The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

This is not the first time that Max Scherzer has had a shortened offseason due to his team’s previous years success in the postseason. When he was with the Detroit Tigers, he went to three ALCS and one World Series. After he pitched in the 2012 World Series and his team lost, Scherzer entered the following season even more motivated to move to the elite level of pitchers — and he won his first Cy Young award in 2013.  But there are some differences between then — and now. The three-time Cy winner did not pitch his first Spring Training game on February 22nd of 2013 and his first regular season start was not until April 6th of that year, and he was also a spry 28-year-old pitcher in his prime back in 2013. Baseball is cruel at times. There is age discrimination. They measure you in dog years sometimes. But if anyone can handle the rigors of a shortened offseason plus his prior year’s injury history it would be Mad Max.  Continue reading →

Photo by Steve Mears for TalkNats

Early season camp includes literally hundreds of interviews and photos. There are so many that is hard to keep up with who said what and the context some times. Nothing really earth shattering has been said in Washington Nationals camp, but there have been some interesting conversations about batting orders that we will discuss. While the interviews, photos, and workouts were taking place, World Series signs were being affixed to walls and stanchions, and some players already want to turn the page on World Series talk. Outfielder Adam Eaton was quite outspoken yesterday that the 2019 World Series win was old news. The longest tenured Nats player, Ryan Zimmerman, felt it was time to turn the page. Continue reading →

Photo by Luis Albisu for TalkNats

Goal setting is important. Delivering on those goal is what sets you apart from the wannabees. Dave Martinez took this managerial job a little over two years ago, and he made it clear on the day he was hired that he was brought to Washington, D.C. to win a World Series.

“We’re not here just to win a playoff game,” Martinez said at his introductory press conference in November of 2017. “We’re here to win the World Series.”

Some were turned off immediately by Martinez’s statement on his first day on the job in the autumn of 2017. It seemed like that was bold from a man who had not even managed his first MLB game, but kudos to Davey Martinez as he delivered on his statement in his second year on the job. He did what Frank Robinson, Manny Acta, Jim Riggleman, Davey Johnson, Matt Williams, and Dusty Baker could not do with this team. In reality, only Williams and Baker before Martinez inherited teams that were built to win it all. Robinson, Acta, and Riggleman had no shot. Johnson’s team of 2012 over-performed when you look at their postseason roster, and Martinez had the worst bullpen in Nationals history and probably made more with less. Continue reading →

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

The FITTEAM spring training complex is all abuzz this morning, and for all of the wrong reasons. Uh, the reigning World Series champs are on the south side of the 160-acre state-of-the-art facility in West Palm Beach while the national media is assembled at 5454 Haverhill Road which is the Astros part of the sprawling complex waiting for 9:30 am when the Astros security personnel will let them enter. People have has always been intrigued by the negative, and the media is all over the Astros for cheating. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has tried to change the subject by floating ideas for a new 14-team playoff concept as well as new game rules — and yet it is the broken rules of electronic sign stealing which is still dominating the baseball news. Evil prevails over good once again. This should have been the time that MLB Network was camped out at the Nats front door to see what the champs are doing. Maybe we should not even care what the others think.  Continue reading →

Photo by Laura Peebles for TalkNats.com

As soon as the World Series parade wrapped up, we were counting down the days until camp opened today for the Washington Nationals at their shared Spring Training facility at the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida. The offseason is over, and the preseason starts with pitchers and catchers reporting first to camp as is the tradition for all teams. The strength of this Nats team is the pitching, and the Nationals are ranked the best in baseball for starters 1-to-4 in the rotation.  Continue reading →