The mock drafts got it wrong again; Cade Cavalli to the #Nats in the 1st round!

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

The draft is so hit-or-miss like a deceptive breaking pitch that will buckle your knees when you were looking fastball. Every draft class can be analyzed in hindsight years down the road to look at names of “can’t miss” first round picks who never made it. We discussed the 2009 draft class of swing-and-misses on Dustin Ackley, Donavan Tate, and Matt Hobgood. Possibly the greatest baseball player ever came out of that 2009 draft at pick #25 and his name is Mike Trout. Sure, Stephen Strasburg was in that draft and the falloff after him is tremendous in the WAR department. Only Trout and Stras have career WARs over 20.0 from that draft class. But why did so many fail? There were toolsy position players and big arms and failures all over that page. This 2020 draft in ten years will have plenty of winners and losers, and it just is the way it is in baseball. The best GMs find the winners, but luck has to be a factor also. You can’t pick a player who already came off of the board. With pick #22, the Washington Nationals chose RHP Cade Cavalli from the University of Oklahoma.  Continue reading →

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The amateur draft begins shortly with a new format and much less money in the pool!

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Jackson Rutledge was the Nationals’ top draft pick in June 2019. (MLB)

While there is no agreement between MLB and the player’s union to “Play Ball”, we have a baseball event playing out “live” in the form of the amateur baseball draft. Very much like the NFL Draft during the COVID-19 crisis, MLB’s amateur draft will be a social distancing event with no players shaking hands with commissioner although there will be cameras set-up at draftees homes and other venues. The 2020 MLB Draft presented by T-Mobile will begin on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET and will be live on both MLB Network and ESPN to reach a larger audience, and fans will see this two-day event covering picks 1-37 for all 29 first round picks since the Houston Astros pick was forfeited plus eight picks for small market teams who pick up extra picks in Competitive Balance Round A.  Continue reading →

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Win #38 of 2019 has the Nats nearing .500 baseball with a Scherzday game!

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Andrew Lang

Photo from Nats Instagram

Click here to watch Nats win #38 on June 25th on MASN via MLB.TV at 6:30 pm tonight with the rest of us. Just a quick reminder of what we are doing if this is your first time: As a group, we are going to be re-watching all 105 wins from the Nats 2019 season in chronological order at 6:30 pm each night. We will all try to sync up to the same point in the game, and this is a work in progress to maneuver to the same point in the game. Feel free to ask in the comments section where everyone is in the game so you can sync up. Many people are joining in at different points, and most people are not commenting — rather just following along.

The MLB.TV library is unlocked and free to everyone for the 2018-2019 season courtesy of MLB. This win #38 came in the 78th game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 37-40 record into this game. Manager Dave Martinez was preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned their losing record into a winning record. It took the Nats until June 28th to reach a winning record and they got to 12 games above .500 on August 21st. They dug themselves a deep hole, and it took much longer to dig out of it.  Continue reading →

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Ten years ago, history was forever changed when Stephen Strasburg made his debut! A Kory Casto strikeout on 9/19/2008 might have made it all possible!

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
Strasburg debut ticket

Exactly a decade ago, were you one of the lucky 40,315 fans in a sold-out Nationals Park to witness the “debut”? What Nats fan could forget June 8, 2010 when Stephen Strasburg made his MLB debut for the Washington Nationals? It was electric at near 1.21 gigawatts. Fans stood and cheered for a team that never had a winning season because Strasburg represented winning in the future. For a team that looked like they were destined to lose 100-games every year before Stras arrived,  hope came with him the day he was drafted. It took 3,431 days after his sparkling 14K debut for Stras to hoist up his MVP trophy as a World Series champion. His road is part of baseball’s way to put you up on a pedestal and then knock you off and see if you have the perseverance to dust yourself off and climb back up. Strasburg did just that. 

Continue reading →
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Win #37 of 2019; Of course #37 was on the mound to keep the Nats streaking!

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Andrew Lang

Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats

Click here to watch Nats win #37 on June 21st on MASN via MLB.TV at 6:30 pm tonight with the rest of us. Just a quick reminder of what we are doing if this is your first time: As a group, we are going to be re-watching all 105 wins from the Nats 2019 season in chronological order at 6:30 pm each night. We will all try to sync up to the same point in the game, and this is a work in progress to maneuver to the same point in the game. Feel free to ask in the comments section where everyone is in the game so you can sync up. Many people are joining in at different points, and most people are not commenting — rather just following along.

The MLB.TV library is unlocked and free to everyone for the 2018-2019 season courtesy of MLB. This win #37 came in the 74th game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 36-38 record into this game. This is where manager Dave Martinez started preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned a losing record into a winning record. It took the Nats until June 28th to reach a winning record and they got to 12 games above .500 on August 21st. They dug themselves a deep hole and it took much longer to dig out of it.  Continue reading →

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Win #36 of 2019 put the Nats in a 4-game winning streak!

