Logan's run

Submitted by Jeff on Tue, 01/23/2007 - 5:24am.

You would think that Nook Logan would be happy to hear that new manager Manny Acta said that Logan would be going into spring training as the starting center fielder. However, Logan says in a Post article, he's heard that before, twice in Detroit, only to lose the starting job both times. His attitude has changed, though, from when he sulked and struggled as a Tiger. "I needed a new start, and now I have one," he said.
The news is not so good for Mike O'Connor, who is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day because he is still recovering from offseason elbow surgery and hasn't yet started to throw. Acta later told MLB.com that O'Connor won't start throwing until February 8th and thus won't be in a position to compete for a spot in the starting rotation for the beginning of the season.
Logan and O'Connor were in the news because they're participating in the winter caravan that started Monday at Kimball Elementary in the District. (The team has gone so far as to adopt the school and will host a Kimball Elementary Day at RFK during the season.) However, Thom Loverro is still dissatisfied with the caravan as well as the lack of marketing of the team to date. "When you find one promotional effort this winter that would give you the impression that Major League Baseball doesn't own this team anymore, let me know." (Some additional coverage of the caravan events is available at Dan Steinberg's DC Sports Bog at w'post.com.)
The Nationals and Felipe Lopez avoided arbitration with a one-year $3.9-million deal Monday. The amount was a perfect compromise between the Nats's offer of $3.7 million and Lopez's offer of $4.1 million. Four players remain eligible for arbitration: Chad Cordero, Alex Escobar, Austin Kearns, and John Patterson.
A "baseball source" (better than a "football source", I guess) tells MLB.com that reports that the Nats are a finalist for signing free agent pitcher Tomo Ohka are wrong. The article refers to "published reports", like a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette piece Monday that pegged the Nats as one of the teams Ohka was still considering. Plain ol' "sources" told the Post that Ohka is most likely heading to Toronto.
Ladson's mailbag this week is short on actual questions, but full of comments on whether Expos history should be considered as part of Nationals history, a debate triggered by the including of news items on the Nats web site about ex-Expo Andre Dawson's bid to enter the HOF.