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Well, when you're right, you're right...(I was wrong plenty of times, too)

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Prediction: 69-93, 5th in NL East

I'll do a season wrap-up in the days to come, with a prognosis for 2011 and beyond.

Team Needs:

-They need a top of the line starting pitcher, and Brandon Webb isn't going to cut it. Apparently he's only throwing 81 MPH. He's useless if that's the case. If they sign him, I'm hoping it's a 2 year deal with tons of incentives because if he's throwing the way he is, how is he any better than what we have now?

-Second basemen. I'm not sure if Espinosa is going to cut it. At least not yet. Orlando Hudson would be an option but he's going to be more expensive now that the Twins made the playoffs.

-Outfielder. Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth are the top two options but let's be realistic here, neither of them are coming. Nyjer Morgan needs to go. He's worthless at the plate, and he's hotheaded. No need for that here. As of now, I think you can roll with The Hammer in left, Bernadina at Center and make Michael Morse an every day player and put him in right.

-First basemen. If Dunn leaves, it leaves a hole at first base, which is why I think they should re-sign him. Our lineup is pretty useless without him in there.

BTW, if we do we get Webb:

Webb/Zimmerman/Hernandez/Lannan/Marquis should be our rotation, with a guy like Olsen being used in long relief.

I think if you look at some of the positives i.e. 69 wins, the season actually turned out better than should have been expected.

For most of the year, the starting rotation was abysmal, the middle defense was wretched, which are two reasons why this team probably should have lost 100 games.

The bullpen was really good, and signs of life appeared from the weakest areas on the team (defense and starting pitching)

OVERVIEW

The Nats more or less accomplished their goal in 2010, winning 69 games, which in addition to being a super-sexy number represented a ten-game improvement from 2009. Still, no one was really satisfied by that, as the team probably should have won 70-75 with the talent level it had, and there are serious questions to whether the team can continue to improve on that mark in 2011.

Despite a respectable 41-40 mark at home and the debut of Stephen Strasburg, the team only finished 14th out of 16 NL teams in attendance. Considering that, Strasburg’s Tommy John surgery, and the possible departure of Adam Dunn, it is hard to see how the Nats make another significant jump forward in 2011. Especially in the ultra-competitive NL East.


STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

What you might expect from a 69-93 team—most everything below average. There were a couple of bright spots, however. One bright spot included the bullpen, which posted a very good 3.35 ERA for the year. Even after dealing Matt Capps the pen still ranked amongst the best in the league. Another bright spot was stolen bases, where the Nats racked up 110 to finish 3rd in the NL at an acceptable 73% success rate.

Everything else was below average to worst in MLB. The Nats batted .250, 11th in the NL, and bashed 149 homeruns, slightly below the league average of 150. The Nats OBP of .318 was 12th in the NL, and Nats’ bats struck out 1220 times, the fifth most in the NL.

The Nats’ starting pitching was a disaster even with a few beautiful months of Stephen Strasburg. Nats’ starters had a 4.61 ERA to pull their team ERA down to 4.13, 11th in the National League. In addition, the Nats’ staff (mostly starters) couldn’t strike out anyone, finishing 15th in the league in K’s.

As said ad nauseum, when you have a staff that pitches to contact, you need at least a decent defense behind it. After an emphasis on defense in Spring Training and a promising start, the team finished as the worst team in MLB by far in the field. The Nats were the only team to not field at a .980 clip in all of baseball, and their 143 errors were 19 more than the second-worst fielding team, Arizona.

The problem with emphasizing defense is that you need defensive players to accomplish this.

Having an infield with Guzman and Kennedy in the middle was suicide.....