MVN - Most Valuable Network

Give them Hell, Felipe!

Or if you are reading the mlb.com version “Heck”!

Hell no, Felipe won’t go… to the bench.   Ronnie is ok with it.  Barry outlines the situation at hand.  

If you ignore Spring stats (which you should  even super-hot Ron Belliard understands that

“I really don’t care about spring training,” Belliard said. “I’ve seen a lot of guys get hot in spring training and start the year slow. Sometimes, I told the guys: ‘I don’t want to hit no more. I don’t want to get no more hits. I want to save them for the season.’ “

) the situation boils down to this.

Felipe Lopez  (28) Has the most potential.  Has shown in past the ability inside of him for a .300 20 HR season.  Can play short in an emergency but noone likes to see him there.  Getting paid $4.9 Million dollars.

Cristian Guzman (30)  Historically an awful hitter but has shown some super slappy skill in limited play last year.  The hope is the suck was all an eye thing and LASIK fixed it.  Can play short legitimitely, though not a star or anything is only potential starter that can do that.  Last year of 4 year 16 million dollar contract.

Ronnie Belliard (33)  Fairly consistent good average hitter since 2003, limited power.  Better defense at 2nd than one might expect.  Signed 2 yr extension - to be paid $1.6 million in 2008 (1.9 mill in 2009)

Who starts?  It all depends on what the team wants to do.

Trade Bait? Start Guzman and Lopez, both in the last year of contracts.

The Future?  Have to start Guzman and Lopez again.  There is little potential for Belliard to be a starter in 2010.

The present (in practice)?  Guzman and Belliard have shown most consistent skill and best defensive combo

The present (in theory)? If they do hit as you think they might Lopez and Belliard should give you the best offense this year.

It’s a tough choice, but it looks like Belliard and Guzman to start the season.  That should make the fickle fans happy.  They don’t want Lopez.   Bad seed.  Bad Apple (probably grown from that bad seed).  Stank last year.  Get rid of him.  I was confused for a moment by this Lopex-hate but it’s all about perceptions.  Lopez is a disappointment.  He was supposed to be a potential cornerstone of good offense in the middle infield.  He’s disappointed the fans and now they are taking it out on him.  Contrast that with Ronnie Belliard who had nothing expected of him, or Cristian Guzman who went into 2007 with the hope that he wouldn’t accidently kill himself with the bat.   They didn’t disappoint - they suprised.  Good feelings matter as much as good play. 

(side note - this is the crux of the whole “Hill is a unlucky warrior saddled with injuries” and “Patterson is a pansy who can’t man up and play” juxtaposition I despise.  Patterson disappointed the fans, Hill never did, so even they are both relatively in the same position - injured pitcher with decent potential - to Joe Fan Hill’s a hero waiting to happen, Patterson the loser waiting to fail.  Joe Fan…what a maroon)

I expect Lopez, if he really doesn’t start, will soon.  Belliard isn’t the type to complain or to hit .400 with power and keep Lopez benched.  He should do ok which will leave the door open for increased playing time for Felipe.  (plus there’s always a good chance Guzman slap his way to .210 and a spot next to Willie Harris) This is for the best.  The Nats don’t have any middle infielders on the way up.   They need bodies and Lopez, despite his horrid 2007, still holds that potential of being a solid middle infielder for another 3-5 years.  Once and for all it has to be decided what to do with Lopez.  

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 9:06 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.