Before the Brewers clinched the Wild Card in 2008, the last time they had been in the playoffs Ronald Reagan was only in his second year of his first term.

It was a struggle for the Brewers from 1982-2008, filled with 16 years of embarrassment, futility, and well, Bud Selig-ness. The low point came in 2002 when the Brewers finished the season in last place with a record of 56-106. Brewers fans had had-it, following the 2002 season the club hired a new General Manager, Doug Melvin.

Under Melvin’s tutelage, the Brewers developed and grew arguably the league’s best home grown talent.

First came pitching phenom Ben Sheets. Sheets had been drafted in 1999, 10^th overall by the Brewers, and by 2000 he was an Olympic hero for the American Baseball team. He soon rode his newfound fame to the Major Leagues, however many speculated that he may have been rushed. For three years sheets produced mediocre results, which were interrupted by shoulder problems.

In 2004 however Sheets broke out in a big way. In 34 starts the hard throwing righty posted a 2.70 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 264 strikeouts to only 32 walks in 220 innings pitched. Those numbers were good enough for the leagues best strikeout to walk ratio and for a second All Star appearance for Sheets.

Then for the Brewers came the young home grown hitters we all know today. And as Sheets combined with Fielder, Braun, Weeks, Hart and eventually Sabathia the team rose to the top of the standings in 2008.

In the second half of 2008 Sabathia and Sheets were sensational for the Brewers. Sabathia recorded seven complete games and three shutouts. In 130 innings the big fella went 11-2, posted a 1.65 ERA and struck out 128. Sheets matched his brilliance with three shutouts of his own, along with a 3.09 ERA.

However the team met their downfall in the playoffs when Sheets could not pitch due to yet another arm injury. They lost 3-1 in the NLDS to eventual World Champions, the Philadelphia Phillies.

While the Brewers learned an important lesson about homegrown talent in 2008, that it needed to be supplemented by outside help, they also found that with Sheets Health, went the season.

Sheets arm troubles came from years of over work in a time when he should have been developing. By the time the Brewers needed him to be the Cy Young caliber pitcher he was, his arm was already on the fritz. The Brewers were in a bind in the early part of the decade and they needed their phenom young stud to pitch in the majors, whether that would result in success or failure.

If the Nationals are lucky, newly introduced pitcher Stephen Strasburg may someday reach the level of Ben Sheets at his best. Like Sheets ,Strasburg pitches above 95 miles per hour, has great breaking pitches, and tremendous strikeout potential.

Sheets and Strasburg both hold the distinction of striking out 20 batters in one Division I college baseball game, and of course they both hold the distinction of being anointed the savior of a franchise much in need of saving.

Both young starters pitched for team USA and both were considered at that time, essentially MLB ready.
  

Today however, the two stand very much apart in their careers, as Strasburg was just introduced into the league, and Sheets is currently on the outside looking in. Yet another shoulder surgery in the 2008 offseason left Sheets without a team for 2009, and while he will likely be back someday, neither he nor the Brewers will find the form they had in 2008 for a while.

The Nationals must learn from the Brewers cautionary tale and protect their investment. While we all may be itching to see number 37 in uniform, lets remember that number 15 no longer is.

Patience; it’s the key to hitting, it’s the key to pitching, and it’s the key to long careers.
 

1 Stephen Strasburg + 1 Ryan Zimmerman = 1 bright future for the Washington Nationals

Stephen Strasburg will be introduced as a Washington National this afternoon in what promises to be the most exciting day at Nationals Park since opening night.

To celebrate the anointment of the young pitcher, the Nationals are offering $1 tickets to the first 1,000 walk up fans between noon and two this afternoon. While that may be an indictment on how terrible Nationals tickets are selling, it is at the least an gesture from the ownership that perhaps things will start to turn around in the way this club is run.

The Nationals also offered $1 tickets to order on Wednesday, and within three hours 6,000 tickets were sold. I’m starting to think this may just be ploy to convince Strasburg we have regularly attending fans.

