Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell was online Friday, May 2 at 3 p.m. ET to take your questions and comments about the Washington Nationals and the rest of Major League Baseball.

The transcript follows.

Discussion Archives

____________________

Arlington, Va.: Can you comment on how you think the attendance at the Nationals game is doing? Has it been a disappointment to the owners (even though they say no)? Maybe with the team doing a bit better it will pick up, but it sure looks like a lot of empty seats. Thanks.

Tom Boswell: As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the Nats attendance is just fine. Almost exactly what you'd expect of a town with a new ballpark. The norm for the last 13 parks that opened since '92 is +36.8. At the end of April, Nats attendance was up 40.1%. In both Aprils they played 14 games against roughly equal competition. This year, the Cubs were a help but the Marlins are the team's worst draw and Atlanta is almost as bad.

Since Opening Day (when evereybody sells out), attendance has been up almost 50%. See my story this a.m. for more details. The reason you think the park looks empty may be the CF TV shot that shows all the empty $335 seats behind home plate. The Nats have to find a way to market/price these 1900 best-in-the-park seats to sell.

Not many people pay much attention to attendance trends. Every team jumps in the summer and the Nats sometimes go up 10-to-15% in July and August vs. April. So I expect that talk of "attendance problems," which don't currently exist by any objective measure, will disappear. Great attendance? No. Just a normal new-park-improvement. BUT great REVENUE for the team? Absolutely. As I also detailed this a.m., revenue may double this season. The Nats should be in the free agent game this winter. Some think they should have been in it last off season, especially with Livan Hernandez. But the way the rotation looks at the moment, that may not look necessary.

_______________________

Tom Boswell: Just to add to the general points in my first post about how things are going so far. There are also the same April no-shows that every team gets every year. Sometimes, in the past with the Orioles, my wife and I have been in that category. You just can't get a social group of friends to go to a ballpark in April if they think they are going to freeze. Warm weather, kids and the Loft will help and, I suspect, some enthusiasm if the team continues to play decently. By mid-season, the Nats may start the process of bring up legit prospects from the minors, starting perhaps with 6'5" RHP Colin Balester, 21.

I talked to a sensible veteran exec yesterday who was like a little kid. Grant, spring and a short winning streak will do that to baseball people. However...Cory Vanallen, LHP (three straight shutouts after adding a new pitch), Jordan Zimmerman and reliever Zech Zinicola (who regressed last year) have all done so well at Potomac that they moved them up to AA Harrisburg after one month. Unusual. Nats farm teams have the 5th-best overall record in the minors __an irrelevant stat because it's only "future stars" that matter. Still, a huge improvement in 2 years. They're well ahead of their internal player development schedule. The major league team is no great shakes and some in the front office would have prefered it if a couple of free agents had been added in the past __even a more serious and earlier run made at Alfonso Soriano. But the minors get the Nats excited. The fellow I was talking to __very knowledgable__ didn't want to be too publicly enthusiastic since so many kids, especially pitchers, get hurt, etc. But he said, "We're just right around the corner." Well, maybe, maybe not. But they have quite a few of young "big arms." That may be part of the reson the current Nats rotation is doing well__competition. The vets like Perez and Redding know the kids are coming and they better produce. I wouldn't be surprised to see one of them traded by the 8/1 deadline. Lannan wants to establish himself before all the other LHPs who are 1-2-3 yrs younger __Detwiler, Smoker, McGeary, Vanallen__ can show what they've got. There's so much perceived competition __whether the evaluations are correct or not__ that Chico is worried that his next start may send him back to the minors like Bergmann. And, perhaps, with the same words in his ear from Bowden (paraphrased): Work hard. We believe in you. But we have to honest. Unlike the last time you went down, this time we can't promise you'll be back.

Bergmann now finds himself bunched with Balester, Tyler Clippard, Garrett Mock and, further down, Zimmerman. Half, at least, will flame out. But all of them? No. As you go from Nats Park to AAA, AA and A, the stuff in the pitchers in the starting rotations actually gets better.

