Justin Maxwell is in tonight’s starting lineup against the Braves batting #8.
{ 2007 09 14 }
We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future - FDR
{ 2007 09 14 }
Justin Maxwell is in tonight’s starting lineup against the Braves batting #8.
Scrub fan | 14-Sep-07 at 4:30 pm | Permalink
There seems to be so much about this kid to like. Local college player, handsome, African-American. He could be really important to the Nats as they try to woo actual DC residents to the park. I really hope he can fulfill all of our hopes for him by playing as our scouts suspected when they drafted him.
BTW- Kudos to milb.com. If you look up Justin Maxwell by searching for his last name, his team is listed as the Peoria Javelinas. How up-to-date is that?
Scrub fan | 14-Sep-07 at 4:32 pm | Permalink
I know, I know- he’s on the Nats. I meant they already updated his minor league team.
Hartmanbirge | 15-Sep-07 at 9:11 am | Permalink
Well he got a hit…. The jury is out on Maxwell. Us Nats fans love him to death but there are others out there who don’t think much of him. Keith Law (again) just went after his skills with a vengeance this week - called him “aweful.” Then he said that he had absolutely NO future at the major league level. The one thing that Law really harped on was a very low OBP and the fact that at his age he should be dominating this level. To Law, that low OBP means that Maxwell will never hit major league pitching. It will certainly be interesting to see how Maxwell develops as he progresses up the tree…..I’d love nothing more than for him to do well at the major league level so Law ends up with egg on his face…. we’ll see.
longtimesunsfan | 15-Sep-07 at 10:57 am | Permalink
I wish maxwell the very best… He is a big athletic outfielder with tools. He certainly played an impressive outfield in hagerstown. And the outfield there is not easy to play. Keith Law has no clue has about baseball if he says maxwell is aweful…. Thats the thing about us fans.. We have no idea what goes on behind the scenes… We just see the developing product on the field… I’d be willing to bet there are things that maxwell and other players are working on that may not show now but in the future will show. The only thing on maxwell is he is injury prone. But i wish him the very best… The future is very very promising for the natys…….
Suns Fan | 15-Sep-07 at 10:24 pm | Permalink
Maxwell is a good player. He’s fast, he can hit, and he can hit for power. He tore up Hagerstown while he was here. I believe he got injured in Potomac shortly after he arrived there, which accounts for his mediocre stats there. In the last month–when he was healthy–he tore up the Carolina League. He hit a pinch hit grand slam in the majors to cap the season off. Will he strike out a lot in the majors? Probably. Will he hit .280, hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases? Probably.
A DC Wonk | 15-Sep-07 at 10:44 pm | Permalink
Maxwell is the only player in the entire minor leagues to finish with at least 25 doubles, 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases in 2007.
How does that add up to “awful” ?
Louis J. | 15-Sep-07 at 11:09 pm | Permalink
Who the H— is Keith Law? And has he ever seen Maxwell play before?
Louis J. | 15-Sep-07 at 11:18 pm | Permalink
Also, so far the “Mircle Worker”, Jim Bowden has found another player for the Nats, WILY MO!! If he continues his hitting next year, he could be fun to watch. Please don’t tell me about his defense. He looks a lot better than Adam Dunn, Carlos Lee and Pat Burrell playing left field.
Tofu Dog | 16-Sep-07 at 2:53 pm | Permalink
That is pretty awesome logic. Pena has 100 decent at-bats in DC and his lamentable defensive skills are excusable because in your book he plays left field better than two of the most potent bats in the NL–Lee and Dunn. Jim Bowden has yet to field a winning team in DC and has put together two pretty horrific ones after taking what Omar Minaya gave him and running it into the ground. Call that a miracle if you like, but I am going to wait a while longer before voting Bowden a saint.
