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February 17, 2010 [LINK / comment]
Wang joins the Nationals
Just in time for spring training, former Yankee starter Chien-Ming Wang has agreed to a one-year contract with the Washington Nationals, who will retain an option on him for a second year. Wang will get a salary of $2 million plus up to $3 million in incentives. The official announcement will take place on Friday. See MLB.com. Everything depends on his health, however, as he is still recovering from surgery that was performed on his right shoulder last July. He probably won't start for the Nationals until May. According to Chico Harlan in the Washington Post, "Wang is less a purchase than a gamble." It could turn out to be a great bargain, or a big waste. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Wang will probably be motivated to prove his worth to his new team after two disappointing years in The Bronx. He had great win-loss statistics in 2006 and 2007, but that may have reflected the team he was playing on. His specialty is the sinker ball, forcing groundouts rather than going for strikeouts.
The Nationals also signed a minor league contract with veteran Ron Villone, who was one of their few reliable relief pitchers last year, and won their arbitration case against another former Yankee relief pitcher, Brian Bruney. You take those guys, and add Jason Marquis, John Lannan, and perhaps Stephen Strasburg late in the season, and you have one hell of a fine pitching staff. Things are definitely look up in Nats Town -- finally!
The mail bag
Paul Thompson recently got back from a trip to Cuba, where he visited Estadio Latinoamericano (capacity 50,000) in Havana, among some smaller ballparks and other entertainment venues. I highly recommend reading his detailed trip report, which is chock full of photos and videos, at mopupduty.com.
Bruce Orser brought to my attention some good images of Metropolitan Stadium at baseball-fever.com, and after browsing for a while I realized to my horror that the right field fence was angled slightly inward -- not perpendicular to the foul line, as I had long thought! You really do learn something new every day. Yet another diagram update pending...
Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 17 Feb 2010, 9: 51 PM
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Category archives:
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This (or that) year's
blog highlights
January 18, 2010 Earthquake leaves Haiti in ruins
January 18, 2010 Our new governor: Bob McDonnell!
January 29, 2010 Obama: "We can do it together"
February 27, 2010 Huge earthquake strikes Chile
March 20, 2010 Procedural ploy to pass Obamacare
March 21, 2010 House passes Senate's Obamacare*
March 29, 2010 Rebuilding a Republican majority
March 31, 2010 Augusta County GOP reunites (for now)
May 11, 2010 R.I.P. Yankee Stadium (1923-2010)
May 17, 2010 Did Tories win British election?
May 18, 2010 The final mission for Atlantis?
June 9, 2010 Strasburg makes a historic debut
June 24, 2010 Nationals sweep the Royals (almost)
August 5, 2010 Ballpark blitz: 4 stadiums in 2 days!
August 14, 2010 Friday the 13th: Nats get lucky
August 19, 2010 "Ground Zero mosque" hysteria
September 15, 2010 Tea Party triumphs in Delaware
September 17, 2010 The U.S. Constitution and Freedom
September 27, 2010 Nationals spoil Braves' hopes, again
October 6, 2010 Photo gallery extreme makeover
October 27, 2010 Tempests in the Tea Party
November 3, 2010 Decision 2010: two cheers for the GOP
November 5, 2010 San Francisco Giants: world champions!
November 27, 2010 Goodbye to Luciano, and to Olive
December 6, 2010 Nationals sign Jayson Werth
December 29, 2010 Extreme weather disrupts sporting events
Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.
Explanation
The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:
- Wild birds (LAST)
- War
- Science & Technology
- Politics
- Latin America
- Culture & Travel
- Canaries ("Home birds")
- Baseball (FIRST)
Also see: My blog practices.
Blog errata (Nobody's perfect.)