Gang of four

Submitted by Jeff on Wed, 02/21/2007 - 5:29am.

On a team as young as the Nats, veteran leadership is essential but hard to come by. To help provide that leadership, manager Manny Acta has created a "committee" of leaders consisting of Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez, Brian Schneider, and Ryan Zimmerman. They'll be asked "to take care of things" if they see something on the team they don't like. "I won't use the word captains," Schneider said of the designation. "It's like a circle. Everyone's equal and just policing each other to make sure everything's done right."
Interesting spin on the leadership committee from MLB.com: "Zimmerman to take on leadership role" reads the headline, but Zimmerman's participation on the committee is discussed in detail only in the last two paragraphs of the article.
Cristian Guzman sat out of throwing and hitting workouts yesterday because of tendinitis in his right shoulder, although he did perform some fielding. He could resume throwing later this week.
Ronnie Belliard, signed to a minor league deal Sunday in part as insurance should Guzman's health continue to be an issue, arrived in camp yesterday afternoon. Belliard declined to answer questions about an extortion case in St. Louis where a man asked Belliard for $150,000 to cover up an affair Belliard allegedly had with the man's daughter. "Maybe later on, you ask me that same question, I will give you an answer. I just got off the plane and had a 45-minute drive."
It's not necessarily his last shot at making the majors, but Larry Broadway knows this is his best chance to date to finally make it to the majors. Broadway is completely healthy and has, for now, the inside track to start at first while Nick Johnson recovers from his broken leg. "They're not just going to say, 'It's your job,'" he said. "That's not really smart. But it's mine to earn."
Manny Acta says he wants at least one young started in the rotation, and Matt Chico is the "most intriguing" option, says the Free Lance-Star. The team is aware of the record of young pitchers being rushed to the majors and ruining their careers, though. "It all depends on the makeup of the individual if he can take it or not, having an 8-15 record," said Acta.
When Dmitri Young arrived in camp, he said that his former team, the Tigers, "were probably saving their own tail" when they released him last September. That earned a sharp rebuke from Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "[F]or Dmitri to criticize the organization for lack of support is totally out of line," Leyland said. "That we didn't support him -- (expletive). We supported everything."
You know spring training is in full swing when the columnists set up in Viera. The Times' Thom Loverro writes that Manny Acta doesn't provide the media with the most colorful of quotes, but is actually more media-savvy than most managers. Acta to reporters: "I'm not expecting you or any of the other writers to pick a team that finished dead last the last three years and is looking for four starters in spring training to win the division. That would probably cost some of you your job if you did that."
The Post's Tom Boswell, meanwhile, finds that the mood in camp is much better this year than last, now that all the uncertainty about the ballpark and ownership has passed. John Patterson: "You're playing in the capital of the United States in a top 10 market with a new park coming. If this can't motivate you, there's not much that will."
Not many fans are showing up to these early practices, but those who do are raving about the accessibility to players. "I couldn't believe this here, compared to Toronto's [spring training camp]", said one fan who drove to Florida from Maine.