Ok this is a little old, but still pretty humorous. At least as Reds fans, we have someone to look at and laugh at their misery and say, "Well at least we're not the Nationals."

(From BleacherReport.com)

I’m seriously beginning to wonder where the Washington Nationals get off thinking they have what it takes to be in the major leagues.

The one area of the game where they’ve really excelled as a team is handing the opposition three-game winning streaks, which is incredibly generous, but not cool if you’re a Nationals fan. At times this season, it seems as though they can’t even spell their team’s name correctly, let alone swing a bat and field a baseball.

Hanging out in the dark, creepy basement of the National League East, the Nationals are sitting 6.5 games behind the division-leading Florida Marlins (whose bandwagon I’ve pretty much abandoned this week) with a 4-14 record.

Heading into Tuesday night’s game where 0-2 lefty John Lannan will face another 0-2 lefty, Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington is coming off a wild game from the day before which was highlighted by two Philly grand slams.

The Nats got all excited when they scored four times in the eighth inning to go up 11-7 Monday, just to see Raul Ibanez (the man who’s helping Cheesesteak Territory forget Pat Burrell) cap a six-run rally in the bottom half. Thanks a lot, Joel Hanrahan. Third blown save this season? That’ll do.

CONTINUE READING

MLB nationals, suck, dmitri young, adam dunn, natinals

The Washington Nationals drafted phenom Stephen Strasburg with the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft.

No shock. And if they hadn't, the Nats would've escalated even further down the laughing stock chain. But, they now have a problem.

Strasburg's agent is Scott Boras. You know, he who has a pointy tail, horns, a pitch fork, and makes teams sign contracts with their own blood.

Boras is saying it's going to cost the Nats $50 million to sign Strasburg. The Nats need to hold pat and offer Strasburg a fair, but not outlandish deal.

Here's the rest of the article.

MLB stephen strasburg, scott boras, nationals, mlb draft

The National League house the defending World Champions, but that doesn’t mean it’s a one-horse race. While the Phillies will be tough once again, the rest of the division got better in the off-season. The NL East is going to be one of the most highly contested divisions in baseball.

ORDER OF FINISH
Phillies – Until it’s proven otherwise, Philly is still the team to beat. They still have most of the pieces from last year’s championship team. I love the Raul Ibanez signing and see him as upgrade of Pat Burrell and think their top five in the batting order (Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, and Ibanez) is amongst the best in baseball. Cole Hamels showed what he is capable of during the postseason and the rest of the rotation is adequate enough to compete. Brad Lidge was nearly perfect last season as the closer.

Mets – The Mets will move into a new stadium this season, but some of the same old problems exist. They fixed their biggest area of need in the offseason by bringing in Francisco Rodriguez and JJ Putz to complete the backend of their bullpen. The lineup is more than capable of producing runs too. I still have my concerns about the rotation though, particularly if Johan Santana’s arm problems persist. If they can stay healthy look for them to give the Phillies a tough battle and compete for the NL Wildcard.

Braves – I like what Atlanta has done to rebuild their rotation with Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez on top of a couple of young arms (Jair Jurrjens and Kenshin Kawakami). Tim Hudson is not going to be much of a factor though as he is on the 60-day DL. Offensively there is upside, but Chipper Jones will need to stay healthy to anchor the batting order. Look for improvement in Atlanta this season, but I am not banking on the Braves to leapfrog the division’s elite just yet.

Marlins – Florida seems to be in constant rebuilding mode, but they also always seem to have the young talent to do so. Hanley Ramirez is a MVP-type of player and many other young pieces appear to be in place to make some noise. Still, their rotation is patchwork at best and their bullpen is once again in transition. They will hang around for most of the summer, but once again fade late in this tough race.

Nationals – OK, they have signed Adam Dunn. That gives them some much needed power in the lineup, but expect 200 strikeouts too. If Ryan Zimmerman can finally develop into what many projected him too and their pitching holds up they may actually finish closer than 20 games out this season. Still, they will struggle to see .500 again this year. There is hope for the future in DC though now that GM Jim Bowden is no longer in the picture.


AWARDS
MVP – Ryan Howard, Phillies

Cy Young Candidate – Cole Hammels, Phillies

Biggest Bust – Garrett Anderson, Braves

Biggest Breakout – Yunel Escobar, Braves

Comeback Player – Freddy Garcia, Mets

Rookie of Year – Gaby Sanchez, Marlins

MLB 2009 mlb predictions, nl east, phillies, mets, braves, marlins, nationals

from the Washington Times:

On Sunday, Jim Bowden said goodbye - caught up in the middle of the Smiley Gonzalez scandal and a list of other sins - and he was defiant and delusional in his farewell statement.

"Let me state this is a bittersweet moment for me," Bowden said in a statement released by the team. "While I will always have the experiences and fond memories of my relationships with the Nationals, Stan Kasten and the Lerner family, who have always been gracious and fair in their dealings with me, I will also carry with me the cold hard realization that my life has been turned upside down by a news media that prints entire stories attributed solely to anonymous sources who refuse to be identified and who are free to allege anything they choose for any purpose without fear of retribution.

"One can only understand the impact of false allegations, insinuations and innuendos by the press if they themselves have been the subject of those false allegations. However, I also want to thank the many media members who have dealt with me with fairness and professionalism, and they far outweigh the others." 

Bowden has not been accused of anything and may be guilty of nothing. But he is no victim.

Even his supporters will say that Bowden has a lot of enemies in baseball. Those enemies are not because he is particularly good at his job. It is because he has abused relationships and earned a reputation within the game as a man not to be trusted. That reputation all along has hurt the way the Nationals do business. Some rival GMs will not even deal with him.

And they couldn't be swayed with jerseys and trinkets.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

MLB nationals, jim bowden, smiley gonzalez

From SI.com:

A federal investigation into the skimming of signing bonuses given to baseball prospects from Latin America is looking at Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden as far back as 1994, when he was GM of the Cincinnati Reds, according to a baseball executive familiar with the investigation.

Two sources inside baseball say that a long-time scout in Latin America, Jorge Oquendo, 47, is the man who links the FBI's investigations of Bowden and his special assistant Jose Rijo to that of former Chicago White Sox senior director of player personnel David Wilder. Last May the White Sox fired Wilder and two Dominican-based scouts after allegations surfaced that they had pocketed money earmarked for player signing bonuses. Oquendo worked for Wilder in 2006 and 2007, as well as for Bowden with the Reds in 1994 and again with the Reds from 2000 through 2003. Oquendo left Cincinnati in 2005, two years after Bowden was fired. (Bowden became Nationals GM in 2004.)

COMPLETE ARTILCE

MLB nationals, reds, jim bowden, jorge oquendo

More Jim Bowden from loyal reader Stephen Cassady, Baseball America:

It turns out that Nationals shortstop prospect Esmailyn Gonzalez isn’t 19. Or that is he is Esmailyn Gonzalez for that matter.

Instead, sources have told SI.com that Gonzalez is actually 23 and that his real name is Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo.

Gonzalez was BA’s No. 10 Nationals prospect entering this season, which will be his third since singing a controversial, $1.4 million bonus out of the Dominican Republic. But given the revelations about his age, Gonzalez certainly would not have made BA’s Nationals Top 10 list.

COMPLETE ARTILCE

Amazing!!

MLB nationals, jim bowden, esmailyn gonzalez, carlos alvarez daniel lugo

This article has a different Reds spin to it...

In light of the Cincinnati Bengals' idiotic move to slap the franchise tag on their kicker, Shane Graham, I was asked if Mike Brown was a worse General Manager than Washington Nationals' GM, Jim Bowden.  There is no hesitation to this answer... its Bowden by a landslide.  Here are ten reasons why:

1.  Bowden has been investigated by MLB for illegal activities in Latin American signings.  In other words, they suspected he was skimming bonus money to international players or allowing it to happen.

2.  It is universally agreed upon that the Nationals have one of the worst farm systems in all baseball (sound familiar Reds fans?).  To add insult to injury, they did not sign their first round draft pick from 2009, Missouri RHP Aaron Crow.

3.  Attendance at their brand new ballpark plummetted as the year wore on and their TV and radio ratings were disappointing.

4.  Bowden could not bring free agent hometown slugger, Mark Teixeira, back to Washington despite offering $20 million more than anyone else.

5.  Bowden signed Adam Dunn, easily their best player now, to a two- year, $20 million contract when the next best offer was one- year at $5 million.  He bid against himself and had to grossly outbid himself to get Dunn to join his best friend, Austin Kearns, in Washington.

6.  As it stands right now, Bowden has spent the following on his starting pitching (numbers refer to 2009 contracts and are in the millions of dollars):

• Scott Olsen  $2.8 million
• John Lannan  $500K
• Daniel Cabrera  (picked up on waivers last month)  $2.6million
• Shawn Hill  $775K
• Odalis Perez  (signed to a minor league deal) $750K
  

Summary:  Most teams in the Major Leagues would have none of these guys in their rotations.  The Nationals are like salmon swimming upstream as they are going against all logic and spending the least amount possible on their starting staff... $7.425 million.

7.  So maybe they saved on the starting rotation in order to spend big bucks on a top- notch bullpen.  Let's check it out.  The following are the Nationals' likely bullpen all- stars and their salaries:

• Joel Hanrahan $500K
• Steven Shell  $500K
• Saul Rivera  $500K
• Michael Hinckley $500K
• Jason Bergman  $750K
• Terrell Young (Rule 5 pick from the Reds) $400K
• Matt Chico  $500K

Summary:  Who are these guys?  Tim Costo and Greg Tubbs are more memorable Reds than these hacks will be in Washington.  Will any be in the Majors in two years?  Their salaries add up to $3.65 million.  That would be a total of $11.075 for the entire forgettable pitching staff.

8.  Maybe these salaries are excuseable if the franschise is cutting costs everywhere, a la the Florida Marlins every four years.  No sensible General Manager would spend $40 million on the position players and forget about the pitching staff.  No GM would neglect the most important part of the recipe for winning in baseball... would he?  For those that have had enough pain for one article, turn away now...

LF:
Adam Dunn $10 million
Josh Willingham  $1.5 million (arbitration eligible)
Wily Mo Pena  $2 million
--total:  $13.5 on left fielders (could be more depending on Willingham)

CF:
Lastins Milledge  $500K
Willie Harris  $1.5 million
Corey Patterson (you read that correctly) $500K
--total:  $2.5 million on center fielders

RF:
Elijah Dukes  $500K
Austin Kearns $8 million
--total:  $8.5 for right fielders

IF & C:
Nick Johnson, 1B  $5.5 million
Dmitri Young, 1B  $5 million
Ronnie Belliard, 2B/ 1B  $1.9 million
Anderson Hernandez, 2B  $500K
Christian Guzman, SS  $8 million
Ryan Zimmerman, 3B  $500K
Jesus Flores, C  $500K
Javier Valentin, C  $500K
--total:  $22.4 million for this group

Summary:  Not all of these position players will initially make the team-  Dmitri Young being the most likely candidate to see Triple- A.  But his contract is guarenteed so these numbers are pretty accurate and that means... the Nationals are spending $46.9 million on their position players.  Absolutely mindboggling.  How could a roster be constructed like this?  Their defense is awful.  Picture Dunn in left, Milledge, a career right fielder in center, and Pena in right.  There are better high school outfields.  This makes their neglected pitching staff even worse and realistically, the staff should break records... as in "worst E.R.A. of all- time, most HRs allowed in one season, most walks in one season, etc."

9.  Nationals fans are trapped in a vicious circle.  Their Major League team will lose 100 games.  The minor leagues have very little talent from consistently poor drafts and almost no productive foreign scouting.  Free agents have to be drastically overpaid to come there.  This spiral downwards is hard to break, particularly when there are no signs it will stop.  Just as it took seven to eight years to recoup from Bowden's Reign of Terror in Cincinnati, it will take the same in Washington once he is fired.  Speaking of Cincinnati...

10.  The Reds were terrible when Bowden was in Cincinnati from 1992 to 2003 (except for 1994, 1995 and the lucky year of 1999).  The people he employed and trusted made bad decision after bad decision that sent the Reds into the vicious cycle that was just mentioned.  So what has Bowden done is his new surroundings in Washington?  He brought those same people with him and look where they are now.  And just how many people did he bring?  Thanks to our Getsportsinfo.com researcher, Todd Cassady, we supply the daunting list of former Reds that have been with the Nationals is some capacity since Bowden took over:

Adam Dunn Jose Guillen Javier Valentin Austin Kearns Felipe Lopez Dmitri Young Hector Carrasco Corey Patterson Ryan Wagner Wily Mo Pena Aaron Boone Ray King Joey Eischen Charlie Manning D'Angelo Jimenez Ed Yarnall

Damian Jackson Carlos Baerga Felix Rodriguez Jeffrey Hammonds C.J. Nitkowski Chris Booker Tony Blanco Pokey Reese Bret Boone Kenny Kelly Brandon Watson Rob Mackowiak (drafted by Jim, didn't sign) Brandon Larson Brandon Claussen Phil Hiatt Luis Pineda

Michael Tucker Jim Crowell Josh Hall Chris Michalak Michael Coleman Lenny Harris (coach) Jose Cardenal (coach) Randy St. Claire (coach) Darnell Coles (single-A manager) Jose Rijo (scout) Bob Boone (Assistant GM) Bobby Williams (farm director) Barry Larkin (FO) Rob Dibble (broadcaster) Ray Knight (broadcaster)

--The total is a staggering 47 former Reds have found their way to Cincinnati East along the Potomac River.

So Bengal fans are depressed after another inexplicable Mike Brown manuever.  They have had 18 years of depression with one exception.  I say at least there has been some hope at times.  At least, there have been .500 seasons and some talent is build from.  Sure, Benglas have made enough stupid moves to write a book (Akili Smith, Dave Klinger, Big Duddy, Chris Henry, etc.), but they also have experienced a lot of bad luck too (David Pollack, Ki-jana Carter, a strong division, etc.).  Bowden has disassembled talented teams and kept them down.  He has not been unlucky, he has been an idiot.  He gets my nod for King Idiot and thank goodness he no longer is employed by the Reds.  Which brings me to my final point... how is he employed by the Nationals?

MLB reds, nationals, jim bowden

It's not a big surprise to see that Adam Dunn signed with the Nationals. After all the team's GM, Jim Bowden, was the same guy that made him a first round pick for the Reds in 1998.

Bowden has made a living of adding former players with Reds ties to his team and front office in Washington D.C. 

One of those players, Austin Kearns, is Dunn's best friends. The two came up together through the system now they will be together again.

"Everybody likes the power and he walks," Kearns told MLB.com. "He is just a presence in the lineup. You know he is going knock in his runs. You don't have to worry about that. He has stayed healthy, so he is going to be in there every day."

The market was not there for Dunn. Part of it can be blamed on the economy, but it didn't appear that too many teams regarded him that highly. That was evident the past few years when the Reds were said to be shopping him. We know that J.P. Ricardi was at least on GM that wasn't going to take a look. He wasn't alone.

Dunn, who was talking like he wanted $15-$16 million per for 4-5 years last season, settled for a two-year, $20 million deal.

"The opportunities [as a free agent] weren't exactly what I wanted them to be, but I get a chance and hopefully turn the program around," Dunn said on the MLB Network. "I think it will be a better feel of accomplishment to help turn the program around than go [to a place] that is established."

The Nats plan to insert Dunn at first base as they already loaded with plenty of "five-tool" outfielders.

MLB nationals, adam dunn, austin kearns, jim bowden

Former Reds' outfielder Adam Dunn hasn't drawn too much interest on the free agent market and will likely reach the New Year without a deal.

Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com indicated on his blog that the Cubs may be Dunn's top choice

According to David Kaplan of WGN Radio, Dunn's first choice is to play for the Cubs. He's not looking for a huge deal, but a fair one.  The concern, of course, would be having Dunn play right field on a regular basis. 

A source familiar with the team's thinking told MLBTR the Cubs have "exchanged pleasantries" with Dunn's agents, nothing more.  It's been suggested that Milton Bradley is the Cubs' first choice.

Sources told SI.com's Jon Heyman last week that the Nats will go after Orlando Hudson and Adam Dunn if they fail to land Mark Teixeira.

For the fourth straight year Dunn hit 40 HR's last season in split action with the Reds and Diamondbacks. His defense, .236 BA, and 164 strikeouts remain concerns for many teams.

It will be interesting to see where the big guy lands. I still think he'll be a much better option in the AL where he can DH frequently and stay out of the outfield.

MLB cubs, reds, diamonbacks, nationals, adam dunn, milton bradley

The biggest free agent chip has landed in the Bronx as C.C. Sabathia has agreed to a 7-year, $160 million deal, accroding to ESPN.com.

While a deal is not yet done, a source told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark there are "zero major road blocks" that would prevent the Yankees from reaching agreement with Sabathia. Not all terms of the deal are agreed to yet, the source indicated. Sabathia also would need to take a physical.

The New York Post first reported Wednesday that Sabathia, the prize of this year's free-agent class, had decided to go with the Yankees after fielding offers from a number of teams. 

Sabathia is just 28, and last year between the Indians and Brewers he went 17-10 with a 2.70 ERA. The previous season he won the AL Cy Young. Now he is the first major new piece to be put into the new Yankee Stadium.

OTHER HEADLINES:

• Nationals ready to make run at Teixeira - LA Times
• Indians close to signing Wood - MLB.com
  
• Yankees nearing deal for Lowe - SI.com
• Four teams still in mix for Furcal - FOXSports.com
• Obstacles remain for Cubs' acquiring Peavy - Chicago Sun-Times

MLB hot stove league, winter meetings, yankees, c.c. sabathia, nationals, mark teixeira, indians, kerry wood, derek lowe, rafael furcal, cubs, jake peavy