Fouled-Off Bunts: Short Bursts Edition

Frank says teams are stealing too many bases so he summons Wiki Gonzalez from New Orleans. Jason Bergmann was demoted (no great loss), and Wiki was added to the 40-man by transferring Cristian Guzman to the 6-day DL.

Brian Schneider felt that he didn't need to go on the DL, but with a hamstring injury it's usually best to let that sucker heal completely lest it linger. The DL is like a trigger lock on a gun; it prevents Frank from shooting himself in the foot.

Frank says that Luis Ayala's injury has cost the Nats 6 wins so far this year. Uhh... yeah, Frank. The bullpen's struggled, but that's a bit much. A decent starting pitcher (think Loaiza last year) are rarely worth 6 wins over the course of an entire season. For empiracle 'proof' of that, look at Mike O'Connor. He's replacing a dominant pitcher and the Nats have won as many games as they'd have won with Patterson in his place. It's hard to think about, but losing John Patterson hasn't really cost the Nats anything yet. One game, tops.

Other teams are sniffing out the carrion as Jim Bowden guards the carcass. 15 teams have supposedly called asking about Guillen, Livan and Soriano. Vidro to the Mets rumors are kicking back up.

Ladson Sez:

According to a baseball source, the Mets have expressed interest in Hernandez and second baseman Jose Vidro. The source said the Mets are willing to give up outfielder Victor Diaz and second baseman Anderson Hernandez [That's like saying the Nats are willing to give up Tyrell Godwin and Bernie Castro]. But another source said the Nationals want at least two of the Mets' top prospects in outfielder Lastings Milledge and right-hander Michael Pelfrey.

Which is poppycock. Negotiating BS spewed down from the front office.

The Mets won't give up Milledge for Barry Zito. They're not going to give it up for any pile of hair and gristle that Bowden could serve up on a plate.

Want the latest? Here ya go.

The Post sez that the Yankees might be interested in Soriano, but that the inclusion of the Mets in the bidding could make things interesting.

Frank has installed Soriano back in the leadoff spot. I don't have a huge problem with it as every study ever conducted shows that unless you do something stupid like bat the pitcher and Clayton 1/2, lineup order doesn't really matter that much. Plus, Soriano's speed and extra base hits mean he's in scoring position as easily than when Wilkerson drew a walk and was bunted over by Guzman.

Livan was AWOL from the Nats, choosing to spend the weekend at the beach instead. He should be ready to get bombed in Chicago this week.

The Fed says to be on the lookout for Danny Graves. *shudder*

Our Agraian Friends point to this nice piece on Bill Bray, who I have a hunch'll be up by the end of the week. NFA also has the ugly injury updates on some of our Triple-A friends -- they're as wounded as the Nats are!

OMG discusses the latest Tom Boswell column on what the Nats should do in the short term.