Grunfeld Turned-Down $4.5 Mil Extension Offer

[Dat2U]

Vescey's report has been refuted bu the organization, Mike Lee, and Mike Wise.

You may recall that several months ago Vescey reported that Ted stripped Wed Unseld of his season tickets -- which Ted and Wes both denied vehemently.

Of course it may not be true, but having the report refuted by the organization and organizational mouthpieces don't mean a great deal.

[Bickerstaff]

Vescey's report has been refuted bu the organization, Mike Lee, and Mike Wise.

You may recall that several months ago Vescey reported that Ted stripped Wed Unseld of his season tickets -- which Ted and Wes both denied vehemently.

Of course it may not be true, but having the report refuted by the organization and organizational mouthpieces don't mean a great deal.

Maybe, but having the report come from Peter Vescey doesn't exactly bring legitimacy in the 1st place.

[keynote]

One source of anecdotal evidence re: Vescey's pro-Donnie Walsh bias - Bill Simmons' Big Book of Basketball:
Google link here

Walsh's close friends include Peter Vecsey and Dan Klores (the latter a documentary filmmaker and formerly powerful PR guy in New York). There's a reason you've never read a negative Donnie Walsh piece."

[truwizfan4evr]

When is Ernie contract up?

[FAH1223]

When is Ernie contract up?

after the season... or after the draft... not sure which

[truwizfan4evr]

When is Ernie contract up?

after the season... or after the draft... not sure which

thank goodness!

[cl_1_2008]

If I were Leonsis, I'd take a long, hard look at Kevin Pritchard. He was an excellent GM in Portland, and had to work for a guy who, by all accounts I've heard, is an extreme prick. He's already proven he can rebuild a team. They just had the injury bug bite them. I'm sure he'd leave Indiana for a head GM job, especially for a team with a good young foundation and cap flexibility.

[truwizfan4evr]

What i'm concern about is Ernie May walk but may still end up picking are draft picks.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Open question:

would you sit in a teaming pile of your OWN feces for 4.5 million

[queridiculo]

Open question:

would you sit in a teaming pile of your OWN feces for 4.5 million

For how long?

[The Consiglieri]

Yeah I definitely want someone young, hungry, and smart(at both GM and Coach). I'm sick of these has been retread losers. Seems like that's all Washington sports teams are able to hire and people wonder why we're stuck in a never ending cycle of mediocrity.

The Nats are the only DC team with a great FO. Even the Redskins merely moved to competent. Shanny's track record is mediocre in the draft (below average at the top end, good in the mid rounds), Allen's is much worse (though he was hired for financial and organizational issues not for the draft). I cant believe EG hasn't been canned, and I was a borderline backer until the '09 trade (after that, only backed his drafts, then cooled on that too after this past year).

[CaPtaiN eYeSaNo]

Open question:

would you sit in a teaming pile of your OWN feces for 4.5 million

I don't have any millions.....so probably

[Ed Wood]

The Nats are the only DC team with a great FO. Even the Redskins merely moved to competent. Shanny's track record is mediocre in the draft (below average at the top end, good in the mid rounds), Allen's is much worse (though he was hired for financial and organizational issues not for the draft). I cant believe EG hasn't been canned, and I was a borderline backer until the '09 trade (after that, only backed his drafts, then cooled on that too after this past year).

The Nats don't actually have an exceptional front office, though I would rate it as competent. The combination of solid drafting and a willingness to spend a great deal in the draft process (which prior to revisions to the structure of the draft vastly increased the likelihood that a team would draft well) coupled with a number of very high picks at fortunate times has led to a solid overall product. When you consider the team's trade history and free agent signings (which are a little less dependent on luck and circumstance) the team is less impressive, though not bad.

And I can only hope this was (if true) entirely a ceremonial gesture which had been at least tacitly choreographed to allow Grunfeld to leave the team "by choice" and that Ted's nascent fondness for analytics is evident in a revamped cabinet next year.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Open question:

would you sit in a teaming pile of your OWN feces for 4.5 million

For how long?

looks like the offer was for four years

[Ed Wood]

I'm not sure anything excreted by Ernie should be described as in any way associated with "team".

[fishercob]

For the record, I'd sit in all your feces for $4.5M

[go'stags]

The Nats are the only DC team with a great FO. Even the Redskins merely moved to competent. Shanny's track record is mediocre in the draft (below average at the top end, good in the mid rounds), Allen's is much worse (though he was hired for financial and organizational issues not for the draft). I cant believe EG hasn't been canned, and I was a borderline backer until the '09 trade (after that, only backed his drafts, then cooled on that too after this past year).

The Nats don't actually have an exceptional front office, though I would rate it as competent. The combination of solid drafting and a willingness to spend a great deal in the draft process (which prior to revisions to the structure of the draft vastly increased the likelihood that a team would draft well) coupled with a number of very high picks at fortunate times has led to a solid overall product. When you consider the team's trade history and free agent signings (which are a little less dependent on luck and circumstance) the team is less impressive, though not bad.



And I can only hope this was (if true) entirely a ceremonial gesture which had been at least tacitly choreographed to allow Grunfeld to leave the team "by choice" and that Ted's nascent fondness for analytics is evident in a revamped cabinet next year.

