Elijah Green is one key to the Washington Nationals success!

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

WEST PALM BEACH, FL; Aug 2022, Elijah Green batting; Photo by Forensicane for TalkNats

On July 29 of last year, first round pick Elijah Green was at Nationals Park to sign his contract. The first player who greeted Green in the Washington Nationals‘ clubhouse was Juan Soto. It felt like a passing of the torch. There was no secret at that point that Soto was going to be traded. Crudely, it felt like it was — in with the new and out with the old. But not so fast, never believe a door is shut to the old ones in baseball, and Soto will be far from old when he is eligible for free agency after next season. You just never know. Continue reading →

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City of Baltimore Questions Orioles “Long-Term Viability” if they Lose MASN Appeal

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Power Boater

Is Baltimore a Viable MLB Market without MASN fees?

The seemingly never-ending MASN lawsuit just got interesting again, on January 12th the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore submitted an amicus brief to the NY State Court of Appeals indicating that the “long-term viability” of the Orioles in Baltimore is at stake in the case (see images below). This is certainly a major development in this ongoing legal drama that has now spanned nearly a decade in time on one core issue that Angelos does not want to pay the Nationals the “fair market value” awarded. These last-minute maneuvers are drastically upping the consequences of the final ruling. Then on January 16th Orioles team owner John Angelos made a statement contradicting the claims as laid out in the brief: “The Orioles are going to be here for the long-term, we have been here and I’ve said many times, publicly, unsolicited, unprompted, we’re never going anywhere”. Continue reading →

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The offseason ends in two weeks as the Nationals officially welcome pitchers and catchers to open Spring Training!

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

The offseason ends in two weeks as the Washington Nationals officially welcome pitchers and catchers to open Spring Training camp! This is an offseason that many could not wait to end. When you do not make the postseason, the offseason gets lengthened to four and a half months — far too long, and this one was muddied by the ownership for-sale debacle. The additions to the roster through free agency, Rule-5, and waiver claims, won’t move the needle enough to contend for the postseason, rather 2023 will be about competing as a team in a rebuild mode and watching the progress of the Nats’ top prospects in the team’s minor league system. Continue reading →

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SABR Day in DC—Bob Davids Chapter January 28, 2023

Posted on January 31, 2023 by ArVaFan aka Laura Peebles

Brian Hall of NYU with Mike Carney, Executive Vice President, Business Operations, Washington Nationals in Booz Allen’s “The Helix”

 

It was the annual SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) Day in Washington, DC over the weekend. This article was all done from notes on my phone, so if anyone else was there, feel free to make additions (or corrections) in the comments. Continue reading →

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Five Top-100 Nats’ prospects on Keith Law’s rankings!

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

After the Washington Nationals’ general manager, Mike Rizzo, called this the best prospect grouping he has ever had in his tenure with the Nats, it was good to see Keith Law of The Athletic rank five Nats’ prospects in his Top-100 including Brady House. Continue reading →

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Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez give the State of the Team address!

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

When the Washington Nationals‘ general manager, Mike Rizzo, spoke at the Hot Stove event for full-season ticket holders this weekend, he said you cannot fool smart baseball fans and sell them on something that isn’t there. He was clear that the team was in a retool/rebuild, and that he would not venture to guess on how many wins the team would get this year. After mistakes in the last offseason when he built a team that was severely lacking in defense, Rizzo vowed, uh promised, to use his exact wording, that the defense would be better.  Continue reading →

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Use the BaseballSavant Site to Review any Nats Game

Posted on January 28, 2023 by DonH

BaseballSavant.com

The BaseballSavant site provides an incredible array of data and graphs. Virtually anything you want to know can be found there. I had frankly forgotten how useful it is until I stumbled upon it yesterday looking for information on Cade Cavalli‘s pitch selection in his one major league game. Two different ways to access the site, specifically to review Nationals games are described below. Continue reading →

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More top prospect rankings are revealed! Nats showing strong in Top-100!

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

From Nats Farm for TalkNats

The current farm system of the Washington Nationals has been ranked anywhere from №8 to №15  depending on where you look. The team moved into the top half of baseball after the trade of Juan Soto for an exciting package of top prospects. Depending on which ranking system you look at, the top prospects have James Wood, Elijah Green, Robert Hassell III, Cade Cavalli, and Brady House plus some exciting names after them with Cristhian Vaquero, Armando Cruz, Jarlin Susana, Jeremy De La Rosa, T.J. White, and Jackson Rutledge. Continue reading →

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Bad is understandable — horrible shouldn’t be acceptable…

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Jacob Diament

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

It was October 18th, 1968. Major league baseball held its expansion draft to build the initial rosters for the Expos, Padres, Royals and the Seattle Pilots. The four new MLB teams were allowed to pick unprotected players from the other teams in their league only (The 2 leagues operated as separate entities with their own league presidents. Interleague play was decades away).

Unlike recent drafts, teams got to protect pretty much anyone except over-the-hill vets, and the never-has-been prospects etc. It was not a great haul for any of the four new teams.  I recall a quote I heard back then but I can’t remember who said it : ‘Thanksgiving is coming and the Expos and Padres just got 25 turkeys each’.  The weak expansion draft system had the expected results and both the Expos and Padres won only 52 games in their initial year. Continue reading →

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MLB Pipeline reveals their Top-10 outfielders with honorable mentions!

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Forensicane for TalkNats

The strength of the future team for the Washington Nationals appears to be in their outfield. But certainly some could argue an infield of Brady House, CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia, and T.J. White could be very good too with Armando Cruz in the mix. Today, MLB Pipeline published their list of the Top-10 outfield prospects in all of baseball with some honorable mentions, and the Nats were all over the rankings. Continue reading →

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