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• I've been collecting the leaks, tweets and unnamed sources that have provided information on the Nationals' attempts to find a better GM than their "Active" one, the estimable Mike Rizzo, for several weeks, and I think those reports, which would appear to have been correct, can now be taken out of the realm of rumor, following MLB.com's Ed Eagle's report entitled, "Hoyer among three finalists for Nats GM job" which cleary identifies (without the use of a possessive apostrophe) the three candidates under consideration for the Washington Nationals' GM job:

1. Jed Hoyer - Boston Red Sox - Senior Vice President/Assistant General Manager
2. Jerry DiPoto - Arizona Diamondbacks - Vice President, Player Personnel
3. Mike Rizzo - Washington Nationals - "Acting" DC GM, (Official Title) Assistant GM & VP, Baseball Operations

• STRASBURG FILES: (After The JUMP)...

• STRASBURG FILES: 

• "Source: Lerner meets with Strasburg"  - Washington Times - Ben Goessling

"A club source said managing principal owner Ted Lerner, team president Stan Kasten and acting general manager Mike Rizzo all flew to California last week to visit with Strasburg..."

• "Strasburg's best pitch so far: Hardball" - Washington Times - Mark Zuckerman

"That's why the Nationals have been reluctant to start up intense negotiations. If Boras is going to insist on waiting till the final day, why tip your hand in advance?"

(ed. note - "Remember what Mike Rizzo said, (while undoubtedly pointing at his head), when ESPN.com's Pedro Gomez's reports surfaced a few weeks back alleging, in the title even, "Source: Nats, Strasburg not close", that the Nationals were, '...not on pace to sign top overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg.' Mr. Rizzo was quoted as stating:

"There are a lot of things that are happening behind the scenes that nobody is going to know about because we're not going to talk about it..."

It would seem that the Nationals' Brass' trip to California to talk to Mr. Strasburg would fit under the heading of "things that are happening behind the scenes" since the Washington Times' Ben Goessling's article states that, "A club source said,":

"...(Nationals') managing principal owner Ted Lerner, team president Stan Kasten and acting general manager Mike Rizzo all flew to California last week to visit with Strasburg."

...which is a fact that had not been reported anywhere until today. The "club source", however, did not know if Scott Boras was there for the meeting, so that really has me wondering about the information, since that's probably a pretty important detail...right? Or is Strasburg negotiating on his own? I did title this the "Friday Rumor Mill...")