When can we hang our Mission Accomplished Sign?

Posted by Jeff Bergin on Nov. 25, 2008 at 10:47 AM
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Okay, I am a numbers guy by trade; I love analysis and measuring/evaluating performance which is probably what draws me to baseball.  So, in light of that mini-bio, when the hell can we claim "success"? When can the Nationals take a step back after this offseason, and say whether or not they have been successful? The answer is not easy.

Defining sucess is evaluating your self against your goals.  Defining your goals, however is taking an assessment of your organization and evaluating it with the customer expectations.  What happens when the customers expectations and the organizations abilities are not in line? This is where the Nationals live right now. 

For example, this entire offseason, we are hearing, "Open the wallet and get a good free agent, no matter the cost"; or "Get Teixeira, give him what he wants"; or "Pay for the pitching and build a team around Zimmerman, and give me someone worth paying my money for!!"...do you see the dilemma? These customer expectations are rignt now, impossible. Lets dissect:

1. Bring in Mark Teixeira--M.T. is the biggest and only palpable free agent first basemen in all of baseball, and the Nationals need a first basemen.  So do the Yankees, Angels, Red Sox and possibly, the Mets. Not only do those teams have deep pockets, they have reputable teams that are more likely to win and will give the player a more enjoyable/profitable experience at the age of 29.  The problem will be the Nationals will be pressured to bring in a M.T. type player, and as a result will sign Adam Dunn to a BIG contract and he will be awful
2. Pay for Pitching--the big pitchers on the market are CC Sabathia, Derek Lowe, AJ Burnett and Ben Sheets, with the latter having HUGE issues with health.  The Nationals have ZERO pitching, and need a front line starter; they will not get any of these 4, but also cannot go empty handed, so they will make a play for lesser pitchers such as Oliver Perez, who is a complete nightmare.  This will look good to the Nationals because he is young and fits the plan, but he will frustrate fans and will take a younger player's roster spot.
3. Build the team but give me stars--this is just not going to happen.  Building a team takes time, and also can have many setbacks (like Chris Marerro's broken leg), and to really build a team with proven players requires trading your young stars, so where do the Nats go from here? Do you want an Adrian Gonzalez at first base from the Padres, then you need to trade Marrerro/Jordan Zimmerman/Zech Zincola and Detweiler.  Does that not sound appetizing? I thought you wanted to build your team with proven talent?

Its not easy, and when the organization and the customers are at odds as to their goals, then what results is a haphazard, knee-jerk reaction to the current market, and a team that is set even further back in reaching its long-term goals of being competitive.  I dont mean to be pessimistic, but I have seen what happens when folks abandon goals and reason for what is truly a short term anecdotal fix.  I hope I am wrong.