Acta: '08 is history

Today the Nats had their first workout session for the pitchers and catchers who reported friday. All of them showed up except for Daniel Cabrera, who will stay in the Dominican Republic for about another week because he is having his first child, Jorge Sosa, who the Nats signed as a non-roster invitee, and Odalis Perez, who signed a minor league deal with them. Sosa and Perez have until sunday until they are considered late. Early today, before their first workout session, the nats had a team meeting. It was addressed by Acta and Bowdon, and Acta told them to forget about 2008, and he expects them to play .500 baseball. Acta is excited to get the '09 season to a start, and he says this years Nats are the best team he's seen since he joined in 2007 as manager (Getting Dunn means it's going to be the best if your record as manager is 132-191). "This is the first time we have a legitimate cleanup, power guy in our lineup," Acta said referring to Dunn. "This is the best team we have had in the three years I've been here. ... I try to win with what I have. I'm not going in here thinking abut 2010. This is a good bunch of guys. Baseball has shown you the last few years that if you do things right, you never know what might happen."Acta still think one of the Nats only weakness is the bullpen. The nats must get one more really good relief pitcher other than Saul Rivera.

The nats will also add a bullpen member, 26 year old right hander Jason Bergmann. Last year he really stunk as a starter, going 2-11 with a ERA of 5.11. Even though he struggled last year, he showed glimpses of brilliance, and he still has very good movement on his pitches, especially his slider. Today he came up to Manny Acta, and asked him what his job will be during the 2009 season, and Manny said he will be a middle reliever. Bergmann was not available for comment at the time.

Along with the first workout, the nats had their first bullpen sessions, with Randy St. Clare watching each and every pitch carefully, and he was impressed with all of them. "I was pleased with everybody," St Claire said. "Everybody threw the ball very well. The deliveries look very solid out of this first group that threw today. I was impressed with a lot of the guys." Although all of them were pretty good, the one who shined today was 22-year old Jordan Zimmermannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. "I love his arm stroke," St. Claire said. "He has that really quick arm action. It's out of the glove and it's short and it's on top of the ball. He is a strong kid, he has a good body. His lines are very good. His delivery is very solid for a young kid." I wasn't really a fan of Zimmermannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn before, because I thought anyone who hasn't pitched above AA is unproven. Although after hearing about how much everyone has been raving about him, I have big expectations for him.

Johnson won't accept backup role

Nick Johnson said recently that he will rather have a trade than accept a backup role. There are still five men (Dukes, Willingham, Milledge, Johnson, and Dunn) competing for four spots, which is the outfield and first base. I've decided that they have to get rid of either Lastings Milledge or Nick Johnson. Milledge would be hard to get rid of, considering Bowdon said he is in our long-term plans and Acta recently said Lastings would be our center fielder. Dunn and Dukes are already guaranteed a starting spot. Each of the five are too good to be a backup, yet Milledge is the worst. I hate how the Nats, to them, Milledge is a young, great slugger all-star, and Dukes is what? A nobody who's got arrested twice? Dukes is a stud, and they don't realize it. If nobody leaves, I can't imagine Lastings Milledge (below, on his check-swing) mis-playing another ball while a healthy Nick Johnson or Josh Willingham sitting on the bench. Also they're treating Austin Kearns as if he deverves to even compete to start? Kearns over Dukes?Kearns over Dunn??? Nick Johnson has a higher chance of getting traded, as for the second year in a row he said he will start or he will accept a trade. The Nats are starting to get really mad at him, as he has made eight major trips to the DL in his career. Reportedly, three teams looked at his medical record, including the Oakland Athletics, who have extreme interest in him. They also might actually mean it, because Jim Bowdon isn't their GM...

Even with that, it wouldn't be too bad to keep Milledge as a backup and if they keep all five, remembering that this is still a young team that is the most injury-prone in baseball. Not only if someone gets injured/traded in the outfield or first base, Milledge could step in but also at catcher. If Flores goes down, I don't see Montz or Nieves being able to be a starting catcher. Then, you could put Willingham at catcher and have a outfield of Dukes, Milledge, and Dunn. Although, Flores has never been injured in his career, excluding a cruel play by Chase Utley ( He dove into home, spikes up, on-purpose, after the game: "I didn't do anything").

That looks like it in the offseason for the Nats. Jim Bowdon said yesterday that they no longer had interest in Orlando Hudson. They still should have got a couple of stud relief pitchers. In the bullpen the nats are putting way too much pressure on Hanrahan, Shell, Mock, and probably Terrel Young. They need one more old (28-34 years old) relief pitcher, and maybe even Juan Cruz could help. You can tell that Chad Cordero is not coming back, because Dunn took his old number, 32. Dunn didn't say much while at his press conference, but some bad news is that you can tell Dunn is really disapointed that he came to Washington (59-102) instead of a contender. So pretty much the only other move this offseason for the nats would be a trade invlolving getting rid of Nick Johnson.

Dunn Deal... REALLY!!!

Finally! Jim Bowdon finalized the deal to sign 1b/LF/RF Adam Dunn earlier today.He would be great for our lineup. If nobody gets injured or gets traded, this is what they should do: Dunn starting RF, Dukes starting CF, Willingham starting LF, Johnson starting 1B, Milledge #1 backup for outfield. When Johnson gets hurt, move Dunn to first and move Willingham to LF. The lineup: 1.2B Anderson Hernandez, 2.SS Cristian Guzman, 3.3B Ryan Zimmerman, 4.LF Adam Dunn, 5.RF Elijah Dukes, 6.1B Nick Johnson, 7.C Jesus Flores, 8.CF Lastings Milledge, 9.P, top pinch hitter: Josh Willingham. In that lineup there is tons of power. I could also see three people hitting 30 bombs with Zimm, 'Lijah, and Adam Dunn (this guy needs a good nickname). I could also see Lastings, Johnson, and Flores hitting 20.
Dunn has been a monster in his career, bombing at least 40 gone-bombs each of the last 5 seasons. He can also have a great on-base percentage, last year's was .381. This guy is huge, as he stands at 6-6, 267 LBS, and just that alone is enough to strike fear into opposing pitchers. Even though he has bombed at least 40 in the past 5 seasons, that should be over-looked, consitering he has hit exactly 40 in the last 4 seasons and he is playing in the arguably-most hitter friend park in the majors at The Great American Ballpark. Sadly, leaving that park might be bad news for Dunn. After going to Arizona for a short stint, he struggled. Just look at what Kearns and Lopez were going to be before they got traded. Also look at what happened all the other players Bowden got from Cinnci. Also you can't be sure he can even stay heathy. You can tell that Dunn wanted to go to a contender, as he waited this long to sign. He figured the Nats were about the only team left running for him after th Angles signed Mark Texeiria. There is Dunn (on the right) relaxing the offseason, thinking about which contender will sign him.
Pitchers and Catchers report in two days. Nothing much to say here, other than some good news that Jesus Flores has already caught three games from Daniel Cabrera.

Preview of 2009 and new jerseys

For 2009, I think the Nats have a overall good team. We have a good lineup, if everyone can stay healthy. As of now, we have Flores as catcher, Johnson at 1b, Bonifacio/Hernandez/Belliard at 2b, Guzman at ss, Zim at 3b, Dukes in lf, Milledge in cf, and Kearns in rf. This lineup isn't too bad with the exeption of Kearns. I want Hernandez to be the 2b, because Belliard is too old and is good coming off the bench, and Bonifacio may be ridiculously fast but cannot hit for a good average, especially from the right side, and he doesn't take any walks. Also if you look at the lineup, there isn't any bad fielders except for Milledge. The bullpen is solid, even if Cordero doesn't come back. We have three really solid relivers, with Shell, Rivera, and Hanrahan. I also liked what I saw out of Hinckly and Mock. Although getting rid of Charlie Manning means we must get another left hander.
The starting pitching scares me. If the Nationals wish to get in the playoffs, they need one stud starter. They need a Peavy or Sabathia. Lannan is great, Redding is a streaky veteran who can be unhittable at times, the other three could be Ballester, Shawn Hill if he can stay healthy, and Shiron Martis.
I saw the new road jersey, and I don't like it that much. It looks too old-fashioned, I like last years grey a lot better.