The Center-Field feud thread

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Since we're all ranting about Watson and how bad he is, we might as well create a thread to keep treck of it all. This will prevent the board from getting cluttered with Watson versus Church stuff.

I personally think that Brandon Watson is not a great lead man.
He is only 4-for-23 and can't run or field!

Ryan Church however is not doing good either, he's only 3 for 15.
At least he has a homer and 2 RBI.

PLAYERS THAT HAVE PLAYED IN CF THIS SEASON:
Ryan Church
Brandon Watson
Damian Jackson
Alex Escobar
Marlon Byrd

[JohnGelnarFan]

Center field fued

Unfortunately,Watson reminds me of Endy Chavez and 100 other small,fast center fielders. What do you think Don Hahn is doing these days???(you might be too young to remember him!)

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Unfortunately,Watson reminds me of Endy Chavez and 100 other small,fast center fielders. What do you think Don Hahn is doing these days???(you might be too young to remember him!)

Endy Chavez had a stretch with the Expos where he could "hit".
That is PAST, the guy can't hit now.
Maybe I am too young to remember him...

[KingJ]

I wouldn't mind the board getting cluttered...there's not much activity here anyway.

....



I think we are in an endless realm of suckiness in CF. Watson is so bad that Church thinks he will get called up soon so he isn't trying which leads Bowden to believe Watson is the bigger team player so Church will stay there forever and Watson will leadoff and we will see this same performance from Watson every five ABs:

AB 1: Groundball single; caught stealing or pickoff soon after.
AB 2: Strike out.
AB 3: Pop out.
AB 4: Strike out.
AB 5: Ground out.

I didn't include fly out because, based on what I've seen from Watson on the field and at the plate, he can't hit the ball out of the infield very much. He can't walk either (only posting an OBP .035 higher than your AVG is just awful...even Guzman can do better than that - .041 higher) so he will hit along the lines of .200/.242/.210. Slugging is low because he can't hit the ball out of the infield often which means low HR, 2B, and 3B counts.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

I wouldn't mind the board getting cluttered...there's not much activity here anyway.

....



I think we are in an endless realm of suckiness in CF. Watson is so bad that Church thinks he will get called up soon so he isn't trying which leads Bowden to believe Watson is the bigger team player so Church will stay there forever and Watson will leadoff and we will see this same performance from Watson every five ABs:

AB 1: Groundball single; caught stealing or pickoff soon after.
AB 2: Strike out.
AB 3: Pop out.
AB 4: Strike out.
AB 5: Ground out.

I didn't include fly out because, based on what I've seen from Watson on the field and at the plate, he can't hit the ball out of the infield very much. He can't walk either (only posting a .400 OBP on a .355 BA is just awful) so he will hit along the lines of .200/.242/.210. Slugging is low because he can't hit the ball out of the infield often which means low HR, 2B, and 3B counts.

The only reason Watson's up here is because he is supposedly "fast".
Zim can steal a base, but Mr. Fast Leadoff guy can't!
Church can field and hit too. Unfortunately, he isn't much of a team player.

[KingJ]

The only reason Watson's up here is because he is supposedly "fast".
Zim can steal a base, but Mr. Fast Leadoff guy can't!
Church can field and hit too. Unfortunately, he isn't much of a team player.

Watson had a 65% SB accuracy in AAA and since most major league catchers are better than AAA catchers, he'll probably only be around 59% successful at stealing in the majors which means in order for him to steal the 40 SB we want him to steal next year, he'll have to be caught around 30 times. That's a net gain of 10 more RBIs at best...which is worse than Wilkerson leading off.


Vidro and Zimmerman would actually be good leadoff hitters. They don't have the toolsy "speed" like Watson, but they know how to hit doubles and triples and I value automatic RISP than having to risk a crafty baserunning maneuver that fails 40% of the time to get to RISP. Watson not going for an extra base hit is no fluke BTW...he never could get hit doubles and triples well in the minors either...A or AA or AAA.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

BTW...he never could get hit doubles and triples well in the minors either...A or AA or AAA.

...or MLB.

[KingJ]

...or MLB.

I said in the minors, but yeah that, too.

[KingJ]

Can't...stop...hating Watson...allows triple to david wright on 0-2 count...poor defense...can't...throw the baseball...must...die...

[KingJ]

He even has that "what am I doing? why am I here?" look on his face:

[Monarchs29]

With the way Frank stuck with Guzman last year, Watson could be around for a looonnng time.

If Church is not hitting at AAA, he's probably sulking. Which is, as we all know, NOT the way to win your job back. It's also not the way to get traded to another team, which might be floating around in his mind.

