Thursday afternoon tidbits

March 25, 2010 2:05 PM by Ben Goessling View Comments

Back in Viera today, with a grab bag of stuff for you this afternoon:

First, the Nats' lineup for tonight's 7:05 game against the Tigers:

Morgan - 8
Desmond - 6
Zimmerman - 5
Dunn - 3
Willingham - 7
Rodriguez - 2
Morse - 9
Gonzalez - 4
Bruntlett - DH

Martin - 1

Here's a thought - and I'm mostly spitballing here: If you need to see Cristian Guzman play back-to-back games and he's still not starting at shortstop at this point in camp, would that seem to suggest the decision has already been made? I'm going to ask Jim Riggleman about this when he meets with the media in a while, but it stuck out to me when first looking at the lineup.

This is also a big night for J.D. Martin; if the Nationals truly plan to have the rotation finalized by this weekend, it could be his last shot to make an impression and steal one of the final rotation spots. I say 'steal' because my hunch is Livan Hernandez and Craig Stammen are the key competitors with Scott Olsen for those spots.

Nyjer Morgan is back in the Nationals' lineup tonight after missing a week and a half with tightness in his right hip. He's hitting .143 this spring, and will get a chance to get back on track after working on some adjustments to his swing with hitting coach Rick Eckstein.

My blog will soon have a new look and a few new features (including video!), so stay tuned for that.

Lastly, we're rolling out a number of fantasy baseball leagues just in time for the season, and if you're one of the top players for the entire year, you can win lunch with Nats manager Jim Riggleman. There are also a number of prizes for weekly winners, too.

To play, go here and sign up. If you want to compete against me, enter my league: "The Goessling Game." That name might or might not be pertinent to the item above this one, too.