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What's holding the Nats back from signing Orlando Hudson?

Is it just money?

The Nats need to improve their defense up the middle and O-Dog is a great #2 hitter. Move Guzman to 8th in the lineup where his "slap at anything approach" won't affect the hitters after him. The Nats need to just get this done.

At the FanFest, Kasten stated that the Nats will eventually spend like NY and LA - well, just below that threshold. If that's true, how come we are now spending just above Florida and Pittsburgh. And not even at the MLB average. IF we are to believe Stan's statement - and I don't - isn't the follow up question, "Why haven't the Nats spent at least near the MLB average?"

By ignoring the MLB on the field product, the Nats have lost 50% of their season ticket base from the inaugural season. That has to hurt.

Ben, Under GM Jim Bowden, the on the field product was awful. How much of that was his fault for signing/acquiring/drafting players that ultimately did not work out - and how much can you/we blame the Lerners for setting an unrealistic budget for player personnel?

In your opinion, is there any way to train players to disclose discomfort before it becomes injury? I asked Rizzo at the P-Nats banquet on Sunday, and he said, "Nope, disclosure has to start with the player." I wanted to follow up and call "Baloney" on him - organizational culture can do a lot to offset the natural competitiveness of players, and policies can be put in place to reward early disclosure of pain before bone chips, bunions, or ligament damage derail a player's season. Seems like an enlightened policy, drilled into players from the minors on up, would pay dividends. What is your take on the matter?

If the Nats don't sign O-Hudson - which I think is unlikely - how come no one talks about using Willie Harris at 2B? To me, he seems comparable to Hudson, of course he doesn't have the Gold Gloves, but offensively...

As long as disclosing discomfort that may or may not be an injury has a non-zero chance of costing a player his job (or even his career) there's no policy or organizational approach in the world that's going to get players to comply. Just ask Wally Pipp. Rizzo is right, it has to start with the player.

Will your "blog" have it's own page (similar to how Nationals Journal blog has it's own, private space on WaPo's website), or will it be more of a "tag" mixed in with the rest of the Nats coverage on MASN's website (similar to MLBTradeRumors.com)?

Ben - there were rumors a week or so ago about a Willingham trade for a young 'J Zimm like' pitcher that fell through. Do you know who was involved?

Ben, Ben, Ben who do you see the Nats going after if Hudson signs somewhere else? Who's your sleeper player of the spring? Be bold make the call... Mine is Collin "Bally Star" Balester..

Ben;

Kris Benson are they serious? For some reason in my mind Kip Wells and Kris Bemson are one in the same.

I would only be willing to take Kris if Anna is still part of the package!

Hey, Ben. With all the additions to the rotation and bullpen, what do you think 2010 holds for pitchers like Collin Balester, Craig Stammen, J.D. Martin, Shairon Martis, etc. Are they just going to have a dominant rotation in Syracuse?

Bally and his new mustache playing golf today:

http://twitvid.com/C6378

This chat was as long as a typical baseball game. WOW!
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Almost. You guys were like Derek Jeter, fouling off pitches, stepping out to fix a batting glove, waving at Minka Kelly and repeating the process. But I enjoyed it immensely, and we'll do it again soon.

Ben

Ben:

You are the general manager for a day; what free agent would you sign and why?

Frank
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Orlando Hudson, just so I can stop hearing about him. :-)

In all seriousness, I'd probably take a look at a pitcher like Wang or Smoltz. I don't think there's anybody out there that's a must-have, but the biggest benefit would probably be a starter with a track record of success (when healthy) that they could get without giving up too much. If Smoltz really wants $5 million plus, though, I'd be a little leery of it. But it'd obviously be a one-year deal, and you could give a pitcher $5 or $6 million and recover from it without much problem.

Ben

masnnats: "It's not my job to defend or criticize the payroll...."

Ben....

Aside from attendance and merchandise sales, fans don't really have a voice.....and there are plenty of defenders in the media of the Lerners/StanK.....maybe you could at least even out the coverage with some critical reporting. Boswell acts too intimidated to be effective.

It's indefensible that they are slashing payroll after consecutive 100+ loss seasons.

And thank you for the chat.

"It's indefensible that they are slashing payroll after consecutive 100+ loss seasons."

It's indefensible to call what they're doing now "slashing payroll."

