Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell was online Friday, June 8, at 2 p.m. ET to take your questions and comments about the Washington Nationals, Major League Baseball and his recent columns.

The transcript follows.

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Joe Fan: From yesterday's Post:

"It's the money that comes from those upscale customers, from the upscale businesses, that really helps us, that really enables us to keep the low-end ticket prices that we want so desperately as well," Kasten said. "So all of those people who asked about the high-end pricing, -those ticket buyers are] getting great service, but they're also providing great service for Joe Fan."

Thanks Stan. Do I get complimentary binoculars with my $5 ticket next year?

Tom Boswell: I think the Nats "Telescope Night" giveaway is schedule for next June.

My first impression is that ticket prices in the new park are too high by at least 10% for every seat above $25. But that they are normal and fair value -- but certainly not "a value" -- for tickets from about $22 on down.

Grab the sections 306-to-321 in the upper deck -- "Infield Gallery" -- as fast as you can, IMO. I could be wrong, but they look very nice for $20-$22. And they'll be a lot better than my seat in the (ugh) cloud-high press box. But I'm fine with the equivalent of a $15 seat.

Also, the upper and lower Right Field Terrace -- $10-to-$17 -- may have great skyline views, at least for a couple of years until new 14-story buildings surround the park. (I hope not. But I fear so.)

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Arlington, Va.: Dear Boz,

For the casual (but increasingly not-so-casual) fan, would you be so kind to recommend three great, must-read books on baseball?

Tom Boswell: "The Fireside Book of Baseball." (Three volume collection of writings from the 1860's until now.)

"The Long Season" by Jim Brosnan. Still my favorite ballplayer diary. The first and therefore the least self-conscious.

"The Summer Game" Roger Angel.

"The Glory of Their Times" Lawrence S. Ritter.

"The Best Short Stories of Ring Lardner."

That should make a nice summer.

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S. Boras: Given the speculative nature of even the first round picks in any given draft, have you heard any serious talk amongst MLB officials about draft rule changes or limiting signing bonuses that might limit my, er, an honest sports agent's percentage?

Tom Boswell: No, "S," you look safe for a while.

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Arlington, Va.: Boz,

Shouldn't the Nats actually be competitive first before charging some of the highest ticket prices in Baseball at the new stadium?

Tom Boswell: I never thought that I would consider NOT buying any season tickets in the new stadium. But I'm thinking about it.

I'm pretty annoyed, at least at first glance. And it wasn't a short glance. Once in a blue moon, any fan ought to be able to dream about sitting in "the best seat in the house" -- which for me is about 15-20 rows up behind home plate behind the screen. That seat is $65-60 in Baltimore, but a $150 "diamond seat" in Nats Park.

In short, the Nats have made another bad decision regarding the long-term building of their fans base. Few of the team's brass have much feeling for the area. I hope I'm wrong, but I think they'll be disappointed in the reaction to these prices. More important, if they KEEP these prices and DON'T have a contending team by '09 or '10, they may very well have a significant attendance problem -- even if the new stadium is fabulous.

The Orioles did it right. Prices started out quite reasonable then very gradually became expensive after the park proved its appeal.

These prices are the first time that the new ownership has made me gasp and worry about the future. Maybe I'm just cheap, but I don't see why the top seats in this park -- to see this team -- should cost as much as comparable seats in the top half-dozen most baseball crazy cities.

Earth to Lerners: Win first; Jack up prices, if you must, later.

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Katy Lick, W.Va.: Hi Mr. Boswell. You are the best baseball writer in the country bar none.

In your opinion, what pitcher in today's game would you compare to guys like Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale or Dock Ellis? By that I mean pitchers who were not afraid to throw inside or even plunk a guy just for fun or merely to send a message? I think our Nats need a guy like that.

Tom Boswell: The Nats don't "work inside" enough. Especially Cordero. I don't mean throw at hitter's heads or even drill them. I mean drive them off the plate with your best fastball and if it happens to hit somebody in the elbow, maybe they shouldn't be diving into the plate so much. If Cordero had a little "reputation," maybe Jason Bay would not have been able to launch a low-outside fastball over the right centerfield fence to win yesterday's game 3-2.

I promise that Gibson, Drysdale or Ellis would have sent a message to the next hitter.

"Who else is on with me," I asked the producer.

"Drysdale," he said.

(Don was very gracious. And I still said I hadn't voted for him. But then I WASN'T A HITTER.)

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Eastern Market: Hey Boz,

What are your impressions of the new stadium in general? I've heard a lot of people say that the designs don't quite live up to expectations. Personally, I've grown tired of all the Camden Yard copy cats, and am glad to see us go in a different directions. I think it'll be great.