Everyone is excited for Strasburg’s arrival, EVEN JIM BOWDEN:

The Strasburg excitement has hit twitter as well. Here are some of the best under the thread “Stephen Strasburg is so good that:”

DArkMEATHOOK #strasburgissogood he will strike out the side in 9 pitches, 9 times during his first game

kevin_reiss #strasburgissogood he convinced his death panel to kill themselves

mstovall RT @NatsEnquirer: #strasburgissogood #nats will change name to Strasionals. Dunn will take the field wearing a "Strasinals" jersey.

andreekless #strasburgissogood that somehow Teddy is actually leading in the 2009 President's Race standings..

dougchapinjr #strasburgissogood that Smiley Gonzalez will actually be sixteen again

Manny_Acta #strasburgissogood That I could competently coach a team with him on the roster.

Lastly, check out Adam Dunn’s overwhelming excitement for the debut of Stephen Strasburg. Mr. Personality can hardly contain himself:

For three consecutive nights the Washington Nationals came up just short at home against the Colorado Rockies.

Gone however are the Rockies of the 1990’s, comprised of sluggers from end-to-end of the line up. There is no Andres Galarraga, Vinny Castilla, Larry Walker, or even Dante Bichette’s. Instead all that remains in this new, revamped Rockies club, is a reformed, powerless Todd Helton, a great pitching staff, and one hell of a defense.

It was that pitching staff and defense that carried the Rockies over the Nationals this week at Nats Park. Despite the Nats recording 24 hits in the three game series, the club was only able to score eighty runs. The solid defense of the Rockies was too much to overcome as every potential rally was turned into an inning-saving catch or a double play to take the wind out of the Nationals sails.

Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn combined to only go 4/22 on the series, with no runs scored and two RBI. Willingham went 1/12 with no runs and no RBI. It’s no mystery to see why the Nationals couldn’t score a clutch run all series.

This lack of clutch hitting (if there is such a thing) was on display each 9^th inning of the series as the Nationals had a chance to tie it up in each game. Alas, the Nats came up short each time against Rockies closer Huston Street. Street earned 3 saves but surrendered two runs in three appearences, a high rate for the young fireballer.

Rockies Starting pitching this series:

• Ubaldo Jimenez- 8 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 5 K, 1 BB
  
• Jason Marquis- 6 IP, 9 H, 3 ER,  1 K, 1 BB
  
• Jason Hammel- 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3K, 2 BB
  

Nationals last place standings:

(Mike Rizzo was introduced as the Nationals General Manager today)

Manny Ramirez pre-suspension:  27 Games .348/.470/.622 6 HR 20 RBI 21 R

Manny Ramirez post-suspension: 41 Games .278/.378/.500 7 HR 25 RBI 19 R

Most people’s initial reaction to these numbers will obviously be that his numbers are down significantly due to him being off of the illegal substances he was previously on.

This may be true but there are likely other major contributing factors. First, as a 36-year-old who didn’t sign until spring training, and then missed 50 games in the middle of the season, it’s reasonable to believe that he is somewhat out of routine. While Ramirez has been on the DL in the past he has never had a huge injury to miss 50 whole games, and is usually well known for his pre-season preparation.

Another possible answer is that the suspension just took the wind out of the sales of a 36-year-old getting close to the end of his career anyways. It may be hard for him to mentally overcome. 

Reports came out earlier this week that Mike Rizzo would lose his position as Interim General Manager by the end of the week. He did. He is now the Washington Nationals official General Manager.

Congrats Mike.

Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday that Mike Rizzo would be replaced by Arizona Diamondbacks Vice President Jerry DiPoto within 24 hours. Whether this report was true, and that was their plan at the time, will never be known. What is known however is that the Nats received terrible press for being rumored to fire the man who got the draft pick many considered unsignable. Hours later, Mike Rizzo is the Nationals General Manager.

A former Minor League player, Rizzo has been a long time scout. He began by scouting for the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox before moving to the Diamondbacks upon the franchise’s creation in 1998. In 2000 Rizzo was named the  Director of Scouting for the club, and held that position as the Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001, a record three years after the team’s creation.

