{"id":3382,"date":"2011-12-16T17:44:29","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T22:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3382"},"modified":"2011-12-16T17:44:29","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T22:44:29","slug":"nats-off-season-news-items-wrap-up-121611-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3382","title":{"rendered":"Nats Off-season News Items Wrap-up 12\/16\/11 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3406\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/HarperBryce_tebowing_unknown-via-mrirrelevant-blog.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3406\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3406\" title=\"HarperBryce_tebowing_unknown via mrirrelevant blog\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/HarperBryce_tebowing_unknown-via-mrirrelevant-blog-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/HarperBryce_tebowing_unknown-via-mrirrelevant-blog-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/HarperBryce_tebowing_unknown-via-mrirrelevant-blog.jpg 440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3406\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I wonder if Harper would be &quot;tebowing&quot; if he knew it was now a beer logo?  Photo via mr irrelevant blog<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This is your semi-weekly\/periodic wrap-up of Nats and other baseball news that caught my eye.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Nationals In General<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I hope its as a 4th outfielder: <a href=\"http:\/\/hardballtalk.nbcsports.com\/2011\/12\/14\/the-nationals-are-interested-in-mike-cameron\/\">Nats reportedly interested<\/a> in <strong>Mike Cameron<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Hey guys, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2011\/12\/outrighted-brian-bixler.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MlbTradeRumors+%28MLB+Trade+Rumors%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">we can get <strong>Brian Bixler<\/strong> back<\/a>!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Free Agents\/Player Transaction News<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We hear from <strong>Albert Pujol<\/strong>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/7346376\/albert-pujols-wife-diedre-explains-why-los-angeles-angels-slugger-left-st-louis-cardinals\">wife Dierdre<\/a>, who says she was &#8220;mad at God&#8221; for having to leave St. Louis.\u00a0 I&#8217;m sorry; if you are &#8220;forced&#8221; to leave St. Louis so that you can earn $254M dollars instead of $210M, you don&#8217;t get to invoke &#8220;God&#8221; or any self-pity whatsoever.\u00a0 Is Pujol&#8217;s wife as out-of-touch as most modern athletes are?\u00a0 This almost reminds me of the infamous line from <strong>Latrell Sprewell<\/strong>, who turned down a $21M contract extension by saying that &#8220;I&#8217;ve got my family to feed.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>DC-area native <strong>Joe Saunders<\/strong> was <a href=\"http:\/\/msn.foxsports.com\/mlb\/story\/arizona-diamondbacks-decline-to-offer-pitcher-joe-saunders-a-contract-non-tender-121211\">non-tendered<\/a> by the Diamondbacks after failing to reach a multi-year deal.\u00a0 There were plenty of other non-tenders to talk about, but the West Springfield graduate immediately becomes a rather high-end FA starting pitcher when compared to the rest of the market.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s worth pursuing necessarily; he isn&#8217;t going to give us anything that we probably couldn&#8217;t expect to get out of <strong>Ross Detwiler<\/strong> at a fraction of the cost, and perhaps this is just a negotiating ploy by the Arizona GM.\u00a0 But its definitely fair to say that his arbitration cost would have probably been more than his actual worth on an annual salary basis.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Yu Darvish<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/nationals-journal\/post\/yu-darvish-posting-deadline-passes-wait-begins\/2011\/12\/14\/gIQABQDguO_blog.html?wprss=nationals-journal\">deadline passed on 5pm<\/a> Wednesday, and all we know is that someone actually bid, and that there were a <a href=\"http:\/\/sportsillustrated.cnn.com\/2011\/baseball\/mlb\/12\/14\/yu.darvish\/index.html\">number of serious bidders<\/a>.\u00a0 The NPB has four days to formally &#8220;accept&#8221; the offer, so will not know <a href=\"http:\/\/sportsillustrated.cnn.com\/2011\/baseball\/mlb\/12\/14\/darvish-bidding.ap\/index.html\">til next tuesday<\/a> who &#8220;won.&#8221;\u00a0 I heard on SportsTalk 980 that the Nationals did not submit a bid, and here&#8217;s <strong>Adam Kilgore<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/nationals-journal\/post\/the-nationals-did-not-bid-on-yu-darvish\/2011\/12\/15\/gIQA4pXayO_blog.html?wprss=nationals-journal\">confirming in print<\/a>.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve posted my opinion on Darvish in the past; i&#8217;m sure he&#8217;s talented, but don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s a 9-figure risk.\u00a0 Unsubstantiated early rumors list the Toronto Blue Jays as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/blue-jays-won-bidding-for-japanese-pitching-phenom-2011-12?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider%2Fsportspage+%28Sports+Page%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">posting winners<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Good for <strong>Josh Willingham<\/strong>, signing a <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/7350148\/2011-mlb-free-agency-minnesota-twins-josh-willingham-reach-multiyear-deal-source-says\">3yr deal in Minnesota<\/a>.