Ryans in the Outfield

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We just got screwed.

If you listen carefully, you can hear Wayne Krivsky laughing. He's still stinging from last year's Nats/Reds trade. This time though, Bowden's trading with Billy Bean, which is like making-out with a pickpocket.

The Natties traded outfielder Chris Snelling to the A's for Fresh-Off-The-Plane-From-Atlanta Ryan Langerhans.




Bowden wasn't terribly clear on why. "In our ballpark and with our young pitching staff, it's good to have good defense in the outfield. We want to be able to catch the ball. Ryan can play all outfield positions, and he is a plus in all three positions. We thought that was important, especially in our ballpark."

What a load. We've all come to expect better lying from Bowden. This is not his best work. He could just as easily have been talking about Snelling.

Statistically, this trade doesn't make much sense. DC traded a good fielder with less-than-impressive hitting and running numbers for a good fielder with less-than-impressive hitting and running numbers. Langerhans has slightly more experience, so today, at this very moment, the scale is tipping to Bowden getting the better side of this dead-even deal.

But wait ... isn't that Billy Bean at the table? What's he up to?

photo by Marice Cohn

Did the A's acquire Langerhans from Atlanta just to pick up Snelling? Why? DC most likely was much more interested in Langerhans than Oakland was in Snelling. So what else was promised to Billy Bean? I feel so dirty.

When the Nationals hired Pat Corrales, Stan Kasten got his old bench coach back, along with nine years of Atlanta Braves dugout intel. Corrales probably watched Langerhans get scouted and come up through ATL's excellent farm system. That's somewhat comforting. Maybe there's a big back story. I'll go even further out on this limb and point out that Andruw Jones' $75-million dollar contract is up at the end of '07, and this may be a piece of the puzzle to reel him in. When the Natties were in Atlanta, AJ went on and on about his love for Stan Kasten. I don't have the exact quote, and I'm far too lazy to google it, but I believe AJ said Kasten was like a second father to him. Who knows? Maybe Langerhans is like a kid brother. He feels better looking to his left and seeing Langerhans. Who knows? Who knows? After cutting the Nats payroll in half in 2007, there may well be enough cash in the coffers to woo AJ. If you can't idly speculate without enough data, how are you supposed to pass the workday?

There are a couple of things that are certainties; First, Langerhans is no worse and no less an unknown that Snelling was. Secondly, I need to get a Ryan Langerhans jersey and cover it with grommets. Grommets are also known as eyelets. It'll be my islets of Langerhans jersey. RING RING!! SportsCenter calling!