Just a few more things this morning.

Jarred Cosart, part of the trade, is from League City, Texas, just 26 miles from Houston. This is a homecoming of sorts for Jarred, who will report to AA Corpus Christi. He Tweeted this:

Love Philly but no place like home! Thanks for the love and all the new opportunities that await. Will miss all my boys!

This from Jayson Stark on ESPN.com:

Sources told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark that the Astros will select the player to be named later from a list of minor leaguers currently playing in Class A. That group does not consist of top prospects, those sources said.

Definitive BlueClaws moments for the three traded players?

• Cosart: He had a few dynamite starts but really jumped out by throwing six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts in his third start of the year. In mid-May, he threw six innings/one run/10 Ks in Greenville and Mark Parent said his stuff that night was good enough to get through a big league game.
• Singleton: One of two, either his first game, when he smacked a home run in his second at bat at Greenville on May 14th, or June 20th, when he hit a pair of long balls in a BlueClaws win on June 20th, the last day of the first half when they clinched the first half title.
• Zeid: He had a lot of great moments last year but two stand out. In the SAL Championship Series, he threw four shutout innings right after a bench-clearing brawl to seal game two and then he threw four shutout innings to seal game four, the clincher.

As for the current BlueClaws, no moves yet. LHP Ervis Manzanillo on the mound at 7:05 in West Virginia. We’ll have more later.

We’ll have a bit more tomorrow but here is the full BlueClaws release on the former BlueClaws that helped land Hunter Pence tonight for the Phillies.

Note that in the past two Julys, the Phillies have acquired Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence from Houston for seven players, four of whom were 2010 BlueClaws: Jonathan Singleton, Jarred Cosart and Josh Zeid today for Pence and Jonathan Villar was in the deal last year for Roy Oswalt.
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In acquiring Astros OF Hunter Pence on Friday night, three players who helped the 2010 BlueClaws win the South Atlantic League title were traded to the Houston organization: 1B Jonathan Singleton, RHP Jarred Cosart and RHP Josh Zeid.

Singleton led the BlueClaws with 14 home runs in 2010 after joining the team on May 13th. This year, he was batting .284 with 9 home runs playing for Clearwater in the Florida State League. Singleton was an 8th round pick of the Phillies in 2009 from Lakewood, California.

Cosart, a 38th round pick in 2008, went 7-3, 3.79 with Lakewood in 2010 and was selected to the Futures Game, though he could not participate due to injury. He was picked again this year and went 9-8, 3.92 with Clearwater.

Zeid, drafted in the 10th round of the 2009 draft from Tulane, went 8-4, 2.93 with Lakewood last year. He threw eight shutout innings for the BlueClaws in the 2010 South Atlantic League Championship Series.

At the trade deadline in 2010, the Phillies acquired Roy Oswalt for a package that included 2010 BlueClaws SS Jonathan Villar, now playing with Double-A Corpus Christi, making four of the seven players traded to Houston for Oswalt and Pence were teammates on the 2010 BlueClaws.

Entering 2010, Singleton was ranked the 2nd best prospect in the system per Baseball America. Cosart was ranked 4th.

BlueClaws or former BlueClaws have been involved in trades in each of the last three years.

• July 2009: Jason Knapp (2009), Carlos Carrasco (2006), Lou Marson (2006) and Jason Donald (2006) traded to Cleveland for Cliff Lee.
• December 2009: Kyle Drabek (2007), Michael Taylor (2008), and Travis d’Arnaud traded to Toronto for Roy Halladay.
• July 2010: Jonathan Villar (2010), JA Happ (2005) and Anthony Gose (2009) traded to Houston for Roy Oswalt.
• July 2011: Jonathan Singleton (2010), Jarred Cosart (2010), and Josh Zeid (2010) traded to Houston for Hunter Pence.

The BlueClaws return to FirstEnergy Park on August 5th for a four-game series with West Virginia.

- BlueClaws -

Steve Rogers, who won 158 games in a 13 year big league career, will be signing autographs at FirstEnergy Park on Saturday during the 4:05 game to promote the upcoming Hope4Heroes Charity Baseball Classic which comes to Lakewood on June 17th.

Rogers defeated Steve Carlton and the Phillies twice in the 1981 division series, helping the Expos advance to the NLCS.

