Nationals Farm Authority

The Elias player rankings were released today. Under the CBA, the rankings are used to determine whether players are Type A or B. The classification determines which draft picks former teams receive as compensation if they sign with another team. The top 20% of the rankings are A and the next 40% B. Type A free agents cost the signing team their first round selection (provided it is not 1-15) along with a first round supplemental selection (the supplemental round is held between the first and second rounds of the draft).

Here are the AL and NL rankings. The Nationals do not have any free agents that would return them any sort of compensation. Dmitri Young who signed a contract extension during the season would not have returned any compensation if was available on the free agent market. Ronnie Belliard would have been a Type B and returned a supplemental first round selection (assuming he was signed by someone else and the Nationals offered him arbitration).

The Javelinas rallied from a 3-0 deficit scoring two in the eighth, one in the ninth before edging the Scottsdale Scorpions 4-3 with a run in the tenth (box/gamer). RF Justin Maxwell was 0/4 with a walk and a run scored. Garrett Mock started for Peoria going four shutout innings allowing only three hits while striking out a pair.

Games in the Dominican Winter League were rained out.

Jon Albaladejo picked up his second save in the Venezuela Winter League with 1 1/3 hitless shutout innings striking out one for the Tiburones de La Guaria. Jesus Flores was 1/3 with a double, strikeout and passed ball and Jim Magrane went 1 1/3 scoreless innings allowing one hit for the Navegantes de Magallanes. Marcos Yepez was 1/4 with a walk and a run scored for the Leones de Caracas. Frank Diaz was 1/4 with a double and one RBI for the Bravos de Margarita.

There was only action in the Arizona Fall League where the Peoria Javelinas blasted Team China 20-4 (box/gamer). Team China is participating in the AFL as part of their training for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Justin Maxwell started at designated hitter and was 2/4 with a double, two runs scored and three RBI. Kory Casto started in right field was 2/3 with a double, home run, two runs scored and three RBI (he was also hit by a pitch twice). Alex Morales pitched an inning of relief allowing two runs on two hits and two walks with one strikeout.

I have been remiss in updating the progress of Nats players in Fall/Winter Leagues. Here are their cumulative numbers thus far.

From the Columbus Dispatch

As it stands, John Stearns won’t be back as Clippers manager next season.

The parent Washington Nationals have asked the former New York Mets catcher to manage the team’s double-A Harrisburg franchise, supposedly because there are going to be more prospects at that level and they think he can better serve the big club by developing them.

They knew Stearns wouldn’t be happy with the decision, so they’ve tried to sweeten it with a raise, but Stearns knows that a move down wouldn’t look good on his resume, and he might look for other employment.

From a player development point of view, this is certainly not good news. The Nationals need to maintain some consistency in their minor league management. They already have lost Harrisburg manager Scott Little and Hagerstown manager Tommy Herr this off-season. As important as drafting & signing the right players is to the future of the Nationals, maintaining a consistent foundation of instruction is equally as important.

From a personal perspective, it would be a shame for the Nationals to lose such an intelligent and honest voice in their system. Stearns is quite knowledgeable and was always willing to openly discuss the players he was developing.

Best Pro Debut: OF Michael Burgess (1s) hit .318 with 11 homers, leading the Gulf Coast League in on-base (.442) and slugging (.617) percentage and ranking as the league’s No. 1 prospect. RHP Jordan Zimmermann (2) went 5-2, 2.38 with 71 strikeouts in 53 New York-Penn League innings, while polished RHP Adrian Alaniz (8) went 8-2, 2.39 with a 62-8 K-BB ratio in 60.0 innings in the NY-P.

Best Athlete: OF Jake Smolinski (2), a quarterback in high school, has solid athletic ability and a blue-collar mentality. Zimmerman (2) was a two-way player in college and starred in football and basketball in high school.

Best Pure Hitter: Smolinski, whose pro debut was truncated when a foul ball off his bat cracked a bone in his foot. He has good balance at the plate and a fine approach.

Best Power Hitter: Burgess. C Derek Norris (4) has above-average power potential.

Fastest Runner: Boomer Whiting (28) used his plus-plus speed to lead NCAA Division I with 73 steals in the spring.

Best Defensive Player: Nationals assistant GM Bob Boone, who knows a thing or two about catching raves about Norris’ agility and arm strength.

Best Fastball: LHP Ross Detwiler (1) has arm speed and leverage in his 6-for-4 frame, allowing him to throw 90-96 mph fastballs with nasty sink. Zimmerman worked from 90-94 while recovering from a broken jaw and pulled wisdom teeth this spring.

Best Secondary Pitch: LHPs Josh Smoker (1s) and Jack McGeary (6) had two of the best curveballs in the entire draft. Smoker also has a quality splitter and may have too many pitches (six) for his own good, so Washington will try to pare down his repertoire.

Most Intriguing Background: OF Garrett Bass’ (42) father Kevin was an all-star outfielder, and his brother Justin signed this summer as the Angels’ 21st-round pick. RHP Devin Drag (37) beat out Zimmermann for the NCAA III Division pitcher of the year honors after going 16-0, 2.41 at Chapman (Calif.).

Closest to the Majors: Detwiler became the first player from the 2007 draft to advance to the big leagues, working a scoreless inning against the Braves.

