By a margin of 25-15 on my latest poll, the NFBLooser Nation wants the Nats to re-sign Livan Hernandez.
I'm among the yes votes for a simple reason: I like watching the guy pitch, a lot. And I think he can still do it pretty well. He'll give you a chance to win most nights. Some nights he'll get his tail kicked.
Here's what I don't know - what kind of guy is he? I know he's not "the" free agent pitcher the Nats are talking about signing and bringing in to mentor all the young folks. That'll fall on someone else. Even so, if Livan isn't the type to help the youngsters and be a "positive" person, I can understand the Nats not wanting to keep him around. I've never heard that's the case and never come away with that impression about him from watching him interact or reading about him.
I think given the current state of the staff, there's room for him for at least one more year and maybe two. Nats.com said it was less than 50-50 he'd be back. I'd like to know why.
As for other pitching developments - the Nats release said this knee thing with Sir Strasburg is nothing serious. So why do I have an unsettled feeling in my stomach? Why does MY knee hurt? A commenter on the Nationals Journal asked why he was even out there shagging flies. Not sure there's much history of guys getting hurt doing that. He probably has a better chance getting hurt running or going down the dugout steps.
13 comments:
Why would anyone want Livan? Because he's entertaining to watch? Sure, I'll give you that. Because he's an innings eater? Yeah, he eats innings all right. 183 2/3 of them last season. To an ERA of 5.44. Which happened to be the worst ERA in MLB of any pitcher who ate at least that many innings last year. Is that what you want, the worst innings eater in all of MLB? Then Livan is your man. But I think Ladson is right. There's less than a 50% chance that that's what Rizzo and his newly-assembled brian trust want.
Valid points - but he's also one of those guys with misleading numbers perhaps?
His bad outings are SO bad. 9 ER in 2 1/3, that kind of thing. It'll fluff up your ERA.
I hate the quality start stat BUT didn't he have six in eight starts for the Nats? That I'll take.
You have a sick feeling in your stomach because, if history tells us anything, we'll be reading the names "Strasburg" and "Andrews" - as in Dr. James - in the same article right about the time spring training starts.
Argh! It's like the movie Ground Hog Day.
I don't think Andrews does knees. At least I hope not.
Update on NJ is he's now going to see Dr. Yocum in LA "because of proximity."
You save, what, an hour or two on an airplane?
I'm not buying it is because of proximity. I may buy they want Yocum to take a look rather than their own doctor.
I know I'd rather have Yocum on the case. This is a pretty valuable knee.
Could an inflamation cause a pop and enough pain to crumple you to the ground?
Yeah, the worry meter is in full-on overdrive here.
Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but re-signing Livan is a move that a team not serious about contending any time soon makes.
The sad fact is, they are over a barrel. Five years of sliding backwards under Bowden has exhausted the patience of fickle DC fans. If they think they can fool around for another five under the new regime building a contender they will soon have a virtually empty stadium to show for their efforts.
Could an inflamation cause a pop and enough pain to crumple you to the ground?
No. But could you trip over your own two feet while shagging flies, fall down, twist your knee a bit in the process, and then find yourself immediately surrounded by every coach and trainer in the county, all of them saying "Are you okay?" Could you answer "Yeah, maybe I twisted ny knee" (because you really didn't want to say "Yeah, I'm just a klutz") and then in the 15 minutes of third-degree following up on that say something like "maybe I felt a little pop"? Could you then find yourself shuttled off for an MRI and booked on a flight to have the most expensive doctor in the country look at it? Yeah, if you're a number one draft choice that just got a check for $15M you could. If you're Joe Schmo, though, no f*cking way.
My knee hurts like a sumbitch. I wish someone would fly me to see Dr. Yocum.
Of course, I AM a klutz.
My guess is it is not terribly serious but it is more than an inflamation.
Next announcement - nothing is really wrong but they're going to scope it to "clean it up and be sure."
The kid's getting married in a month or two. I wonder how thick the guidebook is that they've given him for approved wedding-night gymnastics?
My knee occasionally "pops" and leaves me crumpled on the ground in pain. It is because I tore my ACL on the golf course (Don't ask.) about 15 years ago. It's okay though as I've only had to have it scoped twice to clean up the meniscus since the original incident.
Probably unrelated, but I'm turning into a glass half empty kind of guy when it comes to the Nats and injuries.
Can't imagine what in their history would do that to you.
Hell, there's not enough bandwidth for that list.
When is Flores due back? Tonight in Philly? Oh - wait. How 'bout next spring?
Zimmermann? Just a precaution. We'll rest him now rather than in September.
EXCEPT HE NEEDS TOMMY JOHN.
Or Zimmerman in 2008. Day to day. For like 78 days.
Hangnails scare me with this bunch.
As for that wedding thing - Dukes' baby-sitter has some time on his hands now. Perhaps he can be enlisted to make sure nobody gets hurt?
Hmmm, turns out it's a dislocated knee cap which I would consider a little more significant than "nothing serious". I'm starting to think the Nats policy may be to be less than truthful with regards to what they know about injuries.
Post a Comment