2008 recap
The 2008 Washington Nationals season: 59 wins and 102 losses. Not exactly the way you want to open a new stadium. Amazingly, this was a bit of a step back from the 73 win team in 07' and the 71 win team from 06'. This year's Nationals team lost their feistiness. Previously, the Nats were a below average team that you really did not want to play in late September with playoffs on the line. This year they just phoned it in. There were injuries Ryan Zimmerman, Nick Johnson, and Austin Kearns, all missed significant time due to injuries. When you are a young team - you can't afford to have the veteran presence of your team going down. They are the glue that supposed to hold the ship together. When they go down - you lose 102 games. The pitching staff was only 2 deep, which also meant that 60% of the time the Nationals were faced with having to try and create a weird 8-7 win in the late innings. The good news on the mound was Jon Rauch emerged as a legitimate late inning guy converting 17 saves. The bad news is - he now plays for the D'Backs.
Bright spots of 2008
1. Rauch was a decent closer and brought a decent prospect from the Diamondbacks in return. They traded him to the Marlins. From the Fish they brought in Josh WIllingham and Scott Olsen. This turned out to be a great set of deals for the Nationals. They know have a solid lefty starter and a power outfielder.
2. The Nationals minor league system gets better the further down you go. Their single A teams had very good records. Their double A team had an average record, and the triple A team was bad. That means there is talent. It just may take a little bit.
3. They opened their new stadium in style. They had the opening night in baseball. Packed house, GW on hand, and they put together a walk-off win against the Braves
4. A few names emerged as decent starting pitching Tim Redding and John Lannan
5. Christian Guzman is a really solid major league shortstop. He can hit, he has a bit of a glove, and he plays hard.
How to fix the Nationals in 2009
Don't try to fix the Nats in 09'. This sounds strange, but the best thing for the Nationals will be to build with youth. Don't try for the quick fix. We have seen the quick fix fail for bad teams over and over again. The Pirates, Royals, Nationals, etc. always over pay for older veterans and it results in 70 wins instead of 65. Nationals fans, 08' is going to be tough. You need to let the young guys develop. Look at the Twins, Rays, and A's as model teams. Have a starting rotation of Lannan, Redding, and Olsen. Find out if the middle of the order with ZImmerman, Willingham, Guzman, and Nick Johnson can score some runs.
2009 Outlook
Things are bleak, but hopefully they have bottomed out. An improvement to 70 wins with the young guys will be a great start.
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