Pitcher Brian Lawrence out with injury
The Nationals received an unfortunate blow on Saturday: right-handed pitcher Brian Lawrence, acquired this off-season for Vinnie Castilla in a trade with the Padres, left spring training camp after it was confirmed that he has a torn labrum. Lawrence will have surgery soon and while there's a chance he could be back by August, he may miss all of 2006 if the injury is worse than it appears.
Nationals management was hoping Lawrence would impress in spring training and compete for a role in the starting rotation. Now, the three vacant spots are being eyed by Tony Armas Jr., Ryan Drese, Ramon Ortiz and Jon Rauch. Bowden might also bring up right-handers Collin Balester or Shawn Hill to compete.
With Lawrence out, Bowden is putting extra effort into securing additional pitching. The club talked to Pedro Astacio's agent a few times on Saturday.
I have read a couple of things in which the columnists feel that this injury almost certainly means that Soriano will be dealt for pitching. What do you think, Sam?
The Nationals aren't in a great position: they *need* Soriano's bat, or at least a replacement who can produce runs, but they also desperately need more pitching. I sure wouldn't want Bowden's job.
Sam, I am confident that you could do just as well as Bowden these days. I just read that Frank Robinson has benched Soriano for the two exhibition games before the World tournament. Something ugly is about to happen.
Now there's a new idea for a reality TV show: MLB GM! Seriously, some TV dudes should go pitch Bud Selig and perhaps they could strike a deal in time for the Marlins' move to Las Vegas. Oh baby, Vegas would be the perfect city for a ball team with a reality TV-picked GM, wouldn't you say?!
I hadn't seen that piece yet about Soriano being benched, but there it is on nationals.com: http://tinyurl.com/zstdo. I think you're right: there's so much uncertainty right now in the Nats' camp–who will play 2nd, who will play center, who will pitch?–that it really feels like something is about to give.
Frank demands (and deserves) respect and so I was very pleased to read in that article about Soriano's respect of his new manager. He's at least starting out right in that regard.