The Washington Nationals, and legions of fans, braved the elements today to participate in the last day of the Nats Winter Caravan.

The day started at Children's National Medical Center, where a roster full of Nationals met with the children at the center, doing arts and crafts, face painting and helping lift spirits.

Next on the agenda, after trudging through the snow, was the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex, where the Nationals announced a partnership with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, naming the organization the recipient of the 2010 Baseball Equipment Drive.

The Drive is held in partnership with with the Baseball Tomorrow Fund, which will provide the recipients with a $5,000 grant to purchase new equipment.

"The Washington Nationals strive to create longstanding partnerships which encourage participation in youth baseball and softball and improve the health and well-being of the citizens of the Washington, DC Metropolitan area," said Nationals Vice President of Communications & Community Relations Chartese Burnett.

When asked what it meant to her personally, Burnett said, "It means a great deal.  To be able to do a dedicated effort in Prince George's County means a lot.  To have a comprehensive partnership, to be able to give a grant to a boys and girls club, to be able to have one of the organizations be the recipient of the Baseball Tomorrow Fund baseball equipment drive, it just means so much to me because I know of the opportunities we'll provide in Prince George's County."

"While there's a lot of affluence in Prince George's County, there are also a lot of needs here."

The players felt the much the same way.

"It's a lot of fun, especially getting a chance to see all the little leaguers at the press conference today," pitcher Craig Stammen said.  "Getting to meet them, knowing that they have a dream in their mind that it is possible for them to make the big leagues, and having this partnership gives them a little bit more of an opportunity."

Ryan Zimmerman had a good perspective on the event.  "Obviously we're very lucky to do what we do and we enjoy playing in this city, to come out and talk to kids, hopefully they get a message out of it, something they'll use later in life as they grow up.  You know, it's important to us."

Nyjer Morgan felt is was an honor to be asked to participate.  "Just being able to come out in the community and meet the fans, it's us giving back.  You always have to think about your community and always have to give back."

After the event in Landover wrapped up, the players and front office staff got back on the buses to head over to Montgomery County to sign autographs at White Flint Mall.  Mother nature, and snarling traffic, turned a 20 minute drive into a two and a half hour marathon.

Once they reached their destination, they signed for every single person in line.

Sunday, the players and team staff will once again host fans at Nationals Park for NatsFest.  It will be another opportunity for fans to reach out and touch their heroes; to get an autograph or a picture, or just to say "hi", and everyone will be wishing for the day when the field will be a bright green instead of covered with snow, and skies will be clear and warm instead of gray and blustery.

Players who participated in today's activities, in addition to the ones quoted above, were Brian Bruney, Matt Capps, Tyler Clippard, Adam Dunn, John Lannan, Jason Marquis, Josh Willingham, Manager Jim Riggleman, and broadcaster Rob Dibble.

**For additional photos, please see here.**

Today marked day three of the National Winter Caravan.

The first stop was the Nats season ticket holder Hot Stove Luncheon.  The event was attended by the Nats largest collection of players yet on the tour.  There was a panel Q&A moderated by David Gregory, host of NBC's Meet the Press (and Nats' season ticket holder).

Nats President Stan Kasten, GM Mike Rizzo, Manager Jim Riggleman and All-Star 3B Ryan Zimmerman spent a good 45 minutes getting grilled by the collected season ticket holders in the sold out event.

They took questions ranging from the possibility of re-signing Adam Dunn (in the audience, who gave a standing ovation to the question with a knowing glance to owner Mark Lerner), steroids and Sammy Sosa (Riggs was his manager in 1989, and said that baseball was "naive" back then) and Zim's off-season dietary plan (no, he didn't diet, but according to the questioner he "looked great").

Mr. Kasten responded to all sorts of questions with his standard earnestness. 

Q:  What about those pesky Phillies and Mets fans? 

A:  We just want them to go home sad when they lose.

Q:  What about the big red tent blocking the view of the Capitol?

A:  There are plenty of view of the Capitol in the stadium if you'd rather watch that than the game.

Q:  What about the long lines at the concessions?

A:  We don't like 'em either, and we're still trying to figure it out.

We caught up with Rizzo after fans were invited to get autographs from their heroes.

