Deja Vu: Nationals walk it off in 10 (again) despite solid start by Canning

Here we are in the Dogdays of Summer and we are seeing O’Hoppe showing signs of wear and tear and not being as sharp as we saw him earlier in the season. He is not a machine, he cannot and should not handle catching as much as he does. I’m not trying to pat myself on the back here as I have said many times starting back in April, play thaiss more or use O’Hoppe at DH more often. Last night’s 10th inning Passed Ball was an example of a catcher being fatigued. Of late we have seen more of Thaiss, but the damage so to speak is done.

From the Redundant Dept. I think the Ghost runner should not start until the 13th inning. Go through the lineup once and then start the circus act.

So, you think you know baseball? Go and look up the rules to the draft order and come away thinking you can figure out how it works. While trying to make things as equal as possible Manfraud has really just screwed up losing teams to continue to be losing teams. No way can a team depend on rebuilding through the draft over a three- or four-year period.

Wanting to deal with teams that use competitive team balance monies year after year and show no real improvement, they get penalized in the draft-fair or not? Only time will tell.

Is tanking a real solution to rebuilding? For the fans and the honesty of the sport tanking does seem at the surface not to be really honest, especially for playoff spots as a goal for many teams. If a team is fighting for a position in post season play and is scheduled to play a tanking team and another team has a tougher scheduled game, then it is not fair to reward the tanking team. I get that.

Look at the Angels, once again the consensus is that we have the worst minor league system. So, the three ways to fix this version of assembly line of stars of the future is having A.) A very strong and smart scouting staff. We do not currently have that as Moreno is not, nor ever been a believer in scouting. (Want proof, look at our drafting since Bill Stoneman walked. B.) Have the very best development organization in the league if not in the whole of MLB. It’s expensive to put a plan together, but the Dodgers and Yankees and Cards, Orioles, and currently Tampa have proved that it works. Want to have a fun laugh, just say around real baseball fans “The Angels way of playing baseball.” You put a plan together by teaching all the proper ways of playing each position at each level and no one moves up until they show improvement in what is expected of those players. C.) And finally Drafting. With having the best scouting dept. in the league and having more than enough scouts, drafting is still difficult at best. There are two things that help though and that is scouting and development. Drafting is not about just being the best and most talented player; it also includes being a smart player (Baseball I.Q. example is Neto-he’s got it. remember Simba-he had it in spades. Trouty has it.) Is the Kid coachable, is he a know it all. What are his attributes and his weak points, these are important.
Is Arte cheap as we tease around here, yes, he is and furthermore he is ignorant about leading a baseball franchise at any level. It will take more than signing Free Agents to turn this ship around, especially one with no captain.