In case anyone was wondering, I am still alive:) I’m extremely busy with trying to sell my house, however. Hoping to move across town to Gaithersburg, Md, closer to my grandkids.
I have been keeping an eye on the Nationals. I am not nearly as “all in” that they are a lock to get to the World Series as the media appears to be! The reasons for my scepticism revolve around the following:
- their poor post-season results in recent years;
- I am not convinced their offense is as good as most appear to expect;
- their new bull-pen has yet to prove itself as post-season-ready.
- the makeup of the bench is not at all clear this early in Spring-Training.
Having said that, I do think they will win 90-94 games and the division title. The starting pitching will be awesome, Ryan Zimmerman will be fine at first-base, Rendon will be the star that we all expect, Cabrera at 2B will be average, Harper will be no better than many other average corner-outfield sluggers, Desi will continue to be one of the very best shortstops in the game.
Pete's Curveball 
Hey Pete, great update here. Let me make some comments and see what you think:
their poor post-season results in recent years: Yeah, except for Laroche all the guys
that didn’t pull out the postseason wins are still there. Hopefully a couple of role players really step up when it counts.
I am not convinced their offense is as good as most appear to expect: Thanks for saying that. This kind of echos the point above. The Nats are feast or famine. They’ll beat you 10-2 or only get 3 hits. Can’t quite figure that one out…and neither can they!
their new bull-pen has yet to prove itself as post-season-ready: True but how about addition by subtraction? I certainly don’t feel they will miss Soriano. Clippard might be a different story, statistically, but that guy had enough meltdowns to give me ulcers! Tanner to the bullpen might cause him to sulk but he seems like a good kid so we’ll see.
the makeup of the bench is not at all clear this early in Spring-Training: Yep, but I guess us fans will just have to trust the coaches and GM. Of course us ‘skins fans always say that and how has that worked out the last 20 years?!
Thanks!