_______________________

from the $10 seats: Rauch seems to have settled into the closers role the last couple of games and as a whole the bullpen seems more effective..

Tom Boswell:$10 Seats, you see pretty clearly from up there. Rauch should be roughly equivalent to Cordero as a closer and Ayala about as good as Rauch as a sxetup man. The Nats bullpen strength was DEPTH, not a great blow-away closer. The problem with the Cordero injury, aside from how sad it is to see such a good guy and first-face-of-the-franchise hurt, is that it seriously attacks that depth. With starters who don't go very deep into games, you can't afford to lose a 75-game pitcher with a low 3's ERA like Cordero the last two years. The Nats need Colome, Hanrahan and, probably, one more situational reliever to step up and fill the void.

However, it's a rare and lucky team that can lose its closer and (maybe) have so little drop off in both the closer and set-up rolls. Also, Rivera will do fine with the 7th inning. But what happens during winnings streak? If you can rotate four men through three jobs, they get a little rest. Now, if the fans have five save situations in five nights __and every team has such runs__ you can get a lot of bullpen wear and tear in a hurry. One way or another Cordero will be missed.

I just hope he comes back. Everything about his injury has been scary. Since he got hurt AFTER visiting Dr. James Andrews and getting the OK to continue pitching, the Nats brain trust is "off the hook." But they not in my good graces on this one. I don't think Cordero was treated as the "special" valuable player he was. He was sort of given the just-another-pitcher treatment. The Nats would disagree. But as I said two weeks ago in this chat, they needed to be much more careful with Cordero. They weren't. And now he's probably gone for half the season. At best.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Mr. Boswell - Is there ANY chance the Nats management will realize how ugly the empty seats are behind the plate and start donating them to kids or organizations that serve the needy on a game by game basis? They MUST do something, it looks so sad on TV!

Tom Boswell: From Mark Lerner to Kasten to Bowden, this is the one subject on which they get defensive as soon as they see me coming. And I just beat on them about it every time I see them. They either "get it," but don't want to admit it. Or, a frightening thought, they don't get it, think it makes no difference and, in a couple of years when they field a winner, all those seats will be filled __at full prices__ and nobody will remmeber this period.

I've told them all that I think they serious mispriced the tickets, that they should look at comparable seat prices in San Francisco and Seattle, rather than dreaming about a New York-Boston pricing model. All these seats are sold on (m inimum) three-year leases. Next year, or whenever they want, just issue rebates, then lower the prices to $250 in the Presidential seats and $125 in the Diamond seats. If that doesn't do it, then cut some more in '09. If you win the World Series someday, GUESS WHAT, you get the raise the prices back up! Even from insanely rich patrons you have to EARN the right to charge $335-a-seat. The Nats haven't earned it. The price is a rip off. Even Washington doesn't have enough prize suckers to HALF fill the seats. And the Nats have an "image problem" that shouldn't be ignored.

By the way, Stan says, "If it doesn't both us, why should it bother you?" And we continue our discussion.

_______________________

London, UK: Hi, Tom. What about the lack of a left fielder? Why not give Escobar a shot? The kid is good!

Tom Boswell: The Nats never dreamed they'd enter May with 0 homers from LF! They thought they were taking a chance that Pena would strike out 200 times and lose the job or that Dukes' past p;roblems would sink him. But they never thought both would get hurt, that Pena would still be setting his timing back.

However, the Nats are absolutely committed to using '08 to find out if one of these guys is a real power hitter. But they thought they'd have 750 plate appearances between the two men to find out what they were holding. Now it's down to 600 more.

It would be fascinating to see this team with Pena, Dukes, Young and Lo Duca healthy. Or even any three of them at one time. As I've said, this team will end up near the middle of the NL in runs scored. That's not crystal-ball-reading, just basic statistics. Look at all their career OPS marks. Project them for every position on the team (including pitchers and bench players, too) and you'll have a hard time coming up with a Nats OPS of under .750 this season. That translates __every year for alm ost every team__ in about 4.5 runs a game. Or about 730 runs. So, they either have a lot of (pleasant) catching up to do on offense, or their collective career numbers are, suddenly, meaningless. On that one, I'll choose: Door Number One.

