I Don't Care What You Guys Say, Tony Clark Is Awesome

There was a spirited discussion about Nick Johnson and Alexis Rios in the comments to yesterday's post. And evidently no one in the world loves Tony Clark the way I love Tony Clark. Buncha ingrate Yankees fans. Anyway, have a look.

Sportsblurb.com has an overview of our top 10 prospects.

Not to place all the blame on former Expos GM Omar Minaya, but the drafts during his years with the team were not exactly great. Chad Cordero was a solid first round pick, and there are some other players thrown in, but overall this is a farm system that severely lacks depth and talent. New GM Jim Bowden has not helped the cause by trading Maicer Izturis and letting Seung Song go through waivers. A strong draft like Bowden had when the Reds drafted Austin Kearns and Adam Dunn in consecutive rounds during 1998 would really help.

It's never pleasant to hear about the state of our farm system, and I hope it's a problem the new owners are willing to throw piles of money at.

There's a rumor going around that Jim Bowden's about to land Odalis Perez for three years, $18 million. I dearly hope it's true. Jaret Wright and Kris Benson each got $21 mil over three years, and I'd rather have Odalis than either one of those guys. The market is exploding this winter - Steve Finley just got $10 million a year, and he's, like, 72 years old - so why is a pitcher as young and as good as Perez available this cheaply? Did his postseason choke-job against the Cards cost him that much? I'll be very impressed if Bowden pulls this off.

Other rumors, courtesy of this Washington Post article.

• Bowden's after relief pitcher Steve Kline. Kline is murder on lefties and doesn't like Tony LaRussa any more than I do, but he's going to cost a few million. Waste of resources. Want to see something weird and rad? It's Kline-Time, the Steve Kline fansite! Pay special attention to the part where he wipes out the dinosaurs with high, inside fastballs.
• Barry Larkin's still on the wishlist. I'm wholly in favor of this. Even in his senescence, Larkin is a handy guy to have on the bench, and he is by all accounts a great guy and a real leader. There's talk he might come on as a coach, as the Nats are short in that department.
• Rockies pitcher Shawn Chacon is drawing trade interest from several teams, our beloved Nationals among them. That's a deal that could work out well. Yeah, he flopped horribly as a closer last year, but Chacon's about to be 27 and has managed an above-average ERA in two of his four years in spite of pitching in Coors Field. I'd have to hear what Bowden was offering before endorsing or condemning.