When Justin Maxwell and Nyjer Morgan collide...

  

(Justin Maxwell and Nyjer Morgan collided in the outfield on Friday night. Picture of TV/MASN by Nationals Enquirer staff.)

During Friday night's episode of "Two Guys We'd Rather Not See Patrolling the Outfield for the Nationals in 2011", Nyjer Morgan drifted into left center field and collided with Justin Maxwell in the 7th inning, 1-1 game. Maxwell's ball, right? Ah, who cares! The good news is, the game winning run didn't score as a result of that play. Josh Thole took care of that in extra innings.

The bad news is, Jim Riggleman told reporters before the game that he expects to go into 2011 with the same batch of outfielders he started 2010 with, presumably minus Willie Harris  -- Willingham, Morse, Bernadina, Maxwell, Morgan.

"I think the most likely scenario is we'll have pretty much the same group. Now, if [GM] Mike [Rizzo] acquires an outfielder that has superior numbers to these guys, then these guys will be put on the back burner. But I don't anticipate that happening."
(Jim Riggleman, via Mark Zuckerman/CSNWashington.com, 10/1/2010)

More reality checking, via Jim Riggleman:

"Those few guys who are free agents, they can almost hand-pick the place they go. I think we have to go into it trying to do the best we can with the guys we have, and hopefully, with a year under their belt, they make progress."
(Jim Riggleman, via Ben Goessling/MASNSports.com, 10/1/2010)

In other words: the Carl Crawford pipe dream is dead. Duly noted. And I guess we're okay with a Willingham-Bernadina-Morse outfield to start next year. But can't Mike Rizzo do something about those other guys?

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Comments

[WFY]

Did I start a DFA chant at baseball on the barn after this? Yes, I did. Hopefully they heard it at 1500 S. Cap

[Chris Frost]

I was a great chant, taken up by at least half the crowd at the barn.

[Harper]

So what you're saying is that "Two Guys We'd Rather Not See Patrolling the Outfield for the Nationals in 2011" just got renewed for another season. It's like "According to Jim" all over again...