However, if it turns out that the Nationals are truly serious about signing Fielder (today’s wildly conflicting reports notwithstanding), then the Gio trade makes good sense to me, because we’d be truly ready to contend this year. I’m usually one to temper people’s enthusiasm over the Nats’ 2012 playoff prospects, if only because the Phillies are still the Phillies, the Braves are the Braves, and the Marlins signed some huge free agents. That all being said, if we sign Fielder, I may jump on the playoff bandwagon for this season. The protection he would give to other hitters in the lineup, not to mention his flat-out production, would be amazing. I truly hope they can pull this off. And I don’t mean a 10 year contract where we will eat the last 4 years of it. How about a 6-7 year deal, where we’ll only need to eat the final year of it?

There are people who are saying that if we sign him, we can’t sign 2-3 of our other core players. This is absolutely not true. It’s not an either/or situation. That’s totally up to the Lerners and how much money they would like to spend. While I certainly would not like to be a foolish spender on overpriced free agents, you can’t argue with the success of a team like the Yankees, who sign the players they want no matter what it takes. The result is that they’ve been to the playoffs 16 out of the past 17 seasons. It’s hard to poke a hole in that kind of success. I’m not saying they are perfect or should be our model by any means. But you don’t have to budget for just one or two big contracts. You can invest more money at your discretion and the team, franchise, fans and owners can all be winners.

Many fans are keeping their eye on the winter meetings in Dallas, to see if the Nats come out of there with a piece or two that would enable a playoff push next year.  I’m all for finding the right pieces, but not at the expense of mortgaging the future.  Like many close observers of the Nats, I think 2013 will be the year to make a serious playoff push.  I’m not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic, while playing in the same division as a few other perennial playoff teams.  I would like to see us acquire a front line starter, either as an innings-eater and staff leader, such as Buhrle or possibly Oswalt (with an incentive-laden contract) via free agency, if the price is right.  Or, we could trade for a higher-caliber, entering-their-prime starter, if they are under contract for at least 3 more years.  A center fielder with either leadoff capability or power would be great, and I acknowledge that need along with everyone else.  But I’d like to see a 1-2 year solution there, barring a trade.  In 2 years, we’ll have a glut of outfielders, and not enough room to play them.

As for first base, I’m not sure whether to laugh or be angry at those who suggest we sign some help at first base.  I’d prefer to keep Morse at first, for no other reason that him playing there coincided with him hitting over .300 and 30+ home runs.  But if the front office is intent on playing LaRoche at first, then Morse can shift there when LaRoche needs a day off, which also frees up an outfield spot for a bench player to get a spot start and some ABs.  To use a roster spot on another 1B would be downright silly.

If we enter spring training with no major signings or trades, I’m fine with that too, as long as that means we get a long look this season at Milone, Peacock, Lombardozzi, and others to see if they are going to be long-term pieces of the puzzle.  And my acquiescence to that plan in 2012 would be with the strong assumption that we would be major free agent players for the pieces we need going into 2013.

Back to Sunday. When Wang gave up the 2 run homer to make it 4-3, a lot of folks groaned that Davey left him in one pitch too long. But hey, he wanted to see Wang pitch under pressure, and see how his shoulder would hold up going deep into a game. Fair enough. When he took Wang out, he was forced to make a double switch because the pitcher’s spot in the order was due up the next inning. so Jonny Gomes came out and Ankiel trotted out to right field. I wouldn’t have thought much of it until Bernadina subsequently replaced Morse as a defensive substitute.

If you’re protecting a one run lead and have no problem taking out your best power hitter for a defensive replacement late in the game, the manager is asserting himself and putting a defensively superior outfielder out there to try and help secure the win. So then why did Ankiel and Werth not switch positions? For the majority of the game, sure, play Werth in center because you want to find out if he can play there in a potential outfield of Morse, Werth and Harper. But late in the game, if you’re taking your big bat out of the lineup and putting egos aside, why can’t you do that to Werth?  The Nats aren’t the Yankees; they don’t have players that are “protected” from that kind of stuff. Everyone knows that Ankiel is a superior CF to Werth, and I don’t even recall Ankiel playing in right field previously this season. Werth played right field for most of the season.  If you are intent on winning the game, you make that switch. No brainer. The cherry on top is the number of incredible plays that Ankiel has made out there in just the past 2 weeks. But nope. Werth is now protected because of his $126 million dollar contract, and not even Davey Johnson had the guts to make that move. If he’s around and making clouded decisions like that next year, it will be a real disappointment.

Strasburg will pitch tomorrow night, the 17th, for the Hagerstown Suns. The Nationals want to keep him on a regular 5-day schedule, so he would then likely pitch for the Suns again on the 22nd. August 27th would be a start for the AAA Syracuse Chiefs, and then Strasburg’s final tuneup would be on September 1st, pitching for the Harrisburg Senators. Nationals brass have been careful to make sure he pitches in a “controlled” environment (read: home ballparks) during his minor league rehab starts.

