Ask Boswell: Nats, Orioles, All-Star Game, More

Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell was online Thursday, July 9 at 11 a.m. ET, to take your questions about the struggling Nationals and Orioles, Tiger Woods' golf tournament and all his latest columns.

The transcript follows.

Discussion Archives

Boswell Column Archives

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River Rd., Washington, D.C.: Just a comment about Tiger's Tourney. I went on Saturday and the whole experience was first-rate. We got to the parking lots early and there were tons of buses ready ... all the volunteers were great and the people on course moved everyone around in good speed. Total class act and extremely well run. I hope it stays here in perpetuity

washingtonpost.com: Thomas Boswell: Tiger Keeps Youth at Bay (Washington Post, July 6)

Tom Boswell: Yes, it feels like The Tiger Tourney is Washington's reward for 26 years of putting up with the adequate, but sometimes mud-choked mess at Avenel. Isn't a gorgeous venue and I've almost never met anybody who went who didn't love it.

The date of the event needs to get fixed for 2012. It's far in the future but golf fans might be interested to know that both Congressionals memers and Tiger would definitely prefer that the event be in May, not July 4th. And this has been a backburner Tour issue for a while. CCC is a Memorial Day to Labor Day Club, with like use of the layout the rest of the year. They'd prefer May so they don't lose a week of prime play. More imporant, Tiger will always have a tough time getting a good field after the U.S. Open but before the British Open. The European stars will all go to Europe and stay there. And many U.S. players don't think Congressional's classic U.S. Open style prepares them for the British.

The ideal solution (for DC, CCC and Tiger) might be to rotate the tournament in May -- one year it would be the week before the Players Championship and the next year is would be before Jack's Memorial. This might work if the trouble event in Charlotte were the odd man out. Far too early to know what '12 will bring. But not too soon to tell you that everybody (except Charlotte) wants May.

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Washington, D.C.: Why are the Nats hanging onto Austin Kearns? For two years now he's been hitting around .200 with no power to speak of. Why don't they either send him down or let him go the way of Paul Lo Duca, Felipe Lopez, Johnny Estrada, and other high-priced mistakes?

Tom Boswell: I really don't know. It's sad to watch.

And, for reasons I don't understand, people always seem to want a symbol of failure when a team is having an awful year, a scapegoat, an overpaid failure, so they focus on one person,rather than the larger (and uglier) problem. It's funny, some teams REALLY have to eat big contracts. The Nats are such a discount operation that Austin's $8.5M this year looks like a big mistake. But the Blue Jays just ate B.J. yan's deal yesterday -- twice as much dead money as Kearns -- and by MLB standards it didn't leave a ripple.

Normally, I wouldn't bother to write about a 5th outfielder in a terrible slup, but Kerns seems to obsess the Last True Nats Believers. Is there any reason to keep him around, other than avoiding the embarassment of admitting you brn soime money? Maybe the Nats have so many trade possibilities, especially if Nick Johnson goes and Dunn/Willingham moves to 1st, that they'd hate to release a 4th or 5th outfielder. If Johnson and Harris were traded, you might have an OF of Dunn, Morgan, Dukes and Kearns.

Kearns is such a pro's pro, in attitude, and he used to be such a decent player, and he's still so relatively young -- and he always looks like half the problem is in his head because he appears frustrated, embarrassed -- that they keep dreaming that he will "find his stroke" and hits again so they some value for their $8.5M this year. But sometimes it's better to just move on. Also, Austin has been a good friend of Dunn, Zimmerman and Johnson for a long time, back from the days when they were all roughly equal as players. All believe in a "professional attitude," so they give some balast in a clubhouse that could fall apart. Team's consider that.

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Annandale, Va.: Tom,

Nice article yesterday, however, you missed who needs to go: ownership and president. The Learners have done nothing to keep us season ticket holders nor the fans in general to stick with this team. Stan Kasten has decided to spend every game walking around in the Presidents Club level wondering why there are so many empty seats. I do not care for Dan Snider nor Abe Pollin, but at least they are/were in the public eye from time to time. Ted Leonsis is always willing to talk to fans and can be heard from about the Caps all year. He was even at the Wednesday Red Sox game and not hiding in a box.