Players drafted by Rizzo during his tenure in Arizona:

• Brandon Webb (Cy Young, Runner up twice)
  
• Justin Upton (All Star at the age of 21)
  
• Marc Reynolds (2nd in the majors in HR's)
  
• Stephen Drew (solid young shortstop hit 20 HR's last year)
  
• Conor Jackson (hit .300 last year)
  

Following the 2005 season Rizzo left Arizona when he was passed over for the General Manager job by Josh Byrnes (Ironically from D.C). Byrnes was a Theo Epstein protégé where Rizzo was considered an older, more traditional thinking baseball man.

In only three years with Washington Rizzo took the club’s minor league organization from being ranked 30^th, to 9^th.

Ted Keith of Sports Illustrated wrote this summer on Mike Rizzo’s four year plan which went something like this.:

1. Scouting and Player Development: Develop and gradually promote the talent that Rizzo has already acquired as director of player development. This includes preparing; Ross Detwiler, Jordan Zimmerman, Derek Norris, Dustin Hood, Chris Marrero and Michael Burgess.
   
2. 2009 Draft: The Nationals had a tremendous opportunity in 2009 with the first overall pick as well as two top 10 picks. The team capitalized by signing both Stephen Strasburg and No. 10(a) pick Drew Storen.
   
3. “Developing the core of young players at the major league level:” The young pitching staff, Martis, Lannan, Detwiler, Zimmermann, and Stammen have all had opportunities to develop and learn at the big league level this year. This is another reason for the change in pitching coach from a man who would be more helpful to a competing team, Randy St. Claire, to a man more designed to develop players, Steve McCatty.
   
4.  “Add Depth and Inventory at the major league level:” This one will take more time. Rizzo needs to look at the veterans we have in the Majors right now, and decide who will be here for the future. If they wont be here for the future, it is wiser to trade them now and capitalize on their value. This is what the Nationals did with Nick Johnson, and should have considered doing with Cristian Guzman.
   

Oh he also looks a lot like Billy Joel:
 

Every home game between the top and the bottom of the fourth inning, four of our finest presidents line up in centerfield and race for the glory of the evening.

This is a grand tradition in our Nation’s Capitol, to see some of the finest men ever to dawn our fair city gruel it out in a battle of brute strength, athleticism, and determination.

Yet despite 261 races our 26^th president, Teddy Roosevelt remains winless. Which leads to the obvious question, why can’t Teddy win?

Born in New York City in 1858, Teddy’s racing potential looked bleak at a young age. The youngster was sickly and asthmatic. Roosevelt was forced to sleep propped up in order to keep his airwaves open and promote healthy breathing. However for most success stories in American History, the thing that handicapped Teddy early on made him stronger.
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While Mike Rizzo may be on his way out, here is possibly his last public interview:

(chilling sign off where the Comcast announcer wishes Rizzo soon loses his 'acting' title)

On the Rizzo Rag, it appears the Nattosphere is sticking up for the acting general manager:

Hire Mike Rizzo (Nats Enquirer)
Acting, Full-Time Or...Fired? What? Seriously?(Federal Baseball)
Thanks for Strasburg, Now Beat it (Nats Triple Play)
A list of Rizzo accomplishments (Half Street Blues)

Because you haven't had enough Strasburg:

Bill Ladson from MLB.COM and All Nats All The Time breaks down the numbers of the Strasburg deal which evidently includes one year of college tuition and these incentives:

$50,000 -- Rookie of the Year
$50,000 -- All-Star Game
$25,000 -- Gold Glove
$25,000 -- League Championship Series
$50,00 -- World Series
$100,000 -- CY Young Award  
$80,000 -- For finishing second in the Cy Young award voting.
$60,000 -- For finishing third in the Cy Young award voting.
$40,000 -- For finishing fourth in the Cy Young award voting.
$20,000 --  For finishing fifth in the Cy Young award voting. 

Chico Harlan for the Washington Post writes in the Nationals Journal about the plan for Strasburg: