Huh?

"Listen," Kasten said. "On my calendar there are three holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring Training. So, with two of them gone, we're on the brink. We're on the brink of warm weather. The next big holiday, Spring Training, is right around the corner."

He's the president of the Washington Nationals, Kasten is. And as that franchise is now joined at the hip with the Syracuse Chiefs, that kind of makes him our Baseball godfather. So, if he's more or less advising us to smile through the rest of this bleak winter, maybe we should try to break out some grins.

We are, you know, edging closer and closer to Opening Day out there on the north side, which makes for a comforting enough thought. And Kasten, who has the gift of gab, has all but vowed that we'll like what we'll see when it dawns.

After 31 years -- only eight of which brought winning seasons, only five of which yielded playoff berths, only two of which produced first-place clubs -- those Toronto Blue Jays are gone, leaving behind almost nothing but dry eyes. And in their place have come the Nationals, whose most obvious sins include not being the New York Mets and not being very good in the National League East.

Kasten, who will appear at the Chiefs' 48th annual Hot Stove Dinner on Friday night at the Holiday Inn in Liverpool, is, of course, aware of each. Fazed, however, he is not.

"If I were running the Syracuse operation," he declared of Sin No. 1, "I would have been desperate to get the Mets, too. So, I can't criticize that feeling."

And Sin No. 2? Kasten hopes to fix that sooner than later, with his major corrective instruments being the Chiefs.

"We are a franchise that is dedicated to player development through the minor leagues," he said. "That can't be done without great communication and a great relationship with all of our affiliates, most importantly our Triple-A affiliate. It is part of our responsibility to make Syracuse a success and we don't take that responsibility lightly. We expect to deliver.

"We've really rebuilt our minor-league infrastructure these last couple of years, and for the first time the people we've added to the system will be at the Triple-A level. We're going to have at least six of eight position players with real chances to be in the major leagues as soon as this season. The same with some of our pitchers on that staff. I think that bodes well for a successful season for the Chiefs."

It might be wise to listen to (and believe) this man, who was Theo Epstein long before Theo Epstein. Kasten was, after all, the general manager of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks at the age of 27 back in 1979. And 20 years later, in'99, he was serving as the president of the Hawks ... and the president of MLB's Atlanta Braves ... and the president of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers ... all at the same time.

Try to wrap your arms around that.

"I was running the Hawks and Ted Turner told me he wanted me to take over the Braves, too," Kasten remembered. "Ted said, "Come on, Stan. Do both. It'll be great. You'll be the only guy running two franchises.' I said, "Well, yeah, Ted. But do you know why that would be? Because it's such a bad idea.'

"For as long as I worked with Ted, we always had this understanding: When he and I disagreed on something, we just did things Ted's way. That's how I ended up running both the Hawks and the Braves. Then, in the first year of the Thrashers, the team president left to take another job and I hear the phone in my office. "Ring ... ring. Stan? That you? It's me, Ted. You're running another team.'

"It was not by design. I didn't set out to do it. I wouldn't recommend it to people. But you can succeed if you have great staffs. And we did in Atlanta."

He left those three jobs in 2003, choosing at the age of 51 to retire. But Kasten failed miserably at the relaxation game and succumbed in May of Aught-Six to the romancing by the Nats ... and now he finds himself in partnership with the Chiefs, who are eager -- or had better be -- to explore Baseball life without the Blue Jays.

And why not? On 30 occasions under his gaze, Kasten's Atlanta clubs, particularly those dynastic Braves, earned postseason berths. And now, on nearly every board that matters in the Nationals' offices, can be found the number "31" with a circle around it. This can't help but be a good thing for our town. You know, once it thaws.

"I don't know what your relationship was with Toronto," Kasten said. "But you've got me headed your way. I'm coming to Syracuse for the dinner because I want to come to Syracuse for the dinner. I want to meet the fans and talk to the fans. I hope that's an indication about how I feel about this relationship. I'm thrilled that we're in Syracuse."

Stan will like it a lot more in the springtime. That is, after the third of his holidays has come and gone.

Bud Poliquin's column and his "To The Point" observations appear regularly in The Post-Standard, and his on-line commentary is freshly written every weekday at syracuse.com. He can be heard on Sports Radio 620 WHEN (AM 620) Mondays through Fridays between 3-6 p.m. E-mail: bpoliquin@syracuse.com

Hot Stove Dinner When: Friday, beginning with a silent auction at 5:30 p.m., followed by the dinner program starting at 7. Where: Holiday Inn, Liverpool. Who: Among the expected guests are Stan Kasten, the president of the Washington Nationals; Manny Acta, the Nationals' manager; Tim Foli, the Chiefs' manager; Steve McCatty, the Chiefs' pitching coach; and Darnell Coles, the Chiefs' hitting coach. Tickets: $50 for adults; $20 for children aged 12 and under. For more information, please call 474-7833.