The schedule sets up nicely for the Nationals, as they would get Strasburg’s first three major league starts of the season at home: September 6th vs the Dodgers, September 11th vs the Astros, and September 16th vs the Marlins. In fact, the Nationals have stopped letting season ticket holders redeem their Red Carpet Rewards (additional free tickets) for those specific three games, instead hoping to monetize Strasburg’s return and sell out the stadium. It should be an electric first night for Strasburg at Nats Park on September 6th.

I realize we need a LOOGY in our bullpen, (lefty one out guy) but Burnett has been anything but. I’m confident that we’ll bring up JC Romero to fill that role at some point, but why wait any longer? Bring someone up from the minors for a cup of coffee until Romero (or someone better) is ready. Hey Rizzo, here is quick lesson: the worst thing that can happen when a pitcher throws a pitch is serve up a home run. Not a hit batsman or a wild pitch, but a home run. It’s impossible to do anything worse. Burnett accomplished this on his first pitch. A rookie in that spot could not have done anything worse than that. Quit watching this guy ruin games for us. Do something about it, please.

Jim Riggleman, wow. I wonder how long it took him to realize whoa, I just made a huge mistake. No one in baseball has judged his decision as a wise move. Also, he must be doing well with his retirement accounts if he can walk away from $350,000 for the second half of the season. He may have been a “low-paid” manager, but that’s not chump change.

Morse and Espinosa: Keep it up! You guys make the games much more exciting.

Jayson Werth: Guys, it’s time to quit it with the puff-piece comments about what a hard worker this guy is and how he’s due to break out soon. It’s time to sit him down for a while and let a hotter hitter play until Werth can get his head straight. And for all the talk about his defense, I’ve seen a handful of instances recently where he has shied away from potential catches near the wall and the stands. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but come on. I predicted in the offseason that he’d average .272/22/75 over 3 season before the Nationals looked to move him (which would be very tough), and even those numbers now look to have been too rosy.

Starting pitching: You guys have outdone yourselves. Amazing job this year.

Did Harper step outside of normal MLB-bounds by his maneuver? Sure. But he’s not in the majors yet. He will quickly figure out that you cannot get away with that because you’ll alienate fans and also get fastballs aimed at your chin. But in this instance, most people are uninformed about the fact that a day earlier, he had been drilled in the knee by the same team, which could have led to a significant injury. Then the following day, the day of the incident, he was brushed back from the plate during an earlier at-bat. For the chain of events that happened next, you’d have to spread some blame around. Harper hits a long homer off the pitcher, and admires it a little long before beginning his home run trot. The admiration was rubbing it in after Greensboro had provoked him with a beanball and a brushback. But instead of being even, the pitcher then jawed at him all the way around the bases. So upon rounding third, Harper blew the guy a kiss. Harper is not the only one to blame here. Although he could have taken the high road here, he did not and that’s ok. It should not make him a pariah. Cut him some slack. If he doesn’t learn over time, then people can get after him about his antics.

As for Stairs’ strikeout, he is getting a lot of heat for not swinging the bat, but I stand behind him. He’s not one of the greatest pinch hitters in history for nothing. He was looking for a certain pitch to hit and he didn’t get it. If he went up there hacking at every offering, he would not be the player that he is. I’m cutting him some slack on that one.

I must opine briefly on a somewhat non-baseball topic. Opening Day saw a large, enthusiastic crowd, which was great to see, all in spite of the chilly weather. Parking was scarce, most lots filled up quickly, and there was a lot of traffic with people trying to get parked and into the stadium. All “good” things if you consider that means the Nats were getting a lot of support that day. What was appalling was the city’s response to Opening Day and the cars that it brought to the stadium area. There were tons of police in the area–90% of them writing tickets and perhaps 10% helping with traffic flow and pedestrian safety. What a disgrace to the city. Instead of promoting business and commerce in the form of baseball, concessions and local food and drink establishments (few as they are in that area), DC sent out their ticket-writing forces in droves, like blood-sucking leaches. When asked where we could find parking, the response was either that there was none left, or else they directed us to a lot that was already full. What they were really saying was, “Once you give up and park in a short term space, we’ll be right there to ticket you on the spot. Enjoy the game” Disgraceful.

By the way, even though I was in favor of keeping Dunn this past offseason, it certainly looks like we ended up with the better of the 3 first basemen we were targeting over the winter. LaRoche is expected to be his usual consistent self and has hit .343 so far, while Derrek Lee just played in his first spring training game, and concerns linger about thumb, wrist, and potentially foot injuries. Carlos Lee has been fine so far for the Cubs, but looking at the three of them right now, I’m glad we ended up with LaRoche.