Dunn. Obviously, a #1 starter would be great, but what are the odds of the Nationals acquiring one and how much would it cost. By all means see what Cliff Lee is looking for, but if it is 5-6 years at 150-160 million dollars (for comparison, CC Sabathia’s deal with the Yankees is 7 years, 161 million dollars), does that take too much out of the payroll to field a competitive lineup? The Nationals lineup is already thin, and will be even more so if Dunn is not re-signed. There have been rumors that if the Nationals cannot sign Lee (which is likely) then they will try to trade for Zach Greinke  from the Kansas City Royals. To do that, the Nats would need to trade away a bunch of young prospects, which are supposed to be forming the core of the team. Is that trade worthwhile? I don’t know, and that’s why Rizzo gets paid the big bucks. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what he does.

In regards to Dunn, I originally thought it was worth bringing Dunn back, even with his awful defense, because of the presence he brought to the lineup. Dunn was second on the Nats in wOBA (.379) and wRC+ (139) behind Ryan Zimmerman and without him, pitchers would be much less likely to pitch to Zimmerman. But in Keith Law’s most recent chat, he mentioned that Dunn apparently complained to reporter John Fay about how sometimes Zimmerman’s errant throws would bruise Dunn’s arms. Is that the type of player you want on your team?  I’m also concerned that his walk rate dropped to 11.9%, the lowest of his career and that his skills will deteriorate quickly now that he is on the wrong side of 30. Of course, there aren’t any great free agent 1B available, as Aubrey Huff, Carlos Pena, and Derek Lee are the best available besides Dunn. Rumor has it that Rizzo really loves Pena for his defense, and who knows, maybe he can have an offensive resurgence a la Huff. Ultimately, it probably won’t be fair to start judging Rizzo until 2012, when we can see what he has done this offseason and how the farm system is developing.