Going Deep with The Nats

Graphic from MLB Network Radio

Disclaimer * If this article is confusing, it’s supposed to be. This shows just how hard it is to set a Major League 25-man roster for hopeful success. I hope I was clear enough with all the potential roster moves I would make if I was Mike Rizzo*

Boy, am I glad that I’m not Mike Rizzo. As much as I’d love some of the perks of his job —mostly the paycheck and having a nice little suite to soak up all the Nationals baseball humanly possible — I am glad that I am not the one who is going to be making a slew of difficult, and potentially life-changing roster moves for some of the players we know and love. However, I thought it would be fun to be Mike Rizzo, so I wrote this article on how I would handle the upcoming roster decisions for the Nationals. Continue reading →

The “little things” ledger had a deficit early in this July 5th game which was one for the ages. With some very uninspiring defense early on by the Washington Nationals, something seemed to click for the Nationals in the bottom of the 4th inning. Maybe they were inspired that Jeremy Hellickson went 4-innings when he was sick. Maybe it was the echoes of the team meeting where Max Scherzer talked about what hustle means and how it was expected from everyone. We know Max practices what he preaches and leads by example. In the bottom of the 4th inning, yes, Trea Turner hit a home run to break up the shutout and make it a 9-to-1 game — but it was Bryce Harper three batters later who grounded out on a routine (4-3) ball and he HUSTLED all the way through the base. Yes, Bryce Harper hustled out of the box. It was the 3rd out, and maybe that’s where things would turn the following inning for this team — and it would as Trea Turner’s biggest play of the night might have come on a simple groundball out as the “little things” were really adding up for the Nats. Continue reading →