Alright - Lo Duca thinks he’s better.  He played in one game, went 1 for 3 and actually caught Reyes stealing.  Fine and good.  So, we have a catcher to fill in until Jesus Flores is ready.  Manny suggested today that Estrada will start the season on the DL. The backup will be Wil Nieves.  Flores will still likely start in AA Harrisburg.

So two questions:  Why is Lo Duca talking about his long-term future here? (There isn’t one, is there?) And why is Bill Ladson STILL picking fights with Brian Schneider? (It seems personal and it’s getting old)

Between the underage women, gambling, attitude issues, heavy steroid use (and his inability to face up to it until months later) oh and the recent injury - we’re supposed to cheer for this guy, re-think our real long term plan for catcher and forget that Brian Schneider was a good guy.  Yea, Paul, you can bet we’re skeptical, but at least there’s a beat writer on your side.

Take Bill’s great example of clubhouse leadership:

Early this week, for example, an upset Lo Duca didn’t see his name in the starting lineup against the Mets, so he went into manager Manny Acta’s office for an explanation. Lo Duca calmed down after Acta told him the team wanted Lo Duca to be in a “more controlled environment” and make sure that his left knee was OK when he is hitting and catching behind the plate.

That’s leadership?  Demanding an answer when your name isn’t in the line-up?  Storming into Manny Acta’s office for an explanation? That’s respect?

Are we even in the clear for no suspension or is that yet to be determined?

Paul LoDuca broke his long silence today and released a statement about his steroid use and mention in the Mitchell Report. His statement was pretty much the same kind of thing we have heard from others mentioned.

“In regards to Senator Mitchell’s report, I apologize to my family, all my fans and to the entire baseball community for [the] mistakes in judgment I made in the past and for the distractions that resulted. I am fully committed to being the best player and person I can be, on and off the field, for the Washington Nationals and the entire baseball community.

“I recognize the importance of my role in the community as a professional athlete, and I intend to focus my energies on making a positive impact in that regard. So that I can focus on making positive contributions and avoid creating further distractions, I respectfully decline to comment any further on the content of the Mitchell Report.”

When asked why he waited so long to make the statement, LoDuca said he wanted to focus on his offseason. He waited until spring training to focus on baseball again. Whatever you say Paul…

It’s still unsure if LoDuca will face a suspension, his case is still being reviewed. It’s also unclear if LoDuca will be ready to play on opening day. Seems like a lot of stuff to work out in the next six weeks. According to the Times, the team has a scenario in place to deal with a suspension of LoDuca, it involves Jesus Flores starting the season in majors.

Hopefully Jesus gets to spring training soon, apparently some guys on the team had some issues with their visas. Flores, Ayala, Colome, Munoz, and a few others where unable to report to spring training on Saturday. Lets hope they can make it soon!

Sure, we’ve waited all off season for today — the day pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. The Nats don’t report until Friday, but nonetheless, baseball season is here. A clean slate, a lot of fresh faces — It’s a day for celebrating a new season. Congratulations, baseball fan. You surivived 4 1/2 months without baseball.

Unfortunantely, steroids continue to tarnish the game we all love — even on this day of fresh starts. The topic strikes again today as Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee travel to Capitol Hill to discuss steroid use.

The hearing begins in just a few minutes (10 AM EST). You can watch on tv or online on CSPAN3.

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??).

The House Oversight & Govt. Reform Committee’s hearing on the use of performance enhancing substances by major league baseball players begins today. Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-ME), MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, and Don Fehr, president, Major League Players Association will meet with the Committee.

You can watch live on CSPAN2.

LA Times reporter Bill Plaschke said it better than we can.

“Baseball will survive, because as long as there are summer nights and bleacher seats, baseball will always survive…The good part about the report is that it represents an important step toward a clean future. The bad part is that, more than any other sport, baseball is steeped in its past.”

Clearly, we haven’t had a chance to read the entire 409 page document, but we all understand its basic content. First, for those items that hit close to home.

Nook Logan. A National for some of 2006 and all of 2007, released just days ago by the Club. A surprise? Absolutely. When reached on Thursday, Logan said, “I’m not talking about it. You have to talk to my agent. I just play baseball.”

From Page 229:

Rondell White, a Tigers teammate, referred Logan to Radomski. Radomski stated that he sold Logan one kit of human growth hormone just before federal agents searched Radomski’s house in December 2005. Radomski mailed the package to Logan, who paid by money order. Radomski recalled having between six and eight conversations with Logan about the use of performance enhancing substances. In the course of one of these conversations, Logan confirmed that he had received the shipment from Radomski. Radomski still had Logan’s phone number in his cell phone directory at the time of his final interview with me and provided me with the phone number.

Congressman Tom Davis thinks Logan should get his money back. “I mean, Nook Logan? I mean, he ought to get his money back, whatever he paid for…They must have watered his down, man. Put some flour in it or whatever.”

