Thursday, July 14, 2005

Preston Wilson?

Yes, I know Jim Bowden knows more than I do. I still have a right to question, however. At the time of this writing, Wilson was (in the hitter friendly confines of Colorado, no less) hitting .258, with a meager .322 on base percentage (OBP) and was slugging around .491. Yes, these numbers are also close to his career averages. How, then, will he transfer to the Nationals, especially in a ballpark where long balls go to die? I understand this is a team built on pitching and defense, but the rationale for adding Wilson was to add pop to the lineup, and I don’t see much… especially considering he was in the top 10 in the NL for strikeouts. We dumped Endy Chavez for being a free swinger, so why did we grab Wilson? I’m willing to wait this one out before giving a final verdict, but I gotta say, I’m skeptical of this one.

I do, however, like the Mike Stanton pickup. The Nats bullpen was getting tired, and in this signing they got a serviceable pitcher on the cheap with a good track record and he’s another lefty. In fact, Lefties were hitting around .150 against him (righties hit around .480) so we now have a left handed specialist to get out guys like Carlos Delgado and a guy who can eat an inning or two if the team gets behind.

I’m waiting for the next deal though. Bowden keeps preaching pitching, yet we have had two trades (Spivey and Wilson) were we gave up a pitcher for a hitter. Sure, we’d never have Spivey if Ryan Drese hadn’t been there, but we are getting closer to the point where we might need a more experienced starter who can go deeper into games.

If only we could clone Livan Hernandez.

Until next time, see you on the message boards. Sign the Petition!

From Nationals Pride

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