His autograph signing will help promote this event, for which you can buy tickets on Saturday. Read info below:

The BlueClaws will host a Hope4Heroes charity baseball game at FirstEnergy Park on Friday, June 17th which will include Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry.

Players, which will include members of the military and former Major Leaguers like Jay Johnstone and Bob Boone will put on an entertaining show and raise money for military families. Lakewood is one stop on a tour that also includes Tuscon, San Antonio, and Las Vegas.

Fans can get autographs from the players before and during the game.

Brian Kilmead of Fox News will also be at the game to throw out a ceremonial first pitch with retired two-star General Alfred Valenzuela.

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36 years ago, a team from Lakewood, NJ won the Little League World Series. This Tuesday is Lakewood Township Night at FirstEnergy Park and we’ll honor that team with one of their coaches, Dick Work.

You can order tickets to that game by clicking here. Work will be there to throw out a ceremonial first pitch with a few players and we’ll have some of that team’s memorabilia. It will be a great thing to see on Monday.

Work was the Co-Manager of the 1975 Lakewood Little League team that won the Little League World Series that year. He coached Little League, Youth Basketball, and Pop Warner Football for over 25 years, he was the Mayor of Lakewood for 4 years, worked 47 years for Jersey Central Power & Light, and was a Volunteer Firefighter for 26 years with Engine Company #1 in Lakewood.

Mr. Work is excited to be at the game on the 26th, and we had a chance to talk with him about that 1975 Lakewood Little League squad that won it all:

The most amazing moment of that entire season:

“Just the fact that we won 17 straight games to win it all was remarkable. Nowadays the tournament is double elimination, but back then we had to win every day, and it was really an amazing run we had.”

Single most memorable game:

“After we won Districts in Point Pleasant, we went to the State Finals in Hamilton. We were trailing by 2 runs going into the 6th inning, and our first 2 batters got out. I remember thinking to myself ‘Well, it has been a good run’. I don’t remember who the hitter was, but he swung and missed at 2 straight curveballs, and then for some reason the pitcher threw a fastball and he hit him with it. Then the next 3 guys up all got hits and we won. It was an unbelievable comeback.”

Funniest moment:

“After we won States in Hamilton, we went and played in Hagerstown, MD. We gave up 2 runs in the top of the first, and it just wasn’t looking good. We were facing a really good pitcher. But, we went out there and loaded the bases for Dion Lowe who was probably our best hitter. And I remember this just like it was yesterday. Some guy, he wasn’t a coach or anything, just a fan, ran out behind the fence in Centerfield and was screaming “WALK HIM! WALK HIM!” But, they didn’t. They pitched to him, and he hit a Grand Slam and we took the lead and never gave it up. We won that game and then headed to Williamsport, PA”

On what made that team so good:

“We had 5 good pitchers and a whole team full of kids that could hit, and that is really exactly what it takes. We also had 5 kids who turned 13 after the date where they are still allowed to play with the 12 year olds. You wouldn’t think that makes a difference, but it really does when you are talking about 12 and 13-year olds.”

Talks about the 14 kids that made up the team:

“The kids really were great the whole way. They never stopped playing hard the whole time. It was a crazy schedule, and it was quite the experience. I really do think they appreciated it. But when they had to play, they were always ready to go.”

Yankees and Mets prospects will be in Lakewood next week with Charleston (Yankees) and Savannah (Mets) from April 25 - 29 and then April 30 - May 1. Let’s take a look at some of the talented young players you’ll get to see at FirstEnergy Park.

Charleston (Yankees, April 25 - 29)
C Gary Sanchez: Ranked 2nd in the system per Baseball America behind fellow catcher Jesus Montero, he’s currently on the disabled list but expected back for the series in Lakewood. He’s just 18 years old and hit .327 last year split between the GCL Yankees and Staten Island. BA says that Sanchez has “the highest ceiling of anyone in the system, including Montero.” Here’s an article on Sanchez from a Charleston paper where Sanchez said he wanted to be Manny Ramirez and got into catching because nobody else wanted to.

C JR Murphy: He returns to Charleston after hitting .255-7-54 with the RiverDogs last year. Baseball America ranks him 14th in the system. Was a 2nd round pick in 2009 from Bradenton, Florida and the IMG Academies. Spent some time at 3rd base and in the OF in the Instructional League but so far this year has caught six and played one at third.