Also, any idea if this is going to be a hitters or pitchers park?

Tom Boswell: The last time I was down there, last month, I was stunned and thought (for the first time) that it was going to be even better than I expected. The exterior finishes (fake limespot that looks like marble) may be fabulous (like the exterior of the Convention Center.

However, whenever I talk to Kasten about "sight lines" of monuments, I get the sense that we better enjoy the views the first few years because the park may get semi-surrounded by development. There must be a compromise. The new park in St. Louis was given room to breath. The big buildings are enough blocks away that the architectural integrity of the park -- ie., the beauty of the darn thing -- isn't compromised.

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Ashburn: Why is Ryan Zimmerman struggling so much this year? Last year, he seemed to adjust well to pitchers' adjustments to him. But this year at the bat, he seems lost. Time to move him down to 4th, and move Young (and when he returns, Johnson) to 3rd?

Tom Boswell: Just my opinion, but I think he's in denial that he has a bit of a glitch in his swing. Not big. But he front "toe tap," with began last September, is a move I've never seen before. I have no reason to think it's a good idea. And when I stand behind him in batting practice, his hands make THREE MOVES as the pitch approach before he delivers the bat to the ball.

Maybe people are afraid to tell him he's gotten into some bad habits. Maybe I'm completely wrong. (His current batting average is about the same as mine in high school, so, seriously, what do I know.)

It's also true that he'd have at least 5 more homers if he were playing in any other park, including next year's SE park where the fences will be 377 in left and 370 in right at points that are about 390-to-396 feet in the alleys in RFK.

The Nats still won't acknowledge that their fences are incorrectly marked. They moved the "380" signs in '05 after Barry and I proved that they were really 396. But they only moved them to locations that are still about 390 feet. It's a small point. But you better believe that Nats hitters like Zimmerman, Kearns and Schneider know they're getting screwed in RFK and that some Nats pitchers, now being praised, are going to get a reality check next year. One Nats pitcher told me, "We have a couple of guys who could probably only survive in this park."

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South Capitol and M ST: I love the thought of sight lines, but every time I think of those parking garages, I cringe.

I read that Nats officials expect the garages to block out most views to the north (i.e. The Capitol).

Tom Boswell: The parking garages are only a few stories high. They're not much of a problem. From the upper deck (where I've been) I'm pretty sure you'll see right over them. As for people in the lower deck, if they can afford those prices, I don't care what they look at. (Okay, just joking.)

Believe me, there are "bigger problems on the horizon" than those garages. About three times taller.

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Anonymous: So one of the things that is not so good about RFK is that there are no restaurants, bars, etc. around there. We've been told that things will be different in the new stadium, but I drive over there all the time, and all I see being built is the stadium. It takes a while to build a restaurant... Any thoughts?

Tom Boswell: Trade offs. For 1-2-3 years, you'll have great city views from quite a few seats or as you walk around. But the neighborhood won't be developed and parking will be...God knows what it will be. Eventually, the area should resemble the rebirth around the Verizon Center. Hey, that's the WHOLE IDEA. So it'll be better. And parking always EVENTUALLY gets worked out --like Fenway and Wrigley -- because the economics of bulldozing a low-profit building and paving a parking lot are compelling. ("Hooray, Red Stripe. Hooray, capitalism.") But those great views may, in the same time frame, diminish. Though I hope not too much.

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As of today...: does Barry Bonds deserve to be on the NL All-Star team?

Tom Boswell: Barry hasn't retired yet?

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Silver Spring, Md.: Tom, as a season ticket holder for both the Baltimore Orioles AND Washington Nationals, I cannot for the life of me understand the disparity of prices between the two teams.

Why are tickets behind home in the new ballpark equivalent to what my tickets are in Baltimore are going to be 3 times more than what I pay there?

To be honest, this new place will be a stadium of have and have nots. Seriously, the Lerners and Kasten had better put a winning product on the field quick for '08, or there may not be much of a fan base in Washington care about the team.

There's just something wrong about the affordability of very good tickets in the new ball park.

It's sort of a case of giving the team an inch and they taking a mile from the consumer.

Tom Boswell: I'm looking at the Nationals Park Pricing Guide.

The Redskins priced me out. The Wizards, where I once had a partial season-ticket plan, priced me out. The Orioles, because they stunk and kept raising prices, priced me out a couple of years ago. The Nats are close. But I think I might be able to make my peace with section 316.

Partly it's the money. But mostly, it just jags me off. After a lifetime in this business, I think I know "fair" when I see it and I think I know "fair plus 10 percent because we think we can get away with it."

Does $5-or-so on a $30, $40 or $50 ticket price make that much difference. YEAH, IT DOES.