_______________________

Baseball fan: Can you comment on Joe Girardi's personality as opposed to Joe Torre's? I think it was the NY Post recently makes it sound like Girardi's relationship is already souring a bit with the press. How do you think the American League East will end up? Red Sox again? Thanks.

Tom Boswell: You can't get much more of a personality change than going from the wise, patient, communicative Torre to the blunt Girardi. From the minute it was announced I said, "Not gonna work. Young manager with an edge and a lack of diplomacy. Aging stars with attitudes, egos and aggendas. And tabloids always looking for blood in the water."

Following Torre was going to be super-tough for anybody. But it will be even harder for Girardi. Only getting the season turned around quickly will give him stature in the clubhouse. The longer the problems last, the less chance he has of doing well in handling them. If he pulls it off, he gets "double props."

_______________________

"If it doesn't both us, why should it bother you?": It should bother me (us) because we may not own the team but this is OUR team. I care how it is perceived by friend and foe alike. You think I like walking into work and getting ridiculed by fans of other teams b/c the "perception" is that no one goes to the game. Wait long enough and perception will become reality. Kasten, Lerner and the whole front office needs to take their head out of their kiesters and realize the problems today need to be addressed to keep them from becoming problems of tomorrow and beyond.

Tom Boswell: Thank you.

I've said the same to them. But not NEARLY as well.

However, each week I sense that they are getting touchier about it. Which may mean it's dawning on them that it's pretty crazy to have 29,000-to-35,000 people in a beautiful new park that is literally filled to the top rows of every upper deck section on many nights, yet looks like the place is a tomb on TV.

Still, when 30,000-a-night are actually in the park, word is going to get around about what the experience is actually like. They just misjudged the market of Insanely Rich People or didn't anticipate that recessions even whack folks in the $$$ seats.

But give them credit. The bleachers are overpriced, but every other seat is either fairly-priuced for a wealthy market or, in the case of almost 14,000 seats, something of a bargain. And to reach this conclussion I went on line and __like a lunatic__ studied and charted the pricing in every section of every park in the major leagues.

_______________________

Top Step of the Dugout: Was it my imagination, or did Manny out-manage Bobby Cox?

Tom Boswell: In the 12-inning game I thought he did. Manny's touch has not been as magic this year as it was last season. That's lucky. If the two seasons had been reversed, we might be living in an Acta-second-guessing world. Instead, everybody saw how good he could be over a full season, so they are patient now. He's not making outright bad decisions but the game is FULL of 50-50 or 60-40 tough calls for managers. And Manny has pushed the button that's attached to the dynamite many times so far this season. Of course, during the 2-15 losing streak, maybe ALL the buttons available to him had trip wires under them.

_______________________

Burke, Va: Let's say that Paul Lo Duca comes back reasonably healthy (albeit with a noodle-like throwing arm) and hits for his career norm (.280ish). And Wil Nieve regresses closer to his career norm, let's say .240ish. Who do you want as your starting catcher?

Tom Boswell: Is the Nats eventually end up having a respectable __or even successful__ year, then this will be The Season That Wil Nieves Saved.

It's been nuts. Not just the Walk Off Homer. (Afterwards, he said his wife was back at their hotel and he hoped that her screams of joy hadn't caused them to send security to his room.) Last night his two-run single __the Bucs didn't want to pitch around such a weak bat to load the bases and get the pitcher__ gave the nats a 2-0. The day before his HORRIBLE sacrifice bunt attempt led to the game-turning play. The pitcher couldn't figure out whether to go for a DP by 1-5-3 or 1-6-3, took his eye off the bunt and the ball went between his legs, loading the bases with no outs in the 12th inning. His catching has been a key to Lannan's 19-inning scoreless streak. The whole staff likes to throw to him because he's so active, hyped up and goes to the trouble to set a very low target 100 times a game. (That's hard work.)

