From the Front Office

Nationals Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden and Coach Manny Acta just held a conference call to announce the big trade of Brian Schneider and Ryan Church to the Mets for Outfielder Lasting Milledge. We were and still are a little shocked by the trade, its kind of like watching two of your good buddies move away. We are very sad to see both of them go, and wish them nothing but the best in NY.

With that said, both Manny and Jim sounded pretty excited about the deal during the conference. Bowden made the announcement and said that Milledge fits right into "the plan" as he is a young (22) player who will likely develop into a middle of the lineup impact hitter. The Nats will control him until 2012, so it bodes well for the future of the team. Jim also said that the Nats paid a steep price for the young player by dealing Church and Schneider. He thanked both of them for their work on and off the field, and made it clear that they will be missed.

Manny said it was a day of mixed emotions, but that the Nats are getting a guy that fits into the plan. He sounded confident in Milledge's abilities to play strong defense, produce runs, and bring a lot of energy to the team. When asked about the controversy surrounding Lastings, Manny defended him wholeheartedly, and said that Milledge is a good kid, who became a big leaguer at a young age, and had to learn a lot quickly. Acta said he has no doubt that Lastings is going to be just fine with the Nats. When asked if Milledge will be the Nats starting center fielder in 2008 Manny said it was still too early to tell. He's waiting till after Spring Training to make that decision.

After the Q&A with Jim and Manny, Lastings himself called in to answer a few questions. He said he is very excited to be with Jim and to play for Manny. Lastings admitted that while he struggled in New York Manny was there for him and showed him the way. Milledge said he would make sure to play hard for Manny. When asked if he thought he could play CF for the Nats, Lastings was confident in his abilities. He was drafted as a CF and feels like its his premier position. He feels comfortable playing in both left and right field as well. Milledge said he welcomes the playing time and that it's a relief to be with a team for a while.

Jim, of course, was asked about losing Schneider's veteran influence and leadership. Jim said that Austin Kearns, Dmitri Young and Ryan Zimmerman could step up to fill that void. He continued to emphasis that the goal was not to fill the 25 man roster perfectly, but to pick up a building block for the future. He cited some concern over losing two left-handed hitters, for example, and about the status of Jesus Flores. Jim did not give a clear answer, but said he is still open to allowing young Rule 5 star Flores to take the position.

Acta and Bowden continued to emphasis their desire to build a team through drafts and trades, using free agency only as a last resort.

We were encouraged by the conference. Milledge seems very excited to be part of a young team and glad to be given the chance to play. Manny couldn't say enough about him and seems to be very confident in his abilities. We are excited to see what Lastings will bring.

Milledge is a career .257 hitter. In 59 games with the Mets last season, he batted .272 with nine doubles, seven homers, 29 RBI and a .341 on-base percentage.

Sure to be lots of reflection and discussion about this over the next few days....leave your thoughts!

A Bowden-Style Big Trade

We're still reacting to this, but wanted to share the news.

Brian Schneider and Ryan Church have been traded to the New York Mets in exchange for Lastings Milledge.

The Nationals will make an announcement at 3 PM.

More to follow...

*new* ESPN report

Happy Birthday #7!

Sean Taylor Passes Away

Sean Taylor, safety for the Washington Redskins, died early this morning from a gunshot wound he suffered early Monday after an intruder broke into his Miami home. Taylor was only 24 years old and was widely acknowledged to be enjoying the best season of his career as well as maturing into a respectable young man according to teammates and coaches. In just his fourth season in the NFL, Taylor already played in the Pro Bowl and led the NFC in interceptions. He will be sadly missed both off and on the field.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Sean Taylor's family, friends and the Redskins community.

Sean Taylor pictured with Redskins coach Joe Gibbs.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Kevin Wolf

Happy Birthday #23!

Not One but Two!

