[glenn]

Its never fun being called into the bosses office. I was on cloud nine after pulling off the Nick Johnson deal, and happy with not only getting James Loney back, but Blake DeWitt as well. That is the potential to fill half of our infield for years to come. Johnson is a good player when healthy, but he is never healthy. Of course, the higher ups aren't too happy because our fan interest dropped 3% to 9% after the deal.

I'm not sure exactly how they measure "fan interest", but I can of view that as my approval rating. I know it is directly related to how many seats we fill, so the higher the number for both, the longer I have a job. So despite me being happy with the deal, our fans were not happy about the deal.

Our team president wanted to remind me to keep "fan interest" when we make trades or roster moves. I'm usually a pretty patient person, but I explained that you hired me to do a job, let me do it. It is my job to put a winning team on the field, and if we do that, the fans will come out to the ballpark and watch. I should have kept my mouth shut after that, but I couldn't resist complaining about our new slogan, "NatsTown - Get Your Red On".


I'm no marketing wiz, but who comes up with this stuff. I guess the same team that pays Dmitri Young $5 million a year to sit on the bench. Surprisingly, I've still got my job, although they may be regretting their new GM already.

I know it is spring training still, but our starting pitchers continue to get lit up. What is 6.62, 5.06, 8.59, 22.50, and 4.73? If you guessed the ERA's of our projected rotation, you'd be correct. Spring training or not, that is a bad sign.

Trying to move some of our overpriced contracts has been virtually impossible. Pretty much teams our telling us we don't want your overpriced veterans unless you take our overpriced veterans back. I could move all of our overpriced contracts in one deal if I wanted to take back Barry Zito. Thanks, but no thanks. The positive is that we have team options for both Dmitri Young and Austin Kearns for 2010, and I can guarantee they won't be exercised.

My bigger concern is how do we fit all these contract on the roster, without blocking younger players who should be getting the shot to play. We've got 11 outfielders on our 40 man roster. Yes, 11! 12 if you count Willie Harris.

LF - Adam Dunn
LF - Roger Bernadina
LF - Josh Willingham
CF - Lastings Milledge
CF - Corey Patterson
CF - Mike Daniel
CF - Ryan Langerhans
CF - Justin Maxwell
RF-Wily Mo Pena
RF - Elijah Dukes
RF - Austin Kearns
2B/OF - Willie Harris

By opening day, that list needs to be paired to 5. Bernadina, Daniel, and Maxwell get sent down to AAA because they are young. Not fair, but I didn't put together this roster. Langerhans and Patterson are both on minor league contracts so they will be easier to send down.

That leaves Dunn, Milledge, and Dukes to start, and Willingham, Kearns, Pena, and Harris to fight it out for the last 2 spots. That is called earning a roster spot because of a big salary, and that is not how I want to run the organization.