Of trade deadlines and other thoughts

July 31st, and all of baseball is a-buzz and a-twitter with last-minute trade possibilities. Thankfully for the Nationals, there isn't nearly as much drama as there was last season, with the entire Nat-O-sphere (Nat-mosphere?) on the edge of their seats waiting to see if All-Star left fielder Alphonso Soriano would remain a National through the end of the season or be traded in some sort of blockbuster deal. I fully remember sitting in front of my work computer flipping back and forth between Firefox tabs on my browser, between the Nationals website, the Washington Post, and a couple of other baseball news sites, anxiously awaiting any word. I was so grateful that Soriano was not traded, and we were treated to another 8 weeks of his wonderful play, and when he joined the 40-40 club, he joined it as a National.

With potential trade players Ronnie Belliard and Dmitri Young safely locked up with new contract extensions, the only players of true concern for Nationals fans are setup man Jon Rauch and closer Chad Cordero, who have both been the subject of trade rumors for several weeks.

On the signing side, there have been rumors galore that the Nats want to sign Adam Dunn from Cincinnati.

Personally, I don't want to see either Jon Rauch or Chad Cordero traded. They are both very good at what they do, integral parts of one of the very best bullpens in baseball this season. Having said that, if either of them IS traded, I sure hope that we get a lot in return because they are both worth it.

Onto other random subjects.........

The girls at We've Got Heart have a nice entry about the Nationals special on WETA (channel 26) tonight at 9:00 about the Nationals. I'll have to record it as I'll be at the game.

If there is any doubt that Philadelphia has some of the most psychotic fans in sports, then these comments on a Phillies blog ought to put those notions to rest. Right, Philly fans - John Lannan, making his debut in the major leagues, INTENTIONALLY broke Chase Utley's hand. He's just that deadly accurate with his pitches, that's why the Nats called him up, to ruin the rest of your season by taking Utley out. The Nats are dead-locked in a pennant race with you guys after all (Oh, that's right - we're NOT!). Forget that the home plate umpire told the Nats before that happened that Lannan was, "all over the place", you just have to have someone to blame for a freak occurrence, so go after a kid you never heard of 24 hours before that happened. You Phillie fans constructing Facebook groups and websites making empty threats against a rookie pitcher are a disgrace to your team and your city. The "City of brotherly love"? Yeah, right.

Philadelphia certainly doesn't have the exclusive franchise on psychotic fans, though. Obviously, some Mets fans can be driven to a murderous rage by their team's uneven play.

Maybe more later, if I have the time, or the Nats are involved in a last-minute trade. Stay tuned!

*UPDATE - in an interesting move, the Phillies acquired Julio Mateo from the Mariners to beef up their bullpen. This could be good news for the next time the Nationals face the Phillies because, as has been demonstrated both against the Marlins and the Mets (and the Rockies, for that matter), the Nats always do well against pitchers named "Julio", especially this season.