Hartmanbirge | 16-Sep-07 at 6:16 pm | Permalink
Bowden built this year’s team on a payroll of slightly over $30 million. The team lost its starting first baseman for the year. The team lost its starting shortstop for most of the year. The team lost its best hitter to free agency. The team lost its #1 starter for the year. A sizeable percentage of the starting rotation has seen time on the DL this year. By any stretch of imagination this team should be setting records for futility. Yes it was partly designed to be a building year on a low budget but I think that Bowden deserves enormous credit for what he’s been able to do with all of the above. He hired a great young manager in Acta. He built a first class scouting operation. He and his staff orchestrated a very respectable draft this year. Drafted Marrero last year. Drafted Zimmerman the year before that. Drafted Lannan who made it to the majors in short order. Got Dmitry Young for nothing. Got Ronnie Belliard for nothing. Got Hanrahan for nothing. Got Redding for nothing. Got Bowie for nothing. Got Colome for nothing. Got Bascik for nothing. And found live young arms in Hill, Bergmann, Schroder, and Munoz to name several more. Trading a $10 million aging vet for Chico and Mock was a great move. Vidro who has had a great year was still a creaky 2b who had to go - to get a 25 year old OF with prodigious power is nothing but a coup. To get Kearns and Lopez for two relief pitchers which you can easily replace was another coup. To find a kid like Flores in the supplemental was unbelievable. Many of the above are going to be around here for a long time. Bowden cut the average age of the team by almost half a decade in the process and it’s now got an upside that wasn’t evident in the creaky freakshow with no future we saw the first two years. I think Bowden has done a stupendous job.
Tofu Dog | 16-Sep-07 at 7:58 pm | Permalink
The Nats have two very good players, Kearns and Zimmerman, who could play for anyone. The rest of the team are fillers. They are great athletes all of them, but all of those, “got him for nothings” are mediocre professionals and it shows when they are all gathered together as a team and put up day-in and day-out against better teams. Better teams means those that have won-loss percentages above .500. That is the goal: winning. There are no post season prizes given for age of team, potential, or number of free acquisitions. This year’s defenders of Jim Bowden were last years Ryan Church fans. You can have them both.
A DC Wonk | 16-Sep-07 at 11:26 pm | Permalink
Add D’mitri Young to those who could play for anyone. And possibly Guzman, too. Getting rid of overpriced players (presuming the cost savings get used soon on other players) is a good idea. Getting rid of players for prospects is also a good move. And let’s not forget the drafted players who are still in the minors. Two years back the Nats had zero teams in the DSL, now they have two and one of them won the title. Vermont has such good pitching they couldn’t even find a place on the all star team for all of them. And also they signed all 20 of their first 20 draft picks, and picked up three of the top rated prospects.
You can’t turn a team around at the snap of your fingers . . . it takes time, particularly when they were royally screwed by MLB for years. Those who can look at the entire organization, and not measure it solely by W/L pct of the top team, can see a big difference — a huge improvement. (BTW, team ERA was 28th of 30 teams in 2006, as of today it’s 18th of 30 teams)
(And I never was a fan of Church! )
Louis J. | 17-Sep-07 at 7:56 am | Permalink
Way to go Hartmanbirge and DC Wonk. I couldn’t have responded any better to Tofu Dog. Maybe Tofu Dog is really Keith Law or an angry Braves fan. (P.S.- I’m not a Bowden fan either. His personality rubs me the wrong way. BUT, I do think he has improved the franchise and secured enough interesting players for 2007 to make the “talking heads” look like fools. Tofu Dog doesn’t understand that thanks to MLB’s ownership of the Nats, the current players are temps until the farm system starts to develop the starters of tomorrow).
Scott | 17-Sep-07 at 8:03 am | Permalink
Add Nick Johnson to the list of good players.
Ric | 17-Sep-07 at 11:32 am | Permalink
The people talking about Maxwell’s age need to remember that he missed basically two full seasons at Maryland because of freak injuries. He was hit by a pitch in preseason 2004 and missed the season with a broken right forearm. After that break healed, he was hit by a pitch again in Cape League and broke a bone in his hand, and missed summer 2004. Then, he broke the hamate bone in his hand seven games into the 2005 season and missed the rest of that season and summer. He’s also missed time in 2006 and this year with other freak injuries (i.e., staph infection this year). Yes, this raises an “inury prone” concern, but these are generally freak injuries, not muscle pulls and the like that are potentially recurring problems.
Yes, he’s old for his level, but you have to think of him as a 21 year old in terms of experience because of his injury history. This year was encouraging — let’s see how he does in Arizona and next year.
Tofu Dog | 17-Sep-07 at 12:38 pm | Permalink
Last I checked the Lerners owned the team, not Bowden. Bowden is the most egregious example of something thrust upon us by the Commissioner’s office. Giving him credit for the good things accomplished by the Lerner’s and Stan Kasten is undiscerning. In the two years he was at the helm Bowden had no plan other than using the Nats as a spring board to another GM job. If Bowden is so wonderful, why are the Astros after Mike Rizzo instead of Bowden? But I like being Keith Law for a little while. Thanks LJ.
Louis J. | 17-Sep-07 at 2:36 pm | Permalink
Tofu Dog or anyone.
I’m not up on names, Who the H–is Keith Law??