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Pray Rauch can step up to the mound.
The Washington Nationals yesterday announced a 2006 television schedule that reduces by nearly half the number of games that will be broadcast over the air, further limiting the team's exposure in the Baltimore-Washington region because major cable companies that dominate the market have not agreed to carry its games.Make sure to bring your anti-Angelos signs to the Nats-O's games this season. I can't wait to go to Baltimore with Nats gear on and a sign that says something witty. We have a few months to come up with something good to combat this evil force that fights our saints day in and day out.
The Yankees will spend more than $200 million on player salaries, which is nearly double the payrolls of the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals combined.Wait, let me say that again:
The Yankees will spend more than $200 million on player salaries, which is nearly double the payrolls of the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals combined.It's criminal, it really is. If the O's and the Nats had payrolls that high, they, too, would draw the crowds and would bring in more profits, thus perpetuating a cycle similar to the hated Yanks. Any club that fields a team of future Hall-of-Famers at the same time is going to wipe most other teams off the playoff map.
On Thursday, some of the Nationals, including Ryan Church, Nick Johnson and Schneider, threw a farewell get-together for infielder Jamey Carroll last Thursday in Viera, Fla. Carroll was sold to the Rockies for $300,000 last week. Johnson said he was sorry to see his close friend leave the team.But hey, at least we got the aged Damian Jackson and Royce Clayton and that jerk Robert Fick, right? [/sarc]
"I'm going to miss him a lot," Johnson said. "He was a good friend. He played the game the way it was supposed to be played. He played hard. I plan to keep in contact with him."
Mystery solved. It turns out 12 vinyl Cardinals missing from billboards in and around St. Louis, aren't really missing - because it's a publicity stunt.Umm...why?
Monday, Cardinal's media director Brian Bartow said they weren't acts of theft or vandalism. He said it was all part of the advertising plan and that the birds will show up on other billboards sometime soon.
Welcome to the first full day of workouts for pitchers and catchers, a picture-perfect snapshot of spring all over the St. Lucie complex.Give me a break. Lima is past his prime, and even when he was in his prime, he didn't deserve to wear 42. No one in the Majors today deserves to wear the number, except maybe some older coaches like Frank Robinson, who endured so much racism and so many death threats he had to leave Cincinnati. Jackie Robinson did something not simply for baseball, but for this entire nation. Lima simply runs his mouth.
With just one blemish...the sight of spring-training invitee Jose Lima in a No. 42 jersey blurred the picture just enough to taint it.
What the heck were the Mets thinking?
George Steinbrenner finished his salad and stuffed shells, rose from the lunch table and headed for his ever-ready golf cart.Such an image!
...when someone asked about the inaugural World Baseball Classic, Steinbrenner hit the brakes and took the bait.In pinstripe language, doesn't that mean, "if you DO play, I'll make your life hell for awhile?"
"Well, we don't like it too well, because if a player gets hurt, he's risking a lot," Steinbrenner said. "But it was Selig's idea and he wants to do it, so I suppose we're going to do it."
Steinbrenner said his players were welcome to withdraw, but he would not tell them to.
In terms of upgrading the talent on the roster, it was a bad offseason for Cincinnati. Aside from the addition of Williams, a pitching staff in need of an extreme makeover was only tweaked. The Reds never landed a top-end starting pitcher or an established closer. The only plus to the loss of Sean Casey is it allows Adam Dunn to move to first base, which opens left field for Wily Mo Pena and right field for Austin Kearns, both of whom finally will get to play every day.MLB.com says this:
The biggest issue facing the team this spring is assembling a pitching staff with depth. Cincinnati ranked at the bottom of the National League in several categories in 2005 but made few significant changes to the 2006 staff. The club also did not find an established closer.Last year, I was excited at the Reds prospects. This year, I feel last place coming on. But hey, miracles can happen, right?
Collective bargaining for a new basic agreement won't formally begin anytime soon, the head of the Major League Baseball Players Association told a gathering of media, advertisers and baseball executives at the 16th Annual Bay Area Baseball Luncheon on Thursday.The only person worse for baseball than Fuhrer Selig is Comrade Fehr.
The current agreement expires on Dec. 19.
"There's a long time between now and December," said Don Fehr. "Let's hope we don't use all of it."
The Nationals added Soriano, Brian Lawrence and Ramon Ortiz to essentially the same bunch that went 81-81 last season. The pitching staff, led by Livan Hernandez, John Patterson (3.13 ERA last season) and closer Chad Cordero (league-leading 47 saves) has the potential to be good again this season. Having Soriano should help even more, as Washington's weak spot last year was an anemic offense. The Nationals finished last in the league in both batting average and runs.While it is true that the Mets and Braves are better on paper, the fact is that the Mets had a decent team last year and flopped. The Braves, well? The Braves. I'm sick of the Braves and hate them nearly as much as the Yanks. I don't see the Phils finishing above the Nats unless Washington's injuries take the toll they did last year. I'm liking the Nats prospects this year. It's all about the pitching (and a new powerful bat in the lineup.)
Projected regular-season finish: Fourth place
Biggest Spring Training challenge: Convincing Soriano to move to left field, which would enable the Nationals to keep a now-healthy Jose Vidro at second, would make Washington stronger offensively and defensively.
Best position battles: The back end of the rotation behind Hernandez and Patterson looks like a dogfight. Four veterans -- Ortiz, Lawrence, Tony Armas Jr. and Ryan Drese -- will battle it out for three spots.
Wild Card: The Nationals stayed in contention longer than most observers gave them a chance to last season. Perhaps adding Soriano and good health from regulars like Vidro, Nick Johnson, Jose Guillen and Brian Schneider, might be enough to boost the Nationals a half-dozen wins or so higher in 2006. If so, that would likely put Washington in contention again.
Nationals second baseman Jose Vidro said his goal is to play 160 games in 2006. If he reaches that plateau, it will be the first time since 2002 that Vidro was injury free.Fat chance. He only played in 87 games last year and 110 in 2004.
The decision not to use the Deutsche Bank plan could be politically damaging to Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), who is running for mayor and who led the council's charge to find private financing.YES! Bye, bye, Linda Crapp. You've done your best to destroy DC baseball, but divine punishment from the Baseball God is heading your way.