by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
This morning, the Washington Nationals officially named Blake Butera the eighth manager in team history. Today’s announcement was made by Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni. Butera’s name goes next to some of the greats in baseball history like Frank Robinson, Davey Johnson, Dusty Baker, and yes, even Dave Martinez who hoisted the World Series trophy for the Washington Nationals exactly six years ago last night.
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After PoBO Paul Toboni was hired by the Washington Nationals, he said that hiring a manager was a top priority. There is no surprise that Toboni went for a minor league manager with a record of success. It was part of our poll where we not only named Matt LeCroy from the Nats’ Triple-A affiliate as a candidate, but also a choice for an un-named minor league manager — now has the name, Blake Butera.
My suggestion, after the Texas Rangers manager named Skip Schumaker as their manager and took him off the board early as a candidate, was to go the route of a minor league manager or top collegiate head coach — and marry that person up with a tactical bench coach like Chip Hale who was the Nats’ 2019 World Series bench coach. The yin to the yang.
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At the end of July, the Washington Nationals traded Alex Call at the trade deadline from their crowded outfield. Ho hum, he’s in the World Series with the Dodgers. The Nats had six outfielders at the time and pared that down to five at the MLB level with Dylan Crews, Robert Hassell III, Daylen Lile, James Wood, and Jacob Young all competing for playing time.
After Nathaniel Lowe was DFA’d, the Nats were able to move Josh Bell to first base, and the lineup started to utilize the DH spot for Lile and Wood to get at-bats. That allowed Hassell and Young to platoon in center field, and Crews played most days in right field. This could be the same plan for the 2026 season — or PoBO Paul Toboni and his new manager might have other plans because they need more production from Crews, Hassell and Young.
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TORONTO — The 2025 World Series has been billed as a David-versus-Goliath matchup, but truth-be-told, the Toronto Blue Jays ranked 5th in Opening Day payroll. Okay, the Dodgers spent $87-$95 million more (depending on your math) which was as much as five teams spent on their entire team payrolls per USA Today.
And the real winner in all of this is FOX as the TV outlet for the World Series. This World Series will span the globe given the superstar presence of Japanese players on the Dodgers, the Canadian entry of the Blue Jays, the multiple Latin American connections on both teams, and the Dodgers original roots in New York City (Brooklyn) to their current address in Los Angeles.
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The most talked about player in the Arizona Fall League might be Seaver King. After a mixed bag of results during his High-A Wilmington and Double-A Harrisburg stints in 2025, King was chosen among the eight Washington Nationals’ minor leaguers with an opportunity to play in the prestigious AFL. And so far, King has stepped up to shine in the Arizona sunshine.
Few players had as much to prove as King who was the No. 10 overall draft pick in the deep 2024 class. There was a time when King was a Top-3 projected pick, and he slid due to some inconsistencies in his final season in college that he played with Wake Forest.
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The Arizona Fall League (AFL) experience is unique. You get to see advanced prospects teamed up from MLB minor league affiliates from five different MLB teams of eight players each that each team will send. All of that adds up to a total of 40 players per AFL team. They utilize six of the Arizona stadiums from the Cactus League Spring Training sites in Scottsdale, Surprise, Glendale, Salt River, Peoria and Mesa.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays will be facing each other in the 2025 World Series to begin on Friday. The only pro baseball to watch in the USA for the remainder of the week is in the Arizona Fall League. Yes, the World Series begins in Toronto, Ontario in Canada and doesn’t come stateside until Monday.
While Eduard Bazardo and his manager Dan Wilson are the reality of failing at the highest level as their Mariners fell last night, these minor leaguers are all here in the Arizona Fall League for their chance just to make an MLB debut and stay. As they say, getting to ‘the show’ is hard, staying is harder. Every position player in the AFL wants that George Springer moment; the relievers want that Jeff Hoffman save, and they all want that champagne celebration.
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"Opening Day should be a National holiday"
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