(ed. note - "Subtitle: 'How Can Washington's Nationals Survive All This Negativity...'")
It's tough hearing it all day long...The Nationals are awful. Awful. All day long. Very little concrete news, just consistent criticism whenever Washington's raised as a possible free agent destination or potential trade partner...It's tough to take after a while...Some of the few positives...Rob Dibble, former Major League reliever and cohost of XM Home Plate's The Show, thinks the Nationals should sign Manny Ramirez, especially since there are rumors floating that Manny'd be willing to sign for 2-years/$50 M...? Manny, Dukes, Willingham? Willingham, Milledge, Manny? Manny can't play right can he? He's often hilariously bad in left...No one out of Washington is talking about Manny?...There's a clip of Nationals' President Stan Kasten that gets play on XM's Home Plate Updates, where (to paraphrase), Mr. Kasten says that after two years the franchise's system is finally there...as in replenished, restocked, or rebuilt...
...The Nationals are instead focused on the young Colorado outfielder, Carlos Gonzalez, with MLB.com's BIll Ladson now reporting, in his article entitled, "Nats talk to Rockies about Gonzalez", that the two teams were in "productive trade discussions", with the Rockies focused on acquiring what they describe, in MLB.com's Thomas Harding's Hot Stove Blog post, "Redding, Atkins on rumor mill" as a, "front-of-the-rotation starter"...(ed. note - "Shh...Stop! Shut up! Just go with it...He's totally a "front-of-the-rotation starter"...especially with their humidored balls out there in Denver...")...
...Gonzalez is now the third Rockies' outfielder Washington's been said to be interested in, with Willy Taveras and prospect Dexter Fowler's names also being mentioned, which probably makes sense if they're going back and forth in negotiations...But Mr. Ladson mentions, at the end of his article, that his, "...source also said that more players could be involved, but declined to say who they were."
WWJD? Acta Wants To Challenge Jesus Flores...
The most interesting Nationals-related news to come out of the first two days of the Winter Meetings, in my opinion, came from the mouth of the Nationals' Manager, Manny Acta, who told MLB.com's Bill Ladson, as quoted in an article entitled, "Acta confident in Nats' commitment", that the team needed a catcher who could challenge and push DC backstop Jesus Flores, with Acta going so far as to say:
"'I don't think a lot of people see that in (backup catcher Wil) Nieves. We see him as a backup. We're talking about a guy that Flores can feel, 'Hey, if I don't stay on top of my game, this guy can just take over for me and take my job.' That's the way we see it.'"
Ouch, somebody give Nieves a hug. Jesus Flores, who has had off from his offseason gig catching in the Venezuelan Winter League with the Navegantes del Magallanes since going 1 for 3 with a double as the DH on Sunday, hit .256 with 18 doubles, 1 triple, 8 HR's and 59 RBI's for the Nationals this season, but he missed time in September when a flying shoulder block at the plate by Chase Utley injured Flores' ankle. This winter, Flores is hitting .250 after 23 games and 72 at bats, with 5 doubles, 1 HR and 9 RBI's...Please don't sign Lo Duca!!!
Washington Times' sports writer Ben Goessling writes, in an article entitled, "Johnson's future remains unclear", that, "...the future of Nick Johnson in Washington appears unclear as ever," and Mr. Goessling quotes Manny Acta, who is apparently completely honest, telling reporters:
"'You guys are the witness of how much interest Nick Johnson gets, especially in these meetings, because everybody knows how good he is when he's healthy,' Acta said. 'But that being said, we all know the history.'"
Isn't all this "trade Johnson" talk ridiculous until Washington does actually sign another first baseman? No one. No one...thinks Teixeira is going to DC, and you can throw out the "A-Rod went to the Rangers" comparison as much as you want, I'm still not buying it, but as I've said before I'd be happy to be proven wrong...but until Teixeira or G*d-forbid Adam Dunn puts pen to paper and signs with DC, why even talk about moving Johnson? Who else can play first? According to our most recent poll, which asks if Washington should deal Nick Johnson... 27%, or 20 of the 73 readers who have voted, think Washington should trade Nick Johnson because Josh Willingham can man the position and presumably open up room in the outfield and...in a close second-place 26%, or 19 of the 73 votes cast, are by readers who are of the opinion that Nick Johnson should not be dealt. Period.
More Teixeira-To-DC Doubting From The Baseball World...
This time it's Yahoo! Sports' writer Jeff Passan's obnoxious, anonymous "official with a team involved in the bidding" for free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira, who takes a shot at your Washington Nationals, or the "woeful Nats" as they're called in Mr. Passan's article entitled, "Tex to DC? No way!", where said "official", uh, says:
"'If he signs with the Nationals, that’s fine,” the official said. “That shows us we wouldn’t want him anyway.'"
Does that sound like a Yankees' or a Red Sox' "official" to you? The Angels aren't that arrogant yet are they?...
THE LATEST NEWS...(ed. note - "I'll keep adding on here if anything else comes up...")...
As of 9:23 pm tonight, (12/9) FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal is reporting in his, "Tuesday MLB Winter meetings blog", that the Nationals and Rockies are once again discussing a deal for (drum roll)...Willy Taveras? You figure it out...
For All The SB Nation's Hot Stove posts...visit the HUB:
Twitter? Anyone?
I set up an account through Twitter when a few other SBN'ers started doing the same, and I just realized that they do send out links whenever a post is published here at federalbaseball.com...I've already noticed that at least one other Nationals' blogger is getting into twittering...so if you want updates on posts here at federalbaseball.com...or on the news we hear throughtout the day...sign up for an account and follow along...(ed. note - "Just getting started with this so we'll see where it goes...")