The Loaiza Era, it was good while it lasted...

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Yup you read the title, Loaiza will probably not re-sign with the Nats. MLB.com's HOT STOVE reports that Loaiza wants a 4-year deal worth 20.6 million, the Nationals counter with an offer of 8.5 million over 2 years. Esteban Loaiza has however expressed fondness to teams such as Kansas City and Detroit.Especially now that the Nationals are in an ownership scrap with:evil BUD SELIG:evil don't expect Jim Bowden and Tony Tavares to go after any high quality free agents.

Now let's see...

With Loaiza NEARLY out of the picture the Nationals only have L. Hernandez, J.Patterson and (cough) Brian Lawrence. What this rotation needs is a good lefty and a big name. Jim Bowden must attempt to tweak up the bullpen, don't get me wrong, they were good, but they must seek more consistencey. The Nationals are also interested in these free agent names: A.J Burnett(ya rite!) FLA, Jarrod Washburn(get out!) ANA, Scott Eyre(good fit!) SF.

As for the offense there isn't much the Nats can look at...

Not Rafael Furcal (Cristian Guzman and his huge contract)
Not Brian Giles (Ryan Church will likely step up and his contract is too steep)
Not Paul Konerko( I don't have to explain do I?)

Basicly, the Nationals have the entire infield covered:
C-Brian Schneider
1B- Nick Johnson
2B- Jose Vidro
SS- Cristian Guzman
3B-Ryan Zimmerman

As for the outfield...

LF-?Wilkerson?(played CF last year and was not that bad at it, there is a rumor that the Yankees are interested in Wilkerson to replace Bernie Williams, if the right deal comes along:( Wilkerson can be on the move.

CF-?Wilkerson(see above), ?Marlon Byrd?(not just yet...), ?Ryan Church?(you never know...)

RF- ?Guillen?(technically, a free agent, has a mutual option for 2006), Marlon Byrd, Ryan Church??

The entire outfield is not yet determined...

Jim Bowden, open up your eyes and go after some big name free agents, but don't get carried away either.

Loaiza stole some hearts last year, and sadly he will not return.
The Nationals will not be ready to compete next year(thanks to Bob Hannah for his quote) as our super moderator says, and I agree. Unless something happens in their current situation, you can count the Nats out of contention for 2006(possibly 2007).

Hopefully, some of this information above will be obsolete by 2006...

Wilkerson_rulz(:( a yankee!)
----
JOKE!
(c) 2005 Bud Selig all rights reserved for the 12 possible owners. Any unauthorized sale or purchase of the Nationals may lead to a penalty(such as moving away...)

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

"The Nationals exercised their $4.5 million option of RHP Esteban Loaiza, who exercised his right to void it and filed for free agency. He went 12-10 with a 3.77 ERA."

[KingJ]

"The Nationals exercised their $4.5 million option of RHP Esteban Loaiza, who exercised his right to void it and filed for free agency. He went 12-10 with a 3.77 ERA."

Loaiza filed for free agency a few weeks ago.

I'm glad we had him for the year we did. He was dumped by the Yankees and they paid for it last year.

[KingJ]

Yup you read the title, Loaiza will probably not re-(possibly 2007).


2007 is pretty harsh. There are good free agents every year and they will get sold by then.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

You can count the Nats out of contention for 2006(possibly 2007)

I said that because Bob Hannah told me that the Nats are good, but they won't win it all in their first 3 seasons(no offense Bob)

[Bob Hannah]

None taken. Its just my personal feelings-they don't seem to have the talent on hand to contend seriously. The farm isn't in good shape and the Nats are probably out of the market for bidding on top tier free agents as long as MLB controls the purse strings. Then there is current mess that is making headlines these past few days. But...

...we still have baseball in DC!!!

[KCGHOST]

Anybody dumb enough to sign up Loaiza deserves what they get. His production this year was heavily influenced by his home ball park.

[Ravenlord]

Split ERA IP HR H K BB
Home 2.86 110 9 96 95 23
Away 4.71 107 9 131 78 32
Total 3.77 217 18 227 173 55
on the plus side, he still strikes out batters on road, and kept his HR rate down on the road, as well as proven he can be abused pitch wise.

he'll be a great sign at tje $3 million a year range (assuming no more than 3 years), but a horrible signe at more than $6.2 million (unless it's incentives that get him to 6.2, from say, $5.3 or so).

[KingJ]

Maybe nobody will sign him and he will cower back to DC.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Maybe nobody will sign him and he will cower back to DC.
I doubt it Loaiza is one of the few high-quality free agent starting pitchers on the FA market.I've heard that Detrit and Kansas City are interested in him.

[chiefpaddy]

I doubt it Loaiza is one of the few high-quality free agent starting pitchers on the FA market.I've heard that Detrit and Kansas City are interested in him.
I don't know that I would go as far as saying he is high quality. He is a decent one year rental, who values himself higher then he should. He is the pitchers version of Jeff Kent. Have a decent year with one team and sign with another team for a few more dollars.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Loaiza filed for free agency a few weeks ago.

I'm glad we had him for the year we did. He was dumped by the Yankees and they paid for it last year.

He didn't show very good stuff when he was with us. But that might have been caused by the NY media. They jump on you like vultures if you don't live up to the expectations.

I doubt if we would have been better with him.

I really hope that this whole farce will come to an end pretty soon. The players deserve to have a home. They don't deserve another four years uncertainty.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

"The Nationals exercised their $4.5 million option of RHP Esteban Loaiza, who exercised his right to void it and filed for free agency. He went 12-10 with a 3.77 ERA."

I still don't get this quote.

[Peorgie T]

I still don't get this quote.
It was a mutual option; either side could chose to void it.