\u00a0 Yes we could have used his offense in 2011.\u00a0 Willingham&#8217;s 2011 bWAR?\u00a0 1.8 hitting in a horribly bad pitcher&#8217;s stadium.\u00a0 The players we got for him?\u00a0 <strong>Henry Rodriguez<\/strong>&#8216;s 0.2 and <strong>Corey Brown<\/strong>&#8216;s 0 (and subsequent removal from the 40-man roster).\u00a0 That was a good piece of business!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>General Baseball News<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I kind of agree with <strong>Phil Wood<\/strong>&#8216;s take on <strong>Ryan Braun<\/strong>&#8216;s positive test, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.masnsports.com\/phil_wood\/2011\/12\/something-fishy-about-brauns-drug-test.html\">as printed here<\/a>.\u00a0 If a player has been tested again and again, and then (say) gets a test mixed up or hits a false positive, and that test is leaked to the world, wouldn&#8217;t you be pretty pissed as well?\u00a0 I&#8217;m not saying that&#8217;s what happened here (since I have no involvement whatsoever), but such a scenario would play out pretty unfairly to the athlete in question.\u00a0 One can only hope that the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/sportsillustrated.cnn.com\/2011\/writers\/david_epstein\/12\/12\/ryan.braun.test\/index.html\">insanely high<\/a>&#8221; levels of testosterone were either a testing mistake or a flawed test.\u00a0\u00a0 Or possibly that Braun was surprised by the timing of the test and was doing what <strong>Victor Conte<\/strong> describes as a &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/news?slug=ti-brown_hardball_braun_conte_testosterone_testing_121211\">truck sized loop hole<\/a>&#8221; in the baseball drug testing.<\/li>\n<li>This story cracks me up: <strong>Derek Jeter<\/strong> sends the same &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nypost.com\/p\/news\/local\/manhattan\/jeter_booty_hauls_smU8lFebpsBGJXpyHoMKSN\">break-up present<\/a>&#8221; consisting of a gift-basket with a hand-signed baseball to all his &#8220;conquests.&#8221;\u00a0 How did we find this out?\u00a0 Because he had a repeat hookup and apparently forgot that he had already sent one to her.\u00a0 Oops.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the question: how do these women certify the signed baseball?\u00a0 Does it also come with a certificate of authenticity?\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n<li>The title of this article says it all: &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/content.usatoday.com\/communities\/dailypitch\/post\/2011\/12\/mlb-increasingly-concerned-about-mets-finances\/1?csp=34sports&amp;utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomSports-TopStories+%28Sports+-+Top+Stories%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">MLB increasingly concerned about Mets&#8217; financing<\/a>.&#8221;\u00a0 Yeah, I would be too.\u00a0 Another excellent hand-picked owner from your commissioner <strong>Bud Selig<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>General News; other<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The verb &#8220;Tebowing&#8221; is now being <a href=\"http:\/\/msn.foxsports.com\/nfl\/story\/Tim-Tebow-Denver-Broncos-Tebowing-enters-English-language-121211\">recognized as an official word<\/a>.\u00a0 At least its not ebonics.\u00a0 At least not everyone is taking this thing seriously; see here for a fantastic new Tebowing-themed <a href=\"http:\/\/content.usatoday.com\/communities\/gameon\/post\/2011\/12\/tim-tebow-beer-tebrew-colorado-brewery\/1?csp=34sports&amp;utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomSports-TopStories+%28Sports+-+Top+Stories%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">beer label<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Thank god for this clause in the new CBA: players are going to be <a href=\"http:\/\/hardballtalk.nbcsports.com\/2011\/12\/14\/ballplayers-will-be-banned-from-getting-tattoos-of-corporate-logos\/\">banned from getting corporate logo tattoos<\/a>.\u00a0 Its too bad; I&#8217;m pretty sure I just heard that <strong>Stephen Strasburg<\/strong> is getting the Dairy Queen logo tattooed on the small of his back, tramp-stamp style.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is your semi-weekly\/periodic wrap-up of Nats and other baseball news that caught my eye. Nationals In General I hope its as a 4th outfielder: Nats reportedly interested in Mike Cameron. Hey guys, we can get Brian Bixler back! Free Agents\/Player Transaction News We hear from Albert Pujol&#8216;s wife Dierdre, who says she was &#8220;mad [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,534],"tags":[111,123,259,164,365,143,354,181,437,580,579,578,581,51,388,38,583,582,300],"class_list":["post-3382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonnatsbaseball","category-natsgeneral","category-weekly-news","tag-adam-kilgore","tag-albert-pujols","tag-brian-bixler","tag-bryce-harper","tag-bud-selig","tag-corey-brown","tag-derek-jeter","tag-henry-rodriguez","tag-joe-saunders","tag-josh-willingham","tag-latrell-sprewell","tag-mike-cameron","tag-phil-wood","tag-ross-detwiler","tag-ryan-braun","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-tim-tebow","tag-victor-conte","tag-yu-darvish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3382"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3407,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3382\/revisions\/3407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}