According to the Washington Post:

The Washington Nationals radically altered the baseball landscape Sunday night, ending a winter of relative inactivity by agreeing to a seven-year contract with free agent pitcher Max Scherzer, according to a person with direct knowledge of the talks.

I shoulda listened to my father, the chess player.

He tried to teach me to take my time when my opponent made a move that perhaps seemed weak, foolish, or one I didn’t understand.  He warned not to jump too quickly in my next move and to beware of what further moves my opponent might have in mind.

For the most part, I’ve followed that advice, at least with reference to MillersTime.

As I wrote, when I emailed notice about a recent post (Nats: A Terrible, Terrible Mistake), “Generally I do not comment upon breaking news. However, last night/today are a bit different. In my humble opinion, the Nats have just made a huge mistake.”

The correct reference to ‘humble’ should be to the ‘humble pie’ before me today.

Nats’ General Manager and President of Baseball Operations, Mike Rizzo, it appears, had further moves in mind when I threw aside my usual caution of not commenting on breaking news and jumped to my condemnation of his trading Tyler Clippard for Yunel Escobar.

That trade needs to be put in context of what now appears to be another move by Mr. Rizzo, the apparent acquisition of Max Scherzer.

(Note to self: be careful MillersTime blogger, you may be making the same mistake of writing too soon about a breaking event.)

Plus, who knows what further moves Mr. Rizzo has planned?

Whatever they are, it certainly seems as if he is intent on getting to (and winning) the World Series in 2015.

My natterings, so to speak, about the Clippard for Escobar trade look a bit foolish in light of Mr. Rizzo’s grand plans. It is now more clear that the trade also had to do with clearing some financial room for deals such as the Scherzer one.

(Further note to self: beware of wanting to point out that losing one of the best set up relievers, much beloved by the team and fans, for a declining infielder who may well have some ‘personality’ problems, is still a questionable move.)

Further evidence of my foolishness(es) is the recently announced contest to predict three consequences of the Clippard for Escobar trade. The Scherzer acquisition changes some of the dynamics there.

But, after a brief reconsideration of the contest (further, further note to self: you just don’t learn, do you?) and because some of you have already sent in your predictions, I have decided to let the contest continue. However, if you are one of those who have already made your predictions, you may revise them any time before the contest deadline: Mar. 1.

So,  I apologize to Mr. Rizzo for not having more faith in him.

And, I promise to do better, after this post, in following my father’s wise advice.

(PS – Paying more than one million dollars for every win Schezer might get in a Nats’ uniform in 2015, and for the six years that follow, certainly seems expensive, even if it gets them a WS title. But apparently I haven’t learned much as there are articles now that cite scenarios where the Nats may have less of a payroll than before acquiring Scherzer.)