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Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
After winning four straight, including two out of three against the Yankees and the Blue Jays, the Nationals returned to Fenway South last week to face the Red Sox, who promptly extinguished any hope the dozens of Nationals fans may have had that the season would turn around. The team went 2-5 over the last week, and are in the middle of a series against the Marlins. The Nats are 0-7 against Florida this year, and 29-49 against the Marlins since coming to the District, so don't expect things to get better any time soon. Overall, the team is 22-52, but importantly are on pace for around 46 wins, which would avoid 120 losses or more.
The team remains unable to field and pitch. They have 68 errors in 74 games, which, thanks to Arizona's 71 in 76, is not the worst in the Major Leagues. The team's 5.22 ERA is the worst in the National League, although most of the blame falls on the bullpen. The bullpen has an MLB worst 5.67 ERA, while the team's starters have a 13th ranked 4.97 ERA, and that includes some starts by Daniel Cabrera.
Red Sox
After the Red Sox's invasion, Thomas Boswell wrote this article. In it, he writes that the fans of visiting teams make the Nationals a lot of money. On one hand, this is encouraging for a Washington baseball fan, because it guarantees that the team will stay here. On the other, the visiting fans allow the Lerners to make money without having to worry about fielding a good team. While Nats Park attendance will certainly increase as the team gets better, the question is would that increased revenue offset the increase in payroll that would be required to field the better team. The case could be made that the Nationals will make more money with a small payroll and lots of Phillies, Mets, Red Sox, and Cubs fans. Stan Kasten's earlier invitation to Phillies fans heightens these fears. Frequently, running a sports team is often not a money making enterprise, and the big question for the Lerners is are they running the Nationals for a profit, or to win?
Willie Harris
Willie Harris has been one of the recent bright spots in the Nationals lineup. After hitting a walk-off home run against the Blue Jays, Harris has been getting regular playing time in center field, and will now be the team's lead off hitter. He adds a dependable glove in the outfield, and has already made some spectacular plays. As Fire Jim Bowden says, It's Super Willie Time.
Game of the Week
This week's game of the week is July 4, when the Nationals face the Braves at home. John Lannan is scheduled to start for the Nats. Lannan has been pitching really well for the Nats recently, and is improving on his great 2008 season. Also, the first 20,000 fans get little American flags, which you will required to wave while singing "God Bless America."
Breifly Noted: The Nats are trying to get rid of Lastings Milledge... Ryan Langerhans is gone... The Dutch Wonder, Shairon Martis, is sent to Syracuse to make room for Scott Olsen's return... Teddy is trying to steal my gig.
Meaningless Statistic of the Week: The Nationals are leading the National League in being hit by a pitch while batting in the #6 position.
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Don't forget that the other great example of a perpetually losing team made money of attracting fans of the other team was also from Washington: the Washington Generals.
The Nationals ought to play the Bowie Baysox
In other Nats news it looks like they are finalizing a trade that would send Lastings Milledge to the Pirates for Nyjer Morgan.
There is incentive to field a good team because they own the Nationals brand. If they want to really make money and not tread water, they need the local transplants to change allegiances. The vast majority of fans that are for the Red Sox, Phillies, etc. are NOT visiting from out of town. They are DC area residents who grew up rooting for these teams. It's much better business to have a brand that appeals to the locals no matter who they're playing, rather than limiting their window of interest to a series or two a year. The stadium was full for Red Sox, but pretty empty for the Reds. This is not good for the bottom line.
Plus don't underestimate the revenue from sale of Nationals gear, television and radio advertising, and other income that directly correlates to the interest and success of THIS team. The focus needs to be not on how much money can be made game by game, but in creating a franchise that is cost effective all around. The way to get there is to field a good team and win local fans over. It's not hard - just start winning.
It feels like a team can make more money by building the brand and fans, etc. But, and for some reason the list isn't up on Forbes right now, if you look at the Forbes list that I reference in this post you see the Nats made $42.6 million last year, which was the second highest in baseball. They averaged the 19th highest attendance with 29,005 fans. Boswell's point is that while they are averaging 23,028 fans this year, with the Cubs coming, and more Phillies and Mets series, plus summer, their attendance average will go up. That combined with the $25 million they get guaranteed from the MASN deal, which covers almost half of their $60 million payroll, the Lerner's are in good shape to make a decent amount of money for a while, and could probably make more by cutting even more payroll. That is the thought that can keep a Nats fan up at night.