The highlights:  He's still pursuing Orlando Hudson, but the two sides remain apart.  He still thinks there are options if they can't work it out with Hudson.  He said Cristian Guzman will be healthy at spring training.  He said Ian Desmond will be a "very good" shortstop in the majors very soon.  He just didn't know if very soon meant opening day, September, or next season.

He thinks newly signed pitcher Miguel Bastista will compete for the 4-5 spots in the rotation, but also is comfortable sending him to the pen.  And he said Jesus Flores has not started throwing yet, but will start a throwing program soon, maybe to coincide with spring training.

Later in the evening, the players went across town to take in a Washington Capitals game.  They all signed autographs for an hour before the game started, then enjoyed a spirited 4-1 Caps victory.

Oh, and for the record, Dunn was sporting a pretty sweet off-season beard (see below).  Not quite as awesome as this, but up there.

We caught up with Day Two of the Nats Caravan today at lunchtime at Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street in downtown DC.  The place was over-packed with a bustling lunch crowd, and a dozen or so players, manager, and front office personnel from the Washington Nationals.

Pitchers Drew Storen and Ryan Speier, and SS Danny Espinosa, along with President Stan Kasten, GM Mike Rizzo, Manager Jim Riggleman and MASN broadcaster Rob Dibble were all there to munch on chili dogs and wash them down with milkshakes.

We caught up with Storen to ask him about leading off the caravan the first couple days for the team.  "It's real exciting.  Obviously I'm not the complete face of the franchise with guys like Zim and Stras coming in.  I'm just coming out, trying to make a difference, make people's day.  If I'm leading the way, that's fine.  It's pretty exciting to see people fired up about the upcoming season."

Wednesday night, the right-handed reliever was named as one of the Top 50 prospects in all of baseball by MLB Network.  "It's quite an honor to be in the top 50 like that.  It's one of those things that it's a great honor but on top of that I'm not going to be worried about it too much."

"There's still a lot of work I need to do and I need to go out and prove myself.  You know, impress those guys [motions to Rizzo, Riggleman], the ones that make the real decisions."

General Manager Mike Rizzo was proud of having three players, Stephen Strasburg, Storen and C Derek Morris all named in the Top 100.  "It shows the progress that we're making.  We feel proud about a lot of our players."

"We feel that we have 10 or 12 good solid prospects.  Three of them are recognized, and we feel there could be a couple of others on that list.  It's all in the eye of the beholder.  But we feel good about it.  We're proud of where we're going as an organization and we stress player development, so it's gratifying for us."

Rizzo was taken with his young reliever in another regard.  "He's as good as it gets as far as [being] media-friendly, and maturity in handling the media.  He's way beyond his years as far as that goes.  He's one of our crown jewels of our system, so it's good to get him and Danny [Espinosa] out in front of the cameras.  We feel that these guys are going to be cornerstone players for us for years to come."

"[Storen]'s very media-savvy and he's an outgoing personality, so there's going to be no problem with that in his career."

To further reinforce the idea of Storen's being good with the media, he'll be appearing on the Jack Diamond Show at 7:30 am tomorrow (Friday) morning on 107.3 FM, and appeared on Fox-5 Morning News with Riggleman to talk about the team Tuesday morning.

And we couldn't let the opportunity go without sneaking in a question about the hot topic of the possibility of the Nationals signing free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson.  "I would describe it like this; there's interest on our part," Rizzo said.  "We have interest in him and several others."

"It's been no secret I like Orlando Hudson.  He fits what we're trying to do, get stronger defensively up the middle.  We like him, we've got several other options beyond him.  But obviously he's a guy we'd like to acquire, if it's a fit for him and for us, we'd like to get something done.  If not, we have other options to go in a different direction."

"It's safe to say he'd be the top guy that we'd like to acquire, just because he fits the parameters of a young, athletic guy that's really good defensively."

The entire entourage then loaded into the buses and headed to Fort Belvoir and Pfitzner Stadium, home of the Potomac Nationals, the next two stops on the Caravan.  They'll be hard-pressed to find a better chili dog on either stop.

ESPN.com's Keith Law, one of the most respected talent evaluators around, released his organizational rankings today.

You may (or may not, depending on the amount of Uncle Stan's kool-aid you drink) be surprised to find out that he still has the Nationals minor league system ranked in the lower third of the league, at No. 23.

There's not much analysis, but I'll publish it here for you. 

