More On Dunn....
The baseball world's gone silent, at least when it comes to Washington Nationals' news...The San Francisco Giants just agreed to a deal with Randy Johnson, (and the best title and story on the signing has to be from McCovey Chronicles, where "Grant" writes, "Randy Johnson is a Giant, also a Giant.")...the Red Sox are in negotiations with Brad Penny, and the New York...Mets, (I bet you thought I was gonna say Yankees, didn't you?), are said to be in negotiations with Derek Lowe. The Nationals? Ever since their best effort yet to lure a big name to the nation's capital failed, they've been silent, even when it comes to their previously stated backup plan of pursuing OF/1B Adam Dunn, who has a relationship with DC GM Jim Bowden dating back to their days in the Reds’...
...Enough about the history between Bowden, Dunn and all the Reds already...Dunn's on record for months now stating that he'd like to play for a winner, and in case he hadn't made himself clear, just before Christmas, according to mlbtradrumors.com's Tim Dierkes, who's quoting Chicago TV and Radio personality, David Kaplan, in a post at mlbtraderumors.com entitled, "Adam Dunn's First Choice: Cubs", Dunn said again just what the title of the post says he did...Whether or not the Cubs will be handing out any major contracts with their ownership situation further, um...clouded? remains to be seen, but it's becoming obvious that the Nationals are not a particularly attractive free agent destination right now...But, wait...
ESPN.com's Buster Olney reported on Saturday, in a blog post entitled, "Big Names Have Tough Choices To Make", that free agent shortstop Orlando Hudson is being "courted" by the same Washington Nationals that Mr. Hudson told MLB.com's Bill Ladson back in November, in an article entitled, "Nationals a factor in pursuit of Teixeira", he might be interested in playing for, or in his own words, as relayed by Mr. Ladson:
"'I have interest in any Major League team that has interest in me,' Hudson said. 'The Nationals are a good young club. They have a lot of energy. ... I would definitely be comfortable if I was over there. We'll see how things go. I don't know.'"
Sounds like a "Yes" to DC to me...alright, not really...
WINTER LEAGUE UPDATES...
Dominican Winter League Playoffs...
The Tigres del Licey's Sunday matchup with Aguilas Cibaenas was postponed.
Puerto Rican Winter League...
The Criollos de Caguas scored three runs in the first two innings and never looked back in a 9-2 win over the Gigantes de Carolina Sunday afternoon. DC prospect Justin Maxwell was 1 for 2 with 1 RBI and 3 walks. Garrett Guzman, who was the Caguas' DH this afternoon, improved his Winter League average to .290 with a 3 for 4 performance, in which he collected 2 RBI's for a total of 23 on the season.
WHJD? (What Has Jesus Done?)
DC catcher Jesus Flores has appeared mostly as a pinch hitter in the last two weeks for the Navegantes del Magallanes, his Venezuelan Winter League club, with just 3 hits in 17 at bats over the last 10 games stretching back to December 6th. Flores is hitting .229 in 31 games and 83 AB's this winter, with 19 hits, 5 doubles, 1 HR, 12 RBI's, 5 walks, 25 K's, a .280 OBP, .325 SLG, and .605 OPS...With one game left in the Regular Season on Sunday, the Venezuelan Winter League playoffs start Monday night...
This Day In Washington Baseball History...December 28th.
(The Continuing Attempt To Educate A Montreal Fan About DC Baseball History...)
On this day, December 28th in 1967, former Washington Senators' Board Chairman James M. Johnston "succumbed to cancer", according to Tom Deveaux's book, "Washington Senators: 1901-1971". James M. Johnston, along with fellow stock broker James Lemon and George M. Bunker had purchased the team from its previous owner Elwood Richard Quesada, back on January 29, 1963, according to baseball-reference.com's Events page for 1/29.
In an uncredited article from the Sports Illustrated vault, dated April 8th, 1963, entitled, "Washington Senators: And Things Could Get Much Worse", the uncertain situation with DC's 1963 Senators is laid bare, and, apparently, the state of the Senators in the wake of Mr. Quesada's regime was a sorry one, with its roster for the next season uncertain, star players disappearing back to Cuba, and the franchise's system full of, "...a lot of young players who would have trouble finding a place on the Mets' farm club," but help was on the way to DC, according to the unnamed Sports Illustrated writer:
"Now Quesada is gone, and new Board Chairman James M. Johnston has promised millions for good new players. Even more important, Johnston describes himself and his fellow stockholders as "fans who would let professional baseball men run things." Meanwhile, the damage has been done for the season."
(ed. note - "This all sounds eerily familiar...")
The '63 Senators lost 106 games. Four years later, Mr. Johnston had passed, and Mr Lemon, who had assumed the role of Senators' Board Chairman in the wake of Mr. Johnston's death would go on to sell the team to the infamous Bob Short...and within another four years, the team Mr.'s Johnston and Lemon had attempted to rescue had departed from D.C...
For his part in one of a very few serious attempt to turn a DC baseball team into a contender, uh, before the present day, let's remember, James M. Johnston.