O/T Pics from 1st game at the Nationals new park

[Archive]

Posted By: john/z28jd

I dont know if thats true or not. I would think they made good money the first year they were in Washington from fan interest being so high and merchandise sales being high but by last year the thrill of them being back sort of wore off and people werent happy about seeing a bad team in a bad stadium. They drew 2.7 mil their first year in Washington in 2005 but dropped to 2.1 the next year then under 2 mil by 2007 and they also had a ton of cheap seats there in the upper deck that sold pretty good so even with a decent attendance they still werent bringing in alot. This year they will probably draw close to 3 million which will bring in a lot of cash but they have that problem of not making money off parking and still having a weak team so that will probably keep them from maximizing their potential.

They desperately need starting pitching,Odalis Perez is their opening day starter and it doesnt get much better after him,Matt Chico,Jason Bergmann, Tim Redding(yes hes still alive),Joel Hanrahan and Shawn Hill arent exactly household names, Hill's the best probably and he's hurt right now. I think their 73 wins last year were an overachievement. Plus before last years draft they had the worst farm system in baseball according to baseball america,it got a little better with a strong draft but not much. I wouldnt get hopes up until they can start moving some players at their peak like Dmitri Young after last season for something younger that could help in the future. They're starting Ronnie Belliard and Christian Guzman this year who wont be around when/if they are successful but they let a younger better player go to the bench unhappy in Felipe Lopez who could be a part of the future. Now hes just a disgruntled bench player with no trade value.