There have been a lot of updates about Nationals players involved in the Fall and Winter leagues showing up lately. However, no one seems to be updating us on Jesus Flores' performance in the Venezuela Winter League. You'll recall that Venezuela denied Flores the right to play in the Arizona Fall League with the understanding that he would play everyday in his native country. Flores is playing for the Navegantes del Magallanes, but so far he hasn't played everyday, and thus hasn't seen many at bats. Yet, when Flores does play he produces, hitting singles and doubles.


Last night however, Flores made history. He and teammate Richard Hidalgo both hit two home runs in one game. The last time a feat like this occurred was in 1953. Flores led off the 5th inning with a home run, he followed up in the 7th with another solo shot to center field. A recap of the game can be found here (click on the play by play tab). Also there is a nice write up of the game, but unless you read Spanish you'll need to translate it.

I am pretty sure Venezuela doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, but it was a holiday in the US and Flores did hit two homers in one game. Maybe he will give our Mr. Holiday Hitter Ryan Zimmerman a run for his money next season!

Hope everyone had a nice Turkey Day.

A Necessary Evil?

Stan Kasten commented this weekend on Scott Boras, after his tough week. The goliath of sports agents watched his biggest client talk to the Yankees directly. Shortly there after, he lost Kenny Rogers too. Jerry Crasnick's column chronicles all the Boras mistakes over the past few weeks and the essential story of the famous agent.

Given the Nats interest in Jones, Stan's opinion of Boras is interesting:

"I used to think as Scott as a necessary evil, and now I've changed, I no longer think he is necessary. He and I are friendly enough personally, but I think the way he conducts himself is perfectly consistent with the job he's given within the system we have. I think the system could be better, and I've talked about this publicly, for all of sports, for all of fans, and for all of players, if the union took over that job, and we had an agent free universe, I think everything would be better. Boras is what he is, and he's done what he does, and I've signed many contracts with Scott, but it makes it difficult."

He continued...

"I had this conversation with Andruw [Jones] who was a little put off by the whole situation with the Braves and how his departure was handled, and I was thinking to myself, that he needs to realize that his agent makes things difficult from time to time, and there are some teams that don't want to deal with it. It's well known that the last time he [Jones] did a contract with the Braves, he did it without using Scott. We've seen at least twice this week when that's happened, with A-Rod and Kenny Rogers, I don't think it's a trend, Scott's going to continue to be very successful, but there are times when Scott is not a plus, and we see examples of that from time to time."

Nats Done in Fall League

Justin Maxwell's last player journal is up today. The Peoria Javelinas missed a shot at the Fall League playoffs. Justin compared their last few games to those he played in Philly to finish up the Nats 2007 season. Hopefully, our guys on the Javelinas learned a lot, had some fun, and come to Spring Training ready to compete. We can't wait to see what next season brings.

Seats are up!

Looks like we'll be spending our 2008 summer nights in Section 226L Row F...between Right Field and 1st base, close to the foul pole.




Where are you? Log on to My Nationals tickets to find out!

Bonds Indicted

Baseball superstar Barry Bonds was charged Thursday with perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying when he said he did not use performance-enhancing drugs.
Full AP story available here.

He did it his way

It may have included a lot of fighting -- with other players, with his own players and with mascots, but Tommy Lasorda, one of baseball's living legends always managed the Dodgers with his own unique style. After brief introductions, the night began with a slideshow of Lasorda's finest and funniest moments. As Sinatra's legendary "My Way" brought the snapshots to life, baseball fans in attendance laughed, cried and smiled -- eager to share a night with one of baseball's most colorful figures.

Lasorda packed a crowd into the auditorium at the Department of Interior on Wednesday to share a night of baseball memories. This self-described "ordinary man" answered questions and told stories for over an hour before taking questions from the crowd. Joined by his co-author and LA Times reporter Bill Plaschke, Lasorda, as one could only expect, stole the show -- eliciting a standing ovation entrance and exit, and more than a few moments of the kind of audience-wide laughter that could have made the president wonder what kind of wild party was going on a few blocks away.

Much like I Live for This, the new Plaschke/Lasorda book which strings together anecdotes throughout Lasorda's career, the evening began with a warning from Plaschke that the night would be the most one-sided Q&A in history. He proceeded to prompt Tommy into his classic stories one by one. While most are described in detail in the new book, hearing them right from Lasorda was entertaining and heart-warming.

He began by telling the crowd about his relationship with classic crooner Frank Sinatra. The two became good friends throughout their careers and Sinatra promised to sing the national anthem when Lasorda became the manager of the Dodgers. Sinatra also befriended Lasorda's mother and gave her VIP treatment at his concert in exchange for a home cooked Italian meal at their family home.

Plaschke then asked Lasorda about his managerial style and noted that he was the first manager to ever hug a player. He also brought the post-game buffet into his office. Lasorda promptly informed us that as a young child, he stared at a can of carnation instant milk. The logo said, "Contented cows give better milk." He's maintained the philosophy to this day, believing that happy, comfortable players produce better on the field.

That's not to say, of course, that Lasorda hasn't practiced tough love when necessary. He re-lived a classic Jesse Orosco moment that had the crowd roaring with laughter.

He also told one of the book's best anecdotes, the story of Buster Maynard. Tommy grew up, like most young kids, loving the national pastime and dreaming of a chance to go to a game. When he finally had the chance, he bought a program and asked players for autographs. Maynard pushed Lasorda out of the way. A few years later, as a pitcher, Lasorda heard the PA system announce that Buster Maynard was up to bat. He proceeded to throw at him until a fight broke out. As you might guess, he has a strong opinion about players signing autographs for fans, especially kids.

His proudest moment came as manager of the USA Olympic team in 2000 when his US team battled to beat the always strong Cubans (our very own Jon Rauch among the team's participants) to win the Gold medal. Lasorda, ever the patriot, launched into his heart-felt plea for Americans to support members of the military, whom he called his true heroes.

He took questions from the crowd ranging from inquires about Ted Williams, Don Sutton, sportsmanship, Sandy Koufax, Vin Scully, Dodger Town at Vero Beach, 7th and 8th inning specialists, the Designated Hitter, Joe Torre, the length of the season, his famous diatribe at Paul Olden and the Philly Phanatic and mascots in general. The night's most enjoyable moment came when a young Phillies fan began to tell Lasorda that he broke his heart during a playoff series. Lasorda took charge and asked the fan a number of questions to test his recollection of the game. One by one he described Philly mistake after mistake that led to the Dodger win that night, silencing the fan and bringing the crowd to another bout of wild laughter.

All in all, Lasorda told the crowd how blessed he is to have been given the opportunity to do what he loves all his life. "I am an ordinary man...," he continued to remind those in attendance. But yet, the baseball legend has 2 World Series Championships and a Gold Medal for Team USA in the Olympics. He has dined with presidents, met with corporate leaders, received honorary degrees, spoken to the military academies, and shaped and defined our national pastime. He has lived the dream -- his way.

More Tommy Lasorda Links:

Tommy's World -- His Baseball Blog

Lasorda Wine

Tommy's Official Bio at LA Dodgers.com

Happy Belated Birthday, #37!

Don't know how we missed this one, but Mike Bacsik's birthday was just a few days ago. Mike was part of baseball history this summer, putting the Nationals in the national spotlight for a few days and representing our team with a lot of class. We battled to go on to win the game after Bonds historic homerun off our lefty starter/reliever.

Mike was always gracious and wonderful with fans and he entertained all of us with his (lack of) vocal talents.

Mike signed as a minor league free agent and will come to spring training to try to earn a spot on the team. We wish him the best!

Happy Birthday #50!

We'd like to wish a happy birthday to Jason Simontacchi. Like Micah Bowie, he filed for free agency a few weeks ago instead of accepting a minor league deal with Columbus. We really enjoyed watching Jason pitch this season, and continue to wish him the best!

Pope Benedict's National League Appearance

The Washington Post has reported that Pope Benedict XVI will say mass at the new Nationals stadium on April 17, 2008. He will also celebrate mass at Yankee Stadium the following day.

More information is available here.

Story courtesy of Ballpark and Beyond.

This Year in Baseball

While neither Austin Kearns nor Ryan Zimmerman won a Golden Glove this year, the Nats are generating quite a bit of support under the 2007 This Year in Baseball Awards blooper category. Both Chico and Zimmerman are nominated. While its hard to choose between the two, Oleanders and Morning Glories offers a great - and pretty funny - comparison. We say when in doubt, vote for both. Also, don't forget to vote for Ronnie's glove flip for best play!

Happy Belated, #59

Happy one-day-late birthday to Reliever, Micah Bowie. Micah chose to file for free agency a few weeks ago. He bounced around a lot this year from reliever to starter, with a few injuries. He was always wonderful with the fans, signing more than his fair share of autographs and taking lots of pictures. We wish Micah the best! Happy belated birthday!

Jones, Jageler, and Bloopers

Just a few things to talk about today. There is some more talk about the Nationals interest in Andruw Jones. Jones said that his friendship with Pat Corrales doesn't mean he will play for the Nationals. He also said that even though Nats team president Stan Kasten visited his house recently, they didn't talk about Jones joining the team. The Nats will have to do some tough dealing to get Jones, and after his disappointing 2007 season, many question if Jones is worth it.

Some good news was found at the end of the article. The Nationals have announced that radio play-by-play guy Dave Jageler will be back in the booth for the 2008 season. We couldn't be happier. Seems like the Nats are finally firming up the broadcast team for next year. Hopefully we will hear an announcement for Charlie's return soon.

Lastly, the Nationals are lucky enough (?) to have two season bloopers nominated for the MLB 2007 Baseball Awards. First is Matt Chico's wild pitch into the stands on April 21st. Second, who could forget Zimmerman loosing the ball in his shirt on June 23rd? Go vote and help make sure the Nats get at least one season award!

Bob is Back!

Finally, after weeks of waiting patiently, MASN has announced that Bob Carpenter will return to his role as play-by-play announcer for the 2008 season. We are very happy to know that Bob will be announcing from the new ballpark. As we have stated before, through his broadcasts, Bob has played a major role in our transformation into baseball fans. As the Nationals try to build and put down some roots, its nice to have some continuity on the field and in the press box. Carpenter credits the fans as one of the main reasons for his return. The Post reported that many fans wrote in to express their support for the announcer, and its paid off. Now if we could get an announcement on the status of Charlie and Dave, we could relax a bit more this offseason.

Happy Belated Birthday #16!

We've tried hard this season to wish a happy birthday to each player on the team. I guess we were bound to miss one. We'd like to wish a happy belated birthday to Justin Maxwell. He celebrated his 24th on Tuesday. Justin has a new AFL player journal up. In it he talks about celebrating his first birthday away from home, nicknames given to fellow teammates, and the fall league playoff races. Check it out!

More Home Run Derby Pictures

As promised...

Grassfield High Home Run Derby Album

Zimmerman Wrist Update

From the Nationals:

Ryan Zimmerman had successful surgery performed by Dr. Richard Barth late Wednesday at Sibley Hospital in Washington, DC. During the procedure, Zimmerman’s fractured hook of the hammate bone was excised from his left hand without difficulty. Ryan was discharged shortly after the procedure. He will be in a splint for approximately one week. Upon removal, he’ll also have sutures removed and almost immediately begin light rehab. He is expected to fully recover in 4-6 weeks.

There is no off-season it seems...

I don't know why we anticipated a long quiet boring winter. This off-season has been anything but long and boring (so far).

We were so pleased to receive a season-ticket holder invitation/discount to the Tommy Lasorda book promotion at the Smithsonian next week. It couldn't have come at a better time. Lasorda's new book, I live for this, was my first book selection to review in this off-season. So far, it's been a great read, but look for a full review sometime after the event.

Additionally, the Post reports that the Nats are planning a Fan Fest and other activities to promote the team throughout the region before next season. The city, however, is very angry with the team's Maryland-based events.

Dmitri and Lenny Harris are having some fun this off-season, too. They were recently spotted at Dontrelle Willis' charity bowling event.

For Zimmerman, a fun productive off-season is being put on hold. The third baseman injured his wrist this weekend, notably one day after hitting 14 home runs at the Home Run Derby in Chesepeake, VA. He is expected to undergo surgery today at Sibley in DC and recover in a few weeks. It's an injury that is fairly common among golfers and baseball players. His recovery timetable is about 4-6 weeks, so he hopes it won't affect Spring Training or the 2008 season. We wish him a safe and speedy recovery!

But, didn't that headline just make you stop breathing for a moment? He's expected to take the field 162 times a year, produce at the plate, impress us with sparkling defense and stay healthy. It's time to sign him to a long-term contract. He is clearly a center piece in the future of this organization. We can't take him for granted. Zimmerman will also not be able to golf at his own annual event for the ziMS foundation, though Schneiderman and Kearns are expected to be there.

The GMs are busy this off-season too. They voted yesterday to allow some instant replay next season. Our own Bowden was one of 5 leading the charge.

As the GM meetings in Orlando continue, Kasten and Bowden's "talk to everyone" philosophy is becoming clear. Last weekend the Nationals made preliminary contact with the agents of Torii Hunter of the Twins and Aaron Rowand of the Phillies. Hunter had recently expressed interest in playing in Washington. Stan Kasten met with Andruw Jones last week, this meeting was also very preliminary, but the Nats have at least made contact with three top centerfielders. There are now rumors about former Red Cameron as well. The Washington community and the new stadium are both big incentives to play for the Nationals.

Additionally, both Tom Glavine and Livan Hernandez are aparently interested in joining the club. The interest is mutual as the Nationals would like a veteran on the starting rotation to act as a mentor to the young guys like Bergmann, Hill, and Chico. Bill's weekly notes also suggest perhaps the team could let Felipe and Cordero go this off-season. Of course, we'd hate to say goodbye to these guys.

You can now vote for Best Moment in the "This Year in Baseball Awards." While not a Bonds fan, it's tempting to choose it because of the Nats being tied to that moment forever.

Last, but not least, some sad news about former Nat Jose Guillen using steroids. A report surfaced yesterday that former National Jose Guillen purchased over $19,000 worth of steroids and human groth hormone (HGH) from 2002-2005. At least one shipment was placed while Guillen played for the Nats. Guillen will be interviewed by the MLB. Its interesting to note that some of the perscriptions written for Guillen were provided by the same dentist who wrote those for Paul Byrd. HGH was banned in 2005 but players aren't tested for it currently, because the urine tests aren't reliable.

The Battle of Virginia's Best

We took off for the weekend to head down to the Hampton Roads area for a Home Run Derby competition between some of Major League Baseball's brightest young stars.

The Grassfield High School was conducting the Derby as a fundraiser for the school and for the players' chosen charities.

We arrived early to secure a good seat and stood in line with all the locals. David Wright fans were everywhere. A fan explained to us that of the six stars in today's competition, Wright grew up closest to this high school and has tons of fans. Michael Cuddyer of the Twins also went to one of the Chesepeake High Schools.

The guys took two rounds of practice before beginning the competition. In practice, Mark Reynolds of the Diamonbacks looked amazing. He took some mammoth swings and quickly got everyone's attention.

Zimmerman's off-season swing looked like mid-July, classic Ryan. He launched two home runs in his practice turns.

Round One began with all the guys getting 1o outs (any swing that isn't a home run is an out) to hit as many homers as they can. Justin Upton started things off hitting four home runs out of the park. Mark Reynolds followed, but having shown his best stuff in practice, he connected only twice. BJ Upton followed with 3 of his own.

Next came our guy. Zimmerman's classic comfortable swing launched three out of the park to tie with BJ. Crowd favorite David Wright also nailed three home runs.

