The Squeeze is on

One of the issues with big baseball contracts is that they force teams to make roster moves that they might not otherwise make.

This is always apparent at this time of the year as rosters are paring down towards opening day.

Take the Washington Nationals here for a moment. Here is a team that has been awful for years and really needs to do things to put butts in seats.

There was so much over Steven Strasburg last year, the rookie pitcher and phenom, that when he was called up, butts sat down. His unfortunate injury is sad for the franchise and hopefully he makes a successful return from his injury; that would make his story even better.

So what could the Nats do this year to help put those butts in seats? They signed Jayson Werth, formerly of the Phillies, to an 18 million dollar a year contract.

That isn't going to do it folks. If anything, this, to me, seems like a disaster of Bobby Bonilla proportion.
Since these contracts are guaranteed the investment is so great that there is basically no way to move Werth from that outfield spot no matter what the situation, unless he were to get injured.

So in to camp steps another rookie phenom, 18-year old outfielder Bryce Harper.

Harper hit .389 so far in Spring training, only to get sent down to Class A ball the other day.

Now if Harper were on a team like the Yankees or Red Sox or the Angels or the Phillies it's a clear-cut decision to send this kid down for "seasoning." These teams draw 3 million people a year and are currently winning franchises. (God it pains me to say that about the Phillies.)

But we are talking about the Nationals, a team with NOTHING to lose here.

Now, to be fair to Jayson Werth, he isn't the only outfielder. There are two other spots also, plus bench positions. (I just have this thing about Werth and he isn't worth 18 million a year.) But why not leave this kid here as long as possible? He is getting squeezed out, I believe, because of these types of players and contracts.

The Nats argument is that at the big league level Harper, at best, gets 1 or 2 at bats now and then when he could get 4-5 per day at Class A.

But its Class A. Those aren't big league pitchers. This kid is apparently skilled beyond his years already; we're not talking about a 27th round draft pick who is 18 years old here. I say that you can't learn to hit big league pitching batting against Class A pitchers who haven't developed yet.

There is always the chance that getting outclassed by big league pitchers can damage ones confidence. But I say that those types of failures can only make one stronger and more aware of the extra work that needs to be done. If its then at the minor league level, then so be it. If they can't overcome the tough early days that could possibly happen, then perhaps they don't have what it takes anyway.

Take the Mets Lucas Duda last year. Here is a big strong outfielder who was getting embarrassed for the majority of his early appearance with the big league club last year. Sure, the season was over for the Mets by that point and teams then generally take that time to get these kids work. But he pushed through it, worked hard, learned along the way and then suddenly it seemed to click for him and he became a contender for a spot this year. (Although he is blocked from a starting spot by Jason Bay in leftfield who also has a huge contract.)

But has anyone ever picked the Nationals to win a division? Most of the time the season is already over before it starts for them so, I submit, let the Harper kid get his feet wet, learn from the guys who are there, and take lumps if he has to take them. If he takes too many and is clearly overmatched, send him down to get the work. At least for the fans they can get behind the kid and that story line and buy a few extra hot dogs during the season.

I would just play this one differently if I were the GM of the Nats.

Well I would have played the Werth situation differently, too.

The Angels, by the way, might have a potential star of a player who is in danger of getting blocked by an established contract.

Mark Trumbo is a 25-year old first baseman for the Angels. I was watching the Angels play the Royals (I think) and saw this monster hit a gargantuan homerun off of Kyle Davies (ok, so it’s Kyle Davies, but still it was about 425-450 feet.) Trumbo has 4 spring training bombs and is hitting over .300, but he has Kendry Morales in front of him on the depth chart at firstbase.

Morales was injured most of last year, but he is only 27 himself. In 2009 he hit over .300 and over 30 homeruns, so he isn't a slouch either. Since he is young he is more likely to rebound from that injury, but he is also guaranteed over 2 million dollars for his contract this year.

These roster decisions are difficult to make because of these types of situations but for the Nationals, I think the easiest decision, and probably the smartest business-wise, was to give Harper a better chance to make the 25-man roster and give those fans something about which to get excited. Because I don't think there is much else for them at this point, despite any of the other moves that they have made.