Happy Hour 02/06: The Nationals' Pastime

Fellow sports bloggers (and baseball fans, in general) might find Barry Svrluga's feature in today's Washington Post interesting. The article profiles the many blogs that have been created in devotion to the Washington Nationals - the "Natosphere," if you will - which seems especially surprising given the short history of the team in D.C.

The two blogs prominently featured in the article are Capitol Punishment (a favorite of mine) and Curly W, both of which have caught the attention of the home team.

The e-mail popped in, and Chris Needham took a minute to digest it. The sender was easily identifiable: Stan Kasten is the president of the Washington Nationals, the baseball team about which Needham comments almost daily via his blog.

Needham had just published an entry titled "StanSpeak," in which he took the liberty of "translating" Kasten's words for the club's fan base, a smart-alecky but smart look at what the man who runs the club might really be thinking.

Needham opened the e-mail cautiously. He knows about this?

Since that initial e-mail, Kasten has corresponded with Needham again. There's something of a punchline to that second conversation, however, so I won't ruin it for you.

The Nationals' blog and fansite community continues to grow impressively. "15 blogs about a two-year-old team," according to Curly W. As you might imagine, a strong sense of community has developed - something several of us Tigers bloggers have had "DIBS" on for quite a while. (And as we know, the Natosphere ain't the only sports blog community getting sit-downs with team presidents.)

The revolution continues... and it will probably be posted on a sports blog near you.

Painfully familiar

I really wanted to comment on the Alfonso Soriano/ "Hell no, I won't play left field" story yesterday, but there was already so much good stuff written on the subject that I didn't think I had anything original to add. If you didn't catch any of it, here's a sampling:

• Off Wing Opinion points out that the Nationals are in full C.Y.A. mode.
  
• Capitol Punishment makes the case for Soriano.
  
• Beltway Boys explains what putting Soriano on the "disqualified list" would mean.
  
• The Washington Post's Dave Sheinin asks why Nats GM Jim Bowden made the deal without finding out if Soriano would move to left field, while also attempting to figure out the motivation behind Soriano's stubbornness.
• Sheinin's colleague at the Post, Barry Svrluga (who, in my opinion, is one of the best baseball beat writers in the country), writes that this could be exploring uncharted territory in pro sports labor relations.
• And Tony Kornheiser makes Bowden sound like the Matt Millen of baseball.
  

But for you Tigers fans in the room, doesn't this Soriano situation remind you of the Juan Gonzalez deal, back in 2000? Take a General Manager who's maybe a bit worried about his job status, feels the need to grab some headlines, and then makes a trade for a supposed superstar player without receiving any assurances in return. It looks like the same recipe that resulted in $#!+ soup for the Tigers.

Initially, I thought the Nationals made a worse deal because they gave up a player - Brad Wilkerson - who was essentially the face of the team last year. But look at the players Detroit gave up for Gonzalez: Francisco Cordero and Frank Catalanotto certainly would've helped the Tigers over the past five seasons. And Gabe Kapler probably would've disappointed, but could've at least become a valuable role player.

That Gonzalez deal was the beginning of a long, painful slide to rock bottom for the Tigers. Randy Smith tried to build a team for a big ballpark and then decided to trade for a guy who would've played better in Tiger Stadium. It was a drastic move that stunk of desperation and set a franchise back for years.

Is Jim Bowden about to do the same thing with the Nationals?