Fouled-Off Bunts: Turf War Edition

Everybody is blogging now. Barry Svrluga brings back Nationals Journal -- home of the Panera joke. Todd Jacobson dusts off the lamely named Notes on the Nationals. And the Washington Times' Nats Home Plate section now features the lovely blogging stylings of Mark Zuckerman, T(h)om Loverro, Ken Wright, Tim Lemke and Sun Myung Moon on their "Chatter" blog. Hmph!

Oh, so those stupid point-headed "journalists" think they can do this bloggin' thing, eh? They think that their stupid journalism degrees, and years of experience, not to mention the attention they pay to the craft of writing are going to make them superior? Ha! They think that just because they have access to the players and the things going on on the field that none of us can see that they can blog? Ha! Don't they know that this is our turf, dammit? Go back to where you belong, journo-boys!

To see how they like it, this blog is going dark next week in its electronic form. We'll be publishing an all-paper format to cut in on their action, bringing these so-called "professionals" to their knees. If you want a copy, email me 25 cents, and I'll throw it in the mailbox.

Nick Johnson says he's going to be out until June, and with the limp he has at the end of this video, we might be lucky if it's only that long!

This explains the Dmitri Young signing. I still don't really see the point, but, eh, whatever. He's better than Travis Lee, at least. I don't think highly of Larry Broadway (minor league stats) certainly not as much as some misguided people do (see, that's not personal!), but the team really should give him the 300 ABs or so to see what he can do. If he stinks in April, so what? Give him time to work out of it without worrying whether he's going to be replaced by a fat, drunk wife beater. If he has 300 ABs in a row, and he's still flailing and sucking, then you've got a pretty good idea that he can't do it. But if the wife beater gets those ABs, you'll never really know.

Chad Cordero and the team have met a number of times, while working on a long-term extension mostly to avoid Tuesday's arbitration hearing. The team and Cordero are only $500K off, so a settlement should be able to get done. We can tell that Chad has been listening to the union:

"To me, if I'm going to do a long-term deal, I just want something that's fair," said Cordero, who is seeking $4.15 million through arbitration. "Not something that's trying to low-ball me or end up low-balling anybody else behind me for the next couple years. That's what I want, something that's fair."

Chad's case is basically a precedent-setting one. More and more teams are drafting college closers and turning the reigns to the 9th inning over to them at a young age. The Union wants his salary as high as possible so these other college closers and young relievers can pry their way up the salary bar, too.

If you listen closely, you can hear Stan Kasten seething.

Bill Ladson (who needs to get a blog like his brethren), reports that the Nats are interested in Ron Belliard as a backup infielder. The only problem is that Belliard apparently wants to be paid, and the team would prefer more of a pro bono relationship. Belliard is a solid second baseman who could be a decent bat off the bench. (Ideally, he'd replace Guzman in the lineup, but I wouldn't be holding my breath.) The team doesn't really have much minor-league depth, with Josh "Cool Mustache" Wilson and Joe "Sloppy" Thurston being the primary "kids" (note the scare quotes) in line for a backup job. Yes, I left out Bernie "Sucks" Castro intentionally.

Alex Escobar is injured already. Well, "still" is probably a better word choice, as he's recovering from the same shoulder separation that ended his season LAST AUGUST!?!!? Not even Ryan Church is that much of a wus!

Sez Escobar: The shoulder is good," Escobar said. "I'm halfway there. I haven't had any problems. I saw Dr. [James] Andrews a month ago and he was impressed with the improvement of my shoulder.

Given the number of times that Dr. Andrews has likely seen him, the good doc is likely impressed ANY time that Escobar is even mobile, so I wouldn't read too much into that!

Three of the Nats injured pitchers threw yesterday, all without problem. John Patterson was able to snap off some curves -- which is the key for him. And Luis Ayala threw his "fastball and his sinker," which, since a sinker IS a fastball, is a bit redundant. The Post says that he's not limited by his arm... yet. Oh, and Micah Bowie did something, but who really cares? It's Micah Bowie!

If you had Billy Traber (Run, Billy, Run story) in the fastest mile pool, you win! It's refreshing to know that at one point in my life, I could've outrun a professional baseball player.

Single-Game Tickets go on sale in a week, the 24th. But if you're a season ticket holder, or if you've ever thought of being a season ticket holder, or if you've ever heard of such a thing as season tickets, there's a pre-sale starting this Wednesday. The presale codes (and ensuing cries of moral outrage) can be found here.

Memo to Stan (only because I know I lost him 2,200 words ago): Your ticket office stinks. Remember when you suggested to me that I should downgrade to the $5 seats for just $100 to hold my priority? Well, your craptastic website doesn't have those seats on sale for the 20-game plans. I've heard the advertising (the Zimmerman and spring commercial is pretty good!) and it touts the $100 plans, yet there's no place to buy them. Fix it!

Here's an interesting story on some rule changes for the coming year. Supposedly they're going to make an effort to crack down on batters who step out of the box and pitchers who take too much time between innings. But the key ones are the ending of ties. Games won't be replayed from the start, but picked up where they left off. And they're also changing the rules on how Defensive Indifference is awarded for certain late-inning steals. I, for one, am glad that they're finally getting around to making the baseball rulebook gender neutral. Who among us cannot say that MLB is on top of today's hottest issues?

HOT BLOGGER ACTION!!!

(It's been mostly tepid lately...)
--NTP has the Nats' NRI All-Stars.
--The Enquireer links to an old video of Tony Batista making a pitcher crap his pants.
--NFA finalizes, more or less, the draft pick order for next June.