What did the Washington Nationals expect?

No, I don't mean what did they expect when they traded for Alfonso Soriano, a defensive liability with a long loopy swing good pitchers with breaking stuff can master. I mean what did they expect when they allowed Jim Bowden to continue to be their general manager? How much evidence do you need that a guy shouldn't be managing the store while the store is up for sale? Even from a pure baseball perspective, I don't like Brad Wilkerson for Soriano, and that's ignoring Sorry's $10 mil per. One reliable report had Bowden trying to flip Soriano to Boston for David Wells, and asking the Red Sox to pick up most of Wells' money. Huh? And the primary justification for trading Wilkerson was that the Nats needed to play Ryan Church. Whom they just sent to the minors. Double huh?

So much for Bowden. He's bad. As for Soriano, what a complete mess. For the uninformed, a recap: the Rangers spent every moment Sorry was in Texas trying to deal his massive salary. They hated his defense, didn't care for his plate approach, and didn't think he was a team-first guy. They finally found a sucker in Bowden, who gave up a really good player, Wilkerson, who was hurt last year, and who earns a ton less money. Plus, the Nationals already had Jose Vidro at second base. "No problem," thought Bowden, "Soriano will just have to play left field." Except Soriano had balked at playing the outfield throughout his Texas years, and swore up-and-down when the trade was completed that he wouldn't play the outfield in Washington, either. Fast forward to the spring. Soriano first refuses to play the outfield, and the proceeds to play the season's first few games at half-speed, like a little kid who flubs a few balls and says, "See? See? I told you I can't do it!" Finally, on Wednesday he popped out at the plate, refused to run to first base, and was benched by old-school manager Frank Robinson, who's not having any of this.

What we have here is a developing Me-Shawn situation.

What do you make of the domination by the Florida Gators?

Jeff Dye, BoDog.com: This years domination by the Gators, covering the spread all five games (depending where you got the line on the Florida/Villanova game) was simply amazing. If Billy Donavan can manage to keep this team together for next year (and they are all young), we could have a repeat champion this time next year. Yoakin Noah established himself as the premier big guy in the NCAA and we should see excellent numbers from him all season long next year.

What do you make of the NCAA Tournament as a whole?

JD, BoDog.com: As hyped up by many media outlets, this year's tournament was one of if not the most exciting tournament ever played. Lots of upsets made for great television for casual viewers as well as for shrewd bettors who did their homework. No #1s and George Mason in the Final Four showed us that college basketball is very competitive and is definitely worth checking out all year long and not just during the tournament.

Do you have big expectations for Augusta this weekend?

JD, BoDog.com: We expect to see lots of action on Tiger Woods as always. However with Phil Mickelson playing well and Vijay, Ernie and Retief always finding their game during the majors this could be a fantastic finish on Sunday. The lengthened course will make it difficult for some of the short hitters (Mike Weir, Sergio Garcia) but as always good putting will be the biggest factor in determining who wears the green jacket on Sunday.

Do you have a favorite MLB team when it comes to the over/under for season wins this year?

JD, BoDog.com: No clear favorite, however we have seen the public make several lines move by betting on their choices. A couple of the smaller market teams that saw some action this year are the Milwaukee Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays. Both have Cy-Young-caliber pitchers at the top of their rotations (Halladay and Sheets) and both have gotten quite a bit of preseason hype in their respective divisions. If the Brewers can wind up a few games over .500 they will go over and the Jays are poised to contend for a division title for the first time since 1993.

Christopher Harris is a featured writer for the Professional Handicappers League. Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com