It's also hilarious to see defenders/champions of the cheap Lerners and incompetent Kasten attempt to misdirect any critical conversation with nonsense.

Payroll as it stands is almost 15% lower than last years....the Nats 2nd consecutive 100+ loss team. That's slashing.
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The Nats' Opening Day payroll last year was $60.328 million. So down by 15 percent would be $9 million. That's the difference between the $10 million option they could have paid Austin Kearns and the $1 million they gave him to go away.

Yes, they could have spent that money on other players -- and some of that could still go to Hudson -- but I don't get the sense in spending money just for the sake of saying you spent money. I understand the frustration with the product; I really do. But the Mets won 11 more games than the Nationals with $89 million more on their payroll, and they're going to be shedding bad contracts for years. That's tougher to recover from than cheap mistakes.

I'm sure Kearns would be happy to take his $9 million back, if it helps. :-)

Ben

Ben,

Understand your point. But we're heading into the season with two .500 pitchers at the top of the order. Following consecutive 100+ loss seasons. Which could have been easily avoided by dropping some $$$ in short term pitching contracts to avoid rushing Strasburg and Storen. And compete this year.

The "spending money just for the sake" argument is tired too. Spending smart is obviously the key....but they still have to spend.

The Nationals are in the wealthiest region in the country....which will overwhelmingly support a winner if given one. If the Nats hadn't followed Kastens fake "Plan" from the beginning, and attempted to field at least a .500 team....attendance would be over 35K a game like it was in the inaugural year. Revenues certainly are not the issue.

Imagine the Nationals management practices under a New York/Philly/Chicago media glare.

I wish everyone would just shut-up about the Nats spending money.Lets wait and see how the team plays this year.If they lose 100 again,then its time for the Lerners to fire someone.The biggest mistake they made was keeping Bowden when they got the team.He set this team back 3-4 years with what he did.He was a joke and a LOSER!!

Slashing payroll? Come on let's get real...They when after Chapman...They got Marquis...They when after(ok lookin into) Lackey, They were looking into Pineiro and we know they're in on Hudson. Who else could they've gone after those were pretty much the big position players we needed. We don't need Jason Bay. We don't need Matt Holiday. Let them spend that money on the rule 4 draft and Internationals.

Oh look they've got four left eye balls lets get them. Oh neat a extra right pinky finger to put on ice. Let's get it.

I TRUST IN RIZZO and his brain trust 100 times more than the naked and empty responses for spending for spending sake. You can't put on all your clothes at once you got to put them on one at a time. Same for putting a team together. Don't blame Rizzo. Blame Bowden for snowballing the Lerners into a half cocked plan that really wasn't a plan. It was a dream. Can't live on dreams my Momma said.

@ABM - Thanks, I believe the dynamic you lay out is inevitable. Therefore the best way for an organization to compete in the face of injuries is to have quality depth. Not a shocking conclusion, and I'd hoped for something a little more spiffy, but there it is.

The hard-nosed, wily, highly successful businessmen Lerners were hoodwinked by old Leatherpants into keeping his job as GM for their newly acquired franchise. That is what we are to believe?

Kasten, as President, made his first decision by retaining Bowden. The same Kasten who preached on about his failed "Plan". And has directly invited Philly fans to Nationals Park. The same "baseball man" handpicked by Cadillac Bud and has lorded over almost 300 losses in the last 3 seasons.

If Snake-Oil Stan was in the private sector, where performance and results matter, he would have been fired a long time ago.

There is no reason for the Nats to bid against themselves for Orlando Hudson. They should just sit tight for a couple weeks, then if Orlando doesn't come around, they should sign Kennedy.

Remember Hudson sat on the Dodger bench last year, if favor on Ronnie Belliard. Joe Torre must know something.

"If the Nats hadn't followed Kastens fake "Plan" from the beginning, and attempted to field at least a .500 team....attendance would be over 35K a game like it was in the inaugural year."

If this is true, then how come attendance dropped by 5000 a game from 2005 to 2006, before Kasten and his plan were even here?

I have the Nats opening day payroll at $56.86M - and if you add in the buyout to Kearns and Strasburg's guaranteed salary, the payroll is about $61.7M.