On to my question: Can you please provide a short list of possible Natinals managers after the All-Star break and next season? Manny Acta has failed as a manager for two and a half seasons no matter what combination of players he has.

washingtonpost.com: Thomas Boswell: In Need Of a Major Overhaul (Washington Post, July 8)

Tom Boswell: The "lst" of potential managers is such a poor one that it is part of the reason that Acta is still the manager. Internally, you could get Riggleman -- a long mediocre history and already in the dugout, so how much more would he bring to the table -- or AAA manager Tim Foli who'd make a fine 3rd base coach for the next manager, but probably isn't an improvement on Acta. Although I've always liked Foli and wouldn't mind seeing him get a shot. What the heck. The Nats always said internally that they'd give Acta until the All-Star break. Well, here it comes. And they looked terrible in Colorado. Those usually mentioned -- Bobby Valentine, Buck Showalter and Davey Johnson are not viable. Valentine is a "Bowden guy." He's out. Rizzo got to see Buck up close in Arizona. If he wanted him, he'd have had him long ago. Davey's had enough managing misery.

As I pointed out in a column from Yankee Stadium last month, part of the reason Acta is kept is simply because the whole organization has been so depleted by firings and resignations -- the whole coaching staff from last year is gone now that Saint left, Bowden, Rijo. If Acta is gone, too, I think it kind of scares them. Hardly an excellent reason to keep him. Watch the team's energy level the next few days. If it appears Manny has "lost the team," that may force a decision.

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Lufkin, Texas: Great article yesterday. In one scenario you discussed, the Nats would keep Flores, Zimmerman, Dunn, Willingham, and Morgan. Guzman, Belliard, and Harris wiould be traded. When Rizzo starts rebuilding the Nats, does he go for speed and defense up the middle to support and strengthen the Nats' starting pitching, or does he split the difference and balance defense and offense?

washingtonpost.com: Thomas Boswell: In Need Of a Major Overhaul (The Washington Post, July 8)

Tom Boswell: Thanks. Rizzo likes old-fashiopned fundamentals (defense up the middle to support young pitching) and high-character baseball players as opposed to high-ceiling athletes with questionable X factors. However, Mike is willing to tolerate at least one defensive donkey -- or Dunn-key -- at a corner position for the sake of offense. And maybe two. That's why he made the "we're not trading Dunn" statement yesterday. It's starting to look like Dunn is no worse in LF than many a Killebew, Manny Ramirez, Burrell, etc. But he's scary at 1st, like the two errors yesterday. Willingham hates fly balls and they hate him. If he stays, maybe he's the 1st baseman. Adding Nyjer Morgan certainly seems like a good first step by Rizzo.

My view: You have the makings of a real rotation, assuming you sign Strasburg. You have 3-4 hitters that are more than good enough in Zimmerman and Dunn. Willingham may give you a No. 5. And if Dukes gets his hitting fixed at AAA, we may not have seen the last of him in RF. But you HAVE to fix the bullpen through trades and free agency this winter. You just don't know what you're holding when such a fundamental part of your team is nonexistant.

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Florida: The Nats game on Tuesday marked a real low point. It was the sort of game that I tell people about and they're gobsmacked.

I want to suggest that no one has suffered more than the fans of Washington baseball - not even Cubs fans. Consider:

1. Since the end of WWII (1946), Washington has had two baseball teams that finished better than .500 (1959 & 1969). Even if you don't count the years Washington was in the baseball wilderness, that's two winning teams in 31 seasons of baseball.

2. And while the Cubs last won a World Series in 1908, Washington last won one in 1924.

I submit that in terms of suffering, Washington baseball fans are second to none.

Tom Boswell: I agree.

And share the scars.

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Arlington, Va.: Hey Tom,

I bumped into on 11 at Congressional on Sunday. You were sitting on the hill watching Tiger putt out. I was wondering if you could tell us what a golf tourney is like from a reporter's perspective. Do you have a hard time following Tiger with his Pride following him all over the course? Did you follow anyone else on Sunday?

