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Farewell to the Chief?
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Chad Cordero — AP If baseball experts are right, the Nationals won’t have to worry about the N.L. East race. They won’t be in it. But the race that might interest them the most is in the A.L. Central. Or, at least, that’s the one that Chad Cordero might need to monitor. The word is, Detroit is tracking the Nats reliever in case their bullpen falters them in the first half of the season. If that happens, then the Tigers would start serious trade talks for Cordero (provided he’s healthy and pitching well), the Nats closer since coming to Washington in 2005. A source close to the Tigers said the team already talked to Nats General Manager Jim Bowden during spring training about Cordero. Look for those talks to heat up if the Nats are out of the race and the Tigers’ bullpen is struggling. And based on what the pundits say, the Nats would be better off building for the future. ESPN the Magazine predicted a fourth-place finish; Sports Illustrated pegged them at 73 wins and the Sporting News said they’d finish fourth and rated them 25th overall. “The N.L. East is a three-team race,” ESPN analyst Dave Campbell said. The teams: Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York. As for the Nats, Campbell called for more patience. “They have to model their franchise after the Atlanta Braves,” he said, “and it took Stan [Kasten] five or six years to build them up. Starting pitching is the key. They have a terrific bullpen. Third base and first base are solid. Centerfield, maybe they’ve solved their problem there. [Austin] Kearns is a disappointment over what I thought he would be. And when you have Odalis Perez open the season for you, it’s like someone said, ‘There’s Opening Day pitchers and pitchers who pitch on Opening Day.’ He’s the latter.” Ripken prefers the dugout bench over the TV booth Some people can’t get enough of Cal Ripken Jr. But they’re going to have to take what they get at least when it comes to TV. And it won’t be much, which is just fine with Ripken. The former Orioles All-Star and Major League Baseball MVP is in no rush to increase exposure on television. Ripken started a broadcasting career last year as an analyst for TBS, working on the network’s All-Star Selection Show and during its coverage of the postseason. That’s all fans are getting again this season, though. “He doesn’t really have any aspirations to become a full-time broadcaster,” John Maroon, Ripken’s spokesman, said Tuesday. The former shortstop is busy with a burgeoning baseball empire north of Baltimore — with Ripken Baseball and the Aberdeen IronBirds — and an XM satellite radio show. Ripken sat in the front row of Oriole Park at Camden Yards Monday and watched his old team lose, 6-2, to the Tampa Bay Rays. Photographers seemed to take more photos of Ripken, six years into retirement, than they did the players on the field. That’s no surprise; in the last 20 years, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger athletic star in the Washington-Baltimore region than Ripken. Q & A with Bud Selig The baseball commissioner stopped by Nationals Park for Sunday’s season opener, which had to be a welcome respite for him after a tumultuous offseason. But the opening of the new park and his trips to Beijing and Tokyo left Selig upbeat. Q » Is the steroid era behind us? A » Well, I have strong feelings on the subject. Let me say this, we have the toughest testing program in American sports. We’ve tightened it even more. We’ve hired someone independently who made a lot of recommendations. I’ve been talking to a lot of doctors and trainers, which I do regularly in between my safaris to Beijing and Tokyo. Every one of them told me, ‘We’re doing fine Commissioner.’ We don’t have a test for human growth hormones, but no one does. ... It’s not perfect and there are chemists out there working. I won’t delude myself for one second. [But] I think we’ve done everything we can do. Q » Where are you with drug testing? A » There are negotiations on-going. I’d rather not comment. Q » Are you confident? A » Yeah. Q » What feedback did you get from the teams about the [overseas] trips? A » Wonderful. I bumped into a bunch of players, Red Sox players and Oakland players, and every one of them thanked me. They were thrilled to be there. It was great and the same thing in Beijing. Column inches Opinions from around the nation on the hottest topics in sports: » Although [Tyler] Hansbrough’s wide-eyed, “Psycho T” persona dominates the public’s perception of him, he’s not a basketball robot. And although he is certainly a “thrashing croc in the paint,” as a Washington State player labeled him recently, there’s more to him than that. Hansbrough calls himself goofy. In fact, he embraces his inner geek. — Scott Fowler on the peculiar North Carolina basketball star who has guided the Tar Heels to the Final Four. (Charlotte Observer) » Does [UCLA] have enough to win … a national championship? Yes, but with a Barry Bonds-sized asterisk. UCLA beat Xavier by 19, but the Musketeers don’t reside in the same tony cul-de-sac as the two teams — Texas and Memphis — that played Sunday for the right to face the Bruins. — Gene Wojciechowski on UCLA’s chance of success in the Final Four. (ESPN.com) » Last season, watching [Daisuke] Matsuzaka pitch was a downright maddening experience. It was like watching someone try to paint a house with a 1-inch brush. The power sprayer was right there on the ground and the process was needlessly long and painstaking. … This year, the Red Sox need Matsuzaka to do a lot more. — Tony Massarotti of the Boston Herald talking about Boston starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. » The ACC is left with a hungry feeling. The league has made 14 appearances in the Final Four since the women’s NCAA tournament began in 1982. But it has won just two titles: Maryland’s in 2006 and North Carolina’s in 1994. It’s a little frustrating for the league that it hasn’t won more often. — Mechelle Voepel, after the women’s teams at Maryland and North Carolina were eliminated. (ESPN.com) On the record “I think they’ve addressed everything they possibly can address. ... I don’t know what else the league could ask.” — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday about the NFL investigation into Spygate, the filming scandal that rocked the league. “I believe it’s something that never happened. If so, why wouldn’t — two months later — anything come out? But we live in a society where people can make any kind of allegation. It has to be substantiated.” — Patriots owner Bob Kraft on the allegations by former employee Matt Walsh that the team cheated in Super Bowl XXXIV. Three up Nick Johnson » Comeback off to strong start Candice Wiggins » Scores 41 in Stanford’s tourney win over Maryland NFL defenses » League approves defense speaker helmet Three down C.C. Sabathia » Opens contract year with clunker No. 1 NFL Draft pick » Miami receiving no offers Barack Obama »Bowls a 37; seriously |
