Cristian Who-zman?

When the Nationals traded Cristian Guzman away to the Texas Rangers for two prospects, there wasn't much negative rumbling in NatsTown.  The team was giving up an aging player for two AA prospects, and most people recognized that it was the right decision to make.

Since the trade, Adam Kennedy has made 4 starts at second base, and by the looks of things, maybe his lack of playing time was actually part of the issue.  Granted, 4 games is a small sample size, but since he earned the presumptive starting job back, Kennedy is hitting .411 in games that he's started and .350 in games that he's appeared in.  He's appeared in every game since Guzman was traded.

Obviously Kennedy is not the long-term solution to the problem, though.  While in his younger career he was was one of the best fielding and hitting 2nd basemen in the AL, he even earned the ALCS MVP in 2002, Kennedy is now 34 years old, 2 years older than Guzman.  Kennedy is a great guy to fill the hole for a while, but at some point the team has to get other guys some at-bats to see if they are capable of having a future with the organization, primarily Alberto Gonzalez.

It will be interesting to see when expanded rosters come around in September if the Nats choose to call up future stars like Danny Espinosa.  The Nats already have Alberto Gonzalez, who is still just 27 years old and has shown flashes of brilliance this season.  But with Ryan Zimmerman solidified as the 3rd baseman for the long term, and Ian Desmond tentatively holding that role at shortstop, assuming he can stop committing an attrocious number of errors, it leaves just one infield position left for Gonzalez and Espinosa to fight over.

In all reality, Espinosa is probably still years away for seriously contending for that job; he is only 23 years old.  By the point he's truly ready to go Ian Desmond may not even be a factor, though I imagine he will be.  So that leaves 2 infield positions for at least 3 players.  Not good odds for one of them.  It will be interesting to see if Rizzo takes the same hardline with Espinosa as he did with Desmond, "He's a shortstop only."  For now, the Nationals will stick with the Kennedy/Desmond middle infield duo most of the time, but the long-term middle infield may look much different.

Goodbye Guzman

The Washington Nationals have traded INF Cristian Guzman to the Texas Rangers for yet-to-be-named prospects.

After the move, SP Livan Hernandez is the only member of the Washington Nationals that was on the Opening Day roster in 2005.  After leaving the Nationals in 2006, he spent time with the D-backs, Twins, Rockies, and Mets before returning to DC at the end of 2009.  Guzman was the final player to be with the team since the first pitch in 2005.

Cristian Guzman: An Everyday Player

When the season began, Ian Desmond was on a tear coming out of spring training. He was batting .279 with an OBP of .338 and had a slugging rating of .463. According to Manager Jim Riggleman, that was enough to earn him the starting shortstop job. And with good reason. The Nats were looking ahead to the future of the ball club when 2010 began. They wanted to throw out the old and bring in the new. Speaking of the old: At the start of 2010, there was only 1 player left from the Opening Day 2005 roster. His name was Cristian Guzman. That alone probably did not help his cause for the starting spot.

Instead, Guzman started the season as a utility guy, making some appearances at 2nd base and right field, with a few starts at shortstop for Desmond to get a day's rest. The results have been staggering for Cristian. He's batting .327 with a .412 slugging %. His OBP is only .026 above his batting average, but that's what we've come to expect from Guzzie. He's going to swing a lot, but he's going to make contact enough to satisfy. He is on base 1 out of every 3 at bats because of contact alone. He's a threat as a switch hitter, too: batting .400 from the right and a very respectable .279 from the left. People have made the argument that Guzman has lost range and is a liability in the field. At the end of 2009, I'd probably agree with you, but in 176 chances at 3 separate positions this season, Guzman has made only 2 errors for a .989 fielding percentage.

Meanwhile, Adam Kennedy still holds the role as the official starting 2nd baseman. He enters today with a meagre .250 batting average and a .352 slugging %. Both significantly lower numbers than Guzman. Kennedy often enters the game as a defensive upgrade, but with only a few more chances than Guzman (196) he's made more than double the number of errors (5) for a disappointing .974 fielding percentage. Kennedy is a lefty batting .250, and when Guzman bats lefty he is hitting .279. What this means, exactly? Even as a spot starter against righties Kennedy, no longer makes sense.

Guzman should be playing every single day for the Nats to continue competing. It makes no sense to have a guy that can compete at this level day in and day out to be sitting on the bench. Guzman is commanding $8 million this season, and he's earning it so far. I'm the last guy to say "well they're paying him so much, so he might as well play," but in this case it's true. Production earns playing time, and there is no good reason to not play Guzman every day.

Game 21 = Defense and Umps

Because of the mid-game blog post, I'll make this post as brief as possible. Today's game was defense all the way (as it must be for a Cubs night game at Wrigley in April). Minus the one throwing error on the double play attempt by Cristian Guzman early in the game, the Nationals not only played flawless defense, they played exciting defense tonight.

When you have a guy like Livan Hernandez on the mount, you know that the defense behind him is going to have to play their best, because he pitches to contact. Well, the Nats did not disappoint. It started early with a diving play by Ian Desmond up the middle to prevent a Fukudome double, then an incredible catch by Alberto at 3rd on a Derek Lee line drive. Then there was another Ian Desmond pick and flip for the double play turn attempt. While it didn't work, on one of many questionable calls by the umps (see below), it was a show of why Desmond is going to be a quality shortstop for years to come. Finally, in the 6th, Willingham, who is much improved defensively, made an extended, leaping catch.

There were three very questionable ump calls on the night. Riggs came out to argue 2 of them.:

• The double play early in the game off of the amazing Ian Desmond turn from short. (Riggs argued).
• Justin Maxwell was called out stealing 2nd in the top of the 7th.
• On the last out of the 7th inning, Gonzalez was called tagged out at first on an errant throw by Theriot. On the replay, he was clearly never tagged by Lee. Clear as day. (Riggs argued this as well).
• A horrible missed strike in the bottom of the 8th with Clippard pitching to Marlon Byrd. This pitch was literally down the middle of the plate on the pitch track. Luckily, it didn't have any effect in the run column, and Tyler got out of the jam.
  

Luckily, the defense was so strong, that even some questionable calls couldn't take the win from the Nats, and they're once again, a game above .500, putting them as W, L, W, L, W, L, W, L, W, L, W over the last 11 games. Let's see if the team can get a second W in a row to get them 2 games above .500 in tomorrow's matinee at Wrigley to end the series.