SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2010
KLMNO BASEBALL
For now, Dunn remains a National dunn from D1
than last year and far more calls received than made — and decid- ed none had offered what he deemed fair value for one of baseball’s best offensive players. “The reason we didn’t trade Adam Dunn is we never got a deal we thought was equal or greater value to Adam Dunn,” Rizzo said. “We were on the re- ceiving end of the calls. We we- ren’t making the calls. We got a lot of interest in Adam. We just didn’t see an equal return to what Adam Dunn brings to the ballclub on and off the field. “We were engaged right up to the last couple of minutes with some teams. We just couldn’t come up with a deal that I thought was good enough for the type of player that Adam Dunn is.”
The Nationals’ roster re- mained intact despite the inter- est in both Dunn and Willing- ham — “a very popular item to discuss,” Rizzo said. Some trades could be made through the waiv- er wire, perhaps Adam Kennedy or Willie Harris, two veterans whom a contender may find valuable off the bench. Rumor and truth will separate in the coming weeks, but it seems the Yankees, the White Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays were most active in trying to pry Dunn. On Friday afternoon, speculation
Nationals
Journal 6Blogging at
washingtonpost.com/ nationals
Former bat boy
Maya introduced On Friday afternoon, Liván
Hernández chatted with Phillies reliever José Contreras, two pitchers closer to 40 years old than 30 who had come from Cuba to America and become wealthy and free men. Hernández mentioned
Yunesky Maya, the 28-year-old Cuban right-handed pitcher the Nationals were about to sign. Contreras remembered. Yes, that was him. Maya had been a bat boy for the team Hernández and Contreras played on together in Cuba’s highest baseball league.
“So now here we are,”
Hernandez said Saturday evening at Nationals Park. He sat two seats from Maya, impeccably dressed in suit and gray tie, at a dais erected to announce Maya as the most significant international prospect the Nationals had ever signed. “Look at this.” The Nationals, after years of their scouting and
unimaginable measures of his daring, had come to agreement with Maya weeks ago. On Saturday, General Manager Mike Rizzo made it official and proclaimed Maya the Nationals’ “first major international signing that we think is going to impact our major league ballclub immediately.” Hernández slipped a No. 27
Nationals jersey over Maya’s shoulder. Maya confidently spoke Spanish to a room full of English reporters, his agent Bart Hernandez doing the interpreting. “Quiero aqui pronto,” he said — “I want to be here soon.” Maya arrived in Washington
at roughly 2 p.m. Friday. He was to watch the games Saturday night and Sunday, then board a plane to Viera, Fla. to throw in front of pitching coordinator Spin Williams. Afterward, they will determine Maya’s next move. They believe it could include him pitching in the major leagues this season.
Lannan returns John Lannan, the opening
day starter the past two seasons, will return to the major leagues after a seven-start exile in Class AA Harrisburg. Lannan is listed as Sunday’s probable starter on the team’s official Web site. In late June, the Nationals demoted Lannan and his 5.76 ERA to Harrisburg in hopes he would recapture the feel for the sinker — his best pitch — that had escaped him. In his seven starts, Lannan went 1-4 with a 4.20 ERA, allowing 49 hits and 10 walks and striking out 28 in 402
⁄3 innings. The Nationals summoned
Lannan mostly out of necessity. Three-fifths of their rotation — Luis Atilano, J.D. Martin and Stephen Strasburg — went on the disabled list in a week. — Adam Kilgore
Source: Erdos and Morgan Opinion Leaders Study, 2008-2009. “Regularly” is defined as at least three out of four issues published or programs viewed. A095D 5x13 »
The Washington Post is the # 1 media source used regularly by Congressional opinion leaders.
No. 1 with
spread that the White Sox had landed Jackson in order to com- plete a Dunn trade. Reports sur- faced that the Nationals had asked the Sox to get Jackson so they could finish a trade for Dunn. That, Rizzo said emphati- cally, was not true. “There was no player that we
asked some team to acquire that we were going to trade Adam Dunn for,”Rizzo denied any offer. He would have agreed to a “quan- tity” trade, and no team would give up a player Rizzo believed would match Dunn’s impact. “I think all along, we felt that it was unlikely that something like that would happen,” Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman said. “I guess if Mike got overwhelmed, then I would have gotten a call by now saying we were going to do something. I think everybody is happy with the way it turned out. He would have had to have been really overwhelmed with some- thing to get him to move a guy like Adam Dunn. The drama doesn’t end now,
even if it’s unlikely Dunn would pass through waivers between now and the Aug. 31 deadline to complete a waiver-wire deal. By keeping Dunn without signing him to an extension, the Nation- als may have taken the first step in what equates to a $6 million gamble. They owe Dunn roughly $4.3million of his salary in the
final 58 games of the season. His production, while considerable, will not lead to any playoff games.