Tom Boswell: At every tournament except the Masters, reporters are allowed to follow inside the ropes, as long as you are close enough to the rope to touch it. It's the best "seat" to cover from in all of sports. But, believe it or not, almost nobody walked the course when I started covering golf in the late '70's. "We" were the first generation to risk missing something by going out on the course to get closer to the players, get info nobody else had and really "feel" the event and the character of the players. So, I love the walking and enjoyed the 1st 14 holes with Tiger and Kim on Sunday, then went down to 18 to see the end by the final green. You can sense personality that close -- in the 60 seconds between the time Tiger holed out to end the eventy and the time he kissed Elin and the kids, he seemed to transform from this monomaniacal Tiger to ... Eldrick. The guy has got the most amazing "on" and "off" switch in sports. All week, he didn't look at a fan or slap a hand when he was playing. But after he won, he was low-fiving fans as he rode past in a golf cart.

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Alexandria, Va.: Sharon Martis started the year well and then dropped off. Any thoughts on what happened to him and how difficult it will be for him to find his way back to big leagues?

Tom Boswell: The only three Nats pitchers who are ready for the big leagues are Lannan, Zimmermann and, of course, Olsen when he's healthy. The rest all need an extra pitch or better command or a better sense of how to set up hitters -- all of which are things that happen at the AAA level. Martis needed one more pitch, imo. If he works on that Greg Maddox swing-back fastball over the inside corner to LH hitters and on the outside corner to RH hitters, that may bring him back.

Detwiler needs to go down for more polish. He has too much ability to waste. He has a good enough fastball, a big curve, the willingness to throw strikes and a deceptive across-the-body delivery. But he has to change speeds more. Zimmermann needs a better changeup. Hope he can develop it, and gain confidence in it, at the MLB level. Right now, he is close to being special. But he just has to be able to change speeds a bit better -- or throw his breaking balls effectively at more different speeds -- if he wants to have the arsenal of young All-Star power pitchers like Matt Cain and Josh Johnson.

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Burke, Va.: Hi Tom,

You've watched Tiger play a bit. What is the most impressive thing about his game that you have noticed?

Tom Boswell: His mind.

I thought Nicklaus was the smartest, more analytical, strongest-willed and toughest golfer I ever saw. Woods is even better. And more creative. Jack was a doged guy who didn't like much "invention" on the course. Tiger loves it.

The only question is whether Tiger has the best "head" in all of sports. I think he does, in part because golf is such a mind game to start with.But I'd love to hear other thoughts.

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Capitol Hill: Can we trade the Lerners?

Tom Boswell: In baseball, there are two things you can't trade: draft picks and owners.

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Richmond, Va.: When do you think Washington finally gets an All-Star game? Or does New York get it again before Washington?

Tom Boswell: Washington will get an All-Star game as soon as the SE waterfront has been developed significantly so there are restaurants, bars, stores, etc., there. Obviously, the economy has set that back by years. But it's standard for baseball to wait until a new park -- and its surrounding neighborhood -- have been completed before awarding and All-Star game. This is good for everybody. It's a carrot-and-stick deal. "You know you'll get the Game and all the $$$ it brings as soon as the whole job is pretty much finished."

In other words, it could be a fairly long time. But it will happen.

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Patterson, N.Y.: Hi Boz - I love your baseball insights. Is it literally impossible today for a lower budget team to do what the Orioles did from 1963-1985 during my formative years? Good team every year, a few championships sprinkled in, only one losing season when your best player got beaned and missed half the year with double-vision. My friends who are Cubs fans say "Any team can have a bad century" -- and the last decade for the O's is starting to seem like a century. Give me some hope, please.

Tom Boswell: It may be impossible for a team with a market the size of Baltimore to have the best record in baseball over a 23-year period, as the Orioles did. But baseball currently has more parity than any other major sport. Eight different champions in nine years in this century so far. Right now so many teams think they have a wildcard shot -- about 22 at the moment -- that it may slow down the trade fever between now and Aug. 1. Everybody wants to "add" and make a run, not trade. That may help the Nats. They definitely want to deal. Also, nobody in baseball, even the Yankees, is willing to add (much) salary in a trade with theeconomy still so bad.

