by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
This was an annual column written by Laura so I am filling some big stockings here. There is so much unknown with the world today that the baseball world was almost frozen in time until Mike Rizzo got Josh Bell in a trade on Christmas Eve. Last year there was Cole in the Yankees stocking in the form of Gerrit Cole and as Steve wrote yesterday the Nats got Clay in their stockings (Sam Clay), but now they have a Bell ringing some Christmas tunes. Continue reading
Soto pitching BP in Spring Training; Photo by Craig Nedrow for TalkNats
The Washington Nationals have clear priorities for next year, and we took a deep dive into a Top-10 at the end of September. Sure, things changed quickly when manager Dave Martinez opted to make changes on his coaching staff. If we re-did the original list we would have more names to add and different priorities today as things changed, but the original list has been close to Rizzo’s blueprint. Sure, we didn’t have Sam Clay as an acquisition target for a lefty in the bullpen, but the early moves match up well to what we saw as priorities.
Today as you know, the Nationals traded Will Crowe and one of their top pitching prospects, Eddie Yean, for Josh Bell who we have had as a top priority from the start.
Not originally a Top-10 priority, but it is up there on the list, the Nats must add a new hitting coach to replace Kevin Long unless the team comes to terms with KLong which seems like a long-shot at this point. ✓
So here is the updated original Top-10 priorites:
Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
Don: So lets talk about who the backup first baseman should be. I think we both agree that someone new needs to brought in to take the bulk of the At Bats. But who should the back-up be.
Steve: Sounds like a topic the TalkNats folks will like to discuss. I’m expecting it will be Ryan Zimmerman over Howie Kendrick and Asdrubal Cabrera (UPDATED – Howie Kendrick retired, yes, we started writing this over a week ago). But it wouldn’t shock me to go Droobs over Zim due to “positional flexibility” that Rizzo has always coveted in bench players. Actually, this will be the offseason that almost nothing will surprise me. Continue reading
If you have been following along, most MLB teams have done nothing this offseason except for go into hibernation. There is a very good chance that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will ask for a delay and shortening of the baseball season, and we will be thrust into the same ugliness we saw all spring between MLB and the player’s union spatting off at each other on what the 2020 season would turn into. Yes, the Covid pandemic has changed lives. But here we are again. Continue reading
An empty stadium at Nationals Park; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Before the news was announced by the media through some anonymous sourced report, Howie Kendrick beat everyone to it by publishing his own words on his Instagram account regarding the decision to retire from baseball. For months he spoke about returning to play again, and even at the beginning of this month he reiterated that. Just three weeks later — something changed — and Kendrick called his baseball career, complete. There will not be a Hall of Fame enshrinement, but he will forever be a part of Cooperstown due to his donation of Nats World Series memorabilia. Not only did Kendrick hit the grand slam in extra innings to beat the Dodgers in the finale of the NLDS, but then he hit the CLANG heard ’round the world in the World Series to win that. Forever a Nationals hero. Continue reading
Davey and Mike are the first ones off the escalator: Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Putting together a roster in the offseason is complicated, of course. Some of it is choosing from the ala carte menu while some of it feels like you are piecing together an intricate puzzle. If general manager Mike Rizzo is choosing a starting pitcher and a backup catcher, they are not as dependent on the rest of the roster as a starting infielder or outfielder would be and as such you could pick them up ala carte. Continue reading
When the Winter Meetings went 100 percent virtual two weeks ago, it was about as exciting as watching paint dry. The normal media scrums that would be held in crammed spaces of a behemoth hotel were replaced by ZOOM meetings on computers. On Tuesday as you know, the Nationals made general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez available for their post-Winter Meetings media sessions. Rizzo did his session from his home, and Davey filmed his at Nationals Park. There were no bombshells dropped except for maybe Rizzo’s revelation that the Nats “haven’t had a serious conversation about Kris Bryant in probably two years.” Otherwise, it was staying politically correct while not tipping their hands. Continue reading
Normally during the Winter Meetings, the Washington Nationals hold their center court time at the official hotel, but everything went virtual this year due to COVID, and we never heard from the President of Baseball Operations and General Manager, Mike Rizzo. This afternoon Mike Rizzo and his manager Dave Martinez made themselves available via ZOOM. Continue reading
Photo courtesy of Andrew Lang for TalkNats
To quote Daniel Murphy when he was with the Washington Nationals, “Do you go to FanGraphs at all?” If you did a deep dive into FanGraphs projections, you might know that your Washington Nationals have one of the lowest rated infields in terms of WAR. It gets even worse when you remove Trea Turner‘s +3.8 projected WAR from the mix as the Nats drop to the bottom in all of baseball. Yes, if the Nats do not acquire another player for their infield, they would be the worst in baseball if you removed the Nats star shortstop. The combined number for everyone else is +0.7. Continue reading
Soto sports his “La Leche” shirt exiting Fenway Park; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Nats Single-A hitting coach Jorge Mejia was Juan Soto’s mentor coming up through the Nationals system, and Mejia checks in often on him and in-person during the offseason. It is a process and Soto also had hitting coach Kevin Long working on a plan to make improvements. In 2019, Soto transformed to another level working with Long on the offspeed pitches. It was part of the adjustments to get Soto to the next level, and he improved his chase rate on pitches out of the zone to one of the best marks in the Majors in 2020. It was reminiscent of Barry Bonds where he was willing to take his walks and move the line — but if a pitcher tried to come over the plate in the zone — Soto was going to punish the baseball. And he did repeatedly to win the batting crown with a .351 batting average and the youngest to ever do it in the National League. Continue reading
"Opening Day should be a National holiday"
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