OF Slade Heathcott: The other top prospect on this Charleston club is Heathcott, who also returns for a second season after hitting .258 with Charleston last year. Heathcott was a first round pick in 2009 from Texarkana, TX and signed for $2.2 million. At the time I’m writing this (Tuesday morning) he’s batting .340 in 47 at bats.

Savannah (April 30 - May 3)
3B Aderlin Rodriguez: Ranked 9th in the system, this 3B is just 19 years old and hit 13 home runs in the Appy League last year. That said, he’s off to a 5-39 start to 2011.

OF Darrell Ceciliani: Ranked 14th in the system, he was a 4th round pick back in 2009 who hit .351 last summer with Brooklyn in the NY-Penn League and won the batting title. He added in 21 stolen bases. From the same Oregon town as Jacoby Ellsbury. Won’t turn 21 until June. He’s missed some time though early this year and has just 15 at bats through the first two weeks of the season.

OF Cory Vaughn: 4th round pick last year from San Diego State, where he played for Tony Gwynn. His father is former big league OF Greg Vaughn, a teammate of Gwynn’s with the Padres for several seasons. He hit .307 with 14 home runs at Brooklyn last year and was 2nd in the league in both HRs and RBIs (54).

RHP Erik Goeddel: 24th round pick in 2010 from UCLA (where he was a teammate of BlueClaws pitcher Garett Claypool). He missed his senior year of HS and freshman year of college with Tommy John Surgery but helped pitch UCLA to the College World Series finals last year.

SS Robbie Shields: 3rd round pick in 2009 is ranked 20th in the system per Baseball America. He burst onto the scene in the Cape Cod League in 2008 and played a little SS for Savannah last year.

C Blake Forsythe: 3rd rounder from Tennessee, where he was a collegiate teammate of BlueClaws LHP Bryan Morgado and LHP Nick Hernandez. He’s ranked 29th in the system.

IF Sam Honeck: While not in BA’s top 30, how bout a little love for Honeck who is hitting .500 over his first 42 at bats. He was an 11th round pick in 2009 out of Tulane.

That was Taylor Buchholz, the Opening Day starter from 2001, who came in and threw two scoreless innings for the Mets in a 10-7 Phillies win at the Bank.

The other two? Kyle Kendrick (2006) with the Phillies and Carlos Monasterios (2007) with the Dodgers.

10:31: As @BriSmitty pointed out on Twitter, Monasterios is in fact in the minors to open 2011.

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On a side note, the BlueClaws are 0-10 all-time in home openers, which of course tomorrow falls under. They are 4-6 all-time on Opening Day.

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2010 BlueClaws pitcher Josh Zeid gets the ball for Reading tomorrow and 2008 BC pitcher Vance Worley starts for Clearwater.

Former BlueClaws in other organizations are being assigned to teams, with the season set to start on Thursday.

Anthony Gose and Travis d’Arnaud, teammates on the 2009 SAL Champioship BlueClaws club will play this year for Double-A New Hampshire in the Eastern League, which means trips to Reading and Trenton. d’Arnaud was part of the Roy Halladay trade and Gose the Roy Oswalt trade. He was an Astro for about 20 seconds, immediately being sent to Toronto for Brett Wallace.

Kyle Drabek earned his first big league win on Saturday. Congrats to Kyle.

The Kinston Indians have not yet released a roster but I would expect to see 2009 BlueClaws pitcher Jason Knapp there.

No sign of Astros rosters either. SS Jonathan Villar (2010) will either be with Double-A Corpus-Christi or Hi-A Lancaster.

Lou Marson, Jason Donald, and Carlos Carrasco all made the Indians.

Meanwhile, outside the BlueClaws family, Bryce Harper is going to Hagerstown.

The #1 overall pick Tweeted this: Headed to Hagerstown today! #OpeningDay

He’s slated to be in Lakewood May 13-16 and the BlueClaws will be in Hagerstown on April 15th for his home opener.

Taylor Buchholz, the player who threw the first pitch in BlueClaws history, April of 2001 at Kannapolis, has made the Mets bullpen.

Thanks to Dan Cichalski on Twitter for the heads-up. He was there, as the then-Claws beat writer for the Asbury Park Press. Read his NJ-Baseball blog here.

Here’s the story from MLB.com on the Mets and their moves.

Buchholz was signed by the Mets in the off-season and this will be his fourth big league team, after pitching for Toronto, Colorado, and Houston in his career.

