Nats complete their acquisitions for position players with signing of Corey Dickerson

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Homeplate gate and Nationals Park facade; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

Can you smell that Spring air? Okay, maybe not yet, but we feel a lot closer today to a Spring Training roster. As we have written for over the month, the Washington Nationals saw an opportunity in a deep left field market to snag a free agent. Mostly the Nats were tied to David Peralta, and overnight, The Nats Report broke the news that the Nats are finalizing a one-year deal with veteran Corey Dickerson. In that left field grouping of free agents, Dickerson was the youngest at 33 years old. He won’t turn 34 until the end of May.  Continue reading →

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Elian Soto turns 17 today, and in 5 days should be officially signed with the Nats!

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Luiggi Chavez for TalkNats

As Elian Soto celebrated his 17th birthday with family and friends today, the younger brother of Juan Soto should be following in his older brother’s footsteps and signing with the Washington Nationals as an IFA (international free agent) in five days. We certainly got to see a lot of the younger Soto for years when he was seen at Nationals Park and Home Run Derbys, and the World Series. Today, Elian is taller than Juan, and the Nats hope he is taller in his stats too. Can lightening strike twice? Continue reading →

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Brenner Cox offers more to the Nationals than you know

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Alex Hill

Photo via Brenner Cox’s Twitter

Heading into year three of a rebuild, the Washington Nationals need to capitalize on their draft picks now more than ever. The team’s poor performance during the 2021 season granted them the opportunity to select 5th in the 2022 draft, the highest since taking Anthony Rendon 6th in 2011. With that, the Nationals drafted Elijah Green. The athletic, powerful high school outfielder was the No. 3 ranked prospect in his draft class and was recently featured in MLB Pipeline’s “Best Draft Prospects of the Past Decade”. Continue reading →

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Spending other people’s money and the search for a left fielder for the Nats!

Posted on January 8, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Mark Lerner spoke to fans between innings; Photo by Steve Mears for TalkNats

There are plenty of fans that wanted to see the Washington Nationals spend “big” in free agency. From our sources, the Nats have been “in” on deals that did not work out, but none of them were long-term deals. Part of the issue is that the team is still technically looking to be sold, and tying up money in long-term deals would bind the next ownership group. That is something the Lerners are trying to avoid because that would be spending someone else’s money.

Let’s face it, the Nats could have overspent on players, and if they sell the team before April, they would not pay a dime in salary since players don’t start earning their salaries until the start of the season. No salaries are paid out to players in Spring Training just daily stipends. Last year, the Lerners did try to pay Juan Soto the largest guaranteed contract in U.S. sports history for north of $440 million — but Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, indicated that they were not going to do a deal until they knew who the new owners of the Nats were going to be. Then why negotiate a deal in the first place? Continue reading →

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Point-CounterPoint – The Nats Offensive Woes

Posted on January 7, 2023 by DonH

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

It does not take any analytics to conclude that the Nats gave up too many runs and did not score nearly enough runs in 2022, or for that matter in 2021 also.

So I decided to look at the stats to drill down on the why of the Nationals offensive woes as a complement of the what. I come at this from the perspective of someone who spent his career as what is now called a Data Scientist. I had the benefit of working for really smart statisticians when I graduated from college (way back in the mid 70s) and they impressed quite a few points on me, most notably:

  1. Be skeptical of everything.
  2. Never, ever, ever, ever focus on the numbers. Focus on what they mean (i.e., the why that explains the what)  as that is how you figure out what to do and what they mean.
  3. Always, always, always look for other factors that could have influenced the observed outcomes.

Continue reading →

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As of today, more clarity on the starting lineup and the Nats roster!

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Joey Meneses played first base and the outfield in 2022; Where will he play in 2023? (Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats)

As we read the tea leaves minutes after we confirmed the news that Dominic Smith was signing with the Washington Nationals, our first instinct was to tweet that Joey Meneses was going to play left field — thinking Smith to first base. But some of the beat writers were putting it out there that Smith could be the starting left fielder. Sorry, but after watching enough of Smith playing the outfield against the Nats, I was having Josh Willingham flashbacks (no offense to Josh). In 2021, with only 190 chances in left field, Smith was an horrific -10 OAA, and yes, that was the worst in the Majors and Smith was only a part-time player there. He was only playing LF because first base was taken by Pete Alonso. Look, this Nats’ team has had to endure enough poor decisions by management over the years like Luis Garcia at shortstop last year, but if you give two ####s about winning, you have to follow the analytics and the eye test here.

Thankfully, we do not have to wait for Spring Training to have our answer as Smith quickly made the point on a media ZOOM call last night that he was signed by general manager Mike Rizzo to play first base. Whew, good news to get that cleared up quickly. Continue reading →

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Source: Nats are signing Dom Smith to an MLB deal

Posted on January 3, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Kevin Nibley for TalkNats

The last time we saw Dominic Smith, he was in a Mets uniform. Nobody was surprised when he was DFA’d in November which stirred up the speculation that he would be signed by the Washington Nationals. A source told us that general manager Mike Rizzo was in touch with Smith’s agent, Brodie Van Wagenen, at Roc Nation, several weeks ago. Of course it made sense for both sides to see what else was available out there so this took time to come together, and per Jon Heyman of the NY Post, Smith signed a one-year deal worth $2 million with the Nats with an additional $2 million incentives package. Continue reading →

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Nats Sales and Marketing for 2023

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Power Boater
Nats Park Beer

Best perk of an empty ballpark? Plenty of room to set down your drink.

The Nationals attendance in 2022 wasn’t too bad, considering they set the franchise record for the worst run differential, they still sold over two million tickets. But you could see that on nights when 20,000 tickets were announced as sold there were far fewer fans actually in the ballpark. And you could hear the late season conversations in the crowd about whether long time ticket groups were going to be able to hold together and renew for 2023. As hope evaporates of a new owner bringing in the type of free agents that get people calling their ticket agents the Nationals sales and marketing departments are going to have to earn their money in 2023. Here are some ideas on how the team can avoid a repeat of 2009 where they lost a half million in tickets sold from the inaugural season at Nats Park.

Season Plans

Continue reading →

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Nats are just 55 days away from their first Spring Training game — but how many days to new ownership?

Posted on January 1, 2023 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Ted Leonsis looking into the camera at a Washington Wizards game (Photo Sol Tucker for TalkNats)

Happy New Year to 2023, and we can finally, and properly refer to 2022 as last year. For the Washington Nationals, that was a year to file away in the “not repeat” file. With 107 losses and the trade of Juan Soto, the team has moved on to being a team in transition, but also one in a state of flux with regards to the ownership situation. The team was not sold last year as most expected.

Continue reading →
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The big storylines for the Nats start with the ownership situation, the draft, the farm system and the core!

Posted on December 29, 2022 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

November 28, 2022 WASHINGTON, DC — Nats principal owner Mark Lerner is also a partner in the Monumental Sports & Entertainment ownership group. Pictured next to Lerner at a Washington Wizards game is Zachary Leonsis who is Monumental’s President of Media & New Enterprises (Photo credit: Sol Tucker/TalkNats)

For a Washington Nationals team coming off of a 107-loss season, you would not expect much excitement — or lengthy storylines. But there is plenty to talk about when your team is potentially for sale. Let’s talk about the biggest stories leading into this 2023 season. Continue reading →

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