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Burke, Va.: Dear Mr. Boswell,

During the spring season, you told Brian Roberts to get out of town. You said Peter Angelos was foolish not to trade the diminutive Orioles second baseman for a power hitter.

As of yesterday, Roberts was hitting an impressive .325 (thirteenth in league) and has been leading the league in stolen bases. While not hitting many home runs, his slugging percentage is .434 -- second on the team and ahead of Miguel Tejeda, the team's presumed power hitter.

In your expert opinion, how much higher should Roberts raise his average until you're willing to keep him around?

Tom Boswell: I said Angelos should not interfere in making fundamental decisions about trades. Roberts wasn't the issue.

But I bet Peter has noticed that Adam LaRoche is hitting only .216 for the Pirates. "See, I was right. I know more than my baseball people. And Boswell is wrong again."

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Section 419: Tom, Infield Gallery in the new stadium appears to be almost the exact equivalent of where I currently sit in RFK (the faded burgundy ring in the upper deck behind the infield), albeit perhaps a bit higher up. And the ticket price for that in the new park is almost exactly what I'm paying now. Indeed the entire upper deck in the new park appears to match the RFK price points - including the RF mezzanine and such, whose RFK equivalent is not the 400/500 outfield level but rather the RFK mezzanine/club level.

And if you consider what has happened in the lower bowl of the new park, with the clubs and suites and other such seats with added benefits being plopped right down where in RFK a large number patrons have had the benefit of behind-the-plate seats at a relatively low price for three years, then the choice those folks have to make now is to either (a) remain top-tier "traditional" STHers at pretty much the same price they're paying in RFK, but no longer having the premium view they were fortunate to have in RFK, or (b) upgrade to become club STHers in the new park to keep that view.

In other words, I don't think it's a fair generalization for you to say ticket prices are 10% too high in the new park. At the various price points, there appear to be equivalent opportunities in RFK and the new park, except that of course the new park is a totally different product than RFK so you can't really compare directly section by section. But still, I for one expected a big price bump overall in the new park, and I for one am surprised and pleased not to see that, other than in the suites/premium areas - and hey, that's "the plan", decided well before the Lerners took charge of the team.

And no, I'm not Stan Kasten, nor have I ever met or talked with any Nats management other than my STH account rep, once.

Tom Boswell: But Stan couldn't have said it better.

The upper deck looks fair. The lower deck looks like a semi-rip off. But we'll have to reserve final judgment until we see the park, etc. BUT these are close to Yankee Stadium, Fenway, Wrigley, LA prices in a town that has the shallowest of baseball roots. For me, the biggest issue may be that this is simply NOT GOOD BUSINESS.

Perhaps the Nats should note that they currently have The Fifth Worst Attendance in baseball with a team that isn't terrible and, since the 1-8 start, has played entertaining ball.

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Boston: The Yankees suck, right?

Tom Boswell: If that 10 1/2-game Red Sox lead slips into single digits tonight, I think everybody in New England should jump off the roof immediately.

No fair-minded person wants the Yankees to suck. We want them to be just good enough to suuuffffffeeerrrrr.

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Montgomery, Ala.: The Orioles' selection of Matt Wieters: a great pick that fell to them or a contract spat waiting to happen?

Tom Boswell: Good pick. And contract spat. But he'll sign, IMO.

Ross Detwiler was a good pick because Nats fans and players want to believe that Help Is On The Way by late next year or early '09 at the latest. That's the Detwiler projection.

I'm strictly "Moneyball" on the draft. Believe the college numbers, plus the scouts' eyes, not the goofy high school numbers and the "what will his physique look like in five years" projections.

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20011: Boz,

Like you, I think "the plan" is generally working out and the team is moving in the right direction. Also like you, though, I think the "game experience" is moving in the wrong direction. The leadership look like they know baseball, but don't have any understanding of the fan base.

Given that there isn't a single lifelong-Nats-fan around and that the on-field product only has a limited relation to attendance figures, what hope is there of the Nats really drawing 35k per game long into the future? What's the biggest thing the owners can do to make this happen?

Thanks!

Tom Boswell: For reference, the average major league attendance is 30,000-a-game. And that's in an era where the large majority of teams have new parks or great old stadiums. And the sport is in very good health. In a few years, after the new park buzz calms down, if Washington isn't at least an average town for attendance -- 12th-to-18th depending on W-L record -- I'll be very surprised. The disappointment is that in '05 it looked like Washington might be a top 10 market. That opportunity hasn't been lost. We won't get a verdict for 2-3 years. But Nats management should be more concerned than they appear to be. "They'll love us when we win" works in town that already have a baseball tradition to reignite. In Washington, I don't know. Although I'd (optimistically) guess, "Yes."