This year, the BlueClaws will look to become the third South Atlantic League team (league formed in 1904) to win three championships in a row. Who were the other two? Why should we care? If nothing else, it’s incredibly interesting. Let’s take a look.

1980-1982 Greensboro Hornets

The South Atlantic League’s name was actually retired from 1964-1979 and the league operated as the Western Carolinas League. The SAL name was re-instated for 1980, the first year of the Hornets dynasty.

Then a Yankees affiliate, the 1982 team had a few guys who went on to the big leagues:

• Mike Pagliarulo, who hit .280 and led the team with 22 home runs.
• A 20 year-old Orestes Destrade, who went on to play four years in the big leagues and in Japan, only hit .180 while appearing in 43 games.
• Their leading hitter was the Yankees 1978 first round pick, Matt Winters. He played for the Royals in 1989 after 12 years in the minors.
• Victor Mata, who was with the Yankees briefly in 1984-85, was actually with Greensboro on all three SAL championship teams.
• Edwin Rodriguez, who managed Greensboro (now the Grasshoppers, a Marlins affiliate, in 2007 when this happened, was on this team. He is now the manager of the Florida Marlins.

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Below, a picture sent over by BlueClaws team photographer Dave Schofield of the Championship Ring ceremony which took place earlier today in Clearwater. We’ll update with more photos later. Click to enlarge.

Besides the players, who are obviously in their red jerseys…

• Kneeling on the bottom left is trainer Mickey Kozack, who will be back with Lakewood this year.
• Top left is pitching coach Steve Schrenk and hitting coach Greg Legg, both of whom will be back.
• Manager Mark Parent is in the middle, standing, wearing blue.
• On the right, SAL president Eric Krupa wears the light blue polo.
• Steve Noworyta, Phillies Director of Minor Leagues, is next to Krupa, and BlueClaws GM Geoff Brown is next to Noworyta.

Manager Mark Parent gets his ring:

Nick Hernandez gets his ring:

Here’s the ring (this picture was Tweeted by Jiwan James)

There are quite a few former BlueClaws who are in Spring Training camps with a Major League team not named the Phillies. Here’s a look around Florida and Arizona at some former BlueClaws hoping to take the next step in their careers.

Oakland Athletics –

Michael Taylor (’08): He was one of the main cogs in the Phillies deal with Toronto that brought Roy Halladay to Philadelphia. He was then traded from the Blue Jays to Oakland for Brett Wallace the same day as the Halladay deal. He is coming off a sub-par season in Triple-A, where he will likely start in 2011. Here’s a great article on Taylor from the San Francisco Chronicle written last week.

This spring, he’d like to turn in some nice numbers, and he hit a three-run homer earlier in the week, but he has a more basic goal. “I want to enjoy every day,” Taylor said. “Enjoy the time, enjoy the work.”

Cleveland Indians -

Jason Donald (’07): In just his 15th game in the Big Leagues, he was the guy who was credited with a hit with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning to break up Armando Galarraga’s Perfect Game. New York Times writer Tyler Kepner wrote a great piece on Donald just last week. He is trying to make a name for himself in a different way in 2011.Donald is a very good defensive SS and 2B, and is rumored to possibly be the Tribe’s starting 3B when Opening Day arrives. Donald was part of the deal with Cleveland that made Cliff Lee a Phillie the first time back in 2009.

“I was happy, because that’s a tough lineup to crack over there,” he said of the Phillies. “It would have been nice to get to the big leagues with the team that drafted me, but that’s how the game goes.”

Carlos Carrasco (’05 & ’06): Also part of the deal that brought Cliff Lee to the Phillies, he made his big league debut at the end of 2009 and really struggled. He went back to AAA Indianapolis last year, got called back up late last year and was the Indians best starter in September. Great read over on MLB.com about Carrasco. Carrasco heads into 2011 as possibly the 3rd starter in Cleveland’s rotation behind Fausto Carmona and Justin Masterson. And, he and his wife just had their first child last week. Just 23 years old, 2011 could be a huge year for Carrasco.

“Last year was the very first time I had to fight for a job, and it affected me,” Carrasco said. “I sensed pressure. I tried to do more than I could. I made mistakes. I’m so much calmer this year, but I’ve never let my intensity go.”

