Friday Roundup

On a day when Chien Ming Wang will be formally announced as a Washington National, there have been a number of other tidbits of info to read before Spring Training kicks into full gear.

– Ross Detwiler will be out for three months after a torn hip flexor.  This is a bit of a blow for the Nationals, who expected Detwiler to slot into the three or four spot based on his strong September output last year.  The odd thing about this story is that it was broken by Mark Zuckerman, AKA the People’s Beat Reporter, who is there on the funding of the internet.  There were other PAID reporters there who missed the boat.  Sad.  Ben Goessling looks at how Detwiler may come back around the same time as CMW, making things more difficult.  William Yoder, at The Nats Blog, looks at the implications of the injury, stressing the potential seriousness of its implications.

-In the world of “Not Important, but Weird” news, Colin Balester’s new number is 99.  This is partially because CMW wanted 40, and partially because Balester can be a bit of a space cadet.  Also in this post, Jesus Flores switches to 26, Drew Storen takes 58, and Pudge takes 7.  There are others, but most don’t matter.  I’d be pissed if I bought a Flores jersey in the last few years.  Maybe its a collectors item, like Jordan’s 45.

-Ed Chigliak has a BRYCE JESUS CHRIST HARPER update for us at Federal Baseball.

– The Doog, also known as Mike MacDougal, has signed with Florida on a minor league deal.  IF he makes the team, Nats players should go to bat with catcher’s gear on, cause that guy has no idea where the ball is going.

-Nice little “against-all-odds” story from Chico about John Lannan, and his improbable rise to an actual, real life, MLB Starter.

That’s about it.  Come Monday, we’ll have some actual baseball related things to get into.