Maybe not the right place for this, but Rizzo is definitely an exceptional GM. He traded Ryan Langerhans for Michael Morse, who the stat guys hated. There's no way he expected this, but he took a flier on a guy who he liked and projected to get better. Matt Capps for Wilson Ramos is another great trade. He traded Hanarahan for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett. Not even counting whatever it was that Nyjer gave us, Burnett was better the first year, Hanrahan better in the second. Burnett should bounce back this year. What trades by Rizzo am I forgetting? Most of the questionable ones were by Bowden.

FA is not as clear, obviously with the Werth signing, but I thought it was a good move at the time and still don't mind it. For one, no one saw his atrocious year coming, but secondly, ask any Orioles fan (like me) if they need/want to overpay for a top tier free agent. There is something to be said for a teams reputation among FAs and the rest of the league (look at the Wizards), especially with no salary cap to restrict spending. That was needed to change their image, and it was neccesary to overspend like they did. Adam Laroche was a fair signing for 2 years/15 million, he just got hurt. It happens. Matt Capps was signed to a one year deal then promptly traded for our catcher of the next 10 years, a future all-star. We will see how Edwin Jackson fairs, but at worst it is a one year failure. At best hes a great mercenary for a team hoping to make the playoffs.

No doubt they had great luck in getting Harper and Strasburg, but keep in mind that when many of their young studs (Espinosa, J. Zimmermann, Storen, Lombardozzi) were drafted, Rizzo wasn't GM but in charge of the draft, a claim he can still make. Most GMs do not head the draft.

[The Fax]

God it feels so sweet to finally have some real hope for this team. For the past decade or so we've either completely sucked(early 00's), had false hope (jordan era, 04-05), settled for being competitive (05-08) and then completely sucked again (08-present). With EG gone, we can truly turn the page and move on to a new era with a realistic goal of winning a championship in the next decade.

[Ed Wood]

Maybe not the right place for this, but Rizzo is definitely an exceptional GM. He traded Ryan Langerhans for Michael Morse, who the stat guys hated. There's no way he expected this, but he took a flier on a guy who he liked and projected to get better. Matt Capps for Wilson Ramos is another great trade. He traded Hanarahan for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett. Not even counting whatever it was that Nyjer gave us, Burnett was better the first year, Hanrahan better in the second. Burnett should bounce back this year. What trades by Rizzo am I forgetting? Most of the questionable ones were by Bowden.

FA is not as clear, obviously with the Werth signing, but I thought it was a good move at the time and still don't mind it. For one, no one saw his atrocious year coming, but secondly, ask any Orioles fan (like me) if they need/want to overpay for a top tier free agent. There is something to be said for a teams reputation among FAs and the rest of the league (look at the Wizards), especially with no salary cap to restrict spending. That was needed to change their image, and it was neccesary to overspend like they did. Adam Laroche was a fair signing for 2 years/15 million, he just got hurt. It happens. Matt Capps was signed to a one year deal then promptly traded for our catcher of the next 10 years, a future all-star. We will see how Edwin Jackson fairs, but at worst it is a one year failure. At best hes a great mercenary for a team hoping to make the playoffs.

No doubt they had great luck in getting Harper and Strasburg, but keep in mind that when many of their young studs (Espinosa, J. Zimmermann, Storen, Lombardozzi) were drafted, Rizzo wasn't GM but in charge of the draft, a claim he can still make. Most GMs do not head the draft.

Well this is certainly not the place but I'll throw out a rationale for the comment and then bow out. Rizzo is a perfectly competent general manager and compared to the general awfulness of Jim Bowden he looks positively saintly but I'd say that in trades and free agency he's been roughly neutral, and solid drafting (again with the advantage of being willing to devote considerable resources to pay for that talent) is the largest point in his favor. Beyond that the Capps for Ramos swap was excellent but honestly I think that's at least as much of a point against former Twins GM Bill Smith, who was awful. Beyond that and the very good, but as you concede very lucky Morse find I'm not thrilled with the qualities he seems to value in his acquisitions.

I'm not about to claim that the team's problem in center should have been easily solved but while Rick Ankiel was a stopgap he really isn't a starting caliber player and rumblings that Ian Desmond may have been too steep a price to pay for an upgrade would have to be considered poor judgement. I don't particularly mind the Hanrahan for Burnett/Morgan swap but at the time Morgan had value entirely tied up in an inflated batting average and the organization seemed to genuinely consider him a quality center fielder until forced concede otherwise.

I haven't cared for either of his trades with Oakland: Willingham was more valuable than the package they received for him (though not hugely valuable because of his contract and defense) and my early impression of the Gonzalez trade is that the Nationals over-payed considerably. So the net assessment is solid drafting but lukewarm free agent signings and trades. Not bad, but not great.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Another entry in the maybe not the right thread category, but I need to vent after watching that Caps debacle.

I really wonder about Leonsis as an owner. Listening to him talk and reading his blogs, it seems clear he is a sports fan, but really doesn't get sports at a high level.

The over reaction hack job he and gmgm have done on the Caps is truly sad. In two years, they have gone from the most elegant skating and stickhandling team in the league to a bunch of mismatched plodders.

One trade at a time-- one Fleishman for Hannan-- they've dismantled what should have been great for a decade.

Tonight? Seriously? One shot in period 3?