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Making his professional debut, pick Stephen Strasburg pitches for the Nationals' team against the Detroit Tigers in a Florida Instructional League baseball game in Viera, Fla. |
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Sports Writer
WASHINGTON
--After a second consecutive 100-loss season that featured plenty of missteps, and not just in terms of Ws and Ls--remember the "Natinals" jersey fiasco? remember Jim Bowden?--the Washington Nationals are ready to put a timetable on a turnaround."It was a difficult year on the field, obviously, but an important and productive year in terms of the building of the franchise," team president Stan Kasten said. "We expect 2010 to be a breakthrough year. And we think that in 2011, we're going to get an influx of guys coming through our minor league system."
The very best thing about finishing with the worst record in the major leagues two years in a row--going 59-103 in '09, after going 59-102 in '08--is that the Nationals "earned" the No. 1 overall pick in baseball's amateur draft twice in a row.
So they chose hard-throwing San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg, widely considered a once-in-a-generation talent, in June. The sides agreed to a record-breaking $15.1 million deal.
And next June, Washington again will get to choose whatever player it wants, perhaps Sports Illustrated cover boy Bryce Harper.
Strasburg made his pitching debut as a member of the Nationals organization yesterday, giving up one run in two innings during an Instructional League game at Washington's spring training stadium in Viera, Fla.
The Nationals intend to have Strasburg back there in February, possibly with a shot to earn a spot in what was an inexperienced and, at times, overmatched rotation this season. There was a stretch in 2009 when Washington's five-man starting staff featured four rookies and one second-year player, John Lannan (9-13, 3.88 ERA, 206 innings).
Strasburg is "a young pitcher right now, who has no professional experience. So we're going to take it as it comes," general manager Mike Rizzo said. "He's going to have to pitch his way into the rotation."
The offense seems relatively OK, with Adam Dunn (38 HRs, 105 RBIs) signed for one more year--and, he says, not opposed to listening to contract extension offers--and Ryan Zimmerman (career highs of a .292 average, 33 HRs and 110 runs, along with a team-leading 106 RBIs) locked up through 2013.
Other bright spots: Josh Willingham (24 HRs) and Nyjer Morgan, a prototypical leadoff hitter (.307, 42 steals for Pittsburgh and Washington).
More pressing issues are pitching and defense.
The Nationals' 5.00 ERA was by far the worst in the NL, and they finished with the fewest strikeouts and most walks of any staff in the majors. Washington also made more errors than any other team in baseball.
"We know what we need to work on," Dunn said. "Everyone--from the players to the coaches to the front office--knows what we need to turn this around."
Kasten vowed that the team will pursue one or two veteran starters this off-season via trade or free agency, and one or two relievers, too.
Jim Riggleman replaced manager Manny Acta in July, when the team was 26-61.
Rizzo took over day-to-day general manager duties after Bowden resigned in spring training--a tumultuous time that also included the firing of special assistant to the GM Jose Rijo and word that a top Dominican prospect had lied about his age and name--but he only was given the full-fledged GM job in August, days after signing Strasburg.
Between an 0-7 start and 7-0 finish--the first time a team has done that--there were all sorts of shenanigans:
The disastrous signing of free-agent Daniel Cabrera;
The demotion to the minors (then trade) of Lastings Milledge after he hit .167 with one walk and 10 strikeouts batting leadoff;
The April 17 game when Zimmerman and Dunn wore jerseys with team's nickname misspelled;
On top of everything else, attendance declined by more than 20 percent.
In giving a late-season assessment of where things stand looking forward for the Nationals, Riggleman began with the phrase, "It's a beautiful situation."
Then he paused, before continuing: "It's got the potential to be a beautiful situation, I should say."
