District on Deck » Kevin David

We Finally Have a GM

Kevin David — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:03:08 +0000

After spending the entire 2009 without an official GM, the Nationals finally decided to make the right move and named acting GM Mike Rizzo the full time General Manager today. In my opinion it’s a great move as Rizzo has made some solid moves towards making the Nationals a much better team. In his six months as the acting GM he managed to fix the mess in the bullpen, acquire dynamic centerfielder Nyjer Morgan, and seemingly pull off the impossible by getting Stephen Strasburg to sign for less than 20 million dollars. That right there should get him the National League Executive of the Year in my opinion. It’s especially comforting considering we will likely be in a similar situation with high school/junior college phenom Bryce Harper. Hopefully Rizzo is able to keep steering this team in the right direction and the Nationals can make a Tampa Bay-like turnaround in the near future.

Strasburg Signs!

Kevin David — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:55:08 +0000

Before I get into this, I’d like to apologize for the recent inactivity. I’m an active duty United States Marine and the past week or so has been fairly hectic with training but I’ll ignore much needed sleep and rest to let you all know how happy I am about Strasburg signing. I went to bed around 9 PM on Monday night, nervous about the deadline because frankly, I didn’t think a deal would be met. Thankfully, when I woke up in the morning, I immediately turned on Sportscenter and managed to wake up my wife with an excited yell as I heard that Strasburg signed. Unfortunately, my schedule did not allow for me to get many more details about the situation before I had to leave for a long(16 hours) day on the rifle range. When I got back I was shocked to find out that the Nationals were able to get Strasburg and Scott Boras to agree to a deal that was a good 40 million dollars less than the original asking price. While it’s still a record contract for a draft pick, I can’t help but feel that this is the bargain of the century. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, even if he doesn’t work out as hoped, the team will easily make back the money spent and then much more.

After the initial shock over the signing subsided, I started getting anxious to see how the Nationals planned on using Strasburg this year. It’s probably too late to get him on to a minor league team, although I’d kill to get the opportunity to see him pitch for Class A Advanced Potomac. The team has stated though that he’ll likely report to a team facility in Florida to work with a minor league pitching instructor to prep him for the Arizona Fall League. I’m sure we’ll find out more on Friday when the team is expected to introduce him to the fanbase with a press conference. Hopefully I can get off the range early enought to make the trip up to DC to try to catch it. If I can, I’ll make sure to tell you all about it.

Nothing to Say

Kevin David — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:50:38 +0000

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past few days but really, nothing worthwhile has happened. I try to avoid simply rehashing box scores and game recaps because honestly, you can get that from ESPN. It’s a waste of my time and yours. Especially when the team has been playing as badly as they have been this week. After being labeled the hottest team in baseball for winning eight games in a row in part to hot hitting and strong bullpen performances, the Nationals got the day off and seemingly forgot how to play baseball. They went into Atlanta and got swept in their two game series when John Lannan couldn’t throw strikes in the first game and Craig Stammen and the bullpen couldn’t keep the ball in the park in game two.

Would things get better with a change in scenery on our trip to Cincinatti? Well, 6 innings into the first game it doesn’t appear that they will. The Nationals surrendered their second three home run performance of the season by serving it up to Jonny Gomes three times already. The sad thing is he’ll likely get two more at bats this game and who knows what will happen. The Nationals need to dig deep and remember what they were doing last week because we’re falling apart again.