Washington Nationals

Over the next month or two, stories about spring training will sprout up across the nation like grass on a freshly manicured Florida diamond.

Professional writers like Jayson Stark and Bill Gammons, as well as amateur bloggers and writers like myself, will begin to pen stories about the true meaning of spring training.

If Mike Rizzo had his way, it sure sounds like Dunn would be a National for a long time to come:

* Rizzo reiterated Saturday that he would like to sign Adam Dunn to a contract extension, but declined to talk about how the negotiations were going between the two parties. Dunn is a free agent after the 2010 season.

Predicting how a team will perform before they even gather en masse for spring training is a dicey proposition. Some of the players won’t even be with the team when they break camp in six weeks.

But what’s the fun in being safe?

Isn’t it amazing how one moment can change a pitcher’s career?

For Chien-Ming Wang, that moment came on June 15, 2008 in the top of the sixth inning in a game against the Houston Astros.

For five innings Wang was cruising along, giving up no runs and six hits. Then Wang had to run the bases in the top of the sixth, and all heck broke loose.

Nationals RHP Garrett Mock and his wife Emily have had several Valentine's Day celebrations together.

If there is a team that could be considered the polar opposite of the juggernaut-like Philadelphia Phillies that team would be the Washington Nationals . The Nationals are a team on the rise under GM Mike Rizzo, in his short tenure he has added the best defensive OF in the game and made some moves to prepare the Nationals for contention in the not-to-distant future.

UPDATE: Passan now thinks Chapman has signed with a National League Central team, but he's not sure at this point. Watch for updates.

Washington, DC -- 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. 

I was eight-years-old when I attended my first Senators baseball game. It’s not like I wanted to or anything. But I was a fan of Channel five’s “Countdown Carnival” with Bill Gormley, and he asked me—through the television of course—to have a carnival for Muscular Dystrophy. We didn’t get anything for doing it and we didn’t get to keep the money.

But we did get tickets to Senators’ games. Lots and lots of tickets. And so I went.