Sunday 11am-4pm at the Park--should be a good time although it'll be cold.
I'll give a recap with photos on Sunday!
Nats Fest
Moderator: Rafael122
Re: Nats Fest
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Jollay
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Re: Nats Fest
My girlfriend and I with Jim Riggleman and Jason Marquis...
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Jollay
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Not all that flattering pic of me about to get Willingham and Clippard to sign a baseball...
Re: Nats Fest
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Jollay
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Re: Nats Fest
Capps (L) and Stammen...
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Jollay
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The man, the legend...
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Jollay
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Re: Nats Fest
Had some good pix of the panel, George Will, Tim Kurkjian, Mike Rizzo, Jim Riggleman, and Stan Kasten, but unfortunately deleted them....
Anyway, was a pretty good time. A great experience for fans, and really dollar wise, I think the Nats stand in sharp contrast to the other teams in the area.
The autograph lines were long but moved quickly and the players that showed up, off the top of my head Zimmerman, Stammen, Rodriguez, Capps, Bruney, Marquis, Willingham, Lannan, Morgan really went the extra mile to be gracious and accomodate the fans. I was a little disappointed Adam Dunn was not there (to my knowledge), though.
Really appreciated the nice tours of the locker rooms, batting cages, facilities, and areas behind home plate. You can definitely see how despite the terrible record, free agents might be excited to join the Nats from the facilities standpoint.
As far as the Q&A questions, George Will really stood out. He started out just asking the audience random baseball trivia, which was fun, and then entertained a great Q&A about the state of the game. He's on a committee that evaluates the game and apparently recommends changes to the commissioner, and if yu listened to the guy, you'd be happy he was on it, as he knows his stuff. Would love to post a video if I can find one of the whole session, its worth watching.
The Nats guys obviously didn't say anything groundbreaking. Rizzo was asked flat out if Guzman would play second base--and he said Guzman was willing to do anything that the team asked him to do. So I guess that's the plan, although it seems a Hudson signing could now be imminent. My only question was to Tim Kurkjian of ESPN, to ask him what he would do as GM if he started today, to which he replied he would sign Orlando Hudson. He then proceeded to report that a Hudson signing was indeed close...
Other than that, not much new information. Lots of good questions from the audience, but no new information. It seems Dukes is still in line to get the first shot at RF. but the team has many options now if he doesn't produce. A kid asked who the starting catcher would be on opening day, and Rizzo wouldn't even go into specifics about that. (Weak). He did say that he thinks Pudge is going to recapture his mojo offensively, although he needs to be limited to 80-90 games.
All and all, a great time despite the cold. I did see a Marquis Grissom $60 autographed jersey I was going to buy, but some greedy fan bought it before i could. Oh well.
Can't wait for the Spring and the Phils, Brewers, Dodgers, and Rockies at Nats Park in April!!
Anyway, was a pretty good time. A great experience for fans, and really dollar wise, I think the Nats stand in sharp contrast to the other teams in the area.
The autograph lines were long but moved quickly and the players that showed up, off the top of my head Zimmerman, Stammen, Rodriguez, Capps, Bruney, Marquis, Willingham, Lannan, Morgan really went the extra mile to be gracious and accomodate the fans. I was a little disappointed Adam Dunn was not there (to my knowledge), though.
Really appreciated the nice tours of the locker rooms, batting cages, facilities, and areas behind home plate. You can definitely see how despite the terrible record, free agents might be excited to join the Nats from the facilities standpoint.
As far as the Q&A questions, George Will really stood out. He started out just asking the audience random baseball trivia, which was fun, and then entertained a great Q&A about the state of the game. He's on a committee that evaluates the game and apparently recommends changes to the commissioner, and if yu listened to the guy, you'd be happy he was on it, as he knows his stuff. Would love to post a video if I can find one of the whole session, its worth watching.
The Nats guys obviously didn't say anything groundbreaking. Rizzo was asked flat out if Guzman would play second base--and he said Guzman was willing to do anything that the team asked him to do. So I guess that's the plan, although it seems a Hudson signing could now be imminent. My only question was to Tim Kurkjian of ESPN, to ask him what he would do as GM if he started today, to which he replied he would sign Orlando Hudson. He then proceeded to report that a Hudson signing was indeed close...
Other than that, not much new information. Lots of good questions from the audience, but no new information. It seems Dukes is still in line to get the first shot at RF. but the team has many options now if he doesn't produce. A kid asked who the starting catcher would be on opening day, and Rizzo wouldn't even go into specifics about that. (Weak). He did say that he thinks Pudge is going to recapture his mojo offensively, although he needs to be limited to 80-90 games.
All and all, a great time despite the cold. I did see a Marquis Grissom $60 autographed jersey I was going to buy, but some greedy fan bought it before i could. Oh well.
Can't wait for the Spring and the Phils, Brewers, Dodgers, and Rockies at Nats Park in April!!
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