Mark Lerner, the most public member of the Washington Nationals ownership group, just left spring training. Among other things, Lerner told Nationals Journal, The Post that the Nats are looking to move away from Viera for spring training which is not news, but worth mentioning again. Logistically, playing on the east coast of Florida is undesirable due to being at least 60 miles away from any other facility. Speaking of logistics, here is a look at the logistics for me to go see Nats at their current spring training location, something I have not yet been able to do:

A rough calculation has the trip from my condo in Alexandria to Viera (about 868 miles) will cost me $241.36 for gasoline round trip. That does not include incidental travel, meals or lodging. Just in travel, I’m spend at least $30 a day in food and $100 a night in lodging. I would have already sent $500 just getting there and back. That’s a bit of cash.

The presumed new Nats spring training location is the Gulf coast of Florida. That is obviously farther from here, but still a realistic possibility for people driving from the D.C. area. Lerner made it clear that the Gulf coast is his preference, but also said that Arizona is a possibility, not news that this Washingtonian particularly wants to hear.

To fly out to Phoenix (1970 flight miles), I could get a plane ticket for just $359 if I don’t mind having a layover somewhere. That is surprisingly cheap, but I would need to pay security fees, plus rent a car ($300 for a “standard” car) and put gas in it. That is just to get me there though — I’d have to get one for my wife too, maybe my son. So, that easily puts us up over $1000 before for food, tickets, souvenirs, etc.

So, the upshot of this is traveling to Phoenix is more than twice as far away and probably costs twice as much as Viera. Is that how you want to reach out to your fans, Lerner?

Also, in case you were wondering why Stan Kasten left:

“The only thing I can compare it to is, Stan’s not in the middle now,” Lerner said. “On the major things, [Rizzo] comes in front of the board. Mike’s running the show in baseball ops. It’s his baby now. It’s new to him, too. Everybody has a little bit of a learning curve in this business.”

We’ve noticed that learning curve, Mark, we’ve noticed.