Lou Marson (’06): The final piece of the Lee deal with the Indians, Marson will likely be forced into a backup role behind stud prospect Carlos Santana. But, coming off a year where he hit just .195 with Cleveland, he might need some more at-bats then he would receive as a backup to get his swing corrected. Marson is definitely saying and doing all the right things this Spring though as you can read in this article on Ohio.com. It will be interesting to see which way the Indians go with Marson in 2011.

”He’s going to get plenty of opportunities to play in spring training,” Acta said.

Marson recognizes he has to improve at the plate. He thinks that will happen if he gets more at-bats.

”What happened last year is that I got off to a slow start and couldn’t get out of it,” he said. ”It was in my dome. It got in my head.”

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Here we go with another edition of Sunday Links and Coffee, some links from around the baseball world that you can enjoy with your Sunday morning java. Enjoy. First from a Phillies perspective…

• Phil Sheridan in the Inquirer says that Clearwater is still Clearwater. Florida is still Florida. But the Phillies aren’t exactly the Phillies anymore. That is certainly a good thing, but it is still sort of jarring.
• Bob Brookover in the Inquirer notes that: If you drew a line from Ryan Howard’s corner locker on the left side of the spacious room to Brad Lidge’s locker in the middle of the rectangular clubhouse, you’d find 33 guys who have played in a combined 15,104 games and collected 10,527 hits, 1,223 home runs, 5,177 RBIs, 814 victories, 367 saves, two MVP awards, one World Series MVP, and three Cy Young Awards. The 27 players to the right of Lidge have combined for 1,436 games, 621 hits, 42 home runs, 483 RBIs, 27 wins, and 10 saves. Fourteen have never played in a big-league game. He answers the question of why?
• Dave Murphy on prospect Tyson Gillies rebounding from a difficult (on and off the field) 2010. I didn’t know he (Gillies) served as an extra in Coke commercials.
• Matt Gelb in the Inquirer on Cole Hamels’ spring debut. The Phillies handed Hamels the ball for starters. Pitching coach Rich Dubee deemed Hamels capable of throwing in a game after simply watching his initial bullpen session of the spring, so the lanky lefthander was the choice.

And a few from outside Philadelphia…

• Bill Madden the Daily News on…realignment. Four divisions of seven teams. Interesting. Using a consensus of the half-dozen managers and executives surveyed for this exercise, here’s how baseball could evolve over the next 10 years: Geographically realigned divisions: Seven teams, four divisions Designated hitter: Grandfathered for three years under the new four-division format, then goes away. Rosters: Expanded to 27 with a limit to three September call-ups and the stipulation that only 27 players, to be designated by the manager before each game, can be active. For the now, however, look for the biggest changes coming out of the next collective bargaining agreement to be a bonus slotting system in the draft and the ability of clubs to trade draft picks.
• In the Daily News…the Players Association isn’t concerned about the Mets ability to pay players after theri $25 million loan from MLB.
• Jon Heyman of SI.com on Bryce Harper, who could open with Hagerstown and play at FirstEnergy Park May 13th.
• Kirk Gibson, new D’Backs manager, is changing the culture, says Tom Verducci of SI.com: Gibson is pushing his players to hit the weight room more. He has instructed his pitchers to work more on their hitting and bunting. He has brought in Navy SEALS to talk about commitment and teamwork. He has banned all cell phone conversations from the clubhouse — and no texting, iPads and computer usage 30 minutes before the first pitch of games. That’s a radical departure for a clubhouse that had been chock full of remote control vehicles, air soft guns and assorted other toys — all gone now.
• Jayson Stark on ESPN.com on the Rays: On the day he assembled a whole new generation of Tampa Bay Rays for the first time this spring, Joe Maddon repeated one of those fabled Maddon-isms that form the essence of what makes the Rays’ manager/philosopher-king a one-of-a-kind leader. “You’ve gotta believe it,” Maddon told these men, “before you see it.”

There you go. Enjoy. Five weeks until the real games.

This popped into my email earlier from Baseball America: their annual top 100 prospect rankings.

