Distinguished Senators, the Washington Nationals Blog That Is Great

Sunday, January 23, 2005

As Opposed to "Broken Ladder"

I don't have much to say, so let's take a spin around the Nats blog world, shall we?
  • New Blog! The Capitol Dugout message board I mentioned recently has a blog attached, and it's right here. Rich Tandler's latest post is an in-depth look at whom RFK is likely to favor. I don't want to spoil it for you, but the answer rhymes with "belly-itcher."
  • Ball Wonk has a fairly adorable idea for a mascot, since Youppi won't be making the move.
  • Capitol Punishment passes along the info that Jim Bowden is now interested in hiring Barry Larking for a front-office role, since Larking apparently won't sign on to be a part-time player. I would have been happier with Larkin/Maicer Izturis at short than Cristian Guzman, but that's ancient history.
  • Nationals Inquirer is running profiles of each of the Nats. He started with Endy Chavez.
    He does seem to be a pretty good centerfielder; for instance, his Zone Rating ranked fourth among National Leaguers who played center on a regular basis. That's not bad.
    I've been wondering about this. Ultimate Zone Rating sez that Endy's a defensive superstar. Win Shares and Baseball Prospectus' defensive metrics, however, have him as average at best. Either way, he's not good enough to play every day unless he tacks a little something onto his OBP. He was a very effective base-stealer last year, by the way, and early indications are that Frank is going to emphasize that part of his game. Fantasy players, take note!
  • Also check out the Jose Guillen profile. I still that think that, if Juan Rivera gets to start (and he won't on the Angels), he has a very good shot to out-hit Guillen. They're very similar players, but Rivera's on the way up and Guillen's on the way down, and that's not even taking into account the Jackass Factor. That trade may not be Bowden's worst move, but it's still my least favorite.

3 comments:

Ryan said...

I agree. I don't think he'll be any worse than Castilla, but the four-year commitment puts the Guzman contract over the top.

Ryan said...

I've been wondering that myself. I've relied on this wholly unsatisfactory compilation of 2000-2003 UZR (http://www.tangotiger.net/UZR0003.html). And now that MGL works for the Cards, it's not going to get any easier to access. I'm waiting for Baseball Reference to add a useful defensive stat.

Ryan said...

Here's a handy Win Shares database thingy: http://bryandonovan.com/winshares/

I don't trust Win Shares either. It's all well over my head, but both Win Shares' defensive aspect and BP's defensive stats are roundy trashed on Baseball Think Factory. They all seem to swear by UZR over there, but that might just be because MGL smacks down all dissent.