Jim Bowden has been a busy man this offseason. Since we last left the Nationals, they have acquired outfielder Elijah Dukes, infielder Aaron Boone, pitcher Tyler Clippard, and catcher Paul Lo Duca. They have also signed outfielder Wily Mo Pena to a one year deal. Betting that he can’t possibly have two horrible years in a row, the Nats have also signed outfielder Ryan “more strikeouts than total bases” Langerhans to a one year deal….

In Trader Jim’s first move of the off-season, the Nationals have traded catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church to the Mets for outfielder Lastings Milledge. Milledge batted .272 last year with 7 HRs, 29 RBIs, .341 OBP and .446 slugging, though he only accumulated 184 at-bats. Church had similar averages last year, but with almost 300 more at-bats only had 8 more homeruns and 41 more RBIs. Schneider only hit .235 last year, with…

Ponder this one for a minute: Now that official online voting is open, if you had to select the Nats representative for the ’07 All Star game based on the team’s first 52 games, who would it be? No National appears in the top five at any position in the early voting results, which is indicative of both the nature of the voting as a popularity contest and of the Nats’ subpar 21-31 record….

Who hasn’t had the fantasy while drowning in tedium at the office? Your boss is down on your judgment. You’re catching a lot of flack in daily meetings, with colleagues questioning the reasons for your poor performance. So you end one work day on a tirade: kicking chairs, yelling at no one in particular, and storming out. We don’t regularly recommend that approach to our readers, but something seems to have worked for Brian Schneider,…

A few weeks ago, the Nationals were down and out, battling to stay in front of the Florida Marlins. Now, after a weekend sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee, the Nationals, led by Alfonso Soriano’s hot bat, are on the rise. Winners of three in a row and 12 out of their last 17, the Nationals face off against their NL East rivals this week in a set of six games that could make or…

Not for the first time this year (remember that stretch back in April that got them within three of .500?) did the Nats make us think a competitive season was possible, when they ran off a 7-3 homestand to close the NL East gap to single digits. After taking bragging rights from the Orioles and a series each from the Astros and Dodgers, the Nationals headed back out on the road to face division rival…

The Nationals enter the weekend needing reverse some serious negative momentum. Thursday night’s 6-2 loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis made for five straight. The Nats haven’t led in a game since late Sunday, a streak now at 38 innings—during which they’ve been outscored 23-10. They now trail the Mets by 7.5 games in the NL East. Last night, recent call-up Michael O’Conner made an emergency start as John Patterson nurses his sore…

One of the joys of Spring Training is supposed to be taking a break from the icy darkness of wherever you’re from to head south and dream of the warm summer nights that must be around the corner if baseball’s begun. This winter, of course, we’ve all been able to keep our tans, and the kids never had to quit their stickballing in the alley, but it’s still pretty exciting to think that it’s nearly…

After losing an absolute heartbreaker on Saturday night at Shea to the NY Mets, the Nationals bounced back yesterday, scoring six runs in the first inning and holding on to beat the Mets 7-4. Things were going so well for the Nats that Christian Guzman doubled twice and also drove in two runs, raising his batting average to an almost robust .194. Esteban Loiza pitched 6 1/3 inning on three days rest, striking out…

The Nationals missed an opportunity to overtake the Astros in the wild card chase, dropping a tough 4-3 decision against the Phillies last night. Esteban Loaiza coughed up four earned runs on 10 hits and a walk in 5.2 innings. Bright spots for the Nats included Vinny Castilla’s 3rd inning homerun, and Luis Ayala, Joey Eischen, and Gary Majewski combining for 2+ innings of scoreless, hitless relief. The Nats managed to cut the Phillies’…