Nats Notes

The Washington Nationals signed P Osalis Perez to a minor league deal today.  Perez was with the Kansas City Royals last season and put up some pretty harsh number, going 8-11 with an ERA of 5.57.
Patterson, good to go so far … John Patterson pitched from the mound in practice yesterday and ended it pain free, a good sign thus far.
More, and more, and more Boone’s … Is it the Brady Bunch or the Boone Bunch?  With former major league catcher Bob Boone in the Nationals front office, the Nats have inked both of Boone’s sons.  Aaron Boone is was signed earlier in the off-season and is expeceted to be a major reserve in the Nationals infield.  Yesterday, the Nats signed Aaron’s older brother, Bret Boone, to a minor league deal.

Boone started to enjoy the game again when the Nationals invited him to teach the Minor Leaguers in the Instructional League last October. He started taking batting practice at the Washington Nationals’ Training Complex, and Bob Boone and Bowden noticed that Bret’s bat speed and power returned. He then started getting into shape in San Diego, his hometown. “It just clicked and it worked really good and it got better and better. For me, it’s a no-lose situation,” Boone said. “There’s still something in there. Whether I tapped that or not, that remains to be seen. We’ll see that on the field.

Reporting early … Several Nationals have reported to training camp early, including Ryan Zimmerman, Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Dmitri Young.  Zimmerman took batting practice and reportedly looked very sharp, encouraging to say the least give his off-season wrist surgery.