Discarded Peanut Shells – Clubhouse In The Round

February 21, 2007

I think I’m suffering from post-spring training letdown. I was really kinda sad to leave, and now I can’t live up to the baseball-full posts! It was wonderful to see real live baseball activities for three days and re-energized me, but now I’m back to real life. Blah! One more month… one more month… Meanwhile, the Nationals continue the process of soon whittling down the starting pitchers and the full squad has begun workouts. I bet fans can scramble after a lot of balls over that fence now! Anyway, as I prepare to head to a gigantic DC sports bloggers happy hour, I figured I should update on a few neat-o items like MASN’s pre/post game shows, Matt Chico, the clubhouse and leaders, and fans…

Mark Zuckerman reports on the Chatter blog that Matt Chico is baffling hitters with his breaking ball even when they know what type of pitch is coming. That’s very positive news! Depending on his maturity level, he may make it out of spring training with a spot in the rotation. The Washington Times recently held a Q&A with him where he mostly talks about the killer Harrisburg bus rides and very PC-like saying he’ll be happy with where ever the Nationals place him. Todd Jacobson further profiles him today and poses the questions that need to be answered regarding maturity level and psyche. At 23 years old, Chico feels he’s already had his share of bumps in the road and should be ready to handle whatever the big leagues throw at him (be it losses). Chico definitely sounds like one to watch.

Meanwhile, the clubhouse personality issues and leadership roles hit the press cycle hard. Kearns, Lopez, Schneider, and Zimmerman will form a committee of clubhouse leaders. Most are rather quiet and hope to lead by example.

“I won’t use the word captains,” Schneider said. “I won’t use that because no one’s higher than anyone [else]. It’s like a circle. Everyone’s equal and just policing each other to make sure everything’s done right. I think that’s the best way to do it.”

Interesting that Schneider said, “It’s like a circle”! Because guess what? The clubhouse in the new stadium is going to be just that – a circle! (or oval)

Purnell said it occurred to him then that in building a ballpark, a detail seemingly as inconsequential as the shape of a clubhouse could influence the way teammates related to one another and how they performed as a unit over a long season. As a result, when the Nationals settle into their new locker room next year, they won’t find any corners.

“We decided we’d make it circular,” said Purnell, to help discourage cliques and hierarchies among the mega-rich stars and lesser-paid journeymen and younger players who typically compose a big league team. “Then we decided on an oval,” he said, because “the oval has to do with the city. You have the Ellipse, you have the Oval Office.

Interesting! And an idea I really like.

MASN UPDATE

MASN today announced who the on-air personalities will be for games, including the Nats X-tra pre and post game shows as well as a newly added sideline reporter, Debbi Taylor. Rather than choose someone out of Baltimore and risk the incense of local fans – and apparently since nobody from DC must have been available, they went with someone whose most recent gigs were in Orlando, Florida. She appears to have an extensive resume, so it should be interesting to see how she does, but I’m assuming professionally. I tried to find more info on her, but Googling Debbi Taylor turned up absolutely nothing. Turns out most of her career, she worked under the name Debbi Wrobleski.

The guys doing the Nats X-tra can be found here. I don’t really know anything about them, not being a Terps fan.

VIERA – FANS LOVE ACCESS

Sooooo… is JANF’s very own regular reader NASA Mike mentioned in the Florida Today article about fans having access to players at spring training?

I have to agree – the Carl Barger complex setup is awesome! The first day I didn’t walk down the sidewalk that runs between fields any further than the first field because I just assumed it was for “authorized access only”. The next day I was a little smarter. (I blame 1 hour of sleep on my ditziness)

Posted in Media, Players, Stadium, Washington Nationals