Tomorrow is the first exhibition game of the 2006 spring training against the Kia Tigers. Per Marc, our exciting line-up is going to be:

• Quinton McCracken, CF
• Chris Denorfia, RF
• Jason LaRue, C
• Tuffy Rhodes, DH
• Jacob Cruz, 1B
• Frank Menechino, 2B
• Earl Snyder, 3B
• Ray Olmedo, SS
• DeWayne Wise, LF
• Dave Williams, P

Other pitchers slated to be available tomorrow: Matt Belisle, Todd Coffey, Jason Standridge, Mike Burns, Travis Chick, Tommy Phelps, Josh Hall and Jake Robbins.

I'm so excited! Go scrubs! Kick some Kia butt!

Meanwhile, it looks like Aaron Harang is currently in line to be our opening day starter.

Tentatively, Harang's first exhibition start will be March 4 against the Yankees at Tampa. If given the expected four days rest between starts all month, it would put the right-hander perfectly in line to pitch the April 3 regular-season opener against the Cubs at Great American Ball Park.

OK, kids, all together on three: 1, 2, 3: DUH!

The chat with Wayne Krivsky this afternoon got over 100 attendees at one point. Of course, that probably doesn't count all the people who, like me, spent their whole lunch hour staring at this screen.

I can only assume this had something to do with my company's firewall, Internet access privileges, or other security features. Nice of the applet not to mention that anything was wrong, though.

If it's someone good chatting next Monday, I guess I'll just have to quit my job. Or call in sick.

UPDATE: Duh, I forgot to link to the chat log.

UPDATEx2: Next week will be Mr. Adam Dunn. I think I'm getting feverish already.

The ESPN.com rumor page reports that the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres are the only teams apparently interested in negotiating with Pedro Astacio. It references a story in the Washingtom Times, possibly this one regarding the offer from the Nats:

The Nationals have offered the 36-year-old right-hander a non-guaranteed, minor-league contract to report to spring training, and baseball sources said he's expected to decide between the Nationals and San Diego Padres within 48 hours.

So, Astacio couldn't even pitch for the Padres until May 1 (he missed the deadline) while the Nationals are only willing to give a minor league deal. Sounds like Cincinnati has an opportunity to make a pretty appealing, incentives-laden offer. Hopefully, they see that their apparent drop out of the race is a play to bring the price down.

I guess the next 48 hours will tell.