You Can Talk to Zimmermann, Detwiler, Lannan and Stammen

There will be a conference call this evening at 5:45 pm EST for all the important Nats bloggers. And since I get to be there, apparently the unimportant ones are invited, too. Hiyo! Here is the list of participants, according to the Nationals director of Media Relations, Mike Gazda:

• Nationals pitchers Jordan Zimmermann, John Lannan, Craig Stammen & Ross Detwiler
• A “very special guest (draft-related)”

So if you send ME your questions, either via e-mail a nationalsreview@gmail.com or through a comment here at the bottom of this page (probably the easiest/best way to do it), I will do my best to ask the questions. While I doubt I get the full half hour to grill these guys, I am hoping to be able to get one or two questions in.

I’m assuming the special draft-related guest is not Scott Boras. But if it is, I’m going to start the bidding at $15 M. Other possibilities includes Strasburg, Storen, or any of the other picks. Should be fun, I’ll be sure to report back on the happenings tomorrow. In the meantime, submit some questions for me to ask!

Saint Stephen with a Closer

Not surprising to all but the biggest of naysayers, the Nats picked Stephen Strasburg, Saint Stephen, the Savior of the Franchise, the Anchorman, and all the other nicknames you can think of to add pressure. If you don’t know about him, welcome back from your journey to a time where there is no internet. To fill you in, he was the overwhelming consensus number 1 pick, considered the best draft prospect in 20 years, if not ever. This season, as a pitcher with San Diego State, he went 13-0, with a 1.24 ERA,  180 K and 19 BB in 152 IP.  He’s 6’5″ and weighs in at 220 lbs. Now all they have to do is sign him.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see some more commentary from lots of people on Strasburg. But first, let’s look at the other first round pick for the Nats.

Drew Storen

With the 10th pick, the Washington Nationals select… Drew Storen! Wow, that must have been great for some people, like the Storens, but it just didn’t have the gravity of the Strasburg pick. He wasn’t ranked nearly as high as Saint Stephen by Keith Law (#28) or Baseball America (#36), but that isn’t surprising. The Nats wanted to take someone they could sign easily, both because a struggle might hurt their conversations with Strasburg, and because if they lose this pick, they don’t get compensation next year.