Fouled-Off Bunts: Hasta La Vista, Traber Edition

Billy Traber go on down! You're the next contestant on New Orleans' hottest gameshow, "Tick Off Frank!" Traber's down, Jason Bergmann's up, if only because the bullpen needs depth. John Rauch presumably slips into the fifth stot and should get one or two starts, at least.

Pedro Astacio, as far as I know, is still throwing BP, so he's probably a month away.

John Patterson is having forearm soreness, and has been pushed back, again. Sez the doctor: "It's pretty much a muscle strain," said Thomas. "We don't want to take the risk of changing his mechanics, so we'll hold him out. If we give him three to five days of no throwing, it could [get better] pretty quickly, because he is in terrific shape."

Robert Fick is experiencing tendinitis in his throwing shoulder while rehabbing from elbow surgery. Typically a few days of rest clears that up. Typically.

The Beltway Boys has a terrific post on the racial aspects of the ownership debate, which is worth your time.

There may be a tremendous black candidate out there for team president; I hope there is. But to exclude men like Stan Kasten simply because of their color smacks of .... well, you know what it smacks of. Smulyan made this announcement because he knows he's running third in the race to buy the Nats, and he's going to do or say anything to up his chances. This isn't the kind of guy I want to own the Nationals. I want an owner that acts, not re-acts.

Jim Bowden has his weekly self-serving GMing 101 column in the Examiner. This one's on his favorite topic, "Pitching, Pitching, Pitching!" He goes through the ways teams can acquire pitching, which he probably learned from losing so much pitching over the last year!

The best take on it is from our friends at Yard Work. In a post entitled "Bowden Variations," they provide alternative suggestions for what Bowden could've said using the framework of one of his sentences. Here are my two favorite, but read the whole freakin' thing:

I’ve had plenty of emails from fans suggesting that if I hadn’t signed Vinny Castilla and Christian Guzman to deals that overestimated their actual market value, I could have bought more liquor and passed out instead of getting pulled over for DUI.

I’ve had plenty of emails from fans suggesting that if we had an owner, I’d be working in a sausage stand outside of the Lowe’s home improvement center in Harrisburg, PA, and talking to customers about how Mike Kelly was THIS CLOSE to becoming the next Barry Bonds. You want peppers on that?

Meanwhile, Oleanders takes that Bowden article and looks at Bowden's track record, seeing if Bowden has followed his own advice. Here's his conclusion, but you'll have to check out his full post to see how he gets there:

Overall Jim Bowden has gathered pitching, but none of actual talent. He’s just signing what is available and not strongly desired. When you consider the state of pitching in the majors, that gives you an idea of what type of player would be available. It’s not a horrible plan, but it only makes short term success possible. More worrisome is the non-building of the minors. It’s tough circumstances to be sure, but it seems that Bowden amkes deals with his job in mind, not the future of the franchise.

Oleanders has another excellent post about last night's game, showing how Frank's managing hurts the team, and ticks off pitchers.

Christina Karl, in the NY Sun, writes a good overview of the Nationals situation and some of the implications that state-run ownership has had on the franchise.