He does know the pitchers alot better, but why would you pay $4-5 million or so for a catcher that is not a major upgrade defensively, is older, is a downgrade offensively, and retards the development of a person who is at worst equal, and at best a better overall catcher right now, when that money could be better applied elsewhere?

And again, my reply is not all guys who hit .256 are catchers. If Flores was a 1st baseman with those numbers, you would have a point. Never once have you heard anyone complain about the way Flores calls a game. So if the defense/game calling is a slight downgrade, why would you take an older, more expensive player who doesn’t put up the offensive numbers Flores does?

Playing for an awful team with a minor league lineup somedays, Flores had 59 RBI’s. Only 10 catchers had more than that, and all of them had more at bats. Flores had 97 less at bats than Pudge, and had as many home runs AND 24 more RBI’s, and you want stolen bases out of him? Are you serious? What’s next, do you want to get rid of Zimmerman because he isn’t a closer?

You don’t see the logic of having him in the majors. There are between 12-15 other teams he could start for today, and that is not counting probably another 6-10 that would take him over their incumbent higher paid catcher putting up similar numbers. We paid $5 million to Ivan Rodriguez last year, only his name was Paul Loduca.

Amd Chad Cordero will not be with the Nats in 2009.

I considered Jesus Flores during my analysis. It is important to note that though his defense is impressive, his bat is not worthy of the major leagues yet. The guy is only 24 years old. I don’t see the logic in allowing him to stay in the majors to only hit .256. The other guys in the league hitting at .256 are contributing with either a lot of home-runs or a lot of stolen bases. I think that two more years in the minors or as a backup catcher will be good for his development. That will also give the Nats the flexibility to give Pudge a cheap two year contract. We will get the defense, an on base percentage, plus the invaluable mentoring of young pitchers that he would take on.

Thanks for the correction but 100 losses or 99- that’s way too many to lose.

I agree that we can pull off a Tampa Bay like turnaround- I think it’ll take longer to do it via growing talent- mostly because we need more time to develop some.

However we do have some great young talent that we can build around, I haven’t thought about building through free agency but perhaps the pressure to do better will make it a prority this off-season. If so I will be excited to see a team of young talent and solid veterans.

I especially like the idea of signing Adam Dunn since he can play both LF and 1B so if (or when) Johnson goes down you can move Dunn to 1B and have options in the outfield. I don’t think the team can afford the dollars or roster spot to get another 1B only player. I think Young may be done as a major league player and the club might offer him a coaching or FO job in exchange for renegotiating the remaining $5mil due him.

I like the idea of signing Garcia and Oliver Perez, not sure if both is doable, especially if the team still believes Shawn Hill can pitch. Given what happened with Patterson this spring I think they are unlikely to give him much leeway so finding or signing a replacement now does make sense.

After last season many were expecting a FA OFer signing like Hunter, Jones or Rowand, but instead decided to upgrade the OF via trade, getting Dukes and Milledge. If Bowden can find the necessary spare parts from within the organization I can see them attempting to trade for similair quality players to fill the void in the rotation. Florida seems ready to move several arbitration eligble players. The have to move Dan Uggla, but several SPers are also looking to get big raises and might be obtainable at a reasonable trade cost.