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Nats Sign Lefty Maekawa

The Nationals today signed Japanese lefthander Katsuhiko Maekawa to a minor league deal. He was banned from the Japanese leagues and didn't play a single game in '07 because he was accused of involvement in a hit-and-run accident. Another troubled guy. Joy. Oh, and by the way, he had a 5.26 ERA in JAPAN in '06. Remember how good Dice-K was in Japan? And how much worse he is here? Well, tack that inflation on to Maekawa. Wow. I'm thinking an ERA in the mid-nines.

The Padres claimed pitcher Enrique Gonzalez off waivers from the Nats. He never appeared in a game for them and was atrocious for the Diamondback a few years back. Good riddance. However, some commenters on Svrluga's blog were quite unhappy about this one (same link as above.)

Rauch Avoids Arb.

The Nats and Jon Rauch agreed to a two-year deal worth $3.2 million today. There is also a club option for 2010 in there. I think this is a very good deal. Rauch has proved for the last two years that he is a reliable pitcher in the late innings of a ballgame. He will receive $1 million this year and $2.2 mil in '09. The option is worth $2.9 million, and must be exercised within five days of the end of the 2008 World Series. So we'll know pretty soon just how long the deal will be. He led the Nats last year with eight victories. Wow. Nice job by the Nats and Rauch to avoid going to arbitration. This was Rauch's first year that he was eligible for arb, so assuming the option is exercised, the deal won't buy out any Free Agency.

Lo Duca Has Surgery--Nats Sign Johnny Estrada

These bits of news probably have a connection. Paul Lo Duca underwent knee surgery yesterday because of a torn meniscus. He is said to only be missing 4-6 weeks of action, which would mean he would be ready for Opening Day anyway. We mall know what happened to Nick Johnson. Here comes Johnny Estrada. Estrada is a switch-hitter, and the Nats currently have a serious lefty deficit. He's had a couple of good seasons over the years with Atlanta and Arizona. Last year he played for Milwaukee, and only threw out 11 out of 84 base steelers. The Brewers basically threw him away at the end of the season, trading him to the Mets for infamous reliever Guillermo Mota. After acquiring Brian Schneider from the Nats in the Milledge deal, the Mets non-tendered Estrada, making him a free agent. The deal is reportedly worth $1.25 million, which pretty much seems like back-up money to me. Unless the Nationals don't think Blowduca will turn out or if the injury is worse than we think. This means that Jesus Flores will be a regular in the minors in '08. He definitely needs some quality time for developing into a #1 MLB catcher. I've always appreciated the work of Estrada, so who knows how he'll turn out. At least this can pretty much be a guarantee that we won't be seeing Chad Moeller as our backup catcher anytime soon. Whew! And, to tell you the truth, I really wish Drug Boy/ Blowduca/ Pusher/ Deciple-on-Roids/ Dealer stays injured for a long, long time. $5 million down the drain. Capitol Punishment has a hilarious Lo Duca piece here. Tim Dierkes of mlbtraderumors.com made a nice point about Jim Bowden stocking up the roster with veterans. Any thoughts?

You probably already know this, but Johan Santana was traded today to the Mets for four prospects--Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber (loser), Deolis Guerra, and Kevin Mulvey. That pretty much sums up the top of the NL East for at least 2008. They now have a 72-hour window to sign Johan to the appropriate contract extension in order to make this baby final. The Yankees and Red Sox certainly had better packages on the table back around the Winter Meetings. I think the Twins pretty much blew it. Phil Humber???

Random question: Whatever happened to Tomo Ohka? I was always a big fan before the Frank Robinson thing. The answer: He was released by the Blue Jays early last season after going 2-5 with a 5.79 ERA in 10 starts. He's since been in the minors for a few different organizations. He's now a Minor League Free Agent, and doesn't even crack mlb.com's top free agent list. I mean, Micah Bowie was on that list. Jason Simontacchi still is. That's how highly they think of him. I'd bring him back on a minor league deal to compete for a rotation spot. I always find it fun to look at the stats of old (circa 2005) Nats players. You should give it a shot.

Redding and Bacsik Predict Final 2008 Record

Actual news: Tim Redding and Mike Bacsik were at Gifford's Ice Cream downtown today. I asked what each of their predicted final team records were for this year. Redding proclaimed, "That would involve math," and then proceeded to predict an 86-76 finish. Bacsik predicted 162-0. Pretty lofty guess. Maybe the reason Bacsik predicted all wins is because he thinks he won't even make the team. After all, if there was any doubt, it certainly couldn't happen with him on the team. Spring Training invitee, that's all I can say. Very nice guy, though. I came this close to asking Redding to grow back that horrendous goatee he had in Spring Training last year, but was able to hold myself back from asking so. Didn't get around to the Bonds topic for Bacsik either. Redding will appear at the Washington Auto Show this weekend to sign autographs and talk to fans.