If the Nationals allow Dunn to walk in free agency after offering him arbitration, they will receive two compensatory draft picks, as when Alfonso Soriano’s depar- ture following the 2006 season led to the drafting of potential rotation cornerstone Jordan Zimmermann. But the Nationals will have to pay bonuses to their draft picks, and the recommend “slot” price for those picks is about $1.6million for both. Add it up, and the Nationals could end up paying about $6 million for two months of Dunn — on a team miles from contention — and two draft choices. Those prospects could turn into players as valuable as Zim- mermann. Or the $6 million that could have been used to acquire a veteran bat or pitcher could turn into failed projects. “They’re rolling the dice,” one baseball source said. If they don’t sign Dunn to an extension, “it makes no sense.” The Nationals could lessen the risk by simply extending Dunn, who desires a four-year contract worth $60 million, according to a source. Both sides have publicly stated their wish to reach an agreement. Dunn, while not blaming the Nationals, has
Ion? Element? Buy a car. Sell a crossover.
NATIONALS ON DECK VS. PHILLIES
Sunday, 1:35 (MASN, WDCW Channel 50)
AT DIAMONDBACKS Monday, 9:40 (MASN) Tuesday, 9:40 (MASN2) Wed., 9:40 (MASN2) Thu., 9:40 (MASN2)
AT DODGERS Friday, 10:10 (MASN2) Sat., 10:10 (MASN2) Aug. 8, 4:10 (WDCW Channel 50, MASN2)
RADIO: WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)
grown frustrated with the lack of progress. A source said his Dunn’s
representatives ap-
proached the Nationals in spring training and did receive a count- er-offer. “We are going to talk extension with Adam Dunn and his repre- sentatives,” Rizzo said. “We are certainly not going to talk about it with the media. Adam Dunn is a big part of our ballclub. We’ve shown that by not trading him for lesser value.” The Nationals still have the chance to sign him. The deadline, for the Nation- als, was about something that didn’t happen. Nothing was enough. “Sometimes,” Rizzo said, “the
best trades you make are the trades you don’t make.”
kilgorea@washpost.com
S
D5
Royals ruin Bergesen’s rare chance for victory
Butler’s two-run homer in eighth sinks Orioles, 4-3
by jeff zrebiec
kansas city, mo. — Kansas City Royals first baseman Billy Butler cost Brad Bergesen the last two months of his rookie season and a possible run at the American League Rookie of the Year award when he nailed the Baltimore Orioles starter in the left leg with a line drive. Exactly a year and one day since the injury, which took the young pitcher months to re- cover from, Butler cost Berge- sen a long-awaited victory that he deserved. A night after closer Alfredo Simón blew a save and allowed a three-run, game-ending ho- mer, David Hernández coughed up a one-run lead in the eighth inning when Butler turned around his fastball. Butler’s two-run homer sent the Royals to a 4-3 victory last night before 25,055 at Kauffman Stadium, and marred one of Bergesen’s best starts of the season. Bergesen allowed two earned runs on five hits and one walks
while striking out five over sev- en innings, and was in line for his first victory since May 12 un- til the bullpen imploded for the second straight night. The Ori- oles lost for the 13th time in 16 games since the all-star break, and are 40 games under the .500 mark at 32-72. Zack Greinke, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, allowed three runs, sev- en hits and three walks over eight innings for the win, strik- ing out six. Nick Markakis hit a two-run double and Adam Jones drove in a run, but Balti- more hit into four double plays, failing to take advantage of sev- eral scoring opportunities. The Royals got on the board in the third when Mitch Maier homered over the wall in right, his fourth homer of the season. Julio Lugo led off Baltimore’s three-run sixth with an infield single and took third on Brian Roberts’s single. Markakis then drove a ball into left-center to score two runs. It was his 34th doubles of the season. Greinke retired the next two
batters before Jones dumped a single into right field to give the Orioles a 3-1 lead. Kansas City made it 3-2 in the
seventh on Maier’s RBI single. — Baltimore Sun
202-334-6200
GHI
washingtonpost.com CLASSIFIEDS
C304 A 5x1
Congressional opinion leaders
KLMNO For more information visit
washingtonpostads.com/leadership or call 202-334-7634.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152