Closer By The Day

With 20 odd days until pitchers and catchers report to training camp I'm starting excited. This year is going to be great, not just because of names like Chamberlin and Hughes, but also because the Nat's new stadium is almost finished!!! Since the ground breaking I have been diligently checking the Clark Construction Cam daily to check on the progress of the new home of the Nationals. To some this may seem like watching paint peel, but for me it makes me feel that I have had a role in the construction(I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was the day they laid the sod). Here are today's pictures:




I may have written this once before but the Nat's are really starting to pull things together. They have made some pretty decent trades thus far in the off season and I would be willing to predict that they finish 2nd in the NL East this year. This new stadium is going to be icing on the cake. Anyone out there who thinks that the Nat's aren't in DC to stay is delusional.

(4:15 pm update from Nationals Website)
As part of its soon-to-be-released 2008 Prospect Handbook, Baseball America ranks the Washington Nationals minor-league system No. 9 among Major League Baseball's 30 clubs. Washington's No. 9 ranking stands in stark contrast to last season, when the Nationals' system ranked 30th in baseball. The Nationals' ranking leap of 21 slots was the second-largest this decade, or since Baseball America began producing its Prospect Handbook in 2001 (Texas leapt 24 slots, from No. 28 to No. 4, in 2008).

Prior to 2008, neither the Nationals nor Expos had ranked higher than 16th in BA's organizational rankings.

Six of the Nationals' top 11 players, as ranked by Baseball America, are products of Washington's 2007 First-Year Player Draft, which was rated as the "best in baseball" by BA in its November 5-18 issue. According to BA, 17 of the Nationals' top 20 prospects were either drafted or acquired since the Nationals moved to Washington in 2005.

By the way, if anyone has tickets for opening day that they are looking to unload let me know, maybe we can make a deal!!!