Wish BS would get around to announcing the new owner(s), maybe then Frank could be put out to pasture. New blood, new ideas, new plan.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Can't...stop...hating Watson...allows triple to david wright on 0-2 count...poor defense...can't...throw the baseball...must...die...

I have to say that plus how much I want Church back!:grouchy

[KingJ]

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060413&content_id=1399003&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was&partnered=rss_was

After he was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans, Nationals outfielder Ryan Church said he would be back in the big leagues in two weeks. It actually took 16 days, as he and infielder Brendan Harris were called up on Thursday afternoon, while starting center fielder Brandon Watson and catcher Wiki Gonzalez were optioned to New Orleans.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/a...tnered=rss_was

After he was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans, Nationals outfielder Ryan Church said he would be back in the big leagues in two weeks. It actually took 16 days, as he and infielder Brendan Harris were called up on Thursday afternoon, while starting center fielder Brandon Watson and catcher Wiki Gonzalez were optioned to New Orleans.

Wippee!! :gt

Frank's patience has risen, so has Bowden's.
It's no surprise to me Watson's been sent down nor Wiki Gonzalez.
This means Rob Fick is going to come off the DL soon so they needed to make space.
And it is all highlighted by that weak throw that allowed Craig Biggio to score in the Nats' extra inning loss.

On a different note, the rest of the article is also very savvy and important:
The Nationals are not finished making moves. Bowden acknowledged that he is already in trade discussions for offense and pitching.
The news comes almost an hour after Washington fell, 13-4, to New York. The Nationals have the worst record in the Major Leagues at 2-8, are on a five-game losing streak and are not scoring enough runs.

"It's more of a reaction," manager Frank Robinson said of the moves. "We need to do something here to get this club going. Are these two moves going to do it? I don't know. But we had to do something. I think it makes us a little better ball club."

Robinson said that Church will be the everyday center field, replacing Watson. Church is hitting just .130 (3-for-23) with a home run and two RBIs in seven games for New Orleans, but that doesn't seem to concern general manager Jim Bowden.
"He is hitting the ball hard and had some tough luck," Bowden said. "He has had a good attitude in New Orleans."

The Nationals are hoping that Church can regain his form from a season ago, when he hit .287 with nine home runs and 42 RBIs. He entered this spring as the starting center fielder, but was demoted to the New Orleans after hitting .200 with 10 walks. Some in the organization felt Church was going through the motions.

"We'll see what Church can bring to us," Robinson said. "He is not swinging the bat very well down there."

Harris' stock has risen since he played great baseball in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .376 in 22 games this offseason. According to Robinson, Harris gives the Nationals some flexibility, serving as Ryan Zimmerman's backup at third base, while Damian Jackson will be used a pinch-hitter or a reserve in the outfield.

The Nationals have been very pleased with Harris' attitude. He took his demotion very well during Spring Training and the team rewarded him with a trip to Washington during an exhibition series against the Orioles.

The Nationals are not finished making moves. Bowden acknowledged that he is already in trade discussions for offense and pitching.

"I'm very concerned about the ERAs our pitchers have," Bowden said. "I have concern about the low batting averages our hitters are having. We can't afford to have this night in and night out."

Washington had seen enough of Watson and Gonzalez. Watson was supposed to be the table setter, but he didn't score a run and was 5-for-28 (.179) this season. The center fielder was not working the count, and he was swinging at almost every pitch that came his way. In his last at-bat on Thursday, Watson struck out on three pitches.

Robinson had a meeting on Thursday morning with Watson to relax him and assure him that he was going to be in the big leagues for a while. But after Thursday's debacle, the skipper changed his mind.

Watson was politically correct after learning about the move, but according to Robinson, the center fielder didn't take the news very well.

"After this game today, it just felt like something has to be done with this ballclub," Robinson said. "He is struggling right now, and maybe he'll go down there and relax a little bit and get back on track and come back in a short period of time to help us. He is capable of doing that. I am sure he feels like he didn't get a fair shake."

After having a good Spring Training, Gonzalez played in only two Major League games and went 1-for-4. With Gonzalez out of the picture, Matt LeCroy steps in as the backup catcher. LeCroy is a liability behind the plate, and Robinson acknowledged starting backstop Brian Schneider will play almost every game.

"Is it the best thing for us? Not really. I really loved having Wiki here," Robinson said. "Schneider catches a lot of ballgames when he is healthy. Very rarely now is he going to get a rest."

[KingJ]

This means Rob Fick is going to come off the DL soon so they needed to make space.

Actually, I think this means Harris will start at SS to gain some ABs (and hope he does well) and then be traded for pitching when Guzman comes back.