The Nationals sure have had a busy couple of weeks. Seems as though some of the trades the club made at the beginning of the month have come back to haunt them a bit.

We were not happy when the Nationals acquired outfielder Elijah Dukes. His previous actions and run ins with the law had us worried that the change Jim Bowden promised Dukes would make was unlikely. Now, just two weeks after the trade was announced, Dukes finds himself in hot water again. The situation is actually quite similar. A former flame has accused Dukes of domestic violence and has requested a restraining order. According to Amanda Reese, who says she dated Dukes from August to October, Dukes sent her a number of threatening text messages. Sounds pretty familiar huh? Remember the message he sent his soon to be ex-wife, “you dead dawg.” Apparently the Nationals have set up a support system to keep Dukes in-line. He will live with Barry Larkin until Spring Training. Perhaps an easier fix would be to take away his cell phone? Of course the Nats say they didn’t know about this situation, that it happened before the trade, and that since he has been with the club, Dukes has been cooperative. Regardless I’m sensing a theme, its pretty obvious that the club is going to have their work cut out for them on this one.

In addition, with the release of the Mitchell Report, the Nats found the name of their new catcher Paul Lo Duca* on the list. President Stan Kasten made a few comments about the report yesterday. He would not specifically name Lo Duca* or Nook Logan, but it was pretty clear that the Nationals didn’t know about Lo Duca’s* steroid use when they acquired him. Kasten made it clear that talking about steroid use is a personal decision left up to the player. We commend those players like former Nat Gary Bennett and the O’s Brian Roberts for being honest about their usage. Wonder when or if Lo Duca* will say anything, my guess is no…

The Nationals have also announced their official 2008 schedule today. Still no word on Spring Training. President Bush has been invited to throw the first pitch at the new stadium. Sadly, there will be no baseball in the nation’s capitol on the 4th of July. The 2008 schedule includes an away game in Cincinnati on July 4. What’s a Fourth of July celebration in DC without a baseball game? We can’t imagine the Nats passing on a sell-out game opportunity in the new stadium.

The Nationals just announced the addition of Rob Mackowiak and Willie Harris to the 2008 roster. Both Mackowiak and Harris are left handed free agents which should help to balance out our heavily right handed roster.

Jim Bowden made the announcement and said, ” “With the additions of Mackowiak and Harris, I feel we will have one of the deepest and most balanced benches in the National League.”

Mackowiak who plays all outfield positions as well as first, second, and third base, is a career .262 hitter with 63 home runs and 282 RBI in 818 games, and has played with Pittsburgh, the White Sox, and last year with San Diego. While outfielder Harris appeared in 117 games with Atlanta in 2007 and batted .270 with 20 doubles, eight triples, two homers, 32 RBI and 17 stolen bases.

Lots of stuff going on today. Have you all checked out the copy of the Mitchell Report. Both Paul Lo Duca and Nook Logan make appearances. We’ll have more on that soon…

The Nationals have worked out contracts with three of our arbitration eligible players. They also announced the release of Nook Logan and Mike O’Connor.

Luis Ayala had a good comeback from his elbow reconstruction surgery last season with a 3.11 ERA in 44 appearances. The 29 year old will make 1.7 million next year.

John Patterson and Ryan Wagner both missed most of the 2007 season with injuries. Patterson will make 850,000 while Wagner will make 450,000 next season.

Ayala and Patterson were important parts of the 2005 pitching team. Patterson went 9-7 with a 3.13 ERA in 31 games. Ayala went 8-7 with a 2.66 ERA in 71 innings.

Wagner was aquired late in 2006 from the Reds along with Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns. He was 3-3 for the Nats in 26 games in 06.

The Nationals now have five players — Lopez, Colome, Cordero, Rauch and Redding — who remain arbitration eligible.

UPDATE - Make that 4 RHPs…

The Nationals have agreed to terms with Jesus Colome. 1.25 million for next season.

is reported to have agreed to terms with the Nationals. According to Barry Lo Duca will get $5 million for one year. Does this move seem to be a scramble to fill a roster void to anyone else? Is Lo Duca any better than Brian Schneider? Really? I still don’t understand why we traded him in the first place. Paying millions for a guy who isn’t much better than what we had seems like a move only Jimbo would make. What the heck happened to my team over the past week?!

I understand the desire to create a winning team. Believe me, I can’t wait to see the Nationals play October baseball. However, it all seems to be coming at a pretty high cost. I am supposed to just accept that we might have a better record next year, and cheer for guys who clearly don’t have the same amount of character as those we just gave away? I realize that’s probably a very ‘girl’ thing to say, but does character really count for nothing?

If all of the talk in 2007 about clubhouse unity and positive energy was true, it seems like the Nats will have a lot of work to do in 2008 to ensure that atmosphere doesn’t go away. So while we might be better offensively, our starting first baseman’s main job is going to be babysitting our potential center fielder, and we extended a contract for veteran infielder just to help bring character to the clubhouse. Now we also have an older catcher who we have given a bunch of money to for only one year, who doesn’t really get a long with our other potential center fielder, and has issues all his own. This all seems a bit backwards to me.

Lastly, what happens to our ‘catcher of the future’ Jesus Flores. Is he going to be sent down to the minors next year to further develop? Keeping in mind that he certainly proved himself last year at the big league level, with a great arm, on point defensive skills, and key clutch hits. He has also been playing winter ball in Venezuela. As I posted before he’s not playing everyday, but when he does play he produces — he hit an RBI double last night. I say why not give this kid a real chance to prove what else he can do?