Actually, he may not be as bad a hitter as I thought. His last 701 at bats at Columbus (AAA) for the Yankees, he hit .272 but with only 9 homers. Strictly defense. Still, this team NEEDED a defensive catcher to compliment Lo Duca. It's Estrada __who hit .314 for Atlanta w 76 RBI in 462 ABs in '04 and .302 for Arizona w 71 RBI in 414 ABs in '06__ who presents a problem. Carrying three catchers is tough. But Estrada is a switch hitter who can rake and an old-school guy who's good in the clubhouse. But, presumably, you have seen his arm. Wow. And the Nats starters aren't helping him any with some slow moves to the plate. You'd think a staff with so many lefties could hold runners well enough to accomodate even the worst-throwing of catchers. But maybe not.

Anyway, a very tough call. Lo Duca's a four-time All-Star and they want his cocky attitude to rub off on the team. (Yes, I know about all the baggage.) But he's infectiously competitive and that counts for a lot on a quiet team that plays in a VERY quiet home ballpark.

Lo Duca starts when he's healthy. Maybe Nieves catches Lannan. But when Dukes and others get healthy, do you carry three catchers? Thought, folks?

_______________________

Bethesda, Md.: Frankly, I think there's some stigma to those now very highly publicized seats behind home plate.

You can't see who is in the suites, but everyone you see in those seats is someone screaming "I pay $350 for my baseball tickets."

That may be N.Y., but in Washington I think it comes across as gauche. Also, for a lobbyist and other really willing to spend the $$$, I think they fear the exposure.

Tom Boswell: FWIW, NOBODY in Congress or their staffs takes a sports ticket from a lobbyist in this town anymore because, as a longtime lobbyist friend told me, "If I give 'em the tickets now, I'M THE ONE who's broken the law. 'Tickets for Congressional staffs from lobbyists' doesn't exist anymore." The change in the law, after the '05 season, has cost the Nats some attendance. It was the extensive staffs of the 500-plus Senators and Representatives, mostly the younger ones, who were given sports tickets as perks of the (low-paying) job. And baseball tickets __the lowest priced__ were the most common lobbyist perk. When you realize that you're talking about thousands of staffers, not just hundreds of people in Congress, etc., it adds up.

When Paulson came the other night, a Nats exec said, "He paid. He paid."

_______________________

Harrisonburg, Va.: Tom, What is your assessment of Milledge after seeing him for a month?

Tom Boswell: Can hit already. Will hit more. Maybe a lot. Works hard studying film. Enthusiastic most of the time, but, after he grounds into an inning-ending DP, he can get the Down In The Dumps look in the outfield as conspicuously as anybody in the last 100 years. His play in CF is improving. But it was really poor earlier. And if he runs into Kearns one more time on a ball where Kearns has a better angle to throw, I expect Manny to FINALLY actually lose it. OK, Manny never loses it. But Milledge does several of the minor but irritating things that FORCE managers to do Teach The Kid A Lesson things, like the benching after he reported "late to work."

Milledge is a talent, but maybe not as big a talent as he thinks. He's lucky the Nats are utterly committed to him and that, in Acta, he has a manger who knows him, likes him, but, ultimately, isn't going to have two sets of rules for him. In short: stay in his corner. Some 23-year-olds act like they are 30. But most just act like they are 23.

_______________________

Baseball Quote O' Day:"People have to understand that $35 million, you're paying the government 41 percent. That leaves you with about $17- or $18 million, not even. Then you're taking care of your whole family."

-- Former baseball star Jose Canseco, explaining to "Inside Edition" why he lost his $2.5 million California home to foreclosure.

Tom Boswell: Thanks for sharing.

_______________________

Boston: Dumb question, but how much impact would you give to cold weather and hitting or pitching for that matter? Last week was glorious here in Boston and they tore the cover off the ball. This week is cold and dismal and neither side is hitting but the pitching has been off the charts. With all the stats in baseball, does anyone keep stats (average, RBI, even ERA) based on temperature?

