Nationals Farm Authority

Here are a series of links of interest with my quick thoughts:

• The Nationals officially hired Davey Johnson as a Senior Advisor to Mike Rizzo. It’s nice to see another solid baseball guy in the front office though I wonder if there is any possibility that Johnson could be a replacement for Jim Riggleman.
• The Nats held a roundtable with the local writers where a few things came out:
  • Added 17 new front office positions to include scouts. Still no official word on if there is anyone in the Pacific Rim. I’ll keep asking
  • Finalized a deal to build a new Dominican complex in Boca Chica. Good to see they are getting their own place after having to scramble for a location at the last minute this past year.
  • Nats scouts have already watched potential 2010 #1 overall Bryce Harper and that he is not as clear cut a #1 as Strasburg was in 2009. That could just be posturing.
• Tracee Hamilton has a feature on NFA favorite Josh Wilkie. Nice to see Josh get some publicity in the local media.
• and a blog post on Jeff Mandel and how the Baby Nats will be competing for the AFL title this weekend with Strasburg starting the championship game
• The Syracuse Chiefs lost money again in 2009 but less than they did in 2008. An extended assignment of Stephen Strasburg is what they are hoping for in 2010. I don’t think Strasburg will start the season in Triple-A. Coming from a guy who was born in Syracuse and still has family there, it’s still pretty cold in April in upstate New York and I’m not sure the Nationals will want to risk injury having Strasburg pitch in a chilly environment.
• Geoff Morrow of the Patriot News has an update on the renovations on City Island.
• and news that Randy Tomlin will be returning as Harrisburg’s pitching coach in 2010. Tomlin will again be working with Randy Knorr (they previously worked together in Potomac in 2007-08)
• John Sickels has his preliminary Nats Top 20 up at Minor League Ball and the #1 is as expected. I’m working on my own top prospect list and should have it up within a week or so
• and on a final note, Dan Steinberg tweeted that the Post is now looking for a new Nats beat writer after Chico Harlan decided to pursue other opportunities. I enjoyed his writing as he attempted to find different angles of a really bad team. I’ve learned over the years how much of a drain the day in and day out can be … and that’s just me doing the Across the Affiliates and other stuff I do here at NFA. I don’t have to see the players, managers, management every day, fostering relationships yet still attempting to be critical when the need arises. I don’t have to work under tight deadlines attempting to bring an interesting perspective to gamers. The other major sports have many more off-days that allow for a battery recharge. Harlan has his detractors, especially after his Washingtonian interview earlier this year, but I want to thank him and wish him the best of luck.