Getting there, slowly, but a number of top draft picks from 2006 to 2008 haven't developed as expected, and two of their top three guys -- including Stephen Strasburg -- came in the 2009 draft.

Law acknowledges that the organization is making some progress, but notes (correctly, I'll add) that with two of the franchise's top prospects coming in last spring's draft -- and as close as they are to the big league squad -- once they've graduated, it's right back to square one.

I think when the traditional lists of individual top prospects come out in the coming weeks, we're going to see Strasburg, Drew Storen and probably even Derek Norris' names sprinked about, and with good reason.  They are all top-notch talent. 

But after that, the farm still has very precious few difference makers from top to bottom.  One hopes that now that the front office has been reshaped with the folks that GM Mike Rizzo hand picked things will turn around and the farm system can become a model in MLB.

So far, though?  Baby steps.  And a long way to go to reach the top.

As reported by veteran baseball writer Ken Rosenthal on twitter, the Washington Nationals signed reliever RHRP Tyler Walker, most recently of the Philadelphia Phillies (pending physical), and LHSP Chuck James, who is coming off major off-season shoulder surgery.

And according to the Nationals transactions page, they signed OF Chris Duncan back on Jan. 19, to absolutely no fanfare.

According to MLB.com's Bill Ladson, Walker signed a big league contract worth $650,000.  James and Duncan signed minor league contracts.

Walker is probably the biggest immediate news for Nats fans.  He's a 33-year old right hander that that was used as a righty specialist last season by the Phils.  He went 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA and 1.132 WHIP, striking out 6.9 per nine while walking just 2.3 per nine.  His K/BB rate of 3.0 was the highest of his seven-year big league career.

He'll imediately slide into a similar role for the Nationals, providing another useful major league arm in the bullpen.

James is a big of a stash-and-watch deal.  Just 26, he only managed seven starts in 2008 before succumbing to the shoulder injury that would shelve him for the rest of that season and all of 2009.  In his first two big league seasons (2006-07), he showed real talent, going 22-14 in 48 starts with a 4.05 ERA nad 1.320 WHIP, striking out 6.6 per nine innings.

James underwent rotator cuff AND labrum surgery in September 2008 and missed all of last season.  If, and that's a very big if, he can regain any of the stuff he had pre-surgery, James could be a very interesting reclamation project.  New Assistant GM Roy Clark--late of Atlanta--must have liked something he's seen in James' rehab.

Duncan, a lefty-hitting, righty-throwing outfielder, has played in the majors exclusively for the St. Louis Cardinals.  He hit 22 and 21 home runs in 2006 and 2007, but had only 11 combined homers in 2008-09, leading to a very public separation last July, when he was traded to Boston for Julio Lugo.  Duncan never appeared for Boston and was subsequently released in August.

Duncan is a son of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, and pere Duncan was very vocal about what he percieved as poor treatment from the organization's handling of the situation last season.

There has been no press release or official word from the team on any of these deals as of this posting.

No.  Please, no.

The Washington Nationals annouced, via a very short press release, that they came to terms with four players today, thus avoiding salary arbitration with the group.

The players with new contracts are OF Josh Willingham, C Jesus Flores, C Wil Nieves, and RHRP Jason Bergmann.

No conditions of the contract were announced.

This news leaves just two players still eligible for arbirtation with the Nationals:  RHRP Brian Bruney and LHRP Sean Burnett.

All photos  © 2008, 2009 Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

Forgive me today if I use this space to talk about something other than the Washington Nationals.

Mark McGwire came clean today.

It was a matter of time, I suppose, that McGwire would eventually make a statement on his use of performance enhancing drugs. And he made that statement earlier today, admitting finally that he used steroids and human growth hormone for a large part of his career, including in 1998 when he hit 70 home runs for the St. Louis Cardinals.

His statement says a lot about the man behind the slugger.

He said he "knew this day would come," and he "wished I had never played during the steroid era." Those are the words of a man with a guilty conscious.

What will be parsed by every sportswriter and talking head in the country now is his motivation for the statement today, and how it affects his candidacy for the Hall of Fame.

It's greater than just McGwire, though. How does this affect the candidacy of many of the sports' biggest names of the 1990s?

You know the names: Bonds. Clemens. Palmeiro. Sosa. A-Rod. Manny. Big Papi.

The record book is full of these players' names, and they all carry a taint of performance enhancing drugs.

