Bah, Humbug

Spring Training Frenzy continues despite my crankiest efforts to put a damper on it. Here's a little something that doesn't make any sense:

The Nationals manager has the highest of expectations for his ballclub, higher than he did his first two seasons in Montreal when the Expos surprised everyone by going 83-79 both years.
"I expect this team to play better baseball than 83 wins," Robinson said yesterday on the day pitchers and catchers reported for spring training.

I know Frank slept through last year, but didn't he notice that Vladimir Guerrero wasn't there anymore?

The Washington Post started its Spring Training blog today. Not much of interest thus far, but we'll see. Well, there was this:

I have arrived this morning, as I will every morning, from Chez Post, where my roommate, Tom Boswell, burst through the door upon his arrival from Washington, chattering about the Nationals’ prospects and lineups like an 8-year-old kid.

"Dude! Juan Rivera and Tony Batista are gonna hit 50 homers this year! I think Bart Colon could win 20! With Andre Dawson in center, anything's possible!"

Nate Silver, the creator of PECOTA, one of my more recent betes noir, chatted with the public yesterday.

Anthony (Long Island): Last year Nick Johnson had a monstrous PECOTA profile...he seemed to have a legit shot to be the next Todd Helton. So where is he now?

Nate Silver: I think even Nick Johnson's fans have to concede now that injury problems are going to be the major theme of his career. I can't think of a guy who got hurt as often as Johnson has and went on to become an All-Star type talent -- Zydrunas Ilgauskas, I guess, if you want to go to basketball.

Bummer.