Crunch time
Submitted by Jeff on Wed, 03/19/2008 - 6:19am.
- Tim Redding was just sick yesterday, in both contemporary senses of the term. He woke up Tuesday morning with flu-like symptoms, but still went out and threw five scoreless innings, scatting five hits and one walk. "I told [manager] Manny Acta and [pitching coach] Randy St. Claire, 'I hope I feel like crap for 34 starts this year, if that's the case.'" Redding, who lowered his spring ERA to 2.81. Nats defeated the Tigers in Lakeland, 9-1.
- As spring winds down, competition for roster spots and starting roles heats up, particularly in the middle infield, where Cristian Guzman, Felipe Lopez, and Ronnie Belliard are competing for the starting shortstop and second basemen jobs. Guzman appears to have a lock on short, but Lopez is adamant that he will not go to the bench, despite a hot spring by Belliard (whose average dropped to .459 with a 1-for-3 Tuesday). "Bench? No. I already said that. No. Hell, no," Lopez said after the game.
- Then there's the question of who will start at first: Nick Johnson or Dmitri Young? The two, at least, are keeping the competition friendly. "We're friends. We don't control our destiny," Young said. The Times notes that Johnson probably had the inside track on the job, but could command more in a trade if the team decided to move one of them.
- There's also the battle for the fourth outfielder spot, a four-way battle among Garrett Guzman, Willie Harris, Ryan Langerhans, and Rob Mackowiak.
- The Nats sent Alex Escobar down to minor league camp after Tuesday's game. Escobar batted just over .100 this spring and said he was not surprised by the move. The team also lost catcher Humberto Cota when he declined a minor league assignment and became a free agent, meaning that Wil Nieves will likely be the backup catcher if Johnny Estrada is not ready to start the season; the team would still like Jesus Flores to play in Double-A this season every day.