Last week, McGwire was named on just 23.7 percent of the ballots cast for the Hall of Fame election that sent Andre Dawson to the Hall.

How many of the writers left McGwire off that ballot due to his now-infamous Congressional testimony? How many will cling to their sanctimonious opinion now that McGwire has admitted his use?

America loves a redemption story. Maybe this admission, and subsequent position as St. Louis' new hitting coach, is McGwire's attempt at clearing his name, along with clearing his conscious.

The cynics among us would probably say that this is a calculated attempt of a desperate man who sees his support for immortality dwindling as the memory of his infamous statement, "I'm not here to talk about the past," fades into the collective recesses of our minds.

It's an image no one wants to revisit if we were gather to celebrate McGwire's induction.

But now, we have the mea culpa. There are more words for pundits to ease their minds as they ultimately decide if McGwire will take residency in the Halls of Cooperstown.

For now, Big Mac has apologized.

Any recounting of his performance before Congress (on his lawyer's instructions, of course) will be balanced by the idea that he professed his remorse for his involvement in the whole ordeal--his actions over the bulk of his career and his words that day.

McGwire was guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. It was a fact assumed, but not in evidence, until today. But there are many players of this generation that share that stigma.

What are the voters for the Hall supposed to do? Not vote for players in that era at all? Only vote for the ones they think are clean? Only vote for the ones that publicly admit that yes, they did do steroids?

How about the players already enshrined in the hallowed Hall that were guilty of much the same thing? Amphetamines were recently abolished and legislated, and it's no surprise that road scoring is down across the league.

What about all the players in the Hall of Fame that used these performance enhancing drugs? Are we just supposed to ignore that fact? Look past it because the imagery of someone doing "greenies" doesn't conjure up WWF wrestlers? It's a slippery slope when someone's opinions and assumptions determine the fates of others.

McGwire. Bonds. Clemens. Palmeiro. Sosa. A-Rod. Manny. Big Papi. Many others. They will all be judged by the Baseball Writers Association of America. It is their only jury.

I have my opinions. You have yours. But the BBWAA has the final say.

Personally, it does not change my opinion one way or the other. All those players were guilty of breaking the rules, but they weren't the only ones in that era. Hitters faced pitchers who used. Pitchers faced hitters that used.

We'll never really know how many players used. But we know it's more than we first expected. Maybe that was wishful thinking.

But my opinion is that we cannot eliminate an entire generation of players from the Hall of Fame. I believe that PED use was so prevalent, that these players can still be judged against their peers in the era that they played.

Something that Andre Dawson said in his telephone conference call the day he found out he'd been enshrined makes a lot of sense. He didn't say it in relation to the steroids issue, but it's germane nonetheless.

"If you're a Hall of Famer, eventually you're going to get in, no matter how long it takes."

If you are supporter of Mark McGwire and the others, you better hope Dawson has it right.

The Cincinnati Reds outbid several major league baseball teams (including the Washington Nationals, apparently) for the services of Cuban left-handed pitcher Aroldis Chapman.  Reds' GM Walt Jocketty shelled out $30 million (spread out over ten years, according to reports) for the hard-throwing, but untested, 22-year old.

Chapman is said to have "a plus-plus fastball that sits in the mid-90s and has touched 101 (legitimately); the fastball has good tailing life, and he flashes a plus slider with good tilt," according to ESPN.com's Keith Law.  That type of talent, paired with the Nats No. 1 overall pick from last summer's draft, Stephen Strasburg, had Nats execs drooling of a potentially lethal 1-2 punch.

But in the same article about Chapman, Law explains:

His changeup remains a work in progress, although he probably hasn't had to use it much given the competition he's faced.

On the downside, his command isn't great. Although his arm is loose and his velocity comes easily, he's still raw as a pitcher and has a fair amount of development ahead of him in the short term.

Chapman is a work in progress, and the Reds just doled out twice as much money, guaranteed, than the Nats paid Strasburg last season.

It's interesting to see that the final players in the Chapman sweepstakes were Cincinnati, Oakland, and Washington--teams that typically are known for being tight with their money.  Where were the big market teams driving up the asking price?  Where were teams with playoff aspirations?  Where were the Yankees?

