Hendry's offseason grade

[BT]

seeing as they haven't played a game, I'm going with "incomplete". If Fontenot has a good year, then trading DeRosa was the right move. If Marshall has a good year, the Marquis deal becomes even more of a no brainer than it is right now.

[Clapp]

I'd be shocked if Fontenot didn't at least come close to matching DeRo's slash numbers, and I'd bet they will be better. I'm not worried one single bit about second base, I'm just going to miss DeRo's versatility.

[Ace]

Given that the team has now said it has plenty of money available to make a midseason move, the DeRosa trade feels more and more driven by Lou - "get me more left-handed." Who else could Hendry have moved to facilitate that? It obviously wasn't about money.

Letting Wood walk was absolutely the right move. I didn't see it then, but I do now.

[Runnys]

I am not going to pick a grade....how do we know how his moves have turned out, we haven't even played a meaningful game. They don't give Executive of the Year during ST, they wait until after the year. So I will also wait until I actually see some regular season stats before grading anything that was done in the offseason.

[rok]

As of right now, I'd give him a C because the team isn't much better and isn't much worse. It's been a very boring, relatively uneventful, and mildly disappointing offseason. Of course if he follows this up with a nice deadline acquisition or 2 (Peavy, wink wink), he could easily earn an A by season's end.

[Clapp]

<!--quoteo(post=25310:date=Mar 26 2009, 10:22 PM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Mar 26 2009, 10:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->As of right now, I'd give him a C because the team isn't much better and isn't much worse. It's been a very boring, relatively uneventful, and mildly disappointing offseason. Of course if he follows this up with a nice deadline acquisition or 2 (Peavy, wink wink), he could easily earn an A by season's end.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is how I feel.

[kbwsb]

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]
Clappie, that Tavarez quote is great.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your Washington Nationals!

[Clapp]

<!--quoteo(post=25315:date=Mar 26 2009, 10:29 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Mar 26 2009, 10:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]
Clappie, that Tavarez quote is great.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your Washington Nationals!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah it was last week, I couldn't believe it. I went to a bunch of sites to verify it, pretty much every newspaper source had the same quote.

[Destined]

<!--sizeo:7--><!--/sizeo--><b>D</b><!--sizec--><!--/sizec-->
Not only did we get rid of one of the hearts of the team, and the reason why Soriano's injuries have never hurt us....DeRo, but Bradley's deal is a gamble. We already wasted big money one a longshot RF last season, and now we do it again? (Yes the deal is sorta padded if he gets hurt, but still)
In terms of pitching, our bullpen isn't as good in my eyes. Vizcaino and Gregg are not better than Wood, Homer Howry, and Michael Wuertz. Sorry, but I don't think so. I wasn't overly pleased with the last two in '08, but Vizcaino does nothing to me. The young guys from the Tribe don't impress me, although I admit I haven't seen them in ST.
The only way Hendry can salvage the grade in my eyes, is if he cashes in on either another waiver goldmine like Johnson and Edmonds, or somehow gets Jake Penis.

[Clapp]

All I wanted was a team that had a better chance to succeed in the playoffs and I really think that's the case with this group. Milton's exactly what they've been lacking in October: Fire, balls, wanting the big moment.

And laugh at all the lefty stuff you want(and I agree it's gotten a little too ridiculous if their reasoning for Bako over Blanco was that for example), but I totally agree that was a problem. We saw 6 pitchers, all right-handed(edit: I remember facing Doug Davis, so 5. still, a lot of right-handed pitching), and they all dominated us.

As a pitcher you can easily get in a groove when the entire lineup you're facing is all right-handed for example. You keep pitching to the same side of the plate, keep throwing the same pitches. All of a sudden when Milton or Fontenot show up at the plate, you can't make those same pitches. That fastball located on the outside half to a righty is all of a sudden a fastball right in Milton's wheelhouse. That slider to the righties is a pitch a left-handed hitter will hit onto Sheffield.

And another thing I like about Milton is that he's a switch-hitter, so we still won't have more than 2(Fuk, Fontenot) only left-handed hitters in the lineup, so opposing managers won't get to use their lefty specialists out of the pen against us much. If they do, Lou pinch hits with Reed or Miles, who hit left-handed pitching very well. This offense provides much more versatility and should be a headache for opposing managers.

We're still going to have maybe the most powerful lineup in the league, but when the wind is blowing in or our power hitters are slumping, we also have more speed and ability to play small ball. With our pitching, just scrapping a few runs together will win games.

Look, if we're in the AL or NL East, I don't know if I'd like this offseason nearly as much. You obviously have to get to the playoffs first. However, this division is bad. Really, really, really bad.

[kbwsb]

Clappie, I think that if you polled this site, 95 to 100% of the people would say that we're likely going to win the division. And this site isn't known for blithe optimism. So, I think you're preaching to the choir about our chances of winning the Central.

But the question wasn't "Did Jim do barely enough to scrape by to win baseball's weakest division?" It asked for a grade. I disagree with Runnys that you have to wait until the season's over the evaluate the GM's moves...did it take anyone more than 5 minutes to "evaluate" the $126 Million Zito signing? Some things are pretty obvious.

I think the consensus is that Jim did a decent, but hardly stellar job. C-grade.
If Heilman wins 17 games and Bako and Gathright hit .340, then we'll all be glad to have been wrong.

[veryzer]

<!--quoteo(post=25249:date=Mar 26 2009, 05:51 PM:name=ruby23)-->QUOTE (ruby23 @ Mar 26 2009, 05:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Spun the wheels, changed some names, pretty much the same team, I give him a C.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


ditto.

[veryzer]

<!--quoteo(post=25332:date=Mar 27 2009, 04:32 AM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Mar 27 2009, 04:32 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Clappie, I think that if you polled this site, 95 to 100% of the people would say that we're likely going to win the division. And this site isn't known for blithe optimism. So, I think you're preaching to the choir about our chances of winning the Central.

But the question wasn't "Did Jim do barely enough to scrape by to win baseball's weakest division?" It asked for a grade. I disagree with Runnys that you have to wait until the season's over the evaluate the GM's moves...did it take anyone more than 5 minutes to "evaluate" the $126 Million Zito signing? Some things are pretty obvious.

I think the consensus is that Jim did a decent, but hardly stellar job. C-grade.
<b>If Heilman wins 17 games and Bako and Gathright hit .340, then we'll all be glad to have been wrong.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


the last line of your post is just retarded. they're backup players and relievers. they weren't brought here to win 17 games or bat .340. c'mon kb, are you serious when you say stuff like that?

[Andy]

Those that gave the D's are bent out of shape over the Derosa move. Because if you look at the talent on this team, I fail to see where we're weaker.

A full season of Harden is a significant improvement (even if he's hurt a portion of it). The promotion of Marmol and add of Gregg equals out losing Wood. Fontenot/Miles are probably a wash at 2B, though Derosa brought more versatility. Soriano/Fuk-RJ/Bradley > Soriano/Jimmy-RJ/Fuk. Bradley WILL be hurt at some point this season, but when he's not, he's going to mash. Marshall > Marquis. Heilman in the bullpen gives us a legit fill in, in a pinch. He's capable of being a 3-4 type pitcher, so we're in good shape there. The bullpen looks like it's going to be just fine.

I'm in the B-/C+ range as the team is basically the same. But you have to give credit to Hendry in that he's keeping a 97 win team in the 90-100 win range. I mean, that's pretty damn good.

[Ace]

To add to Andy's a bit - does re-signing Harden (technically it was an option pickup) and re-signing Dempster not count toward the offseason?