First, go to the cool links on the right and read Nats320 if you haven't done so already. He has a good interview with Chad Cordero.
One of my earliest posts in the short life of this blog dealt with The Chief and how much I liked him. I still remember going to a 2-1 victory over Seattle the first season, John Patterson pitching, I believe the 9th victory in that marvelous 10-game winning streak. Chief closes it out as the place goes crazy and My Son the Braves Fan turns to me and says, "Now that's closing. That's how you get it done."
Nothing about the Nats, including The Chief, has been as good as it was that first half season. They were absolutely Rays like.
I still liked the guy and would have been happy with him as the team's closer for a long time. As 320 pointed out, he was good off the field, too, and that stuff matters. A lot. At least to some of us.
Now? With a repaired shoulder and lots of question marks, despite his optimism about pitching in the majors next year? Baseball is a business and I'm not sure bringing him back is a good idea. I'd be happy to be wrong but I think it is time to devote the energy into developing Hanrahan and Zech and moving on from there.
I hope The Chief finds great success somewhere, preferably in the American League.
And the calendar on my wall tells me we've moved into November. I'll be curious a month from now to see if the alleged braintrust makes any moves to try and improve this bunch.
3 comments:
My hope was for the man with the flat brimmed baseball cap would comeback and given a chance to prove he could still close. Godspeed and good luck to the Chief.
I won't ever forget in Anaheim when he loaded the bases with no out in a 1-0 game and managed to save it, ending it with a strikeout and a celebratory whirl.
That Angels series and the Yankees series the next season pretty much have to be the two best in the Nats' brief and undistinguished history.
Those were happy times.
Now who is going to work on President-elect Obama so we get to see him throw out the first pitch at the home opener in 2009?
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