Weak in Review
Thanks to poster on the Nationals message board who found out single game tickets are going on sale Feb. 24. Note to self-try emailing the Nationals in the future instead of playing the automated phone game.
I called the Nationals office twice this week to get an answer. I went through their automated phone system a couple times before finally deciding to try and reach the season tickets people. I was transferred to that department but was put on hold for 10-15 minutes each time. I want to know where they really assisting other customers? I tried to leave a message and that failed too.
Feb. 24 is the date I figured they would have to be on sale, five weeks out is the minimum time between the single game onsales and the season openers. Nationals and tickets.com need time to process the orders, print out the tickets and ship them to customers.
Now I have to decide if standing in line to get tix to Opening Day is something worth writing about for the blog!
Other things I found out this week
Ryan Zimmerman doesn’t have a contract. This would be news if he was going somewhere but he’s not. Zimm and the Nats will get this squared away by spring training. The Nationals hold all the cards here. I think they’ll give Zimm around $500K for 2007 and $650-700K for 2008. In 2009, Zimmdaddy becomes arbitration eligible so I would look for a huge deal then. The Nats are keeping the payroll bare bones in 2007. In 2008, they will have the new stadium money coming in so I wouldn’t count on a bigtime Zimm deal until 2009. There’s no rush on the Nats part to give Zimm a long term contract just yet. By locking Zimm into a long-term deal now, the Nationals are leaving themselves open in case (and forgive me for saying this) Zimm doesn’t meet his long-term potential. He had a great first year, no doubt, but from a management standpoint, it’s only been one year in the bigs for Zimm.
The Mets signed Chan Ho Park to a $600K, one-year deal. The Nationals couldn’t have gone after Park at that rate? That’s a question I would like answered. Were there any offers? Doesn’t seem like it. Then again, if you had the option to pitch for the Offensive Mets versus Stan’s Plans, you might opt for the team based in Gotham.
The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network will air eight Nationals Spring Training Games. MASN also announced they will only recognize five baseball teams during spring training: the Nationals, the O’s, Astros, Braves and the Mets. See their schedule below. What’s with all the O’s-Nats spring training games? Eesh! Forcing that rivalry down our throats, eh?
Saturday, March 3, 1:05 p.m.: Orioles vs. Nationals, Viera, Fla.
Thursday, March 8, 1:05 p.m.: Astros vs. Nationals, Viera, Fla.
Friday, March 9, 1:05 p.m.: Nationals vs. Orioles, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Monday, March 12, 1:05 p.m.: Mets vs. Nationals, Viera, Fla.
Wednesday, March 21, 7:05 p.m.: Braves vs. Nationals, Viera, Fla.
Tuesday, March 27, 7:05 p.m.: Mets vs. Nationals, Viera, Fla.
Friday, March 30, 2:05 p.m.: Nationals vs. Orioles, Norfolk, Va.
Saturday, March 31, 1:05 p.m.: Orioles vs. Nationals, Washington, D.C.
Want to be one of the famous Racing Presidents? The Nationals are looking for a few good people. http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/was/fan_forum/pres_signups.jsp
This Base For Rent 