Just A Man and His Will to Mislead

There are a couple of things you have to remember when writing about the Nationals. 1) There's no "h" in Cristian, and B) there are two "r"s and one "l" in Terrmel. The other important thing to remember? "Why can’t someone do some actual reporting or at least fact-checking?" Anyway, Sledge is the man of the moment, as noted bad-ass Barry Svrluga of the Post profiles him.

"It'd be real hard for me to trade a guy like him," Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden said Monday, "because they don't come often."

Sledge is almost as intriguing as anyone with the Nationals this spring because of what he could bring -- on the field or in a deal.

I don't get it. I'm sure Sledge is a nice guy, and the article indicates that the high regard Bowden and Frank Robinson have for him is owing largely to his focus, his discipline, the "eye of the tiger." That's fine, and it does matter. Hell, the lack of the eye of the tiger is one of the reasons I hate the Guzman contract. But let's not go overboard; fighting spirit can take you only so far. Sledge spent five years in the minors, which is not something untradeable player generally do, and managed a 109 OPS+ in his rookie season. That's nothing to be ashamed of, but you don't exactly slap the franchise tag on a guy like that. I'm starting to get a nasty feeling, like an oncoming cold, that Bowden would sooner trade Nick Johnson than Terrmel Sledge. And if you think I've been bitchy so far, just wait til that happens.

Related: In a recent Post chat, Tom "Juan Rivera is a promising young Nat!" Boswell came up with the worst argument for anything in the history of arguments. And I'm from the Internet, so that's saying something; the most logical argument I run across in a typical day is something along the lines of "LOL FAGIT!"

Don't count out Terrmel Sledge's chances to start. He had a better OPS as a rookie than Barry Bonds.

Well, I'm convinced. Here's another fun fact: Terrmel Sledge had more home runs in his rookie year than Babe Ruth had in the entire decade of the 1960s.