We Will Rebuild Them, and Make Them Stronger

Time to clean house and send the veterans to the glue factory. The Nats can't win much, but they can't win at all with Brian Schneider in the line-up. The guy had a dreadful season behind the plate in '06, but a catching upgrade apparently wasn't in the plans for '07: the Nats went into the year with Schneider as the undisputed starter and Rule 5 pick Jesus Flores as the back-up. I want to see more of Flores and less of Schneider and much, much less of his butt-ugly catcher's mask. Who does this dude think he is - Olaf Kolzig? If history repeats itself, Schneider will rejuvinate himself with some other team in '08. Hey, it worked for Michael Barrett.

Having Schneider catch games while the team eats bad contracts isn't hurting the Nats, though. Handing the ball to Chad Cordero in the 9th, when the Nats actually find themselves with a save opportunity, might be. More specifically, it isn't helping Cordero's trade value. The Nats totally should have sold high (does no one in management have a fantasy league team on the side?) when the Red Sox were swinging on Cordero's nuts. Cordero looks shaky out there right now; he's not getting enough chances to practice his art -- and mowing 'em down in the 9th is definitely an art. My gut says not to trust him at all; the problem is that the team doesn't have a hot hand to pass the ball to. Yikes. What happens when the team trades Cordero for pennies and pocket lint after All-Star Break? Maybe Jon Rauch is better suited to a set-up role; maybe they're waiting for the return of Luis Ayala.