Sports Talk: Betting on the Farm Team

ALFONSO SORIANO IS GONE. So are Livan Hernandez, Jose Vidro, Jose Guillen and many other established veterans.

Coming soon: Chris Marrero, Justin Maxwell and Ross Detwiler.

Never heard of the latter group? Don't fret. Few have.

But they are part of the plan concocted when general manager Jim Bowden signed on with the fledgling Washington Nationals before the 2005 season and accelerated a year ago when the Lerner family was installed as the ownership group, bringing along former Atlanta Braves architect Stan Kasten as team president.

The premise? Don't worry about winning now. Ain't gonna happen. Rebuild the farm system. Spend money on scouts, not sluggers.

So there was Bowden last week, flanked by his front office all-star team at a table in the Nats' RFK Stadium offices, touting the latest top draft pick and singing the praises of his scouting department.

"In my 23 years in a draft room, I've never been around such brilliant minds," Bowden said after the first of five picks in the top 70 selections. "We're very blessed to have four scouting directors in the room, three former farm directors, two general managers and a president overlooking a club that won 14 straight divisional titles."

Top pick Detwiler, a lefty with a mid-90s fastball and a "wipeout" curveball, is projected to reach the big club next year or maybe 2009. To the credit of Bowden and company, they've done pretty well on draft day so far.

In 2005, the first pick of the new incarnation of the Nationals was third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, already a stalwart on the big-league team. That draft also brought outfielder Justin Maxwell, who hit .301 with 14 homers and 40 stolen bases at Class A Hagerstown this season before he and 2006 first-round pick Chris Marrero (.293, 14 homers and 53 RBI) were promoted this week to high Class A Potomac.

"I think this is a big draft for them to do what they need to do to take this club to the next level," Zimmerman said.

And so the focus for the pitching-thin Nationals turns to signing Detwiler, the No. 6 pick, and converting those dreams of a prosperous future into reality.

Scouting director Dana Brown's mind already wanders to some future October with a capacity crowd at a new ballpark in Anacostia.

"When you're building a championship club, you need starting pitching," Brown said. "We feel that we have a left-handed starter that's going to pitch at the top of the rotation. When you're playing in the postseason, you're going to need guys like this that you're going to hand the ball to."

» SCOUTING THE SCOUTS: Here's a look at some of the key players in Jim Bowden's scouting department, including the group's impressive credentials:

» Dana Brown, director of scouting, has held the position with the Expos/Nationals since 2002 after eight years in Pittsburgh's scouting department.
» Mike Rizzo, assistant general manager/vice president of baseball operations, was formerly the vice president of scouting operations at Arizona.
» Bob Boone, assistant general manager/vice president of player development, was an all-star catcher and scout for the Philadelphia Phillies.
» Chuck LaMar, special assistant to general manager/national cross-checker, was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays general manager from 1995 to 2005.

Written by Express contributor Derek Turner
Mitchell Layton/The Washington Post