Washington Nationals

Power Rankings

Date	Ranking	Previous
01/26/2012	14	12
Good business: They convinced Davey Johnson to stick around. I like Davey Johnson. He's salty. Bad business: According to disclosure statements recently filed with the SEC, Nats owner Ted Lerner has "a metric ton" of money. Had he spent even 1/198,675th of it on Prince Fielder, he might've found himself preening from a luxury box during home playoff games this October. Prognosis as of 11:14 a.m. GMT on Jan. 26, 2012: Not enough offense to make it happen.
10/31/2011	12	17
2011 eulogy: Only one game under .500 and only outscored by 19 runs -- not bad, given the injuries and managerial tomfoolery. Offseason to-do list: Satisfy bizarre fixation with finding a center fielder by consummating long-rumored deal for B.J. Upton. Maybe Davey Johnson will be able to isolate and neutralize Upton's lollygag gene ... Formulate exit plans for the soon-to-be-expensive Tyler Clippard and Mike Morse while their value is at its peak ... Get the leadership-reluctant Jayson Werth an audience with a titan of industry. Think Jack Welch, or the Kardashian matriarch. Odds of achieving Cardinals-like glory in 2012: The Phillies look vulnerable and the Braves are managed by a simpleton. Stranger things have happened.
09/28/2011	17	18
What went right: Whoo! Third place! Yeah! Talk about validation ... Not to diminish what Mike Morse has accomplished, but Wilson Ramos has been awarded the inaugural Carl Morton Cup, which goes to the team's breakout star. I can't get past Morse's 31 unintentional walks in 575 plate appearances. What went wrong: What, Jim Riggleman couldn't have held off on martyring himself until the Nats started losing again? How very selfish ... Sure, Jayson Werth didn't slug like he did during seasons past, but he was even more of a disappointment in the leadership department. Dude couldn't even be bothered to spout self-empowerment bromides to the rookies ... Rick Ankiel, he of the .299 OPS, batted leadoff 15 times this season, which should put to rest any questions of whether Davey Johnson subscribes to the Moneyball theory of life, or whether Davey Johnson has ever engaged with a piece of technology more complicated than an abacus. Regular-season epilogue: They're gonna build something next summer.
09/20/2011	18	22
Even after the sludgery that was last weekend's Nats/Marlins series, three games between the teams still remain. There has to be some kind of humanitarian exemption in the rule book that requires the league to call the series off. Myrna, get me the library on line two. ... Random player playing randomly OK: Ian Desmond, who has performed ably (.272./.320/.395) since the start of July. As a result, he could find himself in the Nats' plans for next season, even if those plans involve professional baseball games. That's a huge leap forward from where he was back in May.
09/13/2011	22	21
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Better Business Bureau: I bought tickets to a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, strictly to watch Stephen Strasburg pitch. Have you heard about this guy? He's like Roy Halladay multiplied by Kerry Wood. Anyway, the Nationals lifted him from the game after the third inning, meaning I did NOT get what I paid for -- or at least not enough of it. I believe this violates an implied warranty of some sort, so I'd like you to send me a full refund and list the Nationals on your bad-actor web site, right alongside Cash 4 Gold and the Trump College of Nursing. Thank you in advance.
09/06/2011	21	22
If this marks the end for Livan Hernandez -- following Sunday's start, he was shunted into a pinch hitter/sage elder role -- I'll remember him as the game's preeminent slowballer. His pitches might not have left a mark on hitters' backsides, but they sure left one on our hearts. Maestro, cue the Sarah McLachlan.
08/30/2011	22	17
If that's a wrap on Jordan Zimmermann's 2011, it couldn't have gone much better from a get-back-on-the-bike perspective. Congrats to the adults in the room for protecting him like the asset he is ... An update from Stephen Strasburg's fifth rehab start in the minors: He touched 96 mph, allowed but two hits through five innings and delivered a fan's beautiful baby girl between innings. Both deliveries -- the kid and the fastball -- were effortless ... Remember when Buster Posey got hurt and Mike Rizzo was all, "To [trade Ivan Rodriguez], it would have to be a good deal that helps us long-term" rather than "are you going to finish that salad? If not, I'll trade you Pudge for it"? Well, Pudge is finally healthy again and finds himself third in the catching pecking order. "Buy low and sell high," "strike while the iron is hot" -- Rizzo could use a refresher course in market clichés.
08/23/2011	17	17
Bryce Harper hurt his hamstring and Stephen Strasburg encountered some turbulence -- by "turbulence," I mean "a team of batters that took out its collective frustrations and feelings of financial inadequacy on his gilded ass" -- in his rehab. The big-league club played some games, but they were deemed of minimal import and not chronicled for posterity.
08/16/2011	17	18
They're slightly better than their record says they are. That's not much of a compliment, though, given that their record says they exist at the intersection of mediocrity and indifference ... Stephen Strasburg pitched great again during Friday's rehab start, plus the Hagerstown Suns relaxed their media rules this time around. They permitted reporters to yell questions at a uniformed player, who may or may not have been Strasburg, from a converted, Wi-Fi-enabled cattle pen located 200 yards behind the left-field fence. See what can be accomplished in the spirit of compromise? ... As embarrassed as I am to admit it, Bryce Harper's ejection from a Double-A game after an ump confrontation actually makes me love him more. Baseball needs a Ric Flair now more than ever and Harper, with his eight-minute home-run trots and eye black streaking down his cheeks, was born to play the heel. I'm a fan.
08/09/2011	18	23
They consistently show up to play against the Braves. Why is that? There can't be bad blood here, because the Nats' only true rivals are indifferent fans and common sense. Odd ... I didn't see, stream or breathlessly live-blog Stephen Strasburg's first rehab start, so all I know is what I read in the papers/pixels. He threw 31 pitches -- 24 for strikes -- and dialed up the fastball to 97-98 MPH. From my blind, ignorant vantage point, I see every reason to be enthused ... They canceled Monday night's Nats/Cubs game. A grateful nation exhaled.