Curious with what you said with Chad Moeller: do you think the Nats can send Flores to the minors for regular work? In my opinion, Flores is every bit as good a catcher today that Schneider is, and sending him down to the minors would seem to be a bad message to send him and those in the organization. Thoughts?

As a RH part of the platoon, he seems destined to maybe 1-2 games/week which is not what he needs. Allow him to face the challenge of some of the better pitching prospects out there in Double-A.

(All of this becomes moot if Brian Schneider is dealt).

This further goads me into a question I have asked before- the influx of these players has to mean that the club values at least some portion of them more than what our system already had. Who should we expect to see hit the road?

Even more interesting, please try to keep us up to date with what happens to our own minor league free agents. I am mainly curious about where Larry Broadway goes. I have followed him since 2005, and his name is not in the list above. We started our relationship with the team in 2005 by investing some care in players who only had promise because the system had been ravished. I hope Broadway at least gets his cup of coffee before his career is over.

In Harrisburg, I’d imagine we will see quite a few guys from Harrisburg. The starting rotation could be really interesting with Detwiler, Jones, Zimmermann, Martis, and Meyers.

It’s not as though Bowden is just going down the aisles at the market and saying “You guys, come with me!” Minor league free agents are free agents after all, and while we tend to think the Nats present the best opportunity for Quad-A guys, the players may feel differently. Pascucci and Seabol in particular might be looking for teams where the infield corners aren’t quite so logjammed. While I understand your point I don’t think it’s quite as simple as the Nats failing to sign the best guys available. The recent drafts and last year’s minor league free agents signings suggest that the front office does have some acumen in identifying talent, even if they don’t get everyone we might wish they did.

I agreed that the Nationals scouting team understands talent. The 2007 draft indicated that fact. And, I sing their praises all the time, However, it does not mean that the same scouts are evaluating the minor leagues for AAA-AAAA players.

So far it appears that the scouting system used by the Nats for minor league free agents is reviewing the list of available players for names they recognize and selecting players that Bowden, Rizzo, Boone, etc. know or who are inexpensive. Why not sign AAA players who could possibly help the “big team” somewhere during 2008. Gods knows that the Nats could use some power hitters; therefore, I would rather have power hitters like Pascucci (a former Expo)(62 XBH w/34HR), Seabol(68 XBH w/32HR) and Conrad (61 XBH w/22) instead of Jason Dubois & Jorge Padilla. The Nats could use a good backup catcher in case of an injury call up and I would rather have Mark Johnson (a good contact hitter with a great OBP & bb:k ratio) instead of Chad Moeller. The Nats could use a versatile infielder like Bobby Scales (47 XBH w/11HR, 373 OBP, 14/17 steals and can play 2B, 3B, LF, RF &1B) instead of Luis Jimnez, Ed Rogers, William Bergolla or de Caster. And Tommy Murphy was an after-thought when they lost Brandon Watson to the Phillies.

The players I mentioned have been around the minors for a lot of years and know that they are not full time ML starters. They are not looking for a team where they could start. But they could help a team as a power bat of the bench, a fill-in late in a game or start when a player needs a rest or is injured. Or, they could make the Clippers a damm good team to watch for the people in Columbus.

If they are not going to spend big $$$$, some little $$$ on a better caliber of Minor League free agents would have been of more help to them during 2008.