There's plenty of hope for your Orioles. You saw the five-run comeback in the ninth yesterday in Seattle, trailing 3-0. Their young outfield has a chance to be as good as any Oriole outfield ever. The young pitching is coming. And, finally, one of the A.L. East teams looks like it is sliding -- Toronto. Poor fan support, a lot of bad contracts. The O's will move past them on a long-tderm basis soon, though maybe not this year.

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The Order of the Tomahawk: I agree with you that the Nats' players have never jelled as a unit. I have not heard any of the players say anything about losing or about how these games are being lost. They seem to accept their level of play. We are a young team, but we need someone to show the fans that the team knows this pattern of play is unacceptable and embarrassing. No one seems willing to do this. Trades might be the answer if we can get quality players in return. The Nyger Morgan trade was great, it brought us defense and speed that we were sorely missing.

Tom Boswell: Along these lines of energy level, chemistry, cohesion, ability to make a semi-bullpen outof nothing, overall competiveness (heart) as a team. Believe me, if I saw a managerial candidate with fire, any sort of track record, and who is also available, I'd have jumped up and down for the Nats to fire Acta long ago. I can name 20 managers without even bothering to think who would have the Nats 10 games "less bad" -- far from the same thing as "good." I thougt Billy Martin was one of the worst human beings I ever met. But if he'd had this team since February, it would be in the wildcard race right now. (And in two years, the team would explode, Billy would be fired and you'd have to start over again -- but with half-a-dozen ruined pitching arms).

Sometimes, the most important question to ask is, "Then what?" The single easiest thing to do in baseball is Fire The Manager. You call Manny and say, "Thanks. You tried your best." You can do it any day. Nobody on my long, long list of managers who would be better for this Nats team -- right now -- is available, as far as I can tell.

However, there does come a day when, even if you have no better idea, you just say, "I can't stand it anymore. I have to change something." And the only easy temporary response to a hard question is: Fire Manny. For many fans, that was a month or two ago. For me, it might arrive between now and next week's post-All-Star game chat.

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McNair: In so far as I am a Ravens fan, I really liked Steve McNair. I'm fully supportive of all the praise he garnered as a player and as a philanthropist in the communities in which he played. Like all such fans I was saddened and shocked by his death, which raises again the question of athletes as role models and whether we should consider them as such. My perspective is this, from the moment that a little kid starts playing games and watching sports, that kid starts emulating the stars. I don't know a single kid that didn't imitate their favorite player's swing, wind-up, whatever. We paid attention to everything they did. So when professional athletes claim they shouldn't be considered role models, I get pissed off.

Frankly, however, in your career may be you're getting paid loads of money to play a kid's game. In exchange for the fame, you get kids looking to imitate you, to be like you. So whether you like it or not, you are a role model. If you don't want to be one, then don't go pro, because it's all part of the lifestyle of being a pro, whether you like it or not.

washingtonpost.com: The League: Can Adulterers be Role Models? (Washington Post, June 8)

Tom Boswell: When he was a little boy, I told my son, who's a huge sports fan, "They are just like everybody else. Some are smart, some are dumb. Some are basically good people, but with flaws -- but being rich and famous allows them to do a lot of good, set an excellent example. And some are really jerks -- and being rich and famous helps them be bigger jerks and set terrible examples."

People have so much trouble coping with McNair's death because they just can't seem to get their minds around the simple fact that athletes are just like us. So, just like us, they are going to be a complex mixture of virtues, vices, contradictory character traits, weaknesses that leave them vulnerable and strengths that let them do exceptional things. When I was a kid, there was a murder-suicide -- a couple -- directly across the street from our row house in N.E. It's the same -- sad, complicated, probably more worthy of a novel than a simple headline.

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Bethesda, Md.: Did Nicklaus have the fan following that Tiger does?