Law again provides some insight: 

There's also some economic logic behind the greater interest from low-revenue teams in these top amateur players. An impact player, even if he's still merely a potential one such as Chapman, is worth more to a team like Cincinnati or Oakland than he is to a New York or a Boston because those latter teams are already looking at 90-plus-win seasons.

Still, was Chapman worth this risk?  He had been competing with the Cuban National team before defection, but his level of competition was nothing compared to even that of Strasburg, whose only knock on him coming out of college was the fact that he played in the Mountain West Conference.  Chapman has been pitching against teenagers and other undeveloped competition in Cuba.

I'm not saying that the Reds, or the Nats, were wrong in going after Chapman and paying for his potential.  It just strikes me strange that the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels and other big market teams seemed to be not more involved in the process.

As far as the Nats involvement, it's just good to know that they had a ceiling in the negotiations.  From Nationals Journal, quoting Stan Kasten: 

"There's a limit to what you can spend for an unproven pitcher."

Especially one that is as unproven and untested as Chapman.

MLBTradeRumors.com reports that the Nats might be interested in 36-year old OF Randy Winn. Winn is still a terrific defensive player, but his slash stats last season were Guzmanian at .262/.318/.353 in 528 ABs. There's already speculation about what Winn's role might be with the Nationals.

My take: he'd be fine as a veteran fourth OF and defensive replacement, but not at the expense of Dukes' development, or the pushing of Willingham out the door. Something tells me Winn's still looking for a FT roll, though.

The Nats have a decent offense, but if Winn were to play full-time over either Dukes or Willingham, it would leave a hole in the batting order that his defense simply couldn't make up for. This lineup just can't make up for two sub-.320 OBPs, and that's what Winn and Guzman bring to the table.

The Nationals outrighted LHRP Victor Garate to Triple-A Syracuse to make room on the 40-man roster for new closer Matt Capps. 

Garate was acquired at the trade deadline last season from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for 2B Ronnie Belliard, who went on to oust Orlando Hudson from the starting position down the stretch for the Dodgers.

Garate, 24, had no decisions in four appearances for the Nats last season, giving up five erned runs in two innings on five hits, three walks, a hit by pitch and one home run, making his big league ERA a tidy 22.50 with an even 4.00 WHIP.

At Double-A Chattanooga in 2009, he threw 53.0 innings with an 0-1 record.  His ERA was 2.04 and WHIP of 1.113, striking out 9.5 batters per nine innings.

Photo © 2009 Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

The Hardball Times released their Top 10 prospects list for the Washington Nationals today.  Not much surprise, however, only three of their top ten were arms, the rest position players.

1. Stephen Strasburg: Perhaps the best college pitcher of all time, Strasburg brings unheralded hype and ability to a Washington organization desperate for a shot in the arm. He is the best pitching prospect in baseball and will challenge Atlanta's Jason Heyward as my preseason No. 1 prospect in baseball.

2. Derek Norris: Despite his high strikeout rate, Norris has the bat of a future All-Star. The most unheralded aspect of his season was the 90 walks he drew in 437 at-bats. His defense is on track for the majors, but needs some work. If he repeats his performance in 2010, we may be looking at a top-10 prospect in all of baseball. But he does need to do it again if he is going to win me over.

3. Danny Espinosa: Despite some holes in his swing, Espinosa has a bit of everything you look for in a shortstop, including above-average power and the glove to match.

4. Christopher Marrero: Marrero has a nice bat, but nothing about it sticks out, especially as a first baseman. He is still young, and with further progression Washington could have a major league asset at first base.

5. Drew Storen: I was surprised to see Storen go as high as he did in the 2009 draft, but his first 37 minor league innings opened my eyes. There is even talk that Washington may turn him into a starter, which would raise his value immensely, but his change-up needs refinement if that is going to happen. There is a lot to like. More than I initially thought.

6. Ian Desmond: Desmond has some workable power and base-stealing ability, but neither skill be will anything more than average in the majors. His defense is his best strength, and his average bat will make sure he has a long, solid career as a major league shortstop.

7. Eury Perez: Perez has flashed his potential at every stop he has made. His bat seems very advanced for his age, his speed will be a weapon, and he has even shown some unexpected power.

8. Destin Hood: With his raw tools, Hood was one of my favorite players selected in the second round of the 2008 draft. Not much has materialized as of yet, which is concerning for me, but he is very young.

