A Salvage Project No More

There is this from Frank Robinson about Cristian Guzman in today's Washington Post:

"'I have to try to get this guy whole for the rest of the year,'" Robinson said. "To talk about, now, taking him out of the lineup for a few days or a week or whatever -- what damage might that do to him for the rest of the year?'"

Um, Frank, maybe we should be thinking about the damage Guzman is doing to your lineup as opposed to the damage removing him from the lineup would do to him. We're quite sure that even the most cursory analysis would demonstrate that the damage to the lineup far outweighs any potential damage to Guzman, who is arguably the worst starting shortstop in major league baseball.

And then there is this from Jim Bowden: "'We have to solve Guzman,'" Bowden said. "'Solving him isn't going to be trading him. It isn't going to be sending him out. Solving him means we got to get his bat going somehow. Somehow.'"

Um, Jim, there isn't anybody who would trade for Guzman now. We realize that Bowden might want to salvage something from the disastrous four-year, $16.8 million contract he signed with Guzman, but we are past that point now. 269 at bats later, it is clear that Guzman is not a major league shortstop. He might improve after an extended trip to the minors during which he can try to remake his swing, but the Nationals don't have the luxury of using one of their regular lineup spots during a penant race to give Guzman that opportunity at the major league level.