William World News William F. Yurasko's blog v.14 – Nats, Penn State, Redskins, greater DC , travel, more

Every now and again I’d go looking for Washington Nationals apparel online for me, my wife or my son. I noticed though, that the online stores all seemed to have the same inventory. Here’s an example:
MLB Shop

http://shop.mlb.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3465743&cp=1895815.1902048
Modell’s

http://www.modells.com/family/index.jsp?s=D-StorePrice-MOD&categoryId=3465743&cp=3201685.3202162.4065391.1895815.1902048
The Sports Authority is slightly different

http://www.sportsauthority.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3465743&cp=3077576.715323.1895815.1902048
More of the same with Dick’s Sporting Goods, but I don’t think I need [...]

Charlie Slowes on the Nats – DC Sports Bog, The Post
Every off-season, Washington Nationals broadcasters Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler observe “the season of silence” where they “get to pick their own friends again” after the long baseball season. Thankfully, we are getting closer to hearing them every day or night as the season draws [...]

Starting Sunday, every Washington Nationals player is in the best shape of their life and Panera jokes become unavoidable. That’s right, pitchers and catchers report to Viera, Fla. for the 8th spring training since baseball return to D.C. We may even get snow up here which I find appropriate. Of course, spring training is more [...]

Beat writers Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington and Amanda Comak of The Wash. Times preview Spring Training for 32 minutes.

Pitchers and catchers report on Sunday.

Lots of Washington Nationals news and comment as we slowly move closer to pitchers and catchers reporting. I wore a Nats cap today to work for the first time in a long while.
First off, Wilson Ramos kidnapping in Venezuela is detailed in this week’s Sports Illustrated.
Breaking this morning was the Nats plan to have a [...]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Over the years, I have wondered out loud why the Washington Nationals marketing has been so bad. They have done a poor job putting their brand out there, I’m not saying the Nats need have co-branded sponsorships for EVERYTHING or that they need “The Toyota Scoreboard brought to you by Honda” like [...]

The Hot Stove has gone cold for the Washington Nationals — Prince Fielder, the biggest free agent left, signed with the “mystery team” — the Detroit Tigers . The terms 9 years, $214 million for a player who weighs 275 lbs and has “early onset old player skills” written all over him. Good luck Tigers, [...]

The Nats’ (updated) all-time stat leaders – Nats Insider
Going all the way back to 2005, Mark Zuckerman compiled the Washington Nationals all-time statistical leaders. He provided this warning:
WARNING: Reading these lists will elicit a wide range of emotions, from smiles to frowns to laughter to tears to sheer dumbfoundedness (and yes, I know that’s not [...]

Arbitration run-down: everybody eligible except John Lannan and Michael Morse (Nationals Journal, The Post) have agreed to contracts. Payroll is up above $70 million. Neither of those guys needs to be locked-up long-term in my mind.
Tyler Clippard returns with a one year deal. (Nats Insider)
Newly acquired Gio Gonzalez will get $42 million through 2016 with [...]

There has been a lot of coverage on Twitter, blogs and even the national media about Prince Fielder joining the Washington Nationals. I have thought it over and still conclude that he’s a DH with looming early on-set “old player skills.” Would he help the 2012 Nats? Yes, but anything longer than a 5 year [...]