Bonifacio versus Hernandez at 2B

I just finished reading Chico's Journal entry where he discusses a battle for the starting 2B job. He breaks down their numbers, and they look like this:

Here's a comparison so far of Bonifacio and Hernandez:

Bonifacio:
130 AB, 32 H, .246 AVG, 4 2B, 4 3B, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 6 SB, .298 OBP, .338 SLG

Hernandez
53 AB, 18 H, .340 AVG, 1 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB, .417 OBP, .358 SLG

Chico is missing a stat, though. And a HUGE one in my mind.

Emilio has reached base 42 times through hits and walks. He has scored 22 runs. Twenty-two. The guy is scoring more than half the times he gets on base. 52% to be exact.
Anderson has reached base 26 times. He's scored 7 runs. That's 27% of the time.

Bonesy is such a threat when he reaches base. Every time he gets on, I'm anticipating something good to happen. Whether it be a stolen base (5 per baseball-reference, 6 per Chico), or going from first to third on a single, or even first to home on a double. The guy is freaking electric on the base baths. He leaves me standing and screaming most of the time.

What's that old baseball saying.....? Speed don't slump. God damn right. It helps that Bonesy also begins his baserunning on 2B or 3B more often, as well. He's got way more than "legitimate triple speed." The kid is so damn fun to watch running the bases. Bottom line, give me Emilio everyday, Manny! Now, where's my picture of Emilio in his Superman cape....

Bonifacio, Smolinski, and PJ Dean traded?

Word from Peter Gammons is that The Nats and the Fish just made a deal.

The Nats get:

• Scott "Don't taze me bro" Olsen (24)
• Josh Willingham (29)

The Marlins get:

• Emilio Bonifacio (23)
• PJ Dean (19)
• Jake Smolinski (19)

I don't have time to give all my feelings on this, but my gut response is I'm not happy. I would've rather held onto the kids, and signed Dunn for Left Field. Did you realize Dunn is only 28? Maybe the Nats didn't think they had a chance at him. I dunno. I'm gonna miss Boney's speed. It's no secret I was a huge fan of his. His ratio of runs scored vs. times on base was nice.

I'll chime in more later. Later, Boney!

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeels!

Nationals win their 4th in a row. Emilio went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a stand up triple.
This speedy lil' fella is averaging one triple every 9 AB. Sheeeet. I was watching the game last night at my local watering hole, and had to make a trip to the mens room. I passed by Stephen Hawking on the way, and glanced at his computer screen (he has a computer attached to his wheelchair. It's actually really cool. He also has a bitching bottle holder which keeps his bottles of Yuengling nice n' chilled, and the straw coming out of it is freon filled titanium, so that the beer doesn't warm a single degree on its way to his mouth. Of course, half of every sip dribbles out of his mouth, but he's rich, he can afford it.) and he was working on rewriting some existing popular theories. I managed to read this one:


Hell, if Stephen Hawking wrote it, who the fuck am I to argue?

Emilioooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Great news from the weekend, as our newly acquired second baseman is tearing up AAA. In case you didn't hear, the Wookie, Jon Rauch, was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for their #6 ranked prospect in their system, Mr. Emilio Jose Rosario Bonifacio, who will be known as either Emilioooooooooo, Boney, or Bonesy from here on out. I will let you, the commenters make the decision (which really means I'll be making the decision, because none of you ungrateful maggots comment anymore).
Anyway, he made his debut for the Nats on Thurday, playing for AAA Columbus. Do you wonder how he did since then? Well have no fear, because I, the founding member of the Bonesy Brigade, am here to let you know just that.

Thursday: 2/5; 1BB; 0SB; 1R (must of been the jet lag.)
Friday: 3/4; 1BB; 1SB; 1R (starting to come around.)
Saturday: 2/4; 2BB; 1SB; 4R (SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! This kid is dy-no-mite!)
Sunday: 3/4; 0BB; 1SB; 1R (Another display of awesomely awesomeness.)

So, Emiliooooooooo is hitting .625 with 4 walks and 3 SB, and has scored 7 runs in 4 games. That, as they say, is what I'm fucking talking about! See ya, Flop! Can't wait for the roster expansion to get this kid up to DC (maybe sooner if we can dump Flop at the trading deadline). The scout's all agree on one thing with Boney: He can flat out fly. "Blazing speed" was a description I saw more than once. If he can get on base as often as he has for us so far (.684 OBP!), he'll lead the league in SB and runs easily. Now, I went and hunted down a picture of the kid that would do him justice. Enjoy!




P.S. In case you didn't hear, the Nationals/Dodgers games were cancelled due to the Nats' bats failing to show up. I think they got lost in Louisville as they were being shipped to L.A. from Atlanta.

