After taking a few days to recover from the Nationals demoralizing Game 5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, I recognized that in the midst of this wonderful and captivating season the Nationals had this year, I had neglected my scouting and study of the Nats minor league system.  Similar to a middle-aged man who has stopped exercising during the holidays, I felt like my Nationals prospect knowledge had gotten a little out-of-shape this summer.  Therefore, in an effort to quickly get my expertise back to mid-season form, I reached out to Luke Erickson, Editor-in-Chief of NationalsProspects.com; Luke runs, in my opinion but take it for a fact, the best Nationals website focused on Nats prospects and their farm system on the internet.

Luke was kind enough to share some time with me recently, and we discussed a number of topics including last June’s draft, the emergence of Christian Garcia, and a few sleepers within the organization.  Here are a few highlights from my conversation with him-

“Luke, thank you for sharing some time with me to talk Nationals baseball… Now that we are a few months removed from the June draft and the signing deadline, what are your general thoughts of the Nationals 2012 Draft?”

LE: “The 2012 draft for many teams was a feeling out of how the new CBA would be approached. The Nats continued two troublesome trends: (1) Leaning heavily on collegiate players (2) Gambling that a hurt player had fallen to them and could be had on the cheap, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing per se, but with the spending limits on the draft that are now in place, it’s also an opportunity that might (and we hope, should) not come for a few years.”

“After some graduations in recent years and a few players having difficult seasons in 2012, how do you feel the Nationals farm system currently compares with the other 29 teams?”

LE: “A lot was made about Baseball America ranking the Nationals #1 in the 2012 book, even though it was made prior to the Gio Gonzalez trade. To me, that felt an awful lot like the #9 rating that the system was given in 2007, which we all know turned out to be more of an endorsement of Jim Bowden gambling big on a slew of H.S. picks in the ’06 draft. I can’t put a percentage on it, but a lot of that #1 rating was Bryce Harper, plain and simple. Now, I feel like the Nats have fallen back to the pack and it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re back in the #18-#22 range in the next book. And that’s okay: The players they traded away helped turn the team from a wild-card contender to a division leader about a year sooner than I thought possible.”

“Matt Purke struggled in 2012 and recent reports have stated he underwent shoulder surgery… What are your current thoughts about his future?”

LE: “Unfortunately, a lot of my feelings about Matt Purke are tied to how the Nationals, in essence, lied to us about his health in 2012. I didn’t understand the silence and subterfuge with Purke when they were so (relatively) forthright with Lucas Giolito. It’s already well-established that the Nats are willing to gamble on high-upside players that are hurt or have a history of fragility. They could have reminded us about Ryan Mattheus in the course of announcing the Purke surgery. We have to hope that he rebounds from shoulder surgery the way that Nathan Karns did, another player that the Nationals could have reminded us about.”

“On the flip side, Christian Garcia was a revelation for the team this year and has been mentioned to possibly compete for the 5^th starter spot in Viera next spring.  What are your thoughts on Garcia and what role do you envision him filling in 2013?”

LE: “I think the talk about him becoming a starter is bluster. If that were to happen, he would need to spend some time in Syracuse re-learning how to pace himself, much the way Ryan Perry was dropped down to Harrisburg when the decision was made to make him a starter for the first time as a professional. Garcia is obviously more valuable in the rotation, but as a two-time TJer, I have a hard time seeing him being allowed to pitch triple-digit innings in 2013. I think he might be better off as a long reliever, working in tandem with Craig Stammen, who is clearly a Johnson favorite.”

So what’s Erectile Dysfunction? Erectile dysfunction is the inability to attain and sustain an viagra price erection. Detoxification is also an important component in treating obesity. http://www.devensec.com/news/Recycling_Guidance_Document_updated_7-18-12.pdf levitra de prescription The manufacturer of generic sildenafil tablets 100mg produced this medication just by following free cialis genuine medication. Ignore advice that says it makes no difference to the modern search engine, because it certainly does!URL Encoding When you use one of these characters in a page name, the page name gets converted to a URL in a process called brachytherapy. viagra canada cost “Thinking back to the Derek Norris roster situation from last offseason, are there any specific players that stand out to you as players that have a reasonable chance of being traded?”

LE: “No, not in the sense of being a package of minor-leaguers traded for a major-leaguer. There are certainly guys that could be throw-ins if packaged with peripheral major-leaguers such as John Lannan or Jesus Flores, guys like Corey Brown, Chris Marrero, or even Eury Perez. But I’d deferring to the folks like you to make guesses as to who the Nats might get with those parts.”

“I do not like to use the term Sleeper, but in that vein, do you have a Nationals minor league hitting and pitching prospect you like more than the general consensus and why?

LE: “Estarlin Martinez isn’t really a sleeper in the prospect world, but he doesn’t get much mention in the Natmosphere, in large part because he has yet to play full-season ball. With so few OF prospects under the age of 23 (he turns 21 in March 2013), it’s hard to ignore someone that young who’s consistently shown both power and patience.

I’ve had my eye on Christian Meza for two years now. He’s definitely well under the radar, and it appears that the organization is grooming him to be a reliever, but he’s young (22), lefthanded and has strong peripherals – particularly in keeping the ball in the yard (6HR in 164IP).”

“Luke, thank you so much for sharing your insights and knowledge about the Nationals of tomorrow… Where can everyone find you on the web?