Svrluga Set to Drop Nats Job

Long-time Nats Washington Post beat writer and Nationals Journal author Barry Svrluga announced yesterday on his blog that he will move over to the Redskins sometime this summer. Very sad news indeed. You should check out some of the comments on his blog posting--very emotional and a good read. We have always been huge Svrluga supporters here at Attack of the Nats--his book, National Pastime, about the team and the '05 season, is definitely worth while. From all of his jokes on the blog, great writing style, and commitment, he will surely be missed. A new Nats beat writer is expected to be hired at the Post sometime soon, and Svrluga will teach whoever it is the ropes when they get there, so he'll still be writing Nats for a while. Don't worry, the Journal will be handed over to the next writer.
On the baseball front, there are some tidbits I found regarding Ryan Zimmerman. This Rob Neyer piece on espn.com rates him as the fourth best third basemen of the next five years, right behind A-Rod. Pretty high honor. Here, Baseball Prospectus predicts a breakout year in '08 for Zim. Thanks to Capitol Punishment for the link.
Also, check out this Post feature on Nick Johnson. Any thoughts about how to resolve the Johnson/Young first base problem?

Lieber and Jennings Off the Table

Jon Lieber signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Cubs yesterday, and the Rangers inked fellow righty Jason Jennings to a one-year contract worth $4 million. This means that they are off the table for the Nats to sign as their loser-injured-bad-leader-of-pitching-staff-starter-guy.
You know what I think of Jennings-no big loss. As for Lieber, he's 37 and has been bad and injured recently (just like the others), but he has a couple good seasons under his belt, and he's always been a likable player. Basically, we're down to Bartolo Colon and Kris Benson. Bartolo had pretty much the same story as Lieber, except for the fact that Colon has been more injured and worse the past couple years. Benson is more like Jennings--quite bad even when healthy, and not healthy at the moment. However, as I noted back on December 18, the Nationals, along with a bunch of other teams went to watch him throw and were quite impressed. There have been a few different reports recently about Colon--some saying he was close with the Royals, some saying with the White Sox, some saying with the Mets. There was one report that said he wasn't even hitting 90 mph on the radar gun in Winter League games in his native Dominican Republic. Bill Ladson, nationals.com's "beat writer," said on December 4 that Colon was looking for at least a two-year deal. Seems a bit ridiculous to me. I'd give him a shot for, say, one year and $2 mil. After all, he did win the AL Cy Young Award in 2005 after going 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA with the Angels.
After these two gems, there's basically not much out there. There's Livan Hernandez, but he's probably going to be too expensive, and anyway isn't even that good. At least his arm isn't in danger of falling off any time soon. Then there's Freddy Garcia, whom I've always been a fan of--but won't be back from an injury until midseason. I'm pretty sure that's aftermath of the Phillie Phanatic go-cart incident. Rodrigo Lopez is just abysmal, and I'd really prefer life without a Tony Armas Jr. return. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure Nats front office officials feel the same way.
By the way, what do you all think the Nats' final record will be like this year? With the predictions from last year so far off, who knows? Opening Day rotation predictions? I'll be listening.

Nats Sign Chief to $6.2 Mil Deal

The Nats re-upped Chad Cordero to a one-year, $6.2 million deal in order to avoid arbitration. Although I like him a lot, it seems a bit pricey for a closer whose ERA has gone up in each of the past two years and who has more blown saves than any other closer since the Nats came to town. However, his ERA was certainly inflated this year because of his dying grandma in April and early May. Plus he also has the second-most saves over his time with the Nats in all of baseball (next to the one and only Trevor Hoffman of the Padres.) We'll see how this one works out.

Only 34 More Days!

Only 34 more days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in Viera, Florida, on Feb. 15. The Nats currently have 72 players slated to be there--surprisingly not many less than last year. It feels quite different, though, because last year anyone had a chance to make the team, and this year we have a little bit better of an idea heading into camp. There's almost no chance some guy like Dennis Tankersley will make the team this year, whereas if he were there a year ago you never know. If you get a chance, check out mlb.com's "Around the Horn" series, inspecting each team by position. There's about one a week up until ST begins. Here's the lastest one--corner infielders--for the Nats.

Everyone, please tell your friends to comment on this site if you can. We're trying to build up some healthy discussions. This should get easier after the season gets under way.

Luis Ayala--Friends with VP Cheney?

Luis Ayala was shot in the left arm during a hunting trip in Mexico last week. It's not very serious, and, being a righty, he should be ready for Spring Training anyway. Barry Svrluga had the same idea that I did: How long have Ayala and Vice President Dick Cheney been friends? Nothing much else going on at this point.

Clement Out of the Mix

According to mlb.com, Matt Clement was signed by the Cardinals and is now out of the mix for the Nats' loser pitching spot. Barry Svrluga groups the rest of the FA starters nicely. My vote is for Bartolo Colon, but I heard a rumor that he's about to sign with the Royals. I still think a Livo return really wouldn't be that bad. No matter what happens, he'll pitch around 240 innings every year. That would help rest the bullpen so that Acta won't have to tire out all of his young starters.

Happy 2008!

Just wishing you a happy new year. Not that much baseball going on at the moment, as you might have guessed. Here's a link to nationals.com's Bill Ladson's new year's article on the changes to the team.