Daily Fail: Did Mike Rizzo Lose Stephen's Digits?

Charlie Klein

Imagine yourself watching the spelling bee on ABC (why they put that in prime time is beyond me). A ten year-old kid is up in front of the microphone, and is asked to spell the word, failure. He asks, "Langauge of origin?" "English, out of Flushing, New York," responds the judge. The contestant asks, "Could you use it in a sentence?" "The Washington Nationals are a failure." Okay, now the kid hazards a guess at the word's spelling. "Failure, N-A-T-I-O-N-A-L-S. Failure." The crowd erupts in rapturous applause. The boy sits down, smiling.

According to reports coming out of the Nation's Capital, the Washington Nationals have not spoken to their No. 1 overall selection Stephen Strasburg since the day of the MLB Draft. Washington Post reporter Thomas Boswell approached the San Diego State Golen Spikes Award winner and asked him if he had heard from the Nationals since draft day. Strasburg said, "I haven't heard from the Nationals."

Bob Ryan and Michael Wilbon on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption thought it was awfully curious that the Nationals had not made any persoanl overtures to the player. Ryan wondered why the Nationals had not invited him out to Washington D.C. to become familiar with the town and the big ball club that he figures to play for in the next five years.

It is sad that the Washington Nationals cannot even come up with the brains to invite the guy out to their facitilies or even contact their biggest draft pick since Ryan Zimmerman. Maybe I am being ignorant and there is perhaps some rule that prevents Major League clubs from having unsigned players on their premises. But one would think that it would make sense for them to offer Strasburg the opportunity to come to a Nationals game, sit with the Lerners, tour D.C. in order to give him more motivation to push Boras to accept a deal that is favourable for both parties involved.

Wilbon commented that he believes that the Nationals are inevitably going to mess up this kid's career and the fact that their organisation as it is being in such shambles will prevent them from being successful. I am in 100 percent agreement with those comments. The firing of Manny Acta, the Nationals only skipper, was completely counterproductive. It is not Acta's fault that the team exhibits relatively minimal skill or passion. While Acta shares part of the blame for what is sure to be another 100 loss season for the nation's worst baseball team, more blame should be left at the feet of Stan Kasten and the players who take the field. No one in Washington feels like the Nationals have a shot at contending in the next three years because in actuality they do not. The only people who believe in the gNats are those who are paid to do so, namely Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble, the MASN TV broadcast tandem.

How do you spell failure? N-A-T-I-O-N-A-L-S. Failure.