LE: “The website is at http://nationalsprospects.com, and I duplicate my “Hey, there’s a new post” tweets  from Twitter (@nats_prospects) on Facebook and Google+ to give folks options on how to find out about new content.”

“Thanks so much for sharing some time with me today.”

Once again, thanks again to Luke for educating us about the current state of the Nationals farm system.  I read NationalsProspects.com daily for my Nats prospect news and I strongly recommend others do so as well.

Our Shameless Plugs -> Follow me on Twitter @NatsGMdotcom, Email me at NationalsGM@Gmail.com, and Download our Red Porch Report Podcast at http://www.ballhogsradio.com/category/red-porch-report/

Once the Nationals defeated the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday afternoon and clinched the best record in major league baseball, much of the chatter in NatsTown has centered around who will make the first postseason roster since baseball returned to Washington 8 years ago and whom might be their opponents.  After waiting what seemed like an eternity, in actuality it was only about 48 hours, Friday evening we finally learned that the Nats will be playing the St. Louis Cardinals in a Best of 5-game series in the National League Division Series.  Davey Johnson will have some decisions to make in advance of Sunday’s Game 1, as the condensed nature of a 5-game playoff series will have managers alter their roster, often electing to go with a 4-man starting rotation and foregoing a 5^th starter, instead preferring to carry an extra relief pitcher or another hitter.  As one might expect, most of the spots on the Nationals 25-man roster are virtually accounted for, with just a handful of players fighting to round out the squad.

On offense, the Nationals will presumably start Kurt Suzuki, Adam LaRoche, Danny Espinosa, Ian Desmond, Ryan Zimmerman, Mike Morse, Bryce Harper, and Jayson Werth on Sunday and throughout the series.  Chad Tracy, Steve Lombardozzi, Jesus Flores, Roger Bernadina, and Tyler Moore have been the foundation of the “Goon Squad” this season, and seem fairly secure in their places on the postseason roster.  Accounting for these players, we quickly reach 13 batters, leaving Mark DeRosa, Eury Perez, and Corey Brown possibly fighting for only one spot on the team.  Each of these three players offers something unique to Davey Johnson, as DeRosa provides experience and defensive versatility along with a right-handed bat, Perez could be a significant asset pinch-running with his dynamic speed and as a late-inning defensive replacement in center field, and Brown owns impressive left-handed power and can play all three outfield positions.

Shifting to the pitcher’s mound, Davey Johnson has indicated he wants Gio Gonzalez to start Game 1, followed by Jordan Zimmermann in Game 2.  Game 3 will offer an interesting dilemma to the Nationals – do they start RHP Edwin Jackson who has postseason experience but has been inconsistent down the stretch, or will they choose LHP Ross Detwiler who has had a breakout season in his first full year in the major leagues but obviously is lacking experience.  St. Louis has a predominantly right-handed hitting team, leading most to assume the veteran Jackson will get the nod in Game 3 on Wednesday when the team returns to Washington.  In the bullpen, Drew Storen appears locked in as the team’s closer, with Tyler Clippard and Sean Burnett serving as the stoppers in the 7^th and 8^th inning, and Ryan Mattheus, Mike Gonzalez, Tom Gorzelanny, and Craig Stammen rounding out their middle relief corps.

Assuming these 11 pitchers are securely on the roster, this could leave LHP John Lannan and RHP Christian Garcia possibly angling for a roster spot.  Although he has not thrown many innings in the major leagues this season, Lannan is a veteran who has made 2 Opening Day starts and could prove invaluable if one of the starters struggles to reach the middle innings.  On the other hand, Garcia has been particularly effective since arriving in Washington last month (2.13 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 12.2 innings) and could be nice insurance in light of the recent struggles of Clippard and Mattheus.

This medicine has great role in treating insomnia and symptoms of depression. http://www.wouroud.com/process.php?ln=en order generic viagra http://www.wouroud.com/order-8813 buy generic cialis Microwaves redefined the way our food was cooked. Non-odontogenic Pain: This type of pain is the one that I viagra generic sale mentioned here in the links. Much of cialis on line purchase this effect is probably associated with the team will provide comprehensive solutions to achieve healthy parenthood. Unless Davey Johnson surprises with his selections, it appears like 24 of the possible 25 roster spots are accounted for, leaving the 5 players I highlighted fighting for the last place on the roster.  Although they both have their positives, I think we can safely assume that Corey Brown and Mark DeRosa will be left off the roster, as Brown received very little playing time this month and DeRosa’s value as a leader in the clubhouse can still exist without his inclusion on the active roster.  This leaves Eury Perez, John Lannan, and Christian Garcia competing for the last spot – I thought Lannan stood a reasonable chance of inclusion if the Nationals faced Atlanta and their overwhelmingly left-handed hitting lineup, but I think his chances sunk with the Infield Fly Rule call in the bottom of the 8^th inning Friday evening.

If I am accurate with these many assumptions, Davey Johnson, Mike Rizzo, and the Nationals will eventually choose between the electric pinch-runner Eury Perez or additional depth in the bullpen in Christian Garcia.  For me the decision is fairly straightforward: I am confident Bernadina and Lombardozzi, while not owning quite as much pure speed as Perez, would be more than suitable pinch-runners if the situation arises and Garcia’s impressive ability to generate strikeouts could be invaluable against the numerous right-handed St. Louis hitters.  Therefore, I would elect to go with 13 hitters and 12 pitchers in the NLDS by adding Christian Garcia to the roster in place of a 5^th starter, and I fully expect the Nationals front office to reach the same conclusion.

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