Can't A Dude Take A Vacation?

Did I miss anything?

1) Wily Mo for Fruto
Jimmy finally found his grail, Wile E. Pena. We know it's been inevitable for months, since the idea of Pena in the home whites sends a tingle through Jimbo's tight leather pants.

Losing Fruto isn't a big deal. Though the Nats were starting him, his lack of command of more than 2 (if that!) pitches likely made him a reliever in the future. So, we're getting a starting outfielder for a reliever. Sounds familiar? I hope they sent Fruto's medical records along... but then again, AZ's front office isn't as feckin' stupid as Cincinnati's.

2) Adieu to Langerhans
Is he toast, injured, or just having the year from hell? Regardless, he now has the lowest batting average of any outfielder since 1901 who has as many ABs as he has.

Worse, he now has the 8th lowest batting average of ANY position player with as many ABs. The full list is here, and it's dominated by crappy catchers and shortstops.

3) Nook Logan is hotttt
Back in spring training, I said that Logan is probably about as valuable in center as Ryan Church was if he could hit about .280. (I just doubted his ability to hit .280). Since July 31, he's hit .408. Church ain't doing that. No, he won't keep it up, but he's now up to .291/ .335/ .379 over the last calendar year. If he can just learn to call for the feckin' ball, that's a CF you can live with at the bottom of your lineup.

I'm still skeptical. But at a certain point you have to trust your lyin' eyes and not the numbers way back in the past.

4) Nick Johnson's done.
After hip surgery, he's definitely out for the year, but the prognosis used the phrase 'months'. That ain't good. I really do wonder how much of this the Nationals knew when they signed Dmitri. As I said at the time, unless they had suspicions that Nick wasn't going to be back, the deal didn't make a whole helluva lot of sense.

But if they did know? Then it's not so bad.

5) Matt Chico got sent down.
It's hard to argue with it given the results he had over the last few games, yet I feel bad for him in that he's been the loyal soldier -- or at least the healthy one -- going out there every 5 days. I still wish we had more firm knowledge on whether he's fatigued or whether that 12-start stretch in which he excelled was just a hot streak.

6) I'm everywhere!
I contributed to ESPN.com's Face of the Franchise thingee alongside my good friend and now colleagues Jayson Stark and Bill Ladson. I can assure you that messers Stark and Ladson are wrong, wrong, wrong. I can also assure you that the person I picked might be surprising given some of the things I write around here. I know one occasional reader who will be stunned by it.

I'm sure my choice won't win, but that's probably a good thing, especially in the long run.