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Best baseball books: What, no "Ball Four"? How about "You Gotta Have Wa"?

Thank you for excluding George Will, by the way.

Tom Boswell:"Veeck as in Wreck"

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Washington, D.C.: Boz - The fact also remains that the Nats cannot maximize their own TV and radio rights because they don't control them. So where else can they turn for revenue besides ticket prices, just sayin'...

Tom Boswell: A point. But the Nats still are guaranteed "market rates" for their TV right from MASN. We don't really know if "maximized" Nats revenues are larger OR SMALLER than the number (now in the low $20-millions) that Bud dictated to MASN.

Also, current "ancillary" baseball revenues from many new streams -- merchandise, MLB.com, etc. -- are much larger than before.

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Silver Spring: "Perhaps the Nats should note that they currently have The Fifth Worst Attendance in baseball with a team that isn't terrible and, since the 1-8 start, has played entertaining ball."

You don't think that your consistent and decidedly negative tone about the Nationals along with the the coverage by Barry Svrluga has colored fan reception to the team. I don't think I've ever seen a hometown newspaper rip on a team as hard as you guys do.

Tom Boswell: There's somebody somewhere who probably agrees with you. And sooner or later I'm going to find him/her.

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Queens, N.Y.: enjoyed the summer reading note. would have to add Lardner's "Letters from a Busher," too. Also, can't remember the full title, and we it may not be pure baseball, but the book "Ultimate Baseball League of somebody" about the guy playing dice and card baseball all the time with the star pitcher Damon Rutherford (that name I remembered) is not-to-be-missed. I also have a copy of Povich's 1954 "The Washington Senators," but I'm just showing off. Tom, I really enjoy your work and it was your coverage of the Orioles in Eddie Murray's early years that got my interest back in the pro game after Bob Short took my team and ran. Regards

Tom Boswell: "Letters" is a classic.

Never knew about Shirley's '54 book. Interesting.

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Anchorage, Alaska: RE: The best seats in the house...

I would think that Washington, more than almost anyplace in America (New York and Los Angeles excepted) is a place where the best seat in the house is almost NEVER available to the average guy... the corporate and political interests are so numerous that I think it is reasonable to expect that most will be sold, and there won't really be an issue of ticket price for most people because those seats will all be sold to big wig season ticket holders. You could make an argument about the mid-price tickets, but those are expensive in other places, too... I thought about going to a game at Wrigley, and those tickets are steep!

Tom Boswell: So, enjoy the last four months in RFK. PLENTY of really good seats at decent to excellent prices -- especially those upper deck seats between the foul lines. Easy parking, fast egress, wide seats and the food court behind home plate is far above my minimum standards.

I find the current Nats about as fascinating as any bad team could possibly be. I look at the crowds of 22K and think, "A lot of people are missing the beginning of a mighty interesting story."

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Still drinking that Kool-aid?: Boz: I haven't had a chance to chat with you since your incredibly optimistic column of last week. Assuming you were sober, other than your continued euphoria over having baseball back, why would you be so certain that the Nationals have "found" some answers with people like Patterson, Bergman, Hill, Cordero, Kearns, Johnson, or even Zimmerman? None of these guys has produced more than one good season in the big leagues, most haven't done that and most of them are now hurt. Remember when this team got here, some of its cornerstones were Brad Wilkerson, Jose Vidro, Tony Armas and Livan Hernandez. How'd that work out? Mind you, I think this organization does have the right idea about winning and probably has the people in place in the front office to make it happen. I just think you're kidding yourself if you think they've made that much progress this year, so far.

Tom Boswell: I love these chats. Why don't you get together for a drink with that other guy a few posts ago.

Hill and Bergman especially, and Chico, Colome, Flores, Church, a useful Guzman, and a few others, are considerably more than I thought the Nats would unearth in one scorched-earth payroll year.

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Fairfax, Va.: Baseball Prospectus wrote that the Blue Jays had the best draft, with the Nats coming in second with their honorable mention. Their main point was the high ceiling of the players they chose. If a team has a good draft, is their a quick flush thereafter of minor leaguers from the system who didn't pan out?

Tom Boswell: Interesting. Burgess at 49 may be the high-ceiling surprise. Also liked that No. 67 pick was used for a college pitcher -- Jordan Zimmerman. If they're right about him and he doesn't get hurt, he should be ready in a couple of years. Not a 5-year wait for a HS player.

The Nats farm system is still so weak -- every team under .500, I think -- that there will be no "flushing." They need every draft pick they can get.

That's it for this week, folks. After the Nats rip off my fingernails for dumping on their new ticket prices, I should be more mellow in a couple of weeks. (But I may not be able to type.) See you then. Cheers.

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