General Sports Water Cooler

Pulling the trigger on Season Ticket's with RUBaseball tonight. George's Plan FTW!!!

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mitch Williams and some former catcher with awful hair both just picked us to make the wildcard on Hot Stove.

Slow thread FTMFL.

Time for a NEWS RECAP :

1) Peter Gammons is ON the bandwagon: http://atmlb.com/wmBNQw

"But as players gather this week in Florida and Arizona, there are few more compelling and fascinating teams than the Washington Nationals. Baseball is entertainment, and entertainment is built around stars, and every one of Strasburg's starts in 2010 was on some form of national television, while Harper was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16."

2) Ladson thinks <3 H-Rod <3 is due for a breakout year (so, aw, fuck): http://atmlb.com/wlJw7k

"I think Rodriguez is going to have a breakout season, provided that he throws strikes." Really going out on a limb there, old Bill.

3) Kerzel ponders the backup C position given a Flores spring trade: http://bit.ly/yAevwT

"Flores was a popular subject of conversation when opposing GMs engaged Washington's Mike Rizzo in offseason talks and his performance in the Venezuelan Winter League - where he hit .330 with eight homers and 39 RBIs with a .368 OPB, .514 slugging percentage and .881 OPS - means teams that come up with a hole behind the plate will continue to pester Rizzo during spring training."

Pretty easy call to give the gig to HOF Jhonatan Solano if Flores is traded. Best catch and throw guy in the organization, excellent job keeping the K rate down last season in AAA. Plus, he's Colombian.

4) P-Redd talks sickly bullpen: http://sbn.to/zDNcHN

Links Drew Storen interview with Rouhier on OT. Storen: "Our entire bullpen is almost borderline overkill. That's what's kind of fun about it. In the National League pitching is so important, you see that with the Phillies and stuff like that, and I put our rotation and bullpen against anybody's in the league."

5) Kilgore predicts his 25-man: http://wapo.st/wt5AYm

Pretty straightforward. Thinks Lannan is gone. Turd bench with Lombo as utility IF.

72 hours 'til pitchers and catchers

Again, how is Flores' throwing? Isn't that really the key to his value?

http://maryland.247sports.com/Board/59410/Nationals-Spring-Training-2012-7783812