Given this…

and this…

this is timely and a little fun.

Yesterday, the Nationals agreed to a 1.25 million dollar one year contract with catcher Johnny Estrada. Estrada will be reunited with Stan Kasten and Pat Corrales. Sources insist the move had nothing to do with Lo Duca*’s recent knee injury, though Estrada had the same procedure performed last fall. The switch-hitter brings some balance to the lineup. Chris at Capitol Punishment chronicles Estrada’s attitude problems, calling attention to the most important consequences of this move.

Jesus Flores. The young impressive Flores will, according to these sources, be playing AA or AAA ball next season to develop into the backstop of the Nats future. We’re big fans and sad to see him go. Alas, what Jim wants, Jim gets.In other news:

Dmitri Young was honored at the 19th annual BAT awards, along with David Wright.

Elijah Dukes was back in a Tampa court yesterday for a disposition in a misdemeanor domestic violence case against him, stemming from a July 2007 incident.

Ryan Zimmerman will be appearing at a star studded pre-Super Bowl party this weekend. The Stars in the Skye party includes Nick Lachey, Vanessa Millano, Venus and Serena Williams, Ivanka Trump and others.

The Nats are expected to take on the Georgetown Hoyas at an exhibition game on Feb 28 in Viera. The game is free of charge and originally appeared as an off-day for the team.

Today’s stop on the Nationals 2008 Winter Tour was an autograph signing at the DC Auto Show. Thanks to our friend Rich, we scored tickets and headed to see the slick cars and nab an autograph from Tim Redding. There was a pretty good sized crowd at the show today and some really nice cars! It looked like Tim had a steady group of fans to meet. We were impressed to see Mark Lerner at the event. The Lerners have been out to support many of the events for this tour; it’s nice to see. The last stop on the tour is tomorrow at Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington. Then, it’s time to focus on spring training and opening day!

News Updates -

The Orioles traded their young left-hander Erik Bedard to the Mariners. A little disappointing as we would have loved to see this starter as a Nat!

According to Lo Duca’s* agent, he is having surgery tomorrow to repair a “minor meniscus tear.” He’s expected to be out for 3-6 weeks. Pitchers and catchers report for spring training on the 15th of February. Wonder if Paul will be there…

Happy 90th Birthday to the wonderful Ernie Harwell. He was so sweet back in July in a presentation at George Washington University. A great career and a wonderful baseball legend…we wish Ernie all the best on this important day.

After a good attempt to make it to Giffords on time last night (I blame the city’s lack of protected left turns), I arrived minutes after the Nationals crew had already departed. Others were there to fill you in on the details. It sure smelled like heaven in there. Sounds like it was a great event for the local business which will be selling products at the new Nationals Park.

The Nats also announced their new Baseball America ranking for prospects. The Nats moved from dead last to #9 by adding the talented Detwiler, Burgess, McGeary and Smoker.

The team also announced their kick-off of the Spring Training season with single game ticket sales and a fan fest for those in the Melbourne/Viera area. Saturday’s fest will include Jason Bergmann, Ross Detwiler, Shawn Hill and Alex Escobar and feature batting practice, a pitching clinic, and dugout pictures. There are only 20 days to go until pitchers and catchers report.

We have not said much about Barry Svrluga yet — we were waiting for his official word. But it does turn out that beloved Post beat writer will be moving to Redskins coverage in the future. Can you think of just one person who might be okay with this change?

Sideline reporter Debbi Taylor has a fun blog post about her recent trip to the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation In the Spirit of the Game Dinner and Auction.

Also the Hampton Roads MLB boys are coming together again. This time they are building a indoor sports facility — the Seven Cities Sports Complex. The idea belongs to Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer who has dreamed about sponsoring such a place for years. The complex should be ready by early 2009. In general, there will be a fee to attend and train, however they also plan to offer scholarships to help send kids to college. The clinics and programs will shape the area’s youth and provide assistance to those that might not be able to afford to use the facility. The group is headed by Cuddyer with support from BJ and Justin Upton, Tim Hummel and Ryan Zimmerman.

Injury update: Nats catcher Paul Lo Duca* seems to have suffered a knee injury recently. It is unknown if it will affect his participation in spring training, but he will have an MRI today. He also has not yet publicly addressed accusations made against him in the Mitchell Report.

The Nats also agreed to terms with 12 players. The only remaining players without contracts are Felipe Lopez (arbitration), Jon Rauch (arbitration) and Ryan Zimmerman (long term contract??).

After spending a few days with Nick Johnson in Sacramento, Washington Post reporter Barry Syrluga wrote a fantastic piece on Johnson’s long road to recovery. It has been 16 months since Nick has played in a baseball game. 16 months since that horrible collision in Shea Stadium. Johnson was expected to be back and ready to go for the 2007 season, however the pain in his leg wouldn’t disappear and playing baseball was not an option. Nick’s return date went from spring training 07, to June 07, to July 07, and finally to spring training 08. Some seemed to think his career in baseball was over for good.

Thankfully that’s not the case. According to Barry, Nick has been dedicated this offseason, losing weight, and getting back into shape. Better yet, he’s done it all with no limp or pain in his leg. Nick is poised to compete with Dmitri Young during spring training for the starting role. Manny Acta sounded confident in Johnson’s return also. He noted that the Nationals would really benefit from Nick’s offense and OBP. So the Nats have two solid first basemen heading into spring training. There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition. It will be exciting to see how it all plays out and who wins the spot.

We’ll be there to see the fight for first base, the depth of the new outfield, and who wins a spot on the starting 5 in less than a month. We purchased our spring training game tickets this morning. Baseball is just around the corner!

As if sharing my birthday with Wily Mo wasn’t enough–

A baseball stuffed with chocolate covered strawberries and bananas might be! Thanks Rach! Check it out at Edible Arrangements.That sure is better than receiving one of these American League Nats jackets!

PS-It’s nice to share a birthday with our power hitting left fielder

Sure we’ve all been wrapped up in ticket re-location, parking issues and stadium progress - while March 30 gets closer and closer. It seems like we just left RFK and in a few short weeks we’ll be sitting in our new Nationals Park.

Mark Newman of MLB recently interviewed baseball fans about their favorite collectibles and pieces of memorabilia — those things that help us remember how we first fell in love with the national pastime or that remind us of games and moments that seemed to change everything.

Our friends at Phillies Nation treasure a Phanatic growth chart, while MetsGrrl loves her Shea Stadium Apple Clock. We shared a few of our own favorite things too.

In just 68 days, we’ll pack up the baseball memories we’ve already made and look forward to making decades of new ones in our new home along the Anacostia River.