Why we want Nick to stay if he's healthy

WaPo's Chico Harlan has a great bit on Johnson's work on his swing. If the baseball gods are willing to give him a year off the DL and he stays on the team, good things could happen. A healthy NJ and his usually superb OBP batting in front of Dunn, Dukes and Zimm? 70 wins here we come!

Coming soon: marketing suggestions in response to bellyaching commenters.

Chico's Top Ten

Is this the second year for Barry Svrluga's replacement? Anyway, he's got a pretty good top ten list of questions we hope are answered before that first trip to Miami in April.

In other news, Omar adds another Nats cast-off to the squad by signing Livan. Now, I was always a big fan of Livo when he donned the curly W and hope he does well at Shea v2. Is it not the perfect sign that they named their stadium after a corrupt and now semi-disgraced financial institution? If congress had a sense of humor, they would have written a provision in the stimulus plan mandating Citi to change the name to TARP Field. Just think of the endless jokes during rain delays!

This has got to mean Pedro's done in NY. Trader Jim? Don't even think about it.

Over at "Fire Jim Bowden", they've got a good list of the other Nats/Expos Omar has added.

No Hudson-on-Anacostia

Bill Ladson writes Trader Jim says no O Dog for us this year. The injury issue added to the fact he probably won't sign more than a one year deal makes this a good move. So let's play lineup, shall we? But first, can we have Dunn take BP in RFK to see if he can hit one of Hondo's chairs?

Hernandez - 2B
Guzman - SS
Johnson - 1B
Dunn - LF
Zimmernam - 3B
Kearns/Dukes - RF
Milledge - CF
The Jesus - C

If Hernandez replicates the way he ended the year and God willing Nick stays healthy (and stays on the team), this looks better than

Guzman - SS
Vidro - 2B
Wilkerson - CF
Guillen - RF
Castilla - 3B
Johnson - 1B
Church - LF
Schneider - C

and those guys won 81 games.

Holy Cr@p!

They signed Dunn. The Nats have a clean up hitter. They're going to rename the Red Porch/Loft/Whatever after him.

This is great. They may win 70 games this year.

Nats Town

By now I imagine many out there have seen this...the new marketing pitch from our friends on Half St. It fails on a couple levels. First, it's indicative of both Red Sox Nation and Wrigleyville which shows an utter lack of creativity. I guess they're trying to grow their marketing department internally instead of going out and hiring free agents. Secondly, it rips off the Caps, currently the only successful sports team in town. And I mean that, Hoyas. And finally, what $40 hr. designer did they find on craigslist to do this? It breaks so many fundamental design and typography rules, it hurts my eyes.

I think the last time DC had something this sad was when the Bonus Army set up Hooverville.

Upside to the recession

Given the current economic climate, I think we can safely assume that Nats Park will remain unblemished by a crummy corporate name for at least one more year so I'll stop referring to is as "Soon to be Named Gaylord Nationals Park," or STBNGNP. It may actually be longer. After the economy recovers, A, B and C-list corporate sponsors may be as wary of signing deals with the Nats as A, B and C-list free agents have been. But such an average park for such a horrible team needs a moniker befitting their circumstances. So I open it up to those of you who may be trickling back after a long off-season.

Suggestions?

PS - Pitchers and Catchers in 7 days.

Two weeks

Now that football's Yankees have won their six Super Bowl, it's almost time to get down to business and welcome Adam Dunn and Orlando Hudson to STBNGNP. Oh wait, never mind.