Next, the one that should irritate us much more. While the evidence against Logan is minimal and inconclusive, Lo Duca is clearly implicated by the Report. Paul Lo Duca.

New Nationals catcher Lo Duca’s name is plastered throughout the entire report, not just in his own section. Lo Duca is cited in Eric Gagné and Matt Herges’ reports with a number of accusations about him purchasing and injecting illegal performance enhancing drugs.

Page 209 begins the 37 times Lo Duca’s name is mentioned:

Todd Hundley referred Lo Duca to Radomski when Lo Duca played for the Dodgers. Radomski estimated that he engaged in six or more transactions with Lo Duca. In some transactions, Radomski sent the performance enhancing substances by overnight mail to Lo Duca’s home or to the Dodgers clubhouse and Lo Duca sent Radomski a check a week or so later.

Lo Duca’s name, with an address and telephone number, is listed in the address book seized from Radomski’s residence by federal agents. During that search, federal agents also seized a note from Lo Duca to Radomski…

Now there’s a great role model for young Jesus Flores. And if suspensions are put in place for Lo Duca, will Flores start on Opening Day?

Commissioner Bud Selig and Don Fehr of the Players Association addressed the matter after Senator Mitchell released the report. Selig was eager to understand and learn from the past and suggested he’d handle the situation on a case by case basis. Fehr defended players who may have been wrongly accused.

There will be a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Tuesday. More hearings scheduled for January as well. Plaschke concludes with this strong statement:

“For baseball to experience a true cleansing, it must first spend time feeling the filth that its fans feel, the grime from a 409-page dirty book that, for now, has torn apart our bleacher seats and blown out the lights on our summer nights.”

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…

A rumored list is posted at Deadspin:

Update: This list is wrong and implicates players who were not named in the report — including our own Aaron Boone. More soon.

Brady Anderson, Manny Alexander, Rick Ankiel, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Rafaeil Bettancourt, Bret Boone, Milton Bradley, David Bell, Dante Bichette, Albert Belle, Paul Byrd, Wil Cordero, Ken Caminiti, Mike Cameron, Ramon Castro, Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Wilson Delgado, Lenny Dykstra, Johnny Damon, Carl Everett, Kyle Farnsoworth, Ryan Franklin, Rich Garces, Jason Grimsley, Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez, Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Jose Guillen, Jay Gibbons, Juan Gonzalez, Clay Hensley, Jerry Hairston, Felix Heredia, Jr., Darren Holmes, Wally Joyner, Darryl Kile, Matt Lawton, Raul Mondesi, Mark McGwire, Guillermo Mota, Robert Machado, Damian Moss, Abraham Nunez, Trot Nixon, Jose Offerman, Andy Pettitte, Mark Prior, Neifi Perez, Rafael Palmiero, Albert Pujols, Brian Roberts, Juan Rincon, John Rocker, Pudge Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Scott Schoenweiis, David Segui, Alex Sanchez, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Tejada, Julian Tavarez,Fernando Tatis, Maurice Vaughn, Jason Varitek, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams and Kerry Wood.

Two hours until the final list is released.

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.

Lots to talk about today! First, our favorite third baseball is probably having surgery today. Ryan Zimmerman broke the hamate bone in his left wrist last weekend. Its an injury that is fairly common among golfers and baseball players. Zim will likely have surgery this evening to remove the bone. His recovery timetable is about 4-6 weeks, so he hopes it won’t effect Spring Training or the 2008 season. We wish him a safe and speedy recovery!As the GM meetings in Orlando continue, Kasten and Bowden’s “talk to everyone” philosophy is becoming clear. Last weekend the Nationals made preliminary contact with the agents of Torii Hunter of the Twins and Aaron Rowand of the Phillies. Hunter had recently expressed interest in playing in Washington. Stan Kasten met with Andruw Jones last week, this meeting was also very preliminary, but the Nats have at least made contact with three top centerfielders. The Washington community and the new stadium are both big incentives to play for the Nationals. Additionally, both Tom Glavine and Livan Hernandez are aparently interested in joining the club. The interest is mutual as the Nationals would like a veteran on the starting rotation to act as a mentor to the young guys like Bergmann, Hill, and Chico.In the most recent mailbag, Bill Ladson asnwered some questions about trades. He wouldn’t be surpised Felipe Lopez and Chad Cordero were traded for a starting pitcher, slugger, or leadoff hitter. We would hate to see them go.A report surfaced yesterday that former National Jose Guillen purchased over $19,000 worth of steroids and human groth hormone (HGH) from 2002-2005. At least one shipment was placed while Guillen played for the Nats. Guillen will be interviewed by the MLB. Its interesting to note that some of the perscriptions written for Guillen were provided by the same dentist who wrote those for Paul Byrd. HGH was banned in 2005 but players aren’t tested for it currently, because the urine tests aren’t reliable. Its disapointing, steroid use takes away from the purity of the game, it hurts baseball and the careers of the players in question.