The Washington Nationals will be introducing Dave Martinez today as their new manager

Posted on November 2, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The World Series is over and MLB will be publishing the calendar shortly as so many deadlines are triggered by the end of the World Series. Teams will also be making their own announcements now that the World Series is over. The Nationals will use this time to present Davey Martinez as their new manager to the media at 1 pm at Nationals Park.

By now Nationals fans know the drill and the ritual as Mike Rizzo will talk about Dave Martinez and then Dave Martinez will talk and then they will put a Nats jersey on Martinez. There will then be a Q&A with the media followed by media side sessions with Martinez.

There you have it.

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Bryce Harper started a revolution to “Make Baseball Fun Again”, and it is on full display in this World Series!

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo from ESPN The Magazine , Photo by Peter Hapak

Bryce Harper got plunked and it turned into a brawl…three years after he hit two NLDS home runs off of Hunter Strickland in 2014. A year and a half before that brawl, Harper was talking about emotion in baseball in an interview  by Tim Keown with ESPN The Magazine:

“Baseball’s tired,” Harper said back in the off-season after the 2015 season to Keown. “It’s a tired sport because you can’t express yourself. You can’t do what people in other sports do. I’m not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but it’s the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair.”

Harper was criticized loudly by Goose Gossage who called Harper a “young punk” referring to the ESPN interview. There were few players who publicly backed Harper up. One who did back Bryce up was Joc Pederson who had just completed a break-out rookie season although he has been rather quiet since then. Pederson was snubbed and not on the Dodgers NLDS roster this season then made the NLCS roster only to get 5 at-bats. Pederson made the World Series roster while veteran Curtis Granderson did not, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts clearly made the right choice.

“And [Joc Pederson] continues to amaze us and put together good at-bats,” Dave Roberts said.

Roberts has given Pederson some key starts in a total role reversal, and Pederson has rewarded his manager with some key hits leading the Dodgers starters with a 1.581 OPS and 149 points over the team batting average. It is Pederson who has been the offensive star for the Dodgers, and he now has a Dodgers record tying 3 home runs in this World Series so far. Continue reading →

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“Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will play the hero or the villain depending…” — Los Angeles Times

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

There was that time when the Los Angeles Dodgers were being projected to win 120+ games at a 2.9% probability, and they were being crowned as the greatest team in MLB history on August 25th of this year when they were 91-and-36 and on a 116+ win pace — then they hit the skids and a long losing streak. The Dodgers finished with 104 wins. It earned them home field advantage for the entire post-season. Continue reading →

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Naval Academy Baseball Classic is one and done!

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Major League Baseball has created incredible match-ups in recent years to honor the military like the game at Fort Bragg as well as honoring the youth in the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. There were no geographic wranglings from the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Philadelphia Phillies like what just occurred with the Naval Academy Baseball Classic according to Jake Russell of the Washington Post.

According to Russell, there will be no more Washington Nationals hosting the Naval Academy Baseball Classic to be played in Annapolis due to territorial issues claimed by, you guessed it, the Baltimore Orioles!

From Russell’s article:

“[The Nationals] wanted to have a multiyear commitment but, because it was an agreement made in another club’s territory, it was then agreed that they could do the one year, but beyond that, that is really something that is in the Orioles’ territory,” an MLB official said.

“Ultimately it landed at our office that there’s an issue with a club doing something in another club’s territory and we had to resolve it,” the MLB official continued.

From the MLB Constitution

The NABC exhibition game was closed to fans and only open to Naval personnel and invited guests free of charge. If anything, the crowd was dominated by fans of all teams and it was a neutral crowd. This game had nothing to do with geography especially when you consider that the Naval Academy is located in Anne Arundel County which has both Nationals and Orioles fans and an easy ride down Route 50 to Nationals Park, but Peter Angelos used the MLB Constitution to enforce that the Nats would not play again in Orioles’ territory.  Continue reading →

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#Nats Minor League depth at the catcher’s position

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Theophilus

Catchers at Spring Training

Someone suggested an article about the Nationals’ minor league catching prospects. I brought the subject up – and will try to push the topic along – but will disavow any claim of expertise in evaluating their development. I haven’t seen any of them play – except to the extent Pedro Severino, Spencer Kieboom and Raudy Read have enjoyed cameos on Nats TV broadcasts.

What I think I know comes from box scores, Nationals Prospects, weekly blurbs in WaPo about Nats’ minor leaguers generally, and scouting reports for mlb.com and excerpts from services I don’t subscribe to. I have some biases. I don’t like high school draftees or independent free agents (read, “DSL players”). Too immature, physically and otherwise, inconsistent coaching, too much time invested in re-building skills of players that are “athletic” but otherwise raw. For me to consider a minor leaguer a real “prospect” I think he ought to be major-league ready by his 25 or (at the th latest) 26 year and have advanced through the system at least one level per year. (That doesn’t th mean a player won’t “arrive” later but by that age there should be some evidence he’s worthy of serious attention.) Continue reading →

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Dave Martinez set to become the Nationals 7th manager

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by the AP

The Washington Nationals are set to name their 7th full-time manager this week, and it should not be a surprise to anyone that Dave Martinez will be that person. Martinez interviewed for the job back in 2013 after Davey Johnson‘s contract was not extended. The much needed next step with Martinez is putting pen on paper to make this official. In a divergence from the previous managerial deals, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reports that this will be a 3-year deal with a 4th year option.

What was an encouraging sign we learned from a source was that Dave Martinez was the unanimous choice of Mike Rizzo and the ownership group which made the process easy. To be prudent, the group did interview other candidates. We have not received a final list of all the candidates who were interviