Hill might miss beginning of the season

Nats righty Shawn Hill might miss the beginning of the '09 season, feeling pain in his right arm during a bullpen session, before his scheduled start against the Tigers today. He was a late scratch, and Gustavo Chacin got the call. Hill, who pitched one inning Friday against the Astros, started to feel pain Sunday when he threw a bullpen session, but he didn't inform the team until the last minute. Hill wanted to pitch against the Tigers, but the Nats know what has happened in the past when they have been even the slightest risky when it comes to Hill. "Shawn was willing to throw, but we decided to send him over to see Dr. Andrews, who will give us an indication on what to do from now on," Manny said. "The good thing about it is it's early in camp. We still have four weeks to go. If it's not serious, Shawn will be ready to go for us." Even though Acta believes that Hill will be ready before April sixth, I wouldn't that surprised if he's gone for the year. "Obviously, I feel bad for the kid (37 games played in the last four years), because he has gone through it for a while now. Hopefully, he will come back with good news from Dr. Andrews," Acta said.

Even if he is healthy, Hill is not a candidate to make the rotation. Hill who has never been in the bullpen (37 G, 37 GS), I have always thought that he would be a good closer with his nasty slider, and possibly make a Kerry Wood-type transition. Manny also said if Hanrahan can't handle the closer's role or gets traded (good thing Bowden's not GM), they might look to Hill.

So far, the Nats are 3-4 in preseason play. The first game was an exhibition against Italy, in which they won a thriller, 9-6. I thought it wouldn't even be close, Italy only has a few players on its roster that are in the big leagues. Before the game, Elijah Dukes saw Roger Bernadina taking batting practice. Dukes noticed that outfielder Roger Bernadina was gripping the bat too tight and his elbows were too close to his body. Dukes wanted Bernadina to keep his hands back. The way Bernadina was holding the bat in the past had given him trouble hitting inside pitches. Then lator Dukes and Bernadina were in the starting lineup against Italy. In the game, Dukes had a 2-run triple, and a crushed solo homer to left. With two on and two outs in the ninth inning, the game tied at six, Bernadina, keeping his hands back, crushed a walk-off 3 run bomb. Bernadina went 3-5 in the game.

The nats then beat the Mets, 6-4. The nats had a couple of three run innings, and Johnson hit his second of the spring. The highlight of the day was Jordan Zimmermannnnnnnn, who threw three scoreless innings, and he has yet to give up a baserunner. Batters against him are 0-15 with 6 strikeouts and no walks. What happened to Bally-Star??? (3 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs, BB)

The nats also lost that game against the Tigers, 10-2. Both Washington runs came in a three-batter stretch during the second inning, capped by a two-run single by Anderson Hernandez which scored Javier Valentin and Joel Guzman. Valentin and Elijah Dukes both had a hit and a walk.None of the people who pitched are going to make the 25-man roster anyway, except for Terrel Young who pitched a scoreless inning and has a ERA of 1.80.

The Nats will play the Orioles tomorrow, and Daniel Cabrera will start against his former club, at Camden Yards. The game will be televised on MASN, where new vision analyst Rob Dibble will make his Nats debut, I think... I'm not sure if the regular Nats-O's announcers will be broadcasting it.

There is no news on who the new GM will be, although Stan Kasten said that the Nats would be in good hands with Mike Rizzo, who will take over most of the GM job until a replacement is found. Getting rid of Bowden looks like Cordero will consider going back to Washington. Cordero was upset that Bowden announced last May that he would be non-tendered. Such an announcement is not made until the offseason. Cordero vowed not to come back to Washington if Bowden was the GM.

Last year at around this time I made a prediction of what the Nat's record would be. last year I said it was going to be 86-76, but I also said if all of their key players stay healthy. This year I think the nats are going to be 83-79, third/fourth in NL East.

Bowden Screws up again, Patterson retires

Again.
A few days ago, he said the Nationals are no longer running for major free-agents, including second basemen Orlando Hudson and left fielder Adam Dunn. This means another year of Nick Johnson getting injured and Ronnie Belliard, or even Dmitri Young playing their pathetic first base. Dunn or Hudson would've been great fit for Washington, lacking a power hitter or a true leadoff hitter. After Johnson gets injured, maybe what would not be so bad is Willingham move to first, Dukes move to left, Milledge in center, and Austin Kearns or Wily Mo Pena in right. Even though Bowden said this, he could've only said it to lower the price of Dunn and Hudson, and then possibly sign either one to a longterm deal. Although it may seem like that would happen, don't forget how close they were to getting Texeiria, when Texeiria said he was favoring the Yankees the whole time. Also it looks like the Cubs, who were once the lead runners, are no longer running for Dunn after signing Milton Bradley, another left-handed hitting outfielder, but you can't be sure after the Red Sox, Angles, and Orioles said they officialy dropped out of Texeiria but then came back in the race. I am really mad at Bowdon if they don't get anyone, considering they said they would get someone good.
Also, John Patterson, a former starting pitcher for the Nats, retired from baseball the other day. His career came to an end when he started to throw in early January, and his arm started to hurt again. He was a great pitcher when healthy, his best season in 2005 when he went 9-7 with a ERA of 3.13 and 185 strikeouts. In 2006 was when the injuries got in the way, going 1-4 with a 4.51 ERA. He struggled more in '07, and the Nats released him in '08 after a arm injure.
" I don't know what went wrong. I wish I had a chance to have a few more healthy seasons," He said recently. What I would have done is just take 2 or 3 years off, then spend the next year in the minor leagues, and then return to the majors and see what happens. In other news............

• Tim Redding signed a 1 year, 2.25 million deal with the Mets.
• The Nationals said they are willing to give Jordan Zimmermannnnnnnnnnnn a shot at starting next year.
  

Sox, Yanks drop out

Yesterday, the chances of getting Mark Teixeira just improved.
About a week ago, the Teixeira hunt was between the Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals, Orioles, and Angels. A few days ago, Boston owner John Henry and other officials flew to Texas to meet with Teixeira and his agent, Scott Boras. Yesterday, Henry said, "I was very impressed with Mr. Teixeira, but seeing the other offers, he will not be a factor." I don't know why the Red Sox would want him when they already have Kevin Youkilis at 1st and Lowell at 3rd. Also it looked liked the Yankees had a good shot, but they signed CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett, and have not made a offer yet.
That means the Nats, Angles, and O's will have to fight it out. The Angels shot of getting him is lowering now that they just gave a 3 year contract to Juan Rivera. Even with that, the Angels still have a roughly eight year, 170 million dollar contract offer, same as the Nats. Although, Teixeira recently said he would wish to be with a team on the East Coast. The Baltimore Orioles are the front runners for Teixeira. A Maryland native, Teixeira grew up rooting for the Birds, and they have expressed full interest in him, but the Orioles have a worse contract offer than the Nats, at seven years, 140 million. Nats owner Ted Lerner met with Teixeira, and they both came back impressed. Asked about playing for Washington, Teixeira said: "There's no doubt I think about it, it's tough not to think about the future, I'd love to play here. It's the Nation's Capital."

I think this has been a joke. Boras and Teixeira are taking way too long. They already know the teams interested, and what the contracts will be. Why can't they just pick a team already?

In other news, the Mets bullpen,which the Nats enjoyed teeing off against last year, just signed JJ Putz AND Fransisco Rodriguez. Good luck against that duo.