Poor Manny Acta.  He has managed 8 seasons in the minors and he’s compiled a 419-432 record (.492) and he finally gets to manage in the majors and he takes over a pretty poor roster of players.  Frank Robinson has to be snickering somewhere because he won’t be around to take the losses anymore.

If the Nationals have any leads to protect this season they will be in good hands as the Nationals have a deep+talented bullpen.  25 year old righty Chad Cordero has been an excellent closer the last two seasons for the Nationals.  Cordero was 7-4 with 29 saves, a 3.19 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP in 68 games for the Nationals last season.  Batters only hit .215 against him and he whiffed 69 batters in 73.1 innings which should tell you a little something about the great stuff he has.  The only problem Cordero had last season was with the long ball as he allowed 13 homers.  He will pitch well in 2007 for the Nationals but it’s hard to predict how many saves he will get because the rest of the team doesn’t look too good.

29 year old righty Luis Ayala missed last season after he hurt himself in the lame-ass World Baseball Classic!  He will miss the start of the season as he’s recovering from elbow surgery but he should be ready in late April or early May.  The Nationals need him back because he has nasty stuff and is a great set-up man.  In his three year career he is 24-22 with 62 holds, 8 saves, a 2.75 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 214 career games.  Look for him to pitch well in 2007 when he’s ready to return to the Nationals.

28 year old righty Jon Rauch really took to a move to the bullpen.  The 6′10″, 260 pound Rauch was 4-5 with 18 holds, 2 saves, a 3.35 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 85 games for the Nationals in 2006.  Batters only hit .231 against him last season and he whiffed 86 batters in 91.1 innings.  He seemed to really excel in his new role because he could just turn the ball loose instead of pacing himself like you have to do when you’re a starting pitcher.  Look for him to have another good season for the Nationals in 2007.

33 year old lefty Ray King will be in the bullpen for the Nationals this season.  He had a rough time for the Rockies last season but Coors Field is a hard place to pitch.  He was 1-4 with 15 holds, 1 save, a 4.43 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP in 67 games for the Rockies in 2006.  Batters hit .327 against him last season and he allowed 6 homers and walked 20 batters in only 44.2 innings.  Look for King to pitch much better than he did last season.  He will probably be closer to his career norms of a 3.28 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP in 2007.

29 year old righty Saul Rivera finally made it to the majors in 2006 and he pitched well for the Nationals.  He was 3-0 with 9 holds, 1 save, a 3.43 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP in 54 games for the Nationals in 2006.  Batters only hit .250 against him last season but he walked 32 batters in 60.1 innings which is way too many.  If he doesn’t cut down on his walks, his ERA will rise a bit in 2007.

24 year old righty Ryan Wagner has a lot of talent but he needs to start getting good results.  He was 3-3 with 3 holds, a 4.70 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP in 26 games for the Nationals in 2006.  Batters hit .293 against him (righties .387, lefties .197) and he walked 15 batters in only 30.2 innings for the Nationals and he will have to improve as a pitcher if he wants to pitch in the majors in 2007.

32 year old lefty Micah Bowie pitched the best ball of his career before injuring himself last season.  He was 0-1 with 5 holds, a 1.37 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP in 15 games for the Nationals in 2006.  Batters only hit .164 against him in 2006.  Look for him to get a chance to build on last season’s success in 2007.

22 year old righty Emiliano Fruto was acquired by the Nationals over the winter and he will get a shot to make the bullpen in 2007.  He was 2-2 with 1 hold, 1 save, a 5.50 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP in 23 games for the Seattle Mariners last season.  Batters only hit .246 against Fruto last season but he walked 24 batters in only 36 innings and that got him into some trouble last season.

The Nationals had extra catchers laying around to they sent one of them to the Astros for Wade Robinson.  Robinson played in three levels (A, AA+AAA ball) last season and he hit .287 with a .637 OPS in 85 games.  It’s questionable as to whether Robinson will ever be a major leaguer but the Nationals probably figured that they would never use Ardoin.

Nook Logan will miss at least two weeks with a strained right groin.  Ryan Church will move over and start in center field until Logan returns.  Chris Snelling will start in left field for a couple of weeks and Kory Casto will make the team out of Spring Training.

The Nationals have released 1B Travis Lee after he told GM Jim Bowden that he had lost his passion for playing the game.  This is a little surprising because Lee was having a decent Spring as he was 8 for 30 (.267 batting average) with 3 doubles, a homer and 7 RBIs.  Dmitri Young has won the starting job at firstbase for the Nationals.

The Nationals also have released starting pitcher Colby Lewis who was downright pathetic this Spring.