Notable Links

Tim Kurkjian reports on the Nationals off season on ESPN's Hot Stove report. Notable excerpt: "The 2008 Nationals became the first team since the 1986 Cardinals to have a team leader with as few as 14 homers and 61 RBIs."

John Manuel and J.J. Cooper at Baseball America rank the minor league systems in the NL East. The Nats rank 21, down from 9 last year. The full rankings won't be available till the prospect handbook comes out, but they reveal the rankings in their latest weekly podcast, which you can hear here (the Nationals part is the last 6-7 minutes or so). Notable excerpt: "Everyone else (other than Jordan Zimmermann), if you were highly touted last year, you are a little less highly touted this year."

Keith Law ranks the talent on all 30 teams organization-wide. The Nats rank 29. Notable excerpt: "Jim Bowden's reign of error."

Eric SanInocencio's Baseball Digest Daily Internet radio show will interview Stephen Strasburg this Saturday at noon.

Note--this post was originally made with some pretty basic factual errors, corrected by Brian in the comments. That's what I get for posting while feeding the baby while late for work while reading the paper while listening to the radio while drinking coffee while talking on the phone. Damn modernity!!!