2006 Nationals Discussion Thread

skinsRin · Post by **skinsRin** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:45 am

Soriano is on a 1 year deal, I think. So he'll be gone I thnk before the trade deadline in July but untill then the Nats need him to play well so they can get good value for him.

Redskins1974 · Post by **Redskins1974** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:29 pm

skinsRin wrote:Soriano is on a 1 year deal, I think. So he'll be gone I thnk before the trade deadline in July but untill then the Nats need him to play well so they can get good value for him.

I think if his attitude doesn't change quickly, he might be gone before he takes the field.

tcwest10 · Post by **tcwest10** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 2:59 am

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/arti ... p&c_id=mlb

Good old St. Nick. I hated to see him leave the Yanks.

skinsRin · Post by **skinsRin** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:50 pm

tcwest10 wrote:http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060311&content_id=1345057&vkey=spt2006news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Good old St. Nick. I hated to see him leave the Yanks.

So did I, I liked him. I am glad he got a nice 3 year deal.

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:49 pm

D.C. Releases Nationals Stadium Designs

JansenFan · Post by **JansenFan** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:52 pm

Should be a nice park. Apparently, there is an opening that you will be able to see the Capital dome through from the upper deck. Better than watching the team anyway. :-P

NikiH · Post by **NikiH** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:56 pm

It's no Camden Yards but it's ok.

Skinsfan55 · Post by **Skinsfan55** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:58 pm

That park looks beautiful, with some genius ideas for a sports venue in a metropolitan area.

The parking garage, the enormous entrance (seen from the southeast), I mean...

It just look so incredibly accessable (important in a town like DC, where none of the roads actually GO anywhere, haha)... there's nothing prettier than a baseball stadium...

Redskins1974 · Post by **Redskins1974** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:04 pm

NikiH wrote:It's no Camden Yards but it's ok.

That park is soooo 1992 :roll:

lol

Here are some cool features:

Other interesting touches include lights that are attached to the stadium roof, rather than extended higher on light poles. This is to minimize the glare on the neighborhood. Also, the right field stands will be slightly lower than the main part of the bowl -- a trick that can be done because the right field area has no luxury suites that take up more space. Designers said they are trying to figure out a way to put some air under the stands so that they can shake and vibrate like they did at RFK last season and during all those memorable Redskins' games of days past. Finally, the playing field will have an outfield wall that is asymmetrical with the following distances: 335 feet to the right field foul pole, 370 feet to the right field power alley, 409 feet to dead center, 377 feet to the left field power alley and 332 feet to the left field foul pole.

They're trying to figure out a way to make some of the stands vibrate and bounce! Nice homage to RFK!!

EA7649 · Post by **EA7649** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:05 pm

It sounds like a good stadium. Im a Phillies fan and Citizens Bank Park is amazing. Its a new Camden Yards for all you O's fans. I hope your guys turns out good. I heard one of your set up players will have Tommy John Surgery, he played for Mexico in the WBC.

leatherhead 377 · Post by **leatherhead 377** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 12:45 pm

Ya, That didn't work out so well!

Steve Spurrier III · Post by **Steve Spurrier III** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 12:56 pm

Skinsfan55 wrote:That park looks beautiful, with some genius ideas for a sports venue in a metropolitan area.

The parking garage, the enormous entrance (seen from the southeast), I mean...

It just look so incredibly accessable (important in a town like DC, where none of the roads actually GO anywhere, haha)... there's nothing prettier than a baseball stadium...

Driving to the stadium, and parking, is going to be an absolute nightmare. How many cars are those parking garages going to hold? 2,000? 4,000? Even if every car held four people, that only holds around 16,000 people. Consider that the Nationals averaged twice that many fans last season at RFK.

Here's to hoping they get a great Metro stop.

Here is an image (from maurybrown.com). There are plenty more at the website and I strongly recommend checking it out.

Redskins1974 · Post by **Redskins1974** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:31 pm

The 2000 to 4000 parking spaces isn't going to be the only parking surrounding the stadium. Think about Camden Yards, most of the parking is in garages that are privately owned within walking distance. Those, in addition to the parking provided by Ravens and Camden Yards are adequate. All of the new development surrounding the stadium will have privately owned garages in addition to the 2000-4000 spaces built at the site. Furthermore, the Federal government has agreed in principle to increasing metro capacity at the Navy Yard Site from the current 5000 people an hour to 15-20,000 people per hour. Stage 3 will take a little longer - that will be reworking South Capital Street and the Frederick Douglass Bridge to not only make it visually better (it's an eye sore now) but also to accomodate the masses coming from east of the Anacostia.

Proposed bridge drawings with video:
http://www.southcapitolstreetbridgestudy.com/

(some are very cool!)