Lastly, Michael Cuddyer entered the batters box. The slugger's big swings sent seven balls out of the Grassfield High School field.

Mark Reynolds was eliminated in the first round. The tie between BJ, Ryan, and David would be settled with a "swing-off."

Each star would get 5 outs to get as many home runs as possible. The two with the highest totals would advance to the semi-finals.

Upton failed to secure any home runs during his at bat. Zimmerman sent one to deep center and David Wright had two more. Ryan and David advanced.

Nationals star Zimmerman started Round II because of his lowest total in Round I. He started to find his groove and sent seven balls flying over the fence in center and left field. He had us saying "See you later" a couple of times. David Wright, however, found his groove too. David tied Zimmerman with 7.

Justin Upton took his turn and completed only 4 home runs, securing his own elimination.

Cuddyer again impressed the fans with eight huge home runs to advance to the finals.

Zimmerman and Wright had another "Swing-Off."

This showdown between the NL East rivals had the crowd silent.

In only five outs, Zimmerman took three deep.

David was up and quickly tied Ryan's three. He also had four outs. Everyone was silent - anticipating his next swing. Sure enough, David drove that ball out to center to knock Zimmerman out of the competition.

Wright and Cuddyer advanced to the Final Round. David still looked great, taking four out of the park. Cuddyer again showed the young guys how it's done. He hit 15 balls out of the park to crush Wright for the Championship.

Afterwards, the guys all filtered out but David Wright stopped to sign autographs for a really long time.

It was a beautiful day for baseball and one small way to help us get through the off-season. The Grassfield High School did such a great job planning and executing this wonderful event. This community is so lucky to have a rich baseball tradition and some excellent young men to represent them in baseball stadiums across the country.

Ryan was interviewed during the event and told the media that it is pretty cool to have grown up playing with these guys, and that they are all still friends. They all played golf together yesterday.

Great weekend trip!

Vote for Zimmerman

ESPN 1310 has a poll up about this weekend's Home Run Derby. Wright is currently crushing all his opponents, but there's still time to change that. Vote for Ryan now!

Also, if you're in the region but not heading down, you can listen to the Derby on tape delay on ESPN 1310 at 4pm. The station recently interviewed Wright about the Derby. He assures fans its going to be very competitive and talks about how many of the stars from southeast Virginia played together growing up.

Odds and Ends

Just a few updates before we head to the Home Run Derby in Chesapeake this weekend...

Tony Batista and D'Angelo Jimenez have filed for free agency. Tony was great off the bench this year (if you could wait through 20 foul balls, at least 2 of which would look like big hits down the third base line). Jimenez only got hot late in the season.

Schneider-Man recently took the ride of his life according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. He took a demo flight in a Blue Angel at a Sea and Sky Spectacular. Schneider's experience was compared to facing Cy Young winner Randy Johnson, but Brian explained that the Blue Angel experience was much more terrifying than Johnson's fastball. “At least I am conscious for an at bat,” he said. “It was great and I am just happy I was able to stay awake. It was very close. You can feel yourself about to pass out.”

You can vote now for Bob, Charlie and Don for the 2008 Frick Awards. (Like you, we're still patiently waiting to hear that Charlie, Dave and Bob will be back).

Dmitri has collected another comeback award -- this time from the very meaningful, 2007 Players Choice Awards. Congrats D!

The Nats successful 2007 draft was rated as the best in the industry thanks to Jim's great work getting Detwiler, McGeary, Smoker and Burgess this summer.

The NL East is well represented in This Week in Baseball's Hitter Award category, but Dmitri was apparantly overlooked.

There's a fun MLB video up featuring Nats "future stars" Justin Maxwell (believe it) and Kory Casto (not so sure). Maxwell looked great in his call-up and launched a grand slam in his first major league hit. Kory struggled early in the season and never came back up.

Barry writes that ESPN is considering the opening night game. The tentative schedule still has the Nats in Cincy on the 4th of July. He also writes that the sod was scheduled to arrive today and that an official unveling will occur on November 13.