WASHINGTON - Pos'n: $2010 Salary
Bruney, Brian - P: $1850000
Burnett, Sean - P: $925000
Capps, Matt - P: $3500000
Clippard, Tyler - P: $425000
Detwiler, Ross - P: $425000
Lannan, John - P: $450000
Marquis, Jason - P: $7500000
Martis, Shairon - P: $425000
Mock, Garrett - P: $425000
Olsen, Scott - P: $1000000
Walker, Ty - P: $650000
x Strasburg, Stephen - P: $3875000
Flores, Jesus - C: $450000
Rodriguez, Ivan - C: $3000000
Desmond, Ian - IF: $405000
Dunn, Adam - IF: $12000000
Gonzalez, Alberto - IF: $425000
Guzman, Christian - IF: $8000000
Harris, Willie - IF: $1500000
Zimmerman, Ryan - IF: $6350000
Dukes, Elijah - OF: $435000
x Kearns, Austin - OF: $1000000
Maxwell, Justin - OF: $410000
Morgan, Nyjer - OF: $435000
Morse, Michael - OF: $425000
Willingham, Josh - OF: $4600000
Guardado, Eduardo - P: $850000
25 Man OD Roster:: $56860000
27 Players w/ Commitments: $61735000

I've made some salary estimates for guys like Flores and Lannan who have settled but haven't had their salaries announced.
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That looks about right to me. You've obviously got some arbitration cases to be decided, and Guardado's on a minor-league deal, but those deals aren't going to swing the payroll that much. So if you add Hudson, the payroll will be close to what it was last year. To be fair, they had commitments to guys who weren't on the Opening Day roster last year, too (Dmitri Young, Wily Mo Pena, etc.). But that's part of the reason they're in better shape financially this year; they don't have as much money tied up with guys who aren't on the team or who aren't playing.

Ben

I think attendance suffered such a huge drop from 02 to 06 for a few reasons - fans aren't dumb. They saw that without an owner - the Lerners weren't owners until June of 06, the team wasn't being run well. And RFK was a dump.

A combination of losing and Kastens constant droning that the ML product was going to be bad for years....from the day he took over as President....because of his "Plan".

Similar to his lack of parking hysteria before/during the inaugral season in Southeast.

Washingtonians aren't stupid, and there are too many alternatives for the entertainment dollar in DC than to watch bad baseball. The attendance figures demonstrate that.

Ben,

Assuming we sign Kenedy for $2 or so million. Can you tally up the total salary and compare it with their salary last year?
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Check a few comments back--they're around $56 million right now, not counting Strasburg. So if you add Kennedy at the price you mentioned, that puts it around $58 million. Their Opening Day payroll last year was a shade over $60 million.

Ben

But you have to count Kearns' buyout and Strasburg's salary - as both count as salary and both are guaranteed payouts. So, I think you have to count the OD payroll as being in the $61.&M range.

Either way - it's not down 15% compared to 2009. That number would be closer to $51M. And it's a lot closer to $60M than $50M.
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Includng dead money from last year, the Nats were at a total of $61.428 million (Shawn Hill and Wily Mo Pena were the payouts added to the Opening Day payroll). So all things considered, and this year's payouts added in, they're about even with where they were last year.

Ben

Geez, the Lerners can't even slash payroll right.

Mooney said:

If Snake-Oil Stan was in the private sector, where performance and results matter, he would have been fired a long time ago.

February 3, 2010 11:21 AM

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Huh? If the Washington Nationals are not "private sector," I don't know what is. And professional baseball is in at least the list of top 10 industries MOST performance and results-based.

Ben:

I just want to compliment you on the great job that you are doing. I was shocked that the times discontinued their sports section because they produced a great section. I am glad that you are now with MASN.

Frank
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Thanks, Frank. Happy to be here, and looking forward to a good year.

Ben

Ben: FWIW, the Nationals' 2010 40-man salary obligation looks like at least $67.7M right now, with 19 players signed, 2 Arbitration cases, and 19 other contracts pending. Including Strasburg (& his pro-rated bonus), JZimm (on the DL), & 'dead money', there's around $57.3M already committed to the 25-man roster, with contracts still pending; According to the Cot's website, the 2009 salary was $60.3M, including 'dead money', I believe.

What are your thoughts (or opinions) on how much $$ Rizzo has left to commit toward the 25-man roster? My personal opinion is between $5-7M, hence the hard-line on O.Hudson.