Welcome To DC, John Wall (The Superfan Video)

There's a video that's been making its way 'round the interwebz since Thursday, welcoming Wizards No. 1 overall pick John Wall to D.C.

That video can be found on NBA.com and, needless to say, is interesting, professionally done, and features several famous DC personalities.

That's great and all, but I'm a sucker for unintentional comedy. And on the unintentional comedy scale, these three super fans' home video might just take the cake.

Welcome to DC, John Wall.

Who Would You Trade for Stephen Strasburg?

After 4 glorious games, have we seen enough of Stephen Strasburg to annoint him as the most valued player in the world? If we put aside team need and contract, is there anyone in the league for whom you would trade Pitching Jesus? I know that some people are curious to see the 21 year old phenom against a better lineup, but this is more curiosity than a concern. Pitching Jesus is legit and the only long term concern is that pitchers are major injury risks, particularly ones throwing stinky cheese. I have been debating this all weekend with friends, and the list of guys I think are more valuable than Strasburg at this moment is short, really short. To be clear, we are doing something similar to the NBA trade value column that Sports Guy does for espn.com; we are disregarding team need and contract size, and only taking into account age, performance, position, etc. Here is the list of guys that I at least consider for Strasburg (with age in parentheses and in no particular order):

1. Matt Wieters (24) - Jokes!
2. Tim Lincecum (26) - Older than I realized, but seems a safe bet to avoid injury problems and pitch extremely well for years.
   
3. Hanley Ramirez (26) - Slightly on the old side, but plays a premium position.
   
4. Evan Longoria (24) - Younger than Hanley and without character issues despite not being as good of a hitter.
   
5. Jason Heyward (20) - The only player on the list younger than Pitching Jesus is having a monster rookie campaign. He does not play a premium position though, and has only proven himself for half a season.
   
6. Felix Hernandez (24) - Don't forget about King Felix. Healthy, young, and dominant puts him as a very strong possibility.
   
7. Justin Upton (22) - Going into the season, he was the best young hitter in the game, but has now lost that title to Heyward.
   
8. Yovani Gallardo (24) - He is proving himself this year and is still young.
   
9. Clayton Kershaw (22) - The youngest pitcher on this list and just a year older than Strasburg. His walk rate and G/F ratios are not good, but a ton of strikeouts and is keeping the ball in the park so far.
   
10. Ubaldo Jimenez (26) - The most dominant pitcher this season is a little older than I'd like, and does not have the track record to make me confident that he will continue maintain this level of performance.
    
11. Francisco Liriano (26) - having a terrific year, but age and history of arm trouble are not what I'm looking for.
12. Ryan Braun (26) - Stud hitter but a little old and plays LF.
    
13. Albert Pujols (30) - Absurd that a 30 year old can make this list, but he is just that good. He could maintain his level of performance for at least 6 more years and I wouldn't be surprised.
    
14. Josh Johnson (26) - A little old, and some previous arm trouble.
    

That is everyone, just 13 guys that would at least make the Nationals think. Some of my friends think none of these guys make the cut for Strasburg, but I think you have to trade him for the following:

1. Evan Longoria
2. Jason Heyward
3. Hanley Ramirez

As you can see, all 3 of these guys are hitters. The biggest concern for me is the injury risk, and I think you have to play it safe with a position player in these instances. Although Strasburg has a higher injury risk than some of the other pitchers, he is younger and better than his peers and thus no pitchers make the list; the closest call for me is Felix Hernandez, but you can't make that move. I also should note that Strasburg is the biggest draw in baseball right now, and the money he is worth to a team goes beyond his contributions to winning. However, Strasburg's shine will likely wear off a bit after this season, 'Oh, just another 8 K/0 BB/0 HR performance...'.

I can understand if you put Strasburg as the #1 asset in baseball and welcome everyone's opinions, but if Pitching Jesus can maintain his performance through the end of the season, there won't even be a debate.

(Image courtesy of gallery.fotoglif.com, ages and stats courtesy of espn.com and baseballprospectus.com)