The young bucks

So, I've made an executive decision. No, you all have no input (feel free to mention how you feel in the comments, but be prepared to be ignored or vilified). I'll be drifting away from the Major League squad to start bringing to your attention some of the youngsters in the minors (or MiLB as some marketing executive being paid $350K/yr came up with. Get it? MLB...MiLB. Genius!). You've already seen it with the Emilio and Martis posts, and let's face it, who really wants to discuss the Nats? Oh, somebody does? Ok, here ya go; Losers of 7 straight, they have scored only 10 runs in all of those losses. Yes, that averages out to 1.43 runs/game. What's that? There must be some silver lining? Ok, ok...with the exception of Rental (Way to fuck up your trade value, right at the trade deadline, asshole!) the last starts for our starting pitchers have been downright good.

• 7/24 Capt Redd 8.0 IP; 1 ER
• 7/25 Johnny Lanns 7.0 IP; 3 ER
• 7/26 Rental Perez 4.0 IP; 6 ER (I mean, ANY other start but this one would've been ok to explode. But your last one before the deadline?)
• 7/27 Jason Bergie 6.0 IP; 2 ER
• 7/29 Collin Balester 6.0 IP; 2 ER

That's encouraging, I suppose. But enough about them, we all know Bergs/Lannan/Balester will be anchoring the staff for a few more years now. But who else do we have stockpiled away in the minors I mean, MiLB?

How about 2007 1st round draft pick (6th overall) Ross Detwiler? He was a 21 year old lefthander when drafted out of Missouri St in 07. He has a fastball that can hit 95, a curve that sits around 80, and was working on a change-up. He was projected on some mock drafts to go as high as 4th. He was signed to good money, and placed on the 40 man roster, with a call up clause in his contract. He did, indeed, get called up in September, but only threw 1 inning. His 2007 stats were so-so (2-2 3.51 ERA from his appearances in the GCL and high A Potomac) at best, and they hoped he would have ended the year in AA Harrisburg before the call up, but a break out year was still expected from him in 08. Well, did it happen? Uh, no. Not so much. In 21 starts for Potomac, he is 6-7 with a 5.20 ERA. Worse, though, is his 1.63 WHIP and that he has struggled to get through 5 innings per start (he's at 4.6 IP/start). His pitch count has been high, and he's walked 47 batters in 97 IP, and has hit 6. There have been some box scores I look at and scream, "Can someone buy this kid a fucking GPS so he can find the plate?!" I'm hoping it does come together for the kid, and last night he had a promising outing. He got the win with 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 6 SO, and only 1 BB. I hope he can string a couple more of these together, but don't expect a September call up this year, unless he throws a no-hitter. Or a perfect game. Or strikes out 25. Or has pictures that he could blackmail Bowden with.
Capt. Redd vs. Jamie Moyer tonight. If you like watching a 50 year old man lob balls across the plate at 60 mph, then you're in so much fucking luck, you should quit your job right now, cause you're gonna win this weeks powerball. Don't forget to call your boss a pig fucker, and pinch a couple secretary ass on the way out!

Post Flop, LoDu era begins...

After last night's game (which I ain't talking about. Why write about shit? Your writings may be good, but it still about shit.) Jimmy Bowden took the mic and made some announcement:

1. Felipe Lopez is being released. The Nats eat what's left of his $4.9MM for this year.
2. Paul LoDuca is being released. The Nats eat what's left of his $5MM for this year.
3. Elijah Dukes was recalled from his rehab assignment for his knee injury (which is worth talking about. When he twisted his shit, he was placed on the DL and we were told he would be out a minimum of 4-6 weeks. This was July 5th. Chico interviewed DOOKS! on the 6th, and Elijah had this to say:

   Q:Is it going to be hard to not push yourself too hard to come back, knowing how much you want to play?A: Oh, it ain't no question I'm going to push myself hard to come back. That's just the way I am. I don't like to sit around and do nothing. If I can do something to get back faster, I'm going to do it. I don't plan on taking as long as I can. I plan on taking as quick as I can." Say what you want about Elijah, the guy's a very fast healer, and loves to play baseball. Small man crush coming on for him.)

4. Emiliooooooooo is being called up.
5. Alberto Gonzalez (who was acquired from the New York Hankees yesterday at a trade deadline deal for some scrub AA pitcher) will be on the active roster, and be in the hizzie Friday, today.

OK, 2 bags of sand gone, 2 rookies coming up, and one MEAST (The Doctor, can we call him that?) re-joining the team. Looks like we need to lose one more from the roster. (I just heard Pete Orr making a phone call to his travel agent asking if he can get a plane ticket to Beijing. Coincidence?) I sure as fuck hope that spot isn't opened up because we have to put Goozie or ZIM! on the DL! (Zim got hit on the hand by a pitch last night and had to leave the game. X-Rays were negative. Goozie's been day to day on a bad thumb that was also hit by a pitch.)
With that said, I thought I'd take a shot at Friday's lineup. Check this junx out, and HOLLA AT YA BOI in the comments with ideas/corrections.

1. Emilio 2B
2. Milledge CF
3. Dukes LF
4. Kearns RF
5. Flores C
6. Gonzalez SS
7. Belliard 1B
   
8. Casto 3B
   

What say you, lurkers?

My first "over reacting" post

...and not even one game in.

