Danny Espinosa can improve next year, says Davey Johnson - MLB Update
Second baseman Danny Espinosa was a part of the speculation of being traded during the Baseball Winter Meetings.
So far he has survived being sent to some other team. In the midst of various possibilities about his future, manager for the Nationals, Davey Johnson has emerged as a ray of hope and a morale booster for him.
Johnson is confident that Espinosa will learn lessons from his mistakes in the last season and improve his numbers immensely next year.
The way Ian Desmond quelled questions marks on his ability to perform consistently, Espinosa can also do the same, he believes.
Espinosa had a below par season. Though his team went into the playoffs, his contributions were insignificant. Right from day one, he struggled to show off the kind of flair he exhibited way back in 2010, which was his first year in the Major League.
It was only a couple of months before the conclusion of the last season that he started to perform better and more consistently.
However, at that time the bulk of the season had passed and it was hard to remove the doubts in the minds of the officials that were created by his sub spar shows earlier.
Espinosa can thank Johnson for giving him the confidence at a time when it is doubtful the Nationals retain him for 2013 season.
Johnson feels the kind of attitude Espinosa has toward the game and the team-mates will help him a lot in his quest for rebounding.
“But he told me in Houston the last month of the season, his goal every month is to improve a little bit. I thought he made giant steps this year. He’s got a guy that wants his job and thinks he’s better than him is [Steve] Lombardozzi. And I like Lombardozzi
also. Both had good years, but I think Danny’s going to come in this coming year with a mindset kind of like Ian Desmond came into this last year, and it’s going to be his job to lose,” Johnson said.
Currently, the Nationals are ideally poised to achieve something enviable next year. Their players are desperate to win games.
They have all the talent of the world present on their roster. The names like Jayson Werth and Bryce Harper are ready and prepared for the challenge ahead.
Apart from the need to have one starting pitcher, there is hardly anything which is missing on their roster. Within a next couple of days, they can visit the free agent market and see if some starter fulfils their criteria.
From the way General Manager for Washington, Mike Rizzo has dealt with the issues so far, it can be concluded that they are looking for perfection in every area.
This is perhaps what makes the existence of Espinosa on the roster problematic for them.
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