9. Michael Burgess: Burgess has plus power, but not much else to go with it. His strikeout rate is troublesome and may be his downfall. Future refinement could be in the works, so it's not time to give up on him yet.

10. Marcos Frias: Scouting reports are tough to come by on Frias, but his numbers are hard to ignore, forcing my bullish outlook. Based off of the brief video and scouting reports I have on him, I am going to take a shot in the dark on a young man with a live arm.

NFA complied his Top 20 lists a couple weeks back, and he separated them out into arms and bats.  He's not as high on Eury Perez or Marco Frias as HT was, but most of the rest of the lists jive.

It will be very interesting to see when Baseball America comes out with their scouting reports where the Nationals rank this season.  You may remember, last off-season the Nats farm system was severely downgraded from 2007's encouraging reviews. 

Most major scouting publications had the Nats in the lower-third of the league as far as minor league talent. 

With the infusion of Strasburg and Storen, two almost-ready arms that should be pitching in Washington before the all-star break, it will bear watching if the Nats get an artificial bump in the rankings this season, only to fall once again next season after Stras and Storen graduate to the majors -- or if general manager Mike Rizzo can have another good draft (he does own the No. 1 overall pick) and keep the Nats prospects rankings high.

His home white No. 55 hanging in a locker stall behind him, Matt Capps was officially introduced to the media in the intimately lit clubhouse in Nationals Park he will call home in 2010.

On hand were a small gathering of beat reporters and selected Internet writers, far from the elaborately staged press conferences of the other significant free agent signings.  There were no television reporters, no cameras of any kind, and no columnists to be seen. 

The reason:  most everyone else in sports media in D.C. was out at Redskins Park, anxiously awaiting the arrival of new coach and executive vice-president Mike Shanahan.

Those that were gathered, though, were instructed by Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo that this was a "major, major announcement" and to not let the intimate setting diminish the importance of the announcement.

"This is a big day for us," Rizzo announced.  "This guy is a 26-year old closer that we control and is going to grow with us and grow with the franchise for a long time to come."

"We are excited for a player like Matt Capps to join the Nationals."

Capps, a right-handed reliever with 67 career saves, joins the Nats after spending his entire five-year major league career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In 271 appearances lifetime, he is 19-19 with a 3.61 ERA with 29 holds to go along with his saves numbers.

He became the full-time closer for Pittsburgh in 2007, posting 18 saves with a 2.28 ERA, and in 2008 he had 21 saves with a 3.02 ERA.

But last season, Capps was hit hard, to the tune of a .324 batting average against and 5.80 ERA and 1.656 WHIP to go along with 27 saves in 54.1 innings pitched.

Asked about the spike in his qualitative numbers, Capps responded that while his numbers "don't look good from last year," he lost some movement in his fastball for whatever reason and "kinda got backwards," relying too much on his slider and off-speed pitches.  But he's confident that he'll make a return to his 2007-08 performance.

Rizzo was more effusive in defense of Capps' high ERA last season.  "I saw a guy out there that's not afraid to go out there in the ninth inning.  To me that's criteria one."

"When the bullpen gate swings open, I'm happy No. 55 is coming out of the pen."

Rizzo also stated that the closer job was Capps' "until someone takes it from him."

Capps was "shocked" that the Pirates did not offer him arbitration, thus making him a free agent, but that it was "humbling" once the process started how many teams expressed interest in him and that it didn't take much convincing for him to come to the Nationals, a team that has lost 100-plus games two years in a row.

"I wanted to find an opportunity to win right away, with a commitment to the future.  I feel like they've done a great job showing that with the guys that they brought in [this off-season], and the guys they have brought in [previously]."

"The opportunity to continue to close, the chance to come into spring training with an opportunity to compete for that job was important to me."

"What this organization, this team has done, it's not far away."

After the Q&A concluded, Rizzo took side questions from the gathered media.  He reitereated again his marching orders for the rest of the off-season:  find more pitching and stabilize the middle infield defense.

"You can never get enough talented players, you can never get enough pitching.  We're still going to be busy up until spring training, through spring training, through the season, to improve the club for 2010 and beyond."

Photo © 2009 Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

The organizers of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance have been publishing profiles for all its members over the winter, and my questionnaire answers were posted recently.

It's just a little bit of shameless self-promotion, but it's fun.

Happy New Year everyone!