Here's a video gallery of the development sites: http://www.planning.dc.gov/planning/cwp ... D,1708.asp

more resources here: http://www.jdland.com/dc/

This is a huge undertaking and chances are the first year the area will still be pretty bare bones. The MCI Center area was the same way until the past couple years - these things take time for the entire vision to come into play.

Steve Spurrier III · Post by **Steve Spurrier III** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:30 pm

True, there will be other parking options. Still, I will be suprised if anyone uses the word "painless" when describing the driving experience to the new ball park.

And for those of you who thought trading for Alfonso Soriano was such a great move:

Second baseman Alfonso Soriano informed the Nationals on Monday afternoon that he will not play outfield for them, while the team told him that he could be placed on the disqualified list if he failed to do so.

Soriano, who played most of March representing the Dominican Republic World Baseball Classic, was set to hit leadoff and play the outfield for the Nationals against the Dodgers on Monday night. But when the players went out on the field, only eight players were present.

Manager Frank Robinson then went to home plate umpire Mike Estabrook and told him that a lineup change was going to be made. Brandon Watson, who was supposed to sit out the game, went to center field, while Ryan Church switched from center to left field.

What a nightmare.

link

Redskins1974 · Post by **Redskins1974** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:16 pm

I'm not sure anyone except for Trader Jim Bowden thought that was a good trade. Well, if he doesn't want his 10 million, then he better play, lol.

I'm sure seasaon 1 there will be plenty of kinks to work out but they'll get it down. Thankfully, I live about 7 metro stops north on the same metro line (green)...shoot, I'll be able to ride my bike to the new stadium. We have a ways to go... I'm just happy it's all settled.

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:27 am

What a baby. Jeopordizing his future over a position?

Way to embrace the team concept Alfonso. :roll:

skinsRin · Post by **skinsRin** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:06 pm

Yesterday, Soriano was told to play left field and right before the game he refused to goout there. ROTFALMAO

He needs to go and he is hurting his own stock by doing this.

skinsRin · Post by **skinsRin** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:12 am

I say trade him to the Mets. Omar loves signing Latino players. Maybe they would be willing to trade David Wright.

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:48 am

skinsRin wrote:I say trade him to the Mets. Omar loves signing Latino players. Maybe they would be willing to trade David Wright.

NOT gonna happen. He is their future at third base and a "star in the making" according to everyone in the NY and national media.

And the Nats also have a star in the making at third base in Ryan Zimmerman.

Redskins Rule · Post by **Redskins Rule** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:20 am

The thing that really gets to me about this Soriano thing is that he's not that good at 2nd base. I could understand his argument if he could play 2nd base like Cal Ripken played shortstop, but he's not good at all at 2nd base. Vidro is much better than him. If only he could realize that and play the outfield.

Steve Spurrier III · Post by **Steve Spurrier III** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:24 pm

Jake wrote:NOT gonna happen. He is their future at third base and a "star in the making" according to everyone in the NY and national media.

David Wright is a stud now, let alone "in the making". But Soriano to the Mets has been a rumor for sometime. A good deal would be to get Lastings Milledge, a outfield prospect. But even if the Mets do warm up to that idea, I can't see Bowden flipping his prized offseason acquisition for a guy who won't contribute immediatley.

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:40 pm

Well, he's decided to play the outfield.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00527.html

welch · Post by **welch** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:53 pm

And I will correct a statement in the Post. Soriano will be as good a left-fielder as Roy Sievers when he leads the league in home runs, as Roy did in 1957. I might start thinking of Soriano in the same class as Frank Howard whe he hits his third HR into the upper deck at RFK. Hondo did that about 20 times, but if Soriano puts two into the upper deck this year, he will be on the way.

skinsRin · Post by **skinsRin** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:11 am

Steve Spurrier III wrote:
Jake wrote:NOT gonna happen. He is their future at third base and a "star in the making" according to everyone in the NY and national media.

David Wright is a stud now, let alone "in the making". But Soriano to the Mets has been a rumor for sometime. A good deal would be to get Lastings Milledge, a outfield prospect. But even if the Mets do warm up to that idea, I can't see Bowden flipping his prized offseason acquisition for a guy who won't contribute immediatley.

I agree with eveything you mentioned, Lastings is the Mets best prospect.

skinsRin · Post by **skinsRin** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:34 am

welch wrote:And I will correct a statement in the Post. Soriano will be as good a left-fielder as Roy Sievers when he leads the league in home runs, as Roy did in 1957. I might start thinking of Soriano in the same class as Frank Howard whe he hits his third HR into the upper deck at RFK. Hondo did that about 20 times, but if Soriano puts two into the upper deck this year, he will be on the way.

Frank howard works for the Yankees now. I went to a bunch of Yankees spring training games and he is there as a hitting instructor, I didn't realize he is like 8 ft tall, not really but he is huge. He is the nicest guy, after warm up's he goes to the side and signs autographs for like 45 min. before the game starts, and he'll shot the bull with you too.