The Prospects of Tomorrow are here Today in Viera #Nats Giolito, Turner, Robles, Stevenson

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Andrew Lang

Nats camp in Viera is in full swing and all the Top Prospects have arrived on the Minor League side.  In the coming weeks many of these players will get to see some action as fill-ins alongside the Major League players but for now Victor Robles, Andrew Stevenson, Reynaldo Lopez, Eric Fedde, Jakson Reetz, Drew Ward, Osvaldo Abreu, Rhett Wiseman, Rafael Bautista, Anderson Franco and Edwin Lora and others will be mostly on the other side of the Space Coast Stadium facility where the Minor Leaguers practice.

There have been a few Victor Robles sightings, and he is the Nats #3 prospect as rated by Baseball America and #1 outfield prospect for the Nats.

Gerry Victor Robles

Photo by Gerry Gleckel

Continue reading →

Posted in Giolito, Prospects, Turner | Leave a comment

The #Nats Starting Rotation with Bronson Arroyo in the Mix and the Mike Maddux Effect

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Flashback to the GM Meetings in November in Boca Raton, Florida and Mike Rizzo was asked about the starting rotation for the 2016 season and Riz said, “I’m happy sliding Tanner and Joe in the rotation. With that said, you can never have enough good starting pitching.”  Fast forward over 3 months, and the Nats have not publicly changed the 5 probable starters; however, Rizzo added Bronson Arroyo as he was signed on January 26, 2016 to a Minor League deal with an opt-out prior to final rosters being set.

The biggest “add” this off-season could be Mike Maddux. The pitching coach has already tweaked some of the most minute mechanics on almost every pitcher in camp. Early on he saw a wrist hitch with Treinen on his changeup and changed his grip. With Gio it was turning his head to eye his target, with Gott it was keeping his head steady, and with Cole it was the arm angle. With all the Nats pitchers, Maddux talks about “pitching with a purpose” and “don’t waste pitches  you don’t have” and “it must look like a strike”. Maybe these players have heard it before from another pitching coach or maybe Maddux just has that  je ne sais quoi that keeps these pitchers focused on the target.

If we take Rizzo’s suggestion on sliding Tanner Roark and Joe Ross into the rotation, this is what the starters will look like:

Starters 2016

Continue reading →

Posted in Dusty, JRoss, Roark, Roster | Leave a comment

Lucas Giolito is like “Belvedere Vodka—Top Shelf” says former GM Steve Phillips

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Andrew Lang

Former Mets GM Steve Phillips was in Viera Florida yesterday on assignment for MLB Network Radio Sirius/XM for his show ‘The Leadoff Spot’ which airs weekdays from 7am-10am EST . While he was there, Phillips was able to watch part of the intra-squad Nats scrimmage.

Photo for TalkNats.com by Donna Klinger

Photo for TalkNats.com by Donna Klinger

As the new pitcher entered the game, Phillips just saw the large framed pitcher warming up wearing the #44 jersey. Phillips got bright-eyed against the sunshine when he saw 44’s warm-up fastball.

Phillips claimed that at first, he did not know that the pitcher with the #44 jersey warming up, was Lucas Giolito. It would be best to hear how animated Steve Phillips was in describing what he saw, and you will need a subscription the MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM to hear it on-demand, but here is a transcription of the morning discussion between Steve Phillips and his co-host Todd Hollandsworth in the 8:30am segment as they discussed the large framed pitcher warming up as Phillips said, “Huhhhhhh, who is this guy?” Then he saw his name—GIOLITO. “WOOOOOOOOOOW”, Phillips exclaimed.

Continue reading →

Posted in Dusty, Giolito | Leave a comment

Draft Orders & Draft Dollars are set! #Nats pick #28, #29, #58 and #94 + Today’s Scrimmage

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Andrew Lang

Draft orders and Draft dollars for the June 9th Rule 4 Amateur Draft are now set. The Nationals now have 4 picks within the Top 100 picks and 2 picks in the coveted Top 30.

#28 QO Comp pick for free agent Ian Desmond; Rangers forfeit 1st round pick
#29 QO Comp pick for free agent Jordan Zimmerman; Tigers forfeit 2nd round pick
#58 pick in the 2nd Round
#94 pick in the 3rd round

Top players chosen at #28 overall were Lee Smith, Charles Johnson, Colby Rasmus and a player named Ben Revere! You do even better at #29 overall as George Brett, Adam Wainwright, Bill Swift, Dave Kingman and a player named Del Unser. Also consider a player named Joe Panik who was also the #29th overall pick.

Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Draft, Prospects, SpringTraining | Leave a comment

Is Ian Desmond greedy, an idiot of historic proportions, or… what?

Posted on February 29, 2016 by NatsRed4DinDC

I’ve posted thousands of comments over the years. This is my first article.

Much of the commentary following Ian Desmond’s reported deal with the Rangers depicts him as motivated primarily, or solely, by “greed”. Others depict him and his advisers as the village idiots for turning down not one but two deals better than the one year and $8 million reported Sunday. Some even see it as a little of both: a classic comeuppance from the baseball gods for acting as a greedy fool. It’s easy to jump on those bandwagons; the narratives are well-worn and it requires little thought to simply toss them about as some sort of truism.

Is the explanation really that simple, or is there nuance to this? I submit that this is not simple at all… which does require a discussion that is not simplistic… or short.

