by SaoMagnifico
by Andrew Lang
Until the Winter Meetings start, there really is little to write about when your team is not making big moves. Maybe today will be the day for the Washington Nationals. Maybe not. In the meantime, BleacherReport did a prediction on every team’s starting lineup for Opening Day of 2024 which is now exactly four months away from March 30, 2024 in Cincinnati.
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The Winter Meetings begin on Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee, and the last time the Washington Nationals were in that city for the Winter Meetings was back in 2015. Turn-back-the-clock to that time in 2015, and the Nats had just hired Dusty Baker to replace Matt Williams. The Nats were the talk of the town at those Winter Meetings, and were shopping for a second baseman — eventually signing Daniel Murphy.
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Baseball is one of the most popular sports west of the Atlantic Ocean, where millions of people enjoy catching, throwing, and batting balls all year round. From the world’s best teams in the MLB, right down to minor league and Little League baseball, there’s a large and growing number of fans right around the world. The World Baseball Classic could prove that out.
And while the USA and Canada have provided a whole host of incredible athletes over the years (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds ー we could go on), there have also been a number of great Latin American players that have graced the sport with their presence — and especially in recent years. Current MLB stars like Juan Soto, Carlos Correa, and Ronald Acuña Jr. all see their names regularly appear on the bet slips of expert punters on American and Canadian betting sites. In other words, Latin Americans are now essential members of their respective MLB teams, frequently playing crucial roles, leading their teams to glory, and breaking records along the way. Venezuelans, Dominicans, Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans – they’ve all become highly sought-after nationalities for MLB teams.
Ever since the sport made its way from the USA to Cuba, from Cuba to Venezuela, and from Venezuela to the rest of South and Central America, baseball has been fostering an ever-growing number of Latin American stars. Let’s take a look at some of the best baseball stars of Latin American origin currently in the MLB.
Ronald Acuña Jr.
Of course, we have to start with the MLB’s 2023 MVP, Ronald Acuña Jr. Since his breakout season in 2018 when he won National League Rookie of the Year, the Venezuelan has claimed four MLB All-Star appearances and set a host of modern-era records. Still only 25 years old, you can expect more things to come from this outfielder!
Gabriel Moreno
Born in Venezuela, this young catcher plays for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was recently awarded a Golden Glove Award and a Fielding Bible Award for his exploits during the 2023 MLB season, making him one of baseball’s most notable up-and-coming stars.
Fernando Tatís Jr.
The son of a former professional MLB player, Fernando Tatís Jr. is a Dominican-born professional shortstop and right fielder for the San Diego Padres. He was named an All-Star for the 2021 season and won a Fielding Bible Award during the 2023 MLB season.
Yordan Álvarez
Playing as a designated hitter and left fielder for the Houston Astros, Yordan “Air Yordan” Álvarez is a Cuban professional baseball player with a wicked left-handed bat. In 2019, he became just the fourth player in MLB history to hit four home runs in his first five games, and has gone from strength to strength ever since.
Yan Gomes
A former Nationals player, Yan Gomes currently plies his trade with the Chicago Cubs. The Brazilian helped the Washington Nationals win the World Series in 2019, playing an integral part as their keen-eyed catcher, and will go down as one of the best Brazilian players in MLB history.
As we move past Thanksgiving, most teams have not added new acquisitions to their MLB roster, and the Washington Nationals are one of them. There is a lot of work to get done to get to a Spring Training roster, and general manager Mike Rizzo has less than 80-days to get there. We wait for any news that can move the Nats up from the 68.4 wins that FanGraphs is projecting today with that ghastly 22.3 WAR number.
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Baseball usually goes into a Thanksgiving hibernation as it gears up for the Winter Meetings late next week in Nashville, Tennessee. But never be surprised if a signing or trade happens. Rumors broke over Thanksgiving last year that Jeimer Candelario was headed to the Washington Nationals. Not every deal gets dragged out. What might be big for consumers and their Black Friday shopping obsessions — does not necessarily translate to baseball. The Winter Meetings is about as close as you can come to Black Friday frenzy — without the bargain sale prices.
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There have been plenty of online comments, including by MLB players on their favorite baseball movie. But what about songs?
Here is just one of the many online articles about the best baseball songs.
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The Washington Nationals came into the off-season with nine arbitration-eligible players — and with a few signings, and a a couple of DFA’s, the team is in a position today to move forward with all of their four remaining players who are arb-eligible and will receive tender offers, if they do not agree to firm salaries before that, for the 2024 season.
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The Washington Nationals selected four Rule-5 eligible pitchers for the Nats 40-man roster with DJ Herz being an obvious move along with Mitchell Parker who emerged this week as a near-lock. General Manager Mike Rizzo also added RH reliever Zach Brzykcy who is rehabbing from a UCL surgery as well as RHP Cole Henry who is working his way back from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery.
While all four names were debated over the past few weeks, the biggest surprise per a source is that the Nats could not come to terms with Dominic Smith, and he was DFA’d much like Luke Voit was a year ago. Smith was arbitration-eligible and might have earned about $4.3 million if he took this to an arbitration hearing. Much like Voit last year, Rizzo was not going to chance it and per a source tried to negotiate a deal under $3 million, which obviously did not happen. Also, RHP Cory Abbott was DFA’d, and Andres Machado requested Unconditional Release Waivers to pursue an opportunity in Japan.
Shortly afterward all of the aforementioned roster moves, the Nats also announced that arb-eligible outfielder Victor Robles and reliever Tanner Rainey both came to terms on one-year deals. That gives the team cost certainty with both. It doesn’t guarantee that Robles isn’t traded, but this probably also means he won’t be a DFA. We are waiting on dollar figures for both. Sources told us that if Robles did not come to a contract resolution, he would have met the same fate as Smith.
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Tomorrow is “Rule 5 day” to add any eligible players, that a team wants to protect, to their 40-man roster, and Friday is the non-tender deadline. For the Washington Nationals, they should have a clear path to the Rule 5, and the tougher decisions are on the non-tender deadline.
The Nats have over three dozen players eligible as Rule 5 players. There is former first round pick Mason Denaburg on the list, as well as the newly acquired DJ Herz and Kevin Made who were acquired in the Jeimer Candelario trade. There are also Mitchell Parker and the once highly touted Cole Henry who is a year removed from thoracic outlet surgery.
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We are repeating the initiative we started in 2021 (Donate Your Unused Red Carpet Rewards Points to the Nationals Youth Academy) and repeated in 2022 (The Kids Do Love It – Donate Your Unused RCR Points), collecting items from the RCR program to donate to the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy that supports scholar athletes from under-served communities.
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"Opening Day should be a National holiday"
