Learning

Say what you will about Jim Bowden (and I really mean that -- don't let that comment verification thingy stop you), but he's making the most of this hands-on work experience he's getting. Maybe he's not perfect or even better than awful, but he's learning on the job.

. . . the Nationals announced the addition of utility man Robert Fick, who was signed to a one-year, $850,000 contract to back up at first base, in the outfield and even serve as a third catcher.

I guess this means the Marlon Anderson thing was a practice run. Bowden, just like, say, Richie Rich, pretty obviously doesn't know what things should cost, but he's trying to learn. He gave Anderson two years and literally almost millions of dollars. Somebody told him that didn't make sense (I know I did, but my opinion doesn't carry much weight in the RFK trailer), so he tried again. We got another defensively useless left-handed pinch hitter with no power, but at half the cost. All in all, I'd rather have Fick. He's more patient, and I suppose his novelty catching gimmick is slightly handier than Marlon Anderson's second base thing, given the rest of the roster (current second baseman count: 12. Or so. I didn't look it up).

But we have both, and it's not totally bad. Suppose we have a man on, the pitcher up, a righty pitching, no lefties ready in the bullpen, and a baserunner fast enough that we only need a single. We're ready! But wait: what if a couple innings later, the exact same situation comes up? Most teams could take advantage once, but we're in a position to jump on it twice per game. So once they go ahead and expand rosters to 50 players, this is a damn masterstroke.

Also in Nats News:

• Joey Eischen's back. One year, $1.3 million. I guess we need a lefty, and the marginal value of such a player is particularly large for the Nats since we've cornered the market on lefty pinch-hitters. Eischen captured the hearts of Nats fans when he offered irrumation to Peter Angelos. I do not point this out disapprovingly.
• Bodes is working on getting Alfonso Soriano to play the outfield. Let's hope he made his pitch without resorting to his usual appalling comparisons. "Fonz, if you don't move to the outfield, you're literally crashing a plane into this team."
  
• "Sources" told Barry Svrluga that Frank Robinson, Eddie Rodriguez, and Randy St. Claire will be back. St. Claire's about the best thing we got going for us, so that's a relief. I wonder how Bodes is going to fill the rest of those coaching jobs. "You're turning down the third base coach job? Be symbolic. You should have told me on September 11, because that's what you're doing."
• The Nats signed a bunch of catchers to minor league deals. This reminds me of the geography and demographics of McKey, Oklahoma in that I don't care.