Look, my love for Emilio Bonifacio was well known last year (nine posts about him in 41 games played last year). I didn't like the trade then, but am vomiting at it now.

Boni is 3 for 3 with two SB and an inside the park HR. Anderson Hernandez is on the DL. Belliard has an error. Nope, didn't need Bonesy at all, did we. (Oh, yeah...Willingham is on the bench, with Olsen to go lose tomorrow.)

So, I've decided to start drinking heavily rather early. I just found my cat in the corner, and took a picture, too!



8-2 Marlins after 5 innings. Mr. Yuengling is gonna get rich as shit off of me tonight.

Update on the Bonifacio, Dean, Smolinski for Olsen, Willingham trade.

Okay. I had overnight to think about it, and I crunched a couple numbers. First, the players coming to Washington:

• Joshua David Willingham. Born 2/17/79 (That makes him 29.) Goes by Josh, and has somewhere along the line been given the nickname "The Hammer." (Allrighty, then.) He was drafted in the 17th round of the 2000 draft out of the renowned baseball institution of...... the University of North Alabama. He is one of four former UNA Lions to play in the bigs, and the first since 2001. No, you haven't heard of any of the other three. His first taste of the Big Leagues came in 2004 and 2005 when he played in a combined 28 games. He grabbed the starting left field gig in 2006 and had a decent season, going .277/.356/.496 with 26 HR and 74 RBI in 132 games. He received one third place vote for the RoY, finishing tied for 9th. He seems to have been plagued by nagging injuries, based on the different bios out there on him. It might have something to do with the fact that he stands right on top of the fricking plate, though, since he's ranked 3rd in hit by pitches in the last two years. Anyway, he seems to be an okay fielder at fielding balls (0 errors in 08, 3 in 07), but might not be the fastest cat out there getting to balls, as he ranked 12th out of the 16 starting NL left fielders in range factor, with a 1.82. The league avg was 1.90. (OH! Who was number one in range factor? Wee-Willie Harris.) He's projected at 20-25 HR per year, and is arbitration eligible. He will certainly see an increase from his $405K 08 salary. Avg 162 game stats: .266/.361/.472 68BB, 127K, 32 2B, 25 HR, and 85 RBI. That strikeout to walk ratio kinda sucks (1.86 K's per BB), but it sure as hell beats Wily Mo's (4.83 K's per BB.)

• Scott Matthew Olsen. Born 1/12/84, which puts him at 24. He was drafted in the 6th round of the 2002 draft out of Crystal Lake South High School in Michigan. He goes by a few names, such as "Don't tase me bro", "butt-head", and "stoopid butt-head". There's not enough room on blogger for me to list all of his...."problems", but here are some: Punched in the eye by a teammate in 2006; Neck grabbed by his manager in 2006; Accused a teammate of not giving his full effort on a fielding play, threw a tantrum in the dugout over it, and almost got his ass whooped; Made an obscene gesture to the fans in 2007 (Hmm..Dooksie might like this guy, actually.); Received a 2 game suspension in 2007 for insubordination (He threw another tantrum, ripped of his jersey, and threw it at someone on the ball club. He was pinned against the wall by a teammate for this.); And finally, he has no problem giving the Police the finger. See, in July of 2007, he was clocked for speeding, and an officer tried to pull him over. "Not so fast!", said Scottie. He led the police on a little journey as he continued to drive to his house a little ways away. He pulled up into his driveway, got out of his car, and sat in a plastic lawn chair on his lawn, taunting the police. They finally tased him, as he tried to kick them on their attempts to grab him. He was arrested for DUI, resiting arrest with violence, fleeing and eluding a police officer, and childish buffoonery. He does have one good conduct report on his record, however. In 2006 he said he hated the Phillies. In 2007 he and Chase "I love to say fuck" Utley got in a shouting match, and Scott encouraged him to engage in fisticuffs. Chase declined because, well, he only likes to hit players that are not able to defend themselves. Chalk one up for Scottie, and I think he might help out the other Utley haters on the club. I didn't leave much room for stats, did I? Whoopsie! Here's the brief rundown of his avg season: 33 starts, 194 IP (5.8 IP/start), 85 BB 166 K's, 10 W 12 L, 4.04 ERA, and a 1.30 whip. The kid can be an innings eater, has strikeout potential, is a lefty, and projects to a number 3 starter. If he can harness his control, and mature a bit, he might be a solid number two. Like Willingham, he is also arbitration eligible, and finished with 1 RoY vote in 06 to finish tied for 9th.

Overall, I'm feeling a little better about the deal than I did last night. Anderson Hernandez looks to have the lock on 2nd base going into spring training, and I'm okay with that. Willingham either joins the stockpile of left fielders, or first baseman. If we can move Kearns, I would feel more positive, but let's see what else happens. I'm gonna miss Emilio and his speed and run production, and I was real high on him. I wish him the best, and hope for his sake the Marlins move Dan Uggla this off season. For details on P.J. Dean, and Jake Smolinski, I'm going to refer you over to Brian at NFA. Also, maybe one regular reader, the Doctor, could chime in. I know he was real high on Dean.