Tom Boswell: Yes, after he got handsome, he was a sports "god." But I don't think he ever quite crossed into the mythological athlete category like Tiger has because you couldn't imagine him being almost as good at other sports. Tiger is a big powerful man when you get up close.

What people don't understand about Tiger is how normal he is when he's not on the course. His parents did an exceptional job. Of all the "star-from-infancy" athletes I've covered, none seems less stuck on his own "starness." If Tiger's a little sad about anything, it's probably that people don't realize that there isn't as big a gap between him and them as they think. On the other hand, he sure hasn't stopped the Tiger Star Machine from turning him (someday) into a billionaire. So, I guess he can't complain.

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Anonymous: If I recall correctly, if Adam Dunn is traded, he can opt for free agency at the end of the season, no? Do you think that makes the Nats less inclined to deal him since it is possible the other team may only get a two-month rental?

Tom Boswell: Dunn shouldn't be traded and won't be traded. Enjoy him.

Right now, Mark Teixeira, who cost $180M+ in long-term obligations (ie., risk), has 20 homers, 62 RBI, an on-base percentage of .388, slugging .546, hitting .281 and OPS of .934 in 80 games.

Dunn, who cost $20M in long-term obligations, has 22 homers, 59 RBI, .396-.533-.260-.529.

Dunn has been just as good an offensive player. Teixeira is an above-average, some-say Gold Glove 1st baseman, Dunn is a poor but not atrocious leftfieler. The Nats got Dunn and still "kept" the additional $13M that they didn't spend on Teixeira. They just didn't SPEND it. For the deal they offer Teixeira, the Nats could have signed Dunn, Beimel, Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf. And none of the contracts would have run more than three years -- hence, less risk. Or they sure could have tried to sign them all.

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Another candidate for manager: Kirk Gibson. He has (I believe) an Arizona connection to Rizzo. He was supposedly the top candidate to replace Melvin there and people were surprised he didn't get it, which means he's probably ready to move on. He was an aggressive, "gamer" type of player and clearly has sufficient teaching/coaching skills if he was thought highly enought to be considered for the Diamondbacks job. Frankly, he reminds me of a young Frank Robinson.

Tom Boswell: Interesting. Few ever played the game harder. How good is he at evaluating and dealingwith people, understanding model tactics and stats. Etc. But an interesting thought.

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Potomac, Md.: Is the Short family interested in getting back into baseball? I don't remember those years well, but they couldn't have been worse than the Lerners. They at least had one winning year.

Tom Boswell: Bob Short had a net worth of $3.40.

Actually, Shirley Povich once proved that Short bought the Senators with only $2,000 out of his pocket. All the rest borrowed.

Everybody wants to reach a final conclussion about the Lerners long before -- yes, long before -- there is sufficient information. Yes, there are a lot of indications! But the Strasburg negotiations and the free agent market this winter -- when prices will be low -- will give us a lot more data.

Look, before this season if you'd said, "Who would you rather have as closer, Hanrahan or Sherrill in Baltimore?" I'd had said, "Sherrill will blow out his arm. He was over-used last year and has no pedigree as a real closer. Hanrahan might be a mini-Broxton (Dodgers). Or he'll just be decent." That's just one of hundreds of opinions that we all have, many of them wrong. But if Hanrahan had been the one with 19 saves and a 2.06 ERA now, then it might be the Nats who'd be 35-47, or some such poor but not awful record, and fans would say, "Well, the Nats are better this year. They can hit some. They're kinda fun. And, you know, with the Teixeira offer, the Zimmermann resign, the ($6M in salary increase) Olsen-Willingham deal, the Dunn signing, the Beimel pick up and their willingness to pick Strasburg No. 1 even though he'll cost plenty, maybe they WILL spend enough eventually to have good team."

One key player, or maybe two, can make that much difference in how teams and people are perceived in sports. Don't tell me that 90% of fans wouldn't change their minds, almost completely revise their view of the Lerners (or any owners), if a couple of relevers had worked out well instead of stinking.

And this is from a guy who's been all over them since the end of last season to give the town the kind of credible, enjoyable team that the city deserves after the ballpark that DC built and the kind of revenues they'd generate with an average MLB product.