Tom Boswell: There's actually an answer to this, supposedly from physicists. For every 10 degrees that the temperature goes up, a long fly ball travels about 3 feet further. So, the difference between a 50-degree night and a 90-degree one can be 10-to-15 feet on a long fly ball. It's not an illusion that there's more hitting in the summer.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Just how bad should the Nats feel for rushing Cordero back to the mound and how much stock should a pitcher put in his management versus responsibility for his own body? I know they couldn't find anything wrong, but something was obviously wrong.

Tom Boswell: They should feel quite bad.

An established player __like Cordero after three successful years as a closer__ should feel very little responsibility toward management vs responsibility toward his own body. Before you are established, you're running the risk of ending up in the team's doghouse. That's just life. But Cordero always toughed it out. His sense of responsibility, however, was toward his teammates, not toward pleasing management. He just couldn't bare to let them down. Somebody needed to realize this about him and "throw a rope around him." Nobody did. JMO.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Boz,

The Nationals have been great strides in improving the scoreboard as you noted in your column this morning.

My only gripe is the lack of replays. Is it standard for home teams only to show replays for plays that are favorable to the home team? One example is from the late afternoon game against the Braves on Wednesday when Lastings Milledge almost made a spectacular catch in center-field. It would have been nice to be able to see it again. There's been a bunch of plays that I would love to see replays off but they Nats refuse to show them unless it's 100-percent positive for the home team. Can you advise if this is common practice? Thanks.

Tom Boswell: Teams that only show "homer" replays are common.

More replays at Nats Park, and especially replays that cut both ways, would be a service to fans and a sign of confidence and maturity from the team.

_______________________

Sec. 228: I know you love to rave about the park, but did you know that some seats are actually obstructed? That's right. I'm a partial-season ticket holder in the third row of 228 (upper deck, just on the foul side of the foul pole), and anything beyond a single to right field I can't see at all. No wonder I'd rather spend the time at the centerfield bar area -- at least there I can see! I sure wish the Nats had been honest about obstructed views.

Tom Boswell: I've been amazed by the number of fans who e-mail me that their seats are "obstructed" because they can't see 100% of the field. Thousands of such seats are common to almost every ballpark. For that matter, MY partial season tickets don't see a significant chunk of RF. That's baseball.

"Obstructed," in baseball terms, means that in the old days, you sat behind a pole.

Seat prices are, obviously, tied to the amount of the field you can see. 228 is a great seat __for $10-to-$18. But part of the reason it's $10-18 is that you can't see the whole field. At least it's better these days with replays.

_______________________

Bethesda, MD: Hey, Bos, great news about the new ballpark! I've been there several times and have been pleased with everything except the food lines and those staffing them (which does not apply to ushers and those staffing merchandise booths, who have been both friendly and helpful).

My question: if ticket revenue will likely double from last year, and surely money from food and concessions is up, and eventually the team will get megabucks for naming rights, and the Lerners are planning to funnel all this money back into the team -- when will we see the results on the field?

I have a love/hate relationship with the Nats. Well, actually, I love them, though there have been games I'd like to pretend I've never heard of them. I'm sure you know which games they are. I'm hoping this additional revenue will lead to quality players who make such games, other than very occasionally, a thing of the past.

Tom Boswell: The Nats have all the resources that they need to compete __NOW. Some in the organization think that more money should have been spent on free agents already. Some still think Soriano could have been signed for $14.5M-a-year for 5 years in June of '06 but that no serious offers were made early enough to get the job done. IOW, just make it look good b ut don't really sign him. This school of thought holds that, to build a team, you have to have current stars on your team to trade for other stars. And it's never too soon to start.

The Plan, which worked well in Atlanta, isn't designed that way. Free agents are :last pieces of the puzzle," not an on-going economic addiction. The Lerners like the sound of The Plan because its suits their business disposition: Willing to spend money, but not the first thing they think of in the morning.

Too many good questions. Gotta go. See you in two weeks.

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.