Phillies on the list (year with BlueClaws):

• 4. Domonic Brown (08)
• 39. Jonathan Singleton (10)
• 56. Brody Colvin (10)
• 70. Jarred Cosart (10)

Other notables:

• 1. Bryce Harper, WAS - Could be with Hagerstown this year. Their first visit to Lakewood is May 13 - 16.
• 11. Jameson Taillon, PIT - the #2 overall pick last year could spend 2011 with West Virginia. They come to Lakewood in August and the BlueClaws go there in both May & July.
• 29. Kyle Drabek, TOR - With the BlueClaws in 2007 and traded to Toronto in the Halladay deal.
• 30. Gary Sanchez, NYY - Catcher could be with Charleston this year.
• 31. Casey Kelly, SD - Was with Greenville (Boston) in ‘09 before being traded in the Adrian Gonzalez deal this winter. He pitched for half of 2009 and then played shortstop for the 2nd half.
• 36. Travis d’Arnaud, TOR - With the BlueClaws in 2009 and then traded as part of Halladay deal.
• 94. Jonathan Villar, HOU - With the BlueClaws until the trade deadline in 2010 when he was a part of the Roy Oswalt trade.
• The Royals. They set a record with 9 of the top 100.

Here is a podcast from BA regarding the rankings.

Here are top 100 rankings dating back 20 years. This is something we’re going to sift through one day.

As Spring Training rolls along and full-squad workouts begin, here’s another set of links from around the baseball world to enjoy with your morning coffee. Let’s get to it, first some Phillies stories.

• In today’s Inquirer, Bob Brookover says 2001 BlueClaw Carlos Ruiz is the muse for the Phillies starting rotation: If all goes according to plan, this will be a Phillies season filled with Rembrandts, Picassos, van Goghs, and da Vincis, and almost all these masterpieces will be produced on the same sturdy canvas that is Carlos Ruiz’s catcher’s mitt.
• Charlie Manuel says Domonic Brown has a great chance to get upwards of 400 at bats with the Phillies this year. Matt Gelb has the story in the Inquirer. “The more experience we can get him in spring training, the faster he may be able to be an everyday player in the big leagues. If he has a good spring and he makes our team, I’m looking at a guy who is going to get 350, 400 at-bats. That’s a minor-league season. In a first year in the big leagues, that’s good.”
• Dave Murphy with a strong defense of Ryan Howard and his declining power numbers, noting among other things the timing of his injury last year, and the improved pitching in the NL East.
• On that note, Matt Gelb notes that Charlie Manuel wants Howard to move closer to the plate. Manuel explained, Howard was hitting these balls to left so well because of the way he was standing at the plate. He turned his power field into left when it should have been right field.
• Jimmy Rollins predicts 100 wins, and can’t imagine himself in another uniform.
  Rollins was asked if he could imagine himself not being a part of the Phillies, the only organization he has ever known. He started to get sentimental, recalling when a wide-eyed 17-year-old kid first arrived at the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater wishing he was playing for a team on the West Coast - or a team that won, like the Atlanta Braves.

  Now? Jimmy Rollins embodies the Phillies’ rise from irrelevancy to the model franchise of the National League. And if this is to be his final season in Philadelphia, maybe his departure would mark the beginning of the next chapter.

And a few from around baseball.

• Mark Feinsand in the Daily News on Yankees farmhand Andrew Brackman, a former basketball player at NC State, who talks about the transition to full-time baseball player and the mental struggle he developed from failing to find the strike zone.  “When you put pressure on yourself, it can just eat at you,” Brackman said. “That’s what happened at Charleston; it just pushed me down to the ground. Last year, I picked myself up. I felt like I had nothing to lose after the year I had in ‘09, so I tried to let the game just come to me and have some fun. That’s how I’m going to look at it this year.”
• Andy Martino in the Daily News says Sandy Koufax is brightening up Mets camp.
• The father of new Yankee pitching coach Larry Rothschild became a Yankee fan because he served with Hank Bauer in World War II. Steve Serby in the NY Post.
• SI.com’s Jon Heyman on the Miguel Cabrera saga.
• ESPN’s Michael Wilbon says his beloved Cubs should do everything they can to sign Albert Pujols.
• Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post says that the Nationals wait for a winning team shouldn’t be much longer. The Nats need a pitching ace, plus another slugger, to be a winning team. But, given time and luck, those pieces are probably already on hand: Stephen Whatshisname and Bryce Somethingorother. That’s why 2011 should be a fascinating season. With a half-dozen young players with the ability to become building blocks, the Nats need to foster a homegrown foundation before adding more fancy high-priced additions.

Enjoy. Happy Sunday. Only six more weeks until the real games start.