Not sure if you’re like me and think Ian Desmond should be the starting SS going in to 2010. Sure, he’ll make some errors, but if you believe the best coaches are at the major league level, he has the best opportunity to learn up in DC. And his range will beat the other choices anyway, so it may balance out even if he does make errors.

But some discouraging news came on that front yesterday. The Washington Post Sports Bog carried and interview of Mike Rizzo by Jim Bowden. Lots of interesting stuff, you should definitely take a look. When you get back here you can read this Rizzo quote I lifted from it:

We’ve put together kind of a pitch-to-contact rotation here, so we certainly need to get better defensively. And we think we’ve helped ourselves with Pudge behind the plate and Morgan in center. Guzzie at shortstop, he’s got fairly good hands and fairly good feet but his range obviously has backed up on him a little bit, and we do need to get better at second base, so we’ve talked to representatives of both of those two players and several others that we do have interest in. We’ve known going into the winter that that was going to be a point of emphasis, and we’re working on all facets of trying to stabilize the up-the-middle positions

The two players he’s talking about are Orlando Cabrera and Orlando Hudson and possibly Tony Orlando. You see, they have a gap in the middle infield and… wait. What? Guzman is the shortstop?!?!? What happened to this? And this? And this?

I haven’t heard much else about it, but if they do sign one of these guys, I am pretty sure then Desmond will be starting for Syracuse in the summer. If this is the case, I think it’s probably a bit of a waste. Desmond can hit at the major league level, better than Guzman. And I really think the best place for him to learn to be a better fielder is with the best coaches in the organization – at the major league level. More on this to come, I’m sure.

By Charlie