Nationals Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden and Coach Manny Acta just held a conference call to announce the big trade of Brian Schneider and Ryan Church to the Mets for Outfielder Lasting Milledge. We were and still are a little shocked by the trade, its kind of like watching two of your good buddies move away. We are very sad to see both of them go, and wish them nothing but the best in NY.With that said, both Manny and Jim sounded pretty excited about the deal during the conference. Bowden made the announcement and said that Milledge fits right into “the plan” as he is a young (22) player who will likely develop into a middle of the lineup impact hitter. The Nats will control him until 2012, so it bodes well for the future of the team. Jim also said that the Nats paid a steep price for the young player by dealing Church and Schneider. He thanked both of them for their work on and off the field, and made it clear that they will be missed.

Manny said it was a day of mixed emotions, but that the Nats are getting a guy that fits into the plan. He sounded confident in Milledge’s abilities to play strong defense, produce runs, and bring a lot of energy to the team. When asked about the controversy surrounding Lastings, Manny defended him wholeheartedly, and said that Milledge is a good kid, who became a big leaguer at a young age, and had to learn a lot quickly. Acta said he has no doubt that Lastings is going to be just fine with the Nats. When asked if Milledge will be the Nats starting center fielder in 2008 Manny said it was still too early to tell. He’s waiting till after Spring Training to make that decision.

After the Q&A with Jim and Manny, Lastings himself called in to answer a few questions. He said he is very excited to be with Jim and to play for Manny. Lastings admitted that while he struggled in New York Manny was there for him and showed him the way. Milledge said he would make sure to play hard for Manny. When asked if he thought he could play CF for the Nats, Lastings was confident in his abilities. He was drafted as a CF and feels like its his premier position. He feels comfortable playing in both left and right field as well. Milledge said he welcomes the playing time and that it’s a relief to be with a team for a while.

Jim, of course, was asked about losing Schneider’s veteran influence and leadership. Jim said that Austin Kearns, Dmitri Young and Ryan Zimmerman could step up to fill that void. He continued to emphasis that the goal was not to fill the 25 man roster perfectly, but to pick up a building block for the future. He cited some concern over losing two left-handed hitters, for example, and about the status of Jesus Flores. Jim did not give a clear answer, but said he is still open to allowing young Rule 5 star Flores to take the position.

Acta and Bowden continued to emphasis their desire to build a team through drafts and trades, using free agency only as a last resort.We were encouraged by the conference. Milledge seems very excited to be part of a young team and glad to be given the chance to play. Manny couldn’t say enough about him and seems to be very confident in his abilities. We are excited to see what Lastings will bring.

Milledge is a career .257 hitter. In 59 games with the Mets last season, he batted .272 with nine doubles, seven homers, 29 RBI and a .341 on-base percentage.

Sure to be lots of reflection and discussion about this over the next few days….leave your thoughts!

We’re still reacting to this, but wanted to share the news.

Brian Schneider and Ryan Church have been traded to the New York Mets in exchange for Lastings Milledge.

The Nationals will make an announcement at 3 PM.
More to follow…

*new* ESPN report

Sean Taylor, safety for the Washington Redskins, died early this morning from a gunshot wound he suffered early Monday after an intruder broke into his Miami home. Taylor was only 24 years old and was widely acknowledged to be enjoying the best season of his career as well as maturing into a respectable young man according to teammates and coaches. In just his fourth season in the NFL, Taylor already played in the Pro Bowl and led the NFC in interceptions. He will be sadly missed both off and on the field.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Sean Taylor’s family, friends and the Redskins community.Sean Taylor pictured with Redskins coach Joe Gibbs.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Kevin Wolf

There have been a lot of updates about Nationals players involved in the Fall and Winter leagues showing up lately. However, no one seems to be updating us on Jesus Flores’ performance in the Venezuela Winter League. You’ll recall that Venezuela denied Flores the right to play in the Arizona Fall League with the understanding that he would play everyday in his native country. Flores is playing for the Navegantes del Magallanes, but so far he hasn’t played everyday, and thus hasn’t seen many at bats. Yet, when Flores does play he produces, hitting singles and doubles.

Last night however, Flores made history. He and teammate Richard Hidalgo both hit two home runs in one game. The last time a feat like this occurred was in 1953. Flores led off the 5th inning with a home run, he followed up in the 7th with another solo shot to center field. A recap of the game can be found here (click on the play by play tab). Also there is a nice write up of the game, but unless you read Spanish you’ll need to translate it.

I am pretty sure Venezuela doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but it was a holiday in the US and Flores did hit two homers in one game. Maybe he will give our Mr. Holiday Hitter Ryan Zimmerman a run for his money next season!

Hope everyone had a nice Turkey Day.

Stan Kasten commented this weekend on Scott Boras, after his tough week. The goliath of sports agents watched his biggest client talk to the Yankees directly. Shortly there after, he lost Kenny Rogers too. Jerry Crasnick’s column chronicles all the Boras mistakes over the past few weeks and the essential story of the famous agent.

Given the Nats interest in Jones, Stan’s opinion of Boras is interesting:

“I used to think as Scott as a necessary evil, and now I’ve changed, I no longer think he is necessary. He and I are friendly enough personally, but I think the way he conducts himself is perfectly consistent with the job he’s given within the system we have. I think the system could be better, and I’ve talked about this publicly, for all of sports, for all of fans, and for all of players, if the union took over that job, and we had an agent free universe, I think everything would be better. Boras is what he is, and he’s done what he does, and I’ve signed many contracts with Scott, but it makes it difficult.”

He continued…

“I had this conversation with Andruw [Jones] who was a little put off by the whole situation with the Braves and how his departure was handled, and I was thinking to myself, that he needs to realize that his agent makes things difficult from time to time, and there are some teams that don’t want to deal with it. It’s well known that the last time he [Jones] did a contract with the Braves, he did it without using Scott. We’ve seen at least twice this week when that’s happened, with A-Rod and Kenny Rogers, I don’t think it’s a trend, Scott’s going to continue to be very successful, but there are times when Scott is not a plus, and we see examples of that from time to time.”

Justin Maxwell’s last player journal is up today. The Peoria Javelinas missed a shot at the Fall League playoffs. Justin compared their last few games to those he played in Philly to finish up the Nats 2007 season. Hopefully, our guys on the Javelinas learned a lot, had some fun, and come to Spring Training ready to compete. We can’t wait to see what next season brings.

Looks like we’ll be spending our 2008 summer nights in Section 226L Row F…between Right Field and 1st base, close to the foul pole.

Where are you? Log on to My Nationals tickets to find out!

Baseball superstar Barry Bonds was charged Thursday with perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying when he said he did not use performance-enhancing drugs.
Full AP story available here.