7/24/07 Rumor Mills, Fightin’ Phils, The Fed Ex Guy, Our Friend Runner Says Hi, The Philly Fan Boos, Even Though The Nationals Lose...

At approximately 9:42 am this morning the local Fed Ex delivery driver arrives at my place of employment, “How’s it going?” he asks, “I heard your team’s going after Dunn(Adam of the Cincy Reds).” “Really?” I ask, “I hadn’t heard that, I guess Bowden is trying to move the Reds team he drafted to DC.” “I think you should pick a new team to cheer for, that franchise is just a joke. See ya tomorrow.” “Thanks Fed Ex guy. Thanks a lot,” I mumble as he leaves. What was I gonna say, he’s a Padres fan. He should know about futility.
     I spent the rest of the morning searching the internet for a confirmation of his rumor-milling, but couldn’t find a report anywhere. ESPN.com and ESPNradio, the Nationals official site, Yahoo Sports, and...nothing. Until I finally find a Trade Deadline article on MLB.com which states that both the Reds and Nationals have shot down the “Dunn rumors,” but the fact that they’re even addressing the stories tends to lend credence to such tales in the “I don’t believe anybody,” days we're(I'm?) living in. So... Now I think a trade IS in the works.
     One player Nationals fans now know won’t be traded is Ronnie Belliard, who just signed on for two more years in DC as a result of his consistently excellent hitting and fielding for the Nationals this season. A .303 AVG, 5 HR’s 29 RBI’s, and it looks like the Nationals have second base locked up through 2009. But with Belliard, at second, and Felipe Lopez at short, Cristian Guzman’s place with the team is once again a question mark.
     With only seven days to go before the Trade Deadline, a few more questions still remain. Will the Nationals award DY with a similarly-earned contract to Belliard’s, or take advantage of what the All-Star, .339 AVG hitting, 9 HR, 52 RBI, power bat can fetch on the open market? Will the Nationals give in to the tempation of trading Chad Cordero and Jon Rauch when they see what prospects the rest of the playoff bound teams are willing to part with? Or will Washington keep their bullpen in tact in light of what many baseball writers nationwide are predicting will be a quiet market, as a result of an increasing commitment for teams to grow from within rather than trading prospects for the playoff boost provided a two-month rental.
     The problem is that the one team seemingly not committed to “growing from within,” the New York Mets have former Expos GM Omar MInaya at the helm, and much like Bowden plumbing the Reds roster for players he’d chosen, Minaya still appears enamored with his own previous picks, and Chad Cordero in particular. The mere idea of Cordero’s flat brim beneath the orange interlocking NY logo on the Met blue cap, is enough to make DC Daily ill...
     8:45 pm. My old friend Runner, the Mets fan, checks in via the telephone, “Hey, I heard Minaya’s interested in DY!” he taunts, “Yeah, and Cordero, and Rauch, and Livan,” I respond. “First of all, Livan's not on the Nationals anymore, secondly, if we add Cordero forget about it,” Runner says in reference to the Mets playoff hopes. (Is it a New York thing to say “we” when referring to a favored team?) Runner continues, “We’ve got some good pitching in the Minors, who were the Nationals looking at?”
     “Humber, Pelfrey, and one other Double-AA pitcher from what I read, two of the three,” I say. “I’d be alright with that,” Runner says. “Yeah good idea, trade your prospects for rentals, that always works for the Yankees right?” I ask. “Cordero is young, not really a rental, and the Mets don’t want to be the Yankees,” Runner counters, and I can’t really argue with the first part of that sentence.
     The Nationals play a close one with the Phils in the first of three tonight. Brian Schneider’s base clearing double gives the Nationals a 3-2 lead in the fourth. Nationals starter Jason Bergmann leaves early with a hamstring issue. Billy Traber carries the lead into the sixth when the Phils tie it, and Aaron Rowand puts Philadelphia ahead for good in the eigth, with a solo shot to left off Luis Ayala on a cut fastball that ends up inside and hammered for a 4-3 Philly lead. Antonio Alfonseca on to close it in for the Phils in the top of the ninth, and in spite of a leadoff walk, Alfonseca gets the job done.

Nationals now 42-57.