A couple weeks back, I wrote an article entitled, "Federal Baseball.com Declares Jordan Zimmermann: The Washington Nationals' Next Big Thing!" Well, I'm not claiming it's in any way a response, but in the April 6th issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, (out on newsstands today), which features the 2009 Major League Baseball Preview, the SI Staff writer Joe Lemire* writes that Zimmermann:
"...is merely the franchise's interim Next Big Thing. The Nationals hold this June's No.1 draft pick, almost certain to be San Diego State right hander Stephen Strasburg, whom some scouts have gone so far as to call the greatest prospect of all time."
The G.O.A.T? Stephen Strasburg? If everyone keeps talking like this, Strasburg and his agent, Scott "Maximum" Boras are going to start to believe they might actually get the $50 million out of the Nationals that several sources have reported is their goal, but the SI writer says only that, "Strasburg's rumored asking price is at least $10 million."
The SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Washington Nationals profile, which is titled "Federal Disaster", also contains a column entitled, "Consider This A Modest Proposal", in which the SI writers recommend that the Nationals move, "Nick Johnson, Cristian Guzman, Willie Harris, and especially Ronnie Belliard," who is considered by SI to have the most value of the players given bad contracts by the Former Washington Nationals' GM...
In SI's projected lineup, they have Adam Dunn, Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes left to right in the Nationals' starting outfield, but, as Washington Post writer Chico Harlan noted in a Nationals Journal post yesterday entitled, "Dmitri, Stammen, Anderson":
"According to (DC Manager Manny) Acta and others, [Austin Kearns] is still very much a legit candidate to be starting in right field on Opening Day."
?'s For the DC Faithful...
Who do you have in right field on Opening Day?
How does John Lannan measure up to other staff aces around the league?
Do you agree with Sports Illustrated's plan to trade away the last of the Former DC GM's bad contracts?
Spring Training #'s...
Austin Kearns vs Elijah Dukes:
Kearns - 16G, 11 for 40, .275 AVG, 1 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI's, 7 BB, 10 K's, .408 OBP, .525 SLG.
Dukes - 16 G, 11 for 44, .250 AVG, 3 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI's, 7 BB, 16 K's, 3 SB, .353 OBP, .386 SLG.
Today's GAME THREAD...
It's going to be John Lannan vs Roy Halladay this afternoon in Lannan's last start before Opening Day against Florida on Monday April 6th. What will John "Ace" Lannan do with his last start? Will Dmitri Young hit HR's in back to back games as he fights for his baseball life? Who's Watching Following The Nationals??
(ed. note - " * = I believe it's SI writer Joe Lemire writing about Washington, he's the only current writer who matches the initials in the pdf I received.")