(Photo by Life dot com. Shirley Povich is the guy in the suit between Joe D. and Yogi, above.)
...but Shirley doesn't want the job?
After Chico Harlan quit the WaPo Nationals beat a few weeks ago, and news began swirling yesterday that the giant axe at the Washington Times could potentially wipe out the entire Sports section at the time (sadly, that includes the dynamic duo of Mark Zuckerman and Ben Goessling on the Nats beat), the Washington Post is reportedly hoping to use the body of Shirley Povich as its Nationals beat reporter for the 2010 season, recognizing that once DC becomes a one-paper town, it doesn't matter who they install in the Shirley Povich press box at Nationals Park to cover the team. But according to anonymous sources with no knowledge of the situation, Povich wants in on the Redskins beat.
Meanwhile...
It took the Povich news to wake Nationals Enquirer staff from our slumber, but a few other items rolled through in the last couple of days that piqued our interest:
- The Nationals announced their 2010 Spring Training Schedule today. Report/workout dates were also announced, as follows: pitchers & catchers report Feb. 19, position players report Feb. 24, first full-squad workout Feb. 26. You may begin counting down the hours now.
- Mike Rizzo hired his 121st new employee of the offseason; and it's his Dad, Phil!
- Over at that newspaper in town that doesn't care about the baseball team, Dave Sheinin quotes Mike Rizzo on the team's top priority of the offseason: "That would be our top priority -- to help ourselves make a big step in terms of starting pitching." Just don't expect "big step" to mean "big splash". Sheinin names Javier Vázquez, Ricky Nolasco and Edwin Jackson as potential targets.
- Over at Nationals Farm Authority, Brian Oliver examines Baseball America's recent ranking of the Nats farm system. John Manuel of BA says the Nats are 26th in the majors. Ouch. I think.
- Oh, thank heavens! Bryce Harper passed his GED "with flying colors" and is eligible for the 2010 MLB draft. But the Nats are telling anyone and everyone who will listen that they're just, you know, not convinced Harper will be the #1 pick.
- That Lannan vs. Balester Twitter Race was fun.
- That shocking news that the Nats didn't offer arbitration to Da Meathook and Kearns took us by surprise. Livo, Villone, and Bard: a little less surprising. We were kind of expecting last-minute news of another secret handshake between Jim Bowden and Dmitri Young, forcing the Nats to offer Da Meat another 2 year deal or something.
- ESPN the Magazine feature on Strasburg and Storen. I guess we should buy a subscription.
How many days until pitchers and catchers report?
they should just force Barry Svrluga to take the job back. Nats coverage at WaPo hasn't been the same since he left the beat.
Posted by: Anonandon | December 03, 2009 at 10:58 PM
If a DC newspaper axes its sports coverage and no one comments about it on their own website, what does that say? Never understood the lack of comments on their typically pretty good sports coverage.
With no foil for the Post, what can we DC-area sports use to jab at the Post with? No more "Times has written 12 articles on the Nats in the past 2 days, Post has 1" stuff.
Posted by: ckstevenson | December 03, 2009 at 11:43 PM
Povich's typewriter is ready in the press box when he is.
Posted by: Hendo | December 03, 2009 at 11:59 PM
@ckstevenson: The Times' Nats coverage has been consistently great for the last couple of years under Zuckerman and Goessling. The lack of comments on the blog (Chatter) is not a reflection of the quality of reporting...it's just a reflection that the competition had a head start with NJ and built up a large and loyal following, and still reaping the benefits of positive network effects.
Posted by: The Nationals Enquirer | December 04, 2009 at 07:31 AM
I'd agree, but also note that this is pervasive to all of the Times sports coverage. Same lack of comments about the Terps, whereas Terps blogs in the Post and Sun get frequent commenters (nowhere near as much as Nats Journal mind you).
I thought Bowden might sing Dmitri to Tweet for him...
Posted by: ckstevenson | December 04, 2009 at 02:22 PM