Posted on June 6, 2020 by Andrew Lang

Erick Fedde; Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

Click here to watch Nats win #36 on June 20th on MASN via MLB.TV at 6:30 pm tonight with the rest of us. Just a quick reminder of what we are doing if this is your first time: As a group, we are going to be re-watching all 105 wins from the Nats 2019 season in chronological order at 6:30 pm each night. We will all try to sync up to the same point in the game, and this is a work in progress to maneuver to the same point in the game. Feel free to ask in the comments section where everyone is in the game so you can sync up. Many people are joining in at different points, and most people are not commenting — rather just following along.

The MLB.TV library is unlocked and free to everyone for the 2018-2019 season courtesy of MLB. This win #36 came in the 74th game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 35-38 record into this game. This is where manager Dave Martinez started preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned a losing record into a winning record. It took the Nats until June 28th to reach a winning record and they got to 12 games above .500 on August 21st. They dug themselves a deep hole and it took much longer to dig out of it.  Continue reading →

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Win #35 of 2019 was the Scherzer black eye game!

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Andrew Lang

From @Nationals Instagram

Click here to watch Nats win #35 on June 19th on MASN via MLB.TV at 6:30 pm tonight with the rest of us. Just a quick reminder of what we are doing if this is your first time: As a group, we are going to be re-watching all 105 wins from the Nats 2019 season in chronological order at 6:30 pm each night. We will all try to sync up to the same point in the game, and this is a work in progress to maneuver to the same point in the game. Feel free to ask in the comments section where everyone is in the game so you can sync up. Many people are joining in at different points, and most people are not commenting — rather just following along.

The MLB.TV library is unlocked and free to everyone for the 2018-2019 season courtesy of MLB. This win #35 came in the 73rd game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 34-38 record into this game. This is where manager Dave Martinez started preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned a losing record into a winning record. It took the Nats until June 28th to reach a winning record and they got to 12 games above .500 on August 21st. They dug themselves a deep hole and it took much longer to dig out of it.  Continue reading →

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Win #34 of 2019 came in the first game of a doubleheader against the Phillies

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Andrew Lang

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

Click here to watch Nats win #34 on June 19th on MASN via MLB.TV at 6:30 pm tonight with the rest of us. Just a quick reminder of what we are doing if this is your first time: As a group, we are going to be re-watching all 105 wins from the Nats 2019 season in chronological order at 6:30 pm each night. We will all try to sync up to the same point in the game, and this is a work in progress to maneuver to the same point in the game. Feel free to ask in the comments section where everyone is in the game so you can sync up. Many people are joining in at different points, and most people are not commenting — rather just following along.

The MLB.TV library is unlocked and free to everyone for the 2018-2019 season courtesy of MLB. This win #34 came in the 72nd game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 33-38 record into this game. This is where manager Dave Martinez started preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned a losing record into a winning record. It took the Nats until June 28th to reach a winning record and they got to 12 games above .500 on August 21st. They dug themselves a deep hole and it took much longer to dig out of it.  Continue reading →

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Win #33 on Father’s Day of 2019

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Andrew Lang

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

Click here to watch Nats win #33 on June 16th on MASN via MLB.TV at 6:30 pm tonight with the rest of us. Just a quick reminder of what we are doing if this is your first time: As a group, we are going to be re-watching all 105 wins from the Nats 2019 season in chronological order at 6:30 pm each night. We will all try to sync up to the same point in the game, and this is a work in progress to maneuver to the same point in the game. Feel free to ask in the comments section where everyone is in the game so you can sync up. Many people are joining in at different points, and most people are not commenting — rather just following along.

The MLB.TV library is unlocked and free to everyone for the 2018-2019 season courtesy of MLB. This win #33 came in the 71st game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 32-38 record into this game. This is where manager Dave Martinez started preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned a losing record into a winning record. It took the Nats until June 28th to reach a winning record and they got to 12 games above .500 on August 21st. They dug themselves a deep hole and it took much longer to dig out of it.  Continue reading →

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You say 50 games and I say 114 games; But isn’t this all about the money in baseball? It should be about the fans!

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Come on, let’s get real. Professional sports are a pay-for-play model and it is All. About. The. Money. The athletes expect to maximize their incomes, and the team owners expect a very small percentage of revenues remaining as their profit. That is not a normal business model as your typical publicly traded company is all about profit maximization and earnings per share (EPS). But owning a sports franchise is part of the public trust and fans expect owners to spend, spend, and spend. The payoff for a baseball owner is in the value of their “investment” appreciating which is not too dissimilar from the athletes who expect their salaries to increase over time. Since the explosion of the riches in TV RSNs, baseball owners have seen their team valuations on average triple and quadruple making each of them paper billionaires. The lowly Marlins sold for $1.2 billion three years ago.

As COVID-19 restrictions ease, baseball could be in-play now in almost every American city — but the MLB owners and the players’ union cannot decide on the central point of pay-for-play compensation. So we wait and wait as both sides spout off at each other. The owners reportedly have said they would play a 50-game season which would yield to players a prorated salary of 30.86% of their total 2020 contract -or- the other idea was play half the season (~82 games) and pay the players 30-40 percent or thereabouts which some of the players rejected vociferously in social media. And oh by the way, hanging in the lurch are the fans aka “the customers” who rarely get a mention. The vision by the two-sides is short-sighted as the bigger picture is missed. Continue reading →

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