By the way, if DC is a "bad baseball town," then how come the Nats, within a couple of weeks, will be 21st or 22nd in attendance despite a team that is now a national version of the Bad News Bears? ashington support-relative-to-product-offered may be better than I expected. There is no way that, over a 10 year period with a team that averaged 81 wins a year, that Washington wouldn't be at least in the middle of MLB's markets in terms of revenues. I doubt that many people could look at the data -- and I have -- and come to any other conclussion. How can a team lose 102 games, be on a 14-loss pace and be ahead of six teams in attendance and on the heels of a couple of others? New ballpark? Yes. But a new ballpark with absolutelty nothing around it.

Anway, thisis a debate that won't end any time soon -- since it's been going on in this town since the original Senators left almost 50 years ago.

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U Street: Tom,

Great column yesterday. After reading it, I went back and looked over some of your columns from early 2007. It's amazing how much this organization is treading water, or even moving backwards.

Remember when Stan told you in 2007 that the organization was ahead of the '88 Braves at the major league level? Ha! All the pieces he identified are no longer such, other than Zimmerman. It was also interesting to see that Kasten had referred to himself as the "Village Idiot" back in '07, too.

What concerns me most, in going back and reading those columns again, is that the organization's arrogance -- especially Kasten's -- seriously clouds its judgment. Your thoughts?

Tom Boswell: Confidence and arrogance are closelty related. And nobody succeeds wiuthout confidence. For what it is worth, Kasten's confidence is barely diminished at all! Once, just once, after a bad loss in the tunnel outside the locker room, he said to Rizzo, "Okay, just once let me take off my rose-colored glasses ..."

Nobody achieves anything in sports or business who isn't a confident optimist. It's just the nature of the beast. Out-sized people do out-sized things. (And also, sometimes, fail most spectacualrly, too. Like Bob McNamara -- how's that for supreme confidence, intelligence, rose-colored glasses and as dead wrong as anybody can be.) You find me a semi-mentally-healthy self-doubting realist without delusions of world domination and I'll show you a sportswriter.

That's it for today! See you after the All-Star fun.

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Chicago: What's the deal with Alfonso Soriano? We were told he was good.

Tom Boswell: What, you guys don't want to pay the $90M that's still left on his contract!?

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Historical comparison: You saw them both. Which team was worse: the '09 Nats or the '88 O's?

By the way, Nats fans, just remember, that awful O's team made a great no. 1 pick that year (Gregg Olson, who became their closer), made some good trades from June through the next spring (Mike Boddicker for Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling!), went from being a lousy defensive team to a good one, especially in the outfield, and fell two games short of the AL East title in '89. There is hope! (I think)

Tom Boswell: Excellent example. And one I looked at recently. The current Nats are much better, especially the pitching pipeline. Those bad O's had Ripken-Murray, but little else. And they were the physically weakest baseball team I ever saw -- no muscles anywhere in sight. The O's improved by 33 wins in one season -- after trading Murray after '88!

The Nats won't lose 107 games. Why, they "only" have to go 30-49 to beat that! (I can't even type the words without laughing.)

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Best Head in Sports: Best non-athlete: Tony LaRussa

Best athlete: Peyton Manning (if for no other reason that he has a lot less time to make his decisions than Tiger)

Tom Boswell: Thanks.

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Trading owners: One exception to your rule on trades in MLB, Bud Selig traded for John Henry as the owner of the Red Sox the last time the team was up for sale.

Tom Boswell: Commissioners pick owners. At least in baseball.

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Arlington, Va.: What are relations like between the bullpen members and the rest of the team? With all the blown saves, I'm surprised to not hear about any friction.

Tom Boswell: They speak in passing. But quietly.

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Bethesda, Md.: Any idea when they're going to resume the rain delayed game? Nobody has a time listed!

Tom Boswell: 7:05.

Regular game at 8.

Lannan has offered to pitch both games. (Seriously.) Don't know if they'll let him.

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Tom Boswell: OK, fellow "Order of the Tomahawk," I saw that.

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