Best Late-Round Pick: Patrick McCoy (10) is a 6-foot-4 lefty with the potential to have a plus fastball and breaking ball.

The One Who Got Away: It almost wound up being McGeary, who agreed to a $1.8 million bonus minutes before the signing deadline. Washington never got close with LHP David Duncan (23), who could become an early-round pick after returning to Georgia Tech.

Assessment: The Nationals had the best draft in the industry. Landing three lefthanders like Detwiler, Smoker and McGeary is a rare feat, and Washington backed them up with Burgess, Zimmermann, Smolinski and Norris.

Former Nationals Special assistant to the GM & National Crosschecker Chuck Lamar was hired by the Phillies as their Director of Professional Scouting. Lamar was the former Tampa Bay GM who was brought on board by the Lerners and Stan Kasten after they took over operation of the Nats.

From Bill Ladson

According to baseball sources, LaMar left Washington to take a better position and because of some philosophical differences with some members of the Nationals organization.

A bit more information from Barry Svrluga

Sources, though, said LaMar’s philosophy didn’t click with those of [Mike] Rizzo and [Dana] Brown

Since Rizzo and Brown are both highly thought of and have recently brought on friends/former co-workers (Rizzo and recent hire Ed Durkin worked together in Arizona; Brown and recent hire Marteese Robinson were college teammmates), it’s no surprise that Lamar chose to move along to another opportunity.

The Nationals saw some of their first signs of the work Rizzo and Brown have accomplished as Baseball America ranked the Nationals #1 in their rankings of the top five 2007 draft classes. Additionally,

• First round selection Ross Detwiler was
  • The closest to the majors college player (he already has made his major league debut)
• Supplemental first round selection Josh Smoker was
  • Third best secondary pitch from the draft (curveball)
  • Third closest to the majors high school player 
• Supplemental first round selection Michael Burgess was
  • OF on the High School Draft All-Stars
  • Second best professional debut of all high school draft picks
  • Fourth best overall power hitter from the draft
• Sixth round selection Jack McGeary was
• • Fifth best secondary pitch from the draft (curveball)

The Washington County Commissioners approved the funding to improve the field conditions in Hagerstown.

The $35,500 project is expected to be split between the county, the City of Hagerstown, the Washington Nationals, the Hagerstown Suns, and the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Check out Capitol Punishment for a look at Hagerstown defensively.

Bill Ladson has the news …

The Nationals added pitchers Garrett Mock (RHSP) and Justin Jones (LHSP), first baseman Josh Whitesell and center fielder Roger Bernadina to the 40-man roster on Tuesday

Mock was acquired in 2006 from the Arizona Diamondbacks along with LHSP Matt Chico in exchange for RHSP Livan Hernandez. After being shut down in late 2006 with a knee injury (one that required surgery), Mock had a disappointing 2007 battling a sore shoulder. The righthander was a combined 2-7 in 15 games (14 starts) split between the GCL (7 2/3IP), Potomac (6IP), and Harrisburg (51 1/3IP). He had a 5.79ERA and 1.83WHIP in Double-A. Mock is currently pitching in the Arizona Fall League where he has no decisions over three appearances (7IP) allowing three unearned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out seven. The 24-year old Mock will likely be given an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Nationals rotation in 2008.

Jones was added by the Nationals in December 2006 as part of the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft from the Minnesota Twins. Jones spread his season between Hagerstown (2G - 12 2/3IP), Potomac (17G - 91IP), and Harrisburg (3G - 17 1.3IP). He was a combined 11-8 with a 3.72ERA and 1.40WHIP. The 23-year old lefthander should begin the season in Harrisburg and could very make his major league debut some time in mid-2008.

The 25-year old Whitesell had a break out season for Harrisburg in 2007, hitting 284/425/512 with 21 home runs and 74RBI. He has surpassed Larry Broadway as the top 1B in the Nationals organization. Whitesell should begin 2008 in Columbus but depending upon the health of Nick Johnson and the free agent signings, Whitesell could possibly have an outside shot at the backup 1B role as he was tabbed by coaches as the top defensive 1B in the Eastern League.

The 23-year old Bernadina split his season between Harrisburg and Columbus where he hit a combined 259/338/356 with 40/54 stolen bases. He is still developing as a hitter and should begin 2008 as the starting center fielder for the Columbus Clippers.

The Nationals currently have one open spot on their 40-man roster.

Update: My best guess of players who might still be removed from the 40-man roster:

• RHP Joel Hanrahan
• LHP Mike O’Connor
• LHP Billy Traber
• RHP Ryan Wagner
• 1B/OF Robert Fick
• OF Ryan Langerhans
• OF Nook Logan

An additional note, GM Jim Bowden stated that Justin Maxwell will be given an opportunity to compete for the starting center fielder role (though they project him to Double-A).

The Javelinas were blanked by the Rafters 2-0 (box/gamer). RF Justin Maxwell (latest journal entry here) was 1/3 with his fifth stolen base in the AFL. LF Kory Casto was 0/3 with a walk and a strikeout.

Today: The Javelinas visit Scottsdale at 10:05PM EDT

From Sunday in the Dominican Winter League. RF Abraham Nunez was 1/3 with a walk for Estrellas de Oriente.  There were no games in the Dominican League on Monday.

On Monday, CA Jesus Flores was 0/3 with a sacridice fly and a strikeout for the Navegantes del Magallanes.