Continue reading →

Posted in FreeAgents, QO | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

ESPN Baseball Tonight visits Viera and quotes aplenty! #Nats

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Bryce Harper played catch while being interviewed  by Karl Ravech, who along with John Kruk and the ESPN Baseball Tonight staff, descended on Viera with their video crew. They picked a few Nats to talk to for some great quotes. It was also the same day that Dusty called for a team scrimmage that was open to the public and attendance was free.

The Nats intra-squad scrimmage was ‘Team Scherzer’ against ‘Team Ross’ and there were some impressive plays all day, and KGWCoach gave us a play-by-play today of the scrimmage and emailed us a few more thoughts, and we say thank you for that Ken!

“Turner looked good yesterday and today. Ramos had a couple of good hits today. There were about 4 other…” — kgwcoach http://disq.us/9a31co

“Something I didn’t explain. At the end of each half inning, they did a bunt drill. Men on first and second and called different defenses.  Worked on catcher calling for throw first/third.  If there was four pitches without a bunt, they did a pickoff play.

Any ball in the dirt runners were going. Turner stole a base easily.

All the minor league players that weren’t suited to play were sitting in the stands behind home plate. KW”

Continue reading →

Posted in Dusty, Harper, Murphy, Roster, RyanZimmerman, SpringTraining | Leave a comment

Breaking: Ian Desmond reported to be going to the Texas Rangers

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

It looks like Ian Desmond found a 1 year pillow deal with the Texas Rangers.  More to follow!  Once the Ian Desmond deal is official, the Nats will move up to the 28th and 29th spots in the Draft Order as the Rangers will forfeit their #19 pick moving everyone behind them up a spot.

Screenshot_2016-02-28-10-18-04

This has to be bittersweet for Desi and now it is up to him to improve his situation for next year.

Rumor has it that Desi will play LF for the Rangers although it’s entirely possibly he will be extra insurance if needed in the infield.

desi

Screenshot_2016-02-28-10-48-58

Posted in FreeAgents | Leave a comment

The Bryce Harper Lifetime Deal—What’s the rush?

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Bryce Harper is under contract in the employment of the Washington Nationals through an unknown date in early November of 2018. There is certainly many possibilities of what can happen in the future, and while time is finite, there should not be an immediate rush to ink Bryce Harper to an extension. With that said, sooner is better than later as shown with history, and history also knows that negotiating with Scott Boras won’t be easy. Bryce already might think the starting point begins at $400 million….but don’t sell him short! That is today. Market conditions change and the upcoming CBA could change the dynamics. Free agent years can play havoc on a player’s stress level. Look what it did to Ian Desmond.

Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton currently has the largest contract in MLB history after inking a 13 year, $325 million deal in 2014, and that averages to just $25 million a year. Stanton signed that deal at 24 years old.  Stanton’s best WAR season was in 2014 at 6.5 while Harper achieved a 9.9 last year. Both players have had their issues with staying healthy. Stanton has averaged 4.17 WAR/YR. It puts him right at that magic $6 million per point of WAR which is where Fangraphs had projected it.

What is Bryce Harper worth? As they say, whatever someone is willing to pay him.

Posted in Harper | Leave a comment

Friday in Viera wraps up with Scherzer vs Harper in BP

Posted on February 26, 2016 by ArVaFan aka Laura Peebles

Hi, this is Laura (ArVaFan) with a final report for February

Feb. 26, 2016
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.—A whole lotta people, including me.
So, we’re driving up I-95 to Sanford to catch the auto train back to DC.

Lemon: Checked my email, and there’s one from Amtrak: please call this number regarding your reservation. That is unlikely to be good news, and it wasn’t: train delayed at least two hours (turned out to be a 9 hour delay, if we’re lucky).

Lemonade: next exit was Space Coast Stadium, we arrived in time to see the end of the warmups. Next step was explaining to all the folks I’d said goodbye to yesterday why we were back today.

Bryce got to play catch with his favorite partner today. Werth was back, looking shaggy as ever. Not feeling 100%, but a lot better than yesterday (I had a chance to chat with him as he went between fields). He kept up with most of the drills, although he did sit down rather than stand around while waiting for batting practice. Yes, he was wearing his wrist guard for batting practice. At the conditioning drills at the end, the trainer asked him if he wanted to be excused if he wasn’t feeling well, and he said “no.” He was still keeping up with Bryce on those drills.

laura 26 reed johnson excercise
Continue reading →

Posted in SpringTraining | Leave a comment

The Old Red Hat with the Curly W #Nats

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Ray Wyvill

Old-Hat-1-2As Spring beckons and the players work through Training it’s also time to say “Good Bye” to what feels like an old friend. The old red hat started out as a stadium purchase in 2012. It was clean, beautiful, and bright red. Today it’s faded, threadbare, worn through in spots, and totally spent. It’s time for the trash.

Team hats go through stages. There’s the “New Hat” phase where it’s pristine. It’s the hat to wear to the stadium, or to the family picnics. Then there’s the day you walk into the stadium store and the sales guy says, “That hat used to be red. It’s time for a new one.” You turn to the spouse. “Didn’t I just buy this?” The knowing eyes roll: “No, Dear. It was two years ago and he’s right, you need a new one…just like I’ve been telling you.” Ok. At that point it’s demoted to “Commute Hat.” The usage goes up to every work day. This goes on until it starts fraying on the bill. Then it becomes “Yard Hat.” At that point the days are decidedly sweaty, long, and numbered. Yard Hat is the toughest existence of all.
Continue reading →

Posted in Feature | Leave a comment