Does anyone believe the Nationals are turning into the Expos?

Question

There's no excuses, they're getting proper crowds but they are still making frightening noises about being committed to the farm system. All well and good, but Expos' fans heard this time and again and seen great players traded for 'prospects'. This occured again when Hernandez went to Arizona for two young pitchers, one of whom may be a starter this year in a rotation that currently consists of:

Patterson (Good but major injury worry)
Rauch (Decent in bullpen, untried at this level as a starter)
Perez (Good in 2 out of 3 starts, but was hammered against Mets)
O'Connor (Decent start but doesn't have the stuff to worry MLB right-handers, as the 3-8 record proved)
Cilimo (Anyone's guess, meant to be Diamondbacks best pitching prospect)

Some of the $$$ saved by passing on Soriano and Guillen should indeed be put into the A-AAA teams but the team needs a Marquis, Chacon, Lilly or even a Redman NOW and can afford it.

Any comments?

Answer 1

Great, great points there Neil. I think they'll avoid being the "new Expos" because they'll have something the Expos never had, which is a steady stream of income from a city that genuinely cares about its team. That extra money will be able to give the Nats more options when they need them. It might not being them an NL championship, but it should be enough for them to avoid becoming the whipping boys that Montreal were.

Ted Lilly would be a great and affordable pickup for any National League club and the Nats should definitely get in there and try for him. Ditto Chacon to a lesser extent. As for Redman and Marquis...I think J-Marq is on a downward spiral career-wise, and having watched a lot of Redman's starts this year I have no option but to say that the guy is a terrible pitcher. :)

Money is tight these days in baseball, as is quality pitching - so investing in the farm system is probably the only way to go for teams not in L.A or New York.

Answer 2

I believe that they're heading in the right, general direction. Using the 2006 Detroit Tigers as a prototype where they mixed veterans (Kenny Rogers, Todd Jones, Ivan Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez) with powerhouse youngsters (Joel Zumaya, Jeremey Bonderman, Justin Verlander, Curtis Granderson).

The trick is to obtain the proper mix of players who can stay healthy and gel all at about the same time. A tough job for any General Manager.

But I always believed in giving the young players in the AAA's and AA's a shot at proving themselves in the bigs. It saves the team money and ya never know when the next superstar might mature. I saw a coupla of National's games this past summer and the crowds seemed pretty enthusiastic about the youngsters and the makeup of the team. Too bad they has to lose Soriano.

Answer 3

Well they we're the Expos like when they we're in Montreal, that was then this now and now their the Washington Nationals and they got Money, owner and new Stadium in 2008.

They couldn't do that in Montreal so the Nationals are the Expos of today, everybody hello.

Answer 4

i save listening to that we've become socialist u . s . a . yet I even have yet to work out it . we nevertheless have in basic terms as plenty freedom or loss of than formerly . oh wait gays can get married in 6 states now . damn those socialist for giving human beings rights .

Answer 5

Weren't they the Expos before, they'll always be the Expos

Answer 6

Uhm. The Nationals ARE the Expos.
or did you not hear that?

Answer 7

well let's see the washington nationals were the old montreal expos hmm why am i not surprised by this at all

Answer 8

They are the Expos Moron

Answer 9

they're saving to money to help fund their new stadium, but i really think once that new stadium is done, these prespects will be good, and there will be many free agents coming through washington

Answer 10

it was the expos and they turned into the nationals