Tuesday, October 28, 2008
A Factoid that You Probably Already Read Somewhere Else...
With the Rays making the Series, there now just three current MLB franchises that have never appeared in the World Series: the Texas Rangers (nee Washington Senators II), your current Washington Nationals (nee Montreal Expos), and the Seattle Mariners (who have no connection to DC except Jose Vidro and Jose Guillen).
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From the Hardball Times: What teams would look like if they kept players they originally signed. 7 national league teams could put together a decent lineup. Here's one of them:
Washington Nationals
C Brian Schneider
1B Matt Stairs
2B Brandon Phillips
3B Ryan Zimmerman
SS Orlando Cabrera
LF Milton Bradley
CF Grady Sizemore
RF Vladimir Guerrero
Bench: Mark Grudzielanek, Jason Bay, Cliff Floyd
S1 Cliff Lee
S2 Armando Galarraga
S3 Randy Johnson
S4 John Lannan
S5 Javier Vazquez
Bullpen: Bill Bray, Roy Corcoran, Al Reyes
Conveniently, simple alphabetization allows us to save the best for last. That’s an all-time great outfield. It’s so good that Jason Bay is the team’s fourth outfielder. The infield is okay, the pitching staff very solid. One hundred wins would be a good target for this bunch.
The recent departures:
• July 31, 2001: Milton Bradley traded to the Indians for Zach Day.
• March 24, 2002: Jason Bay (with Jimmy Serrano) traded to the Mets for Lou Collier. (That’s right: Jason Bay wasn’t enough to get Lou Collier; they had to throw in another player. This, after Bay had hit .315 as a 22-year-old prospect and Collier had put up a career-high 88 OPS+ in 127 at-bats at the age of 27.)
• June 27, 2002: Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Cliff Lee traded to the Indians for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew.
• December 16, 2003: Javier Vazquez traded to the Yankees for Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera, and Randy Choate.
• January 14, 2004: Vladimir Guerrero signed by the Angels as a free agent.
• July 31, 2004: Orlando Cabrera traded to the Red Sox in a four-team deal that brought the Expos Brendan Harris, Alex Gonzalez and Francis Beltran.
• December 8, 2005: Armando Galarraga (with Termel Sledge and Brad Wilkerson) traded to the Rangers for Alfonso Soriano.
You know, money is an excuse for the losses of Vazquez, Guerrero and Cabrera but the rest of these deals weren’t so understandable. Okay, Milton Bradley had behavioral issues. But Jason Bay for Lou Collier? That’s one of the worst little-known trades in baseball history. Sizemore+Phillips+Lee was a hefty price to pay for half a season of Bartolo Colon, playoff run or no. And why give up three players for one year of Alfonso Soriano on a mediocre team?
In the end, the mismanagement of the Expos/Nats is less about the plight of the small-market club and more about plain foolishness.
The reconstituted Nationals would be the best team in baseball, led by Cliff Lee, the outfield quartet, and a solid supporting cast.
This is what could have been . . . and the only one of these blunders attributable to the target of this site is the Soriano deal. I add that the author neglects to mention the two draft picks (smoker is one and I can't remember the other Two N Zimmermann maybe) who are part of the Soriano equation.
He is far too kind regarding Minaya's Colon deal. THAT trade has to rank with Brock Broglio or Robinson Pappas as an all time disaster. Want to know why the Nats lost 100 games this year, a lot of it is right here.
Steve - you should front-page the above comment and/or link the Hardball Times article. Good stuff.
"and the Seattle Mariners (who have no connection to DC except Jose Vidro and Jose Guillen)."
No connection to DC, but all 3 teams are connected to a Washington, right?
--The Expos are the new team in Washington D.C.
--The Rangers are the team that preceded the Nationals in DC, as the Senators.
--The Mariners represent the state of Washington(albeit not well, and I'm a Mariners fan.)
And we're all connected via that, and by the no World Series appearance thing.
Craptastic!
"The Expos are the new team in Washington D.C."
Er, duh, they're the Nationals now is what I meant to say.
But then, you guys knew that, being Nationals' fans. ;)
And, to the lineup above posted by tradekirk: I think I'd put Jason Bay in LF before Milton Bradley. But that's just me. :)
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