One easy decision is to extend Mike Rizzo’s tenure with the Washington Nationals

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

Nearly two and a half years ago, the Lerner ownership group gave Mike Rizzo a two-year extension and a third year option making him one of the highest paid executives in baseball. That deal is set to expire at the end of this season. Rizzo was the Lerner ownership group’s first hire back when they bought the team in 2006. Rizzo has been serving as the President of Baseball Operations and General Manager of the Washington Nationals and is the third-longest tenured General Manager in Major League Baseball. It is time for another contract.  Continue reading

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Doubling-down on a good hand is what Mike Rizzo is doing!

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

During Washington Nationals‘ general manager Mike Rizzo’s first official presser of 2023, he doubled-down on what he said last month at his annual Hot Stove event in regards to his current farm system. Continue reading

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Continual improvement and offseason work counts for a lot!

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Who the heck is that guy? #Nats field guide to 2023 spring training

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Ownership and the priorities as we move forward for the Nats.

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As we learn the passing of Nationals’ first owner Ted Lerner, we look back at the history and moving forward

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The future of the Nats’ ownership!

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

Today marks the 10th month since the Lerner ownership group announced that they would be exploring a sale of the Washington Nationals. It also marks 10 full months that the Lerner ownership group has spoken publicly on their future plans. Over a month ago on January 10, TalkNats broke the news that the sale of the team was in a “no-sale” situation and as such, putting the future ownership of the team in question.

It had been suggested before that the Lerners could also look into a partial sale of the team where they would maintain majority control. Even the Lerners named a partial sale as one of the options back on April 11, 2022. When you consider everything back on that day, there were really three options 1) Full sale of the majority of the team 2) Partial sale to bring in a minority partner 3) No sale.

As of today, we do not know which direction the Lerners will go, and it is very possible that we hear from principal owner Mark Lerner during Spring Training.

A Point-CounterPoint on the idea of the Lerners selling shares to individuals for the Washington Nationals was a suggestion from Don H. Along the lines of the Green Bay Packers model, and what the Atlanta Braves have been rumored to be heading towards, this might be a model for the future of sports teams in publicly traded stock.

Continue reading

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Maybe there is another way to get out of the MASN mess!

(L-R) Dan Kolko, Bob Carpenter, Charlie Slowes, Dave Jageler; Photo by Laura Peebles for TalkNats

In case you did not know, the MASN TV contract with the Washington Nationals is binding until perpetuity. There are few ways out of the deal for the Nats. Let’s discuss some of the ways that the Nationals could get out of the deal.

If MASN could not handle paying the Nats true fair market value — and it led to a bankruptcy dissolution of MASN, then that would be one way out. It is highly unlikely it would ever get to that. MASN knows all the ways they could give the Nats an “out” due to a default, and are not going to ever make it easy. A second way out, would be to buy/negotiate themselves out of the contract. Well this was reportedly attempted years ago and was thwarted by Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos. The third most obvious way out of the MASN deal is for the Angelos’ family to sell their team to a third party and the MLB commissioner makes a transfer of sale contingent on selling the Nats their TV rights. Oh, maybe there is a fourth option in MLB going to a national TV deal like the NFL. Continue reading

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Circle a few dates on your Nats calendar!

Graphic by Nationals Source for TalkNats

Sure, the Washington Nationals calendar will be loaded with bobblehead giveaways and other ballpark trinkets, but the most important dates have to do with the game on the field. Chief among them is the draft which starts on July 9, and that should net the Nats an immediate Top-25 prospect in all of baseball given that evaluators feel that the top-2 prospects are at the elite level. The rest of the calendar is about playing baseball and developing the players to progress. Continue reading

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The baseball season moves to preseason mode in a week. How did the #Nats do in our offseason priorities?

Photo by Sol Tucker for Talknats

You can almost smell that freshly cut green grass. Yes, it is that time of year. Baseball has four distinct seasons that encompass an entire year as the seasons change from one to the next. As we prepare for the offseason to end in a week from now, we head to the preseason, known as Spring Training.

The preseason is about 45-days long and still longer than the postseason that only lasts for about 30 days. The regular season is the longest at nearly six months. The offseason is the second longest at three-and-a-half months. The Boys of Summer actually start their regular season in the early spring and play through the entire summer months, and wrap up in early autumn. But everything is endured to reach the postseason — and be the last team standing to hoist up the World Series trophy. Continue reading

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