Milledge and Dukes

Alright, everyone has something to say about these two acquisitions, so I guess I do too. On a simple talent for talent basis, I think it would be hard to deny that the Nationals won big time. Don't get me wrong, Ryan Church is absolutely one of my favorite players in baseball, but for whatever reason, the Nationals organization doesn't like him. Whether it's for his lack of perceived effort, or the fact that he lets the game get in his head, or he can be very streaky, the front office has no faith in him, so it was inevitable that he would go. He had a good year last year (.272/.349/.813) with 43 doubles, which is quite a lot. But he was a goner. And Schneider has intangibles out the wahoo, throws out a lot of baserunners, and can't hit to save his life. I thought he would be gone after 2008, but again, I felt like it was inevitable that he would go, so it was unsurprising when it happened.

Milledge's numbers in 350 major league at bats are less, (.257/.326/.740) but importantly, he's six years younger than Ryan Church, and up until his personality problems, which I'll get to in a minute, was one of the Mets' prized prospects, who they refused to deal for less than a King's ransom. Worst case scenario, talent wise, is that he ends up being Church as a righty. Best case? The lower part of the sky is the limit. As for Dukes, he is again one of those guys for whom the lower part of the sky is the limit, probably won't ever be a superstar, but could be real good. Boswell's analysis is typical Boswell nonsense, and Harper over at Oleanders and Morning Glories (henceforth OMG) will be glad to tell you why.

So onto the personality side of the argument. I feel like Milledge and Dukes are in two very different camps on this. Milledge's escapades have been blown way out of proportion, though his rap song is, ahem, very descriptive. But can you really, really blame him? A 21 year old kid faced with fame in the New York, and everything that comes with it? If A-Rod catches shit for being shirtless in Central Park with his family, the pitfalls before these unestablished kids on whom we pin our hopes for our franchises must be ridiculously numerous. Get Lastings out of New York, and sit him down with Manny and the Meat Hook, I feel like calming him down won't really be a big deal.

Dukes, on the other hand, appears to be something of a sociopath, from everything we've been able to read. His actions are indefensible, but people can change and be changed, and he himself has said he needed to get out of Tampa Bay. Let's not pigeonhole him as some kind of crazed killer before we get to know him, shall we? All this crying on the interwebs that I'm seeing really does nothing except to set people up to believe he's already a problem in DC. Give it a rest, and let's see how it pans out.