I am not sure about the 2008 Nationals. Who knows, maybe I am too emotionally attached, but I have a feeling we as fans are in for quite a dramatic season. I’ll try my hardest to remain positive, and hopefully I eat my words.

Jeff Passan from Yahoo! Sports released his list of winners and losers from this year’s winter meetings. Not surprisingly, the Dukes situation was brought up in both columns. Tampa Bay was listed as a winner for getting rid of him, while Jim Bowden received some critiques for acquiring the troubled player.Here’s what Passan had to say:

“Jim Bowden: The most dangerous qualities a baseball player can exhibit simultaneously are ability and disappointment. Because more than anything, people around baseball love to fix things. They love to believe they can fix a flat curveball, and that they can find the hitch in that long swing, and, in Bowden’s case, that they can turn a monster into a mite. Elijah Dukes needs a coterie of good doctors, not the Washington Nationals’ GM trying to rescue him. If there’s an upside, it’s that Lastings Milledge will look like a choir boy in comparison.”

We sincerely hope that Dukes is given a zero tolerance policy and that the Nationals stick to it. It would be incredible if Dukes can turn his life around, but if he can’t, he needs to be shown the door.

Seems the Nationals picked up two players from the Rule 5 Draft. Infielder Matt Whitney and outfielder Garrett Guzman join the club. It will be interesting to see what kind of help these two can provide.

According to the press release -

Whitney, who was the 33rd overall pick (supplemental round) in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft by Cleveland, led the Indians’ minor league system in 2007 with 32 home runs and 113 RBI in a combined 128 games with Low-A Lake County (South Atlantic League) and High-A Kinston (Carolina League). Whitney was named the 10th-best prospect in the Carolina League following the season by Baseball America after hitting .288 with 11 doubles, 16 homers, 49 RBI and a .549 slugging percentage in 57 games with Kinston.

Guzman was named an Eastern League post-season All-Star in 2007 after batting .312 with 23 doubles, 14 homers and 88 RBI in 125 games with Minnesota’s Double-A New Britain club. In his first full year at the Double-A level, the 24-year-old finished the year tied for fourth in the league in RBI and tied for third in batting. Guzman, a left-handed hitter, batted .333 (35-for-105) with three homers and 22 RBI against left-handed pitchers.

The Nationals have also offered contract extensions to Wily Mo Pena and Ryan Langerhans, avoiding arbitration for both. Pena got a one year deal with a mutual option year, while Langerhans agreed to terms for the 2008 season. Seems as though the outfield is set with five thanks to addition of Guzman. Guess that means we won’t be seeing Nook Logan in 2008?

Lastly the Nationals have agreed to terms with free agent infielder Aaron Boone.

Boone, 34, is a career .265 (961-for-3626) hitter with 203 doubles, 120 home runs, 527 RBI and 107 stolen bases in 1038 games spanning 10 big league seasons with Cincinnati (1997-2003), New York-AL (2003), Cleveland (2005-06) and Florida (2007). Although his season was cut short by a left-knee injury, Boone hit .286 with five home runs, 28 RBI and a career-best .388 on-base percentage in 69 games with the Marlins in 2007.

It’d be nice if we could get a catcher next to help Jesus Flores out next year.

Thanks to Thom Loverro at the Washington Times for his article on the Dukes trade. The article says everything we were thinking, but were struggling to put into words. The jist - Dukes is not worth the trouble. As Nats fans we are now asked to show our loyalty by welcoming this troubled kid with open arms…not a chance.

More Trade News:

The revolving door that has been the Washington Nationals this week continues to spin with the news that Jonathan Albaladejo has been traded to the New York Yankees for right-handed starter, Tyler Clippard. Albaladejo posted a 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings of work with the Nationals at the end of the season. We are certainly going to miss him, he looked great in his call up. Doug saw him pitch last season in AAA before his September call up, and was excited about him. Albaladejo came almost free from the Pirates so its nice that we get someone of value for him. The 22 year old Clippard had a 3-1 record last year with a 6.33 ERA.With the recent addition of Milledge and Dukes, the Nats outfield is getting a little crowded. A recent report suggests that Kearns and Lopez could go as a package deal in exchange for more starting pitching. Kearns was touted as a Gold Glove candidate for much of the season by the Nationals front office. Lets hope this rumor isn’t true.

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!

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.”

Just a few things to talk about today. There is some more talk about the Nationals interest in Andruw Jones. Jones said that his friendship with Pat Corrales doesn’t mean he will play for the Nationals. He also said that even though Nats team president Stan Kasten visited his house recently, they didn’t talk about Jones joining the team. The Nats will have to do some tough dealing to get Jones, and after his disappointing 2007 season, many question if Jones is worth it.

Some good news was found at the end of the article. The Nationals have announced that radio play-by-play guy Dave Jageler will be back in the booth for the 2008 season. We couldn’t be happier. Seems like the Nats are finally firming up the broadcast team for next year. Hopefully we will hear an announcement for Charlie’s return soon.

Lastly, the Nationals are lucky enough (?) to have two season bloopers nominated for the MLB 2007 Baseball Awards. First is Matt Chico’s wild pitch into the stands on April 21st. Second, who could forget Zimmerman loosing the ball in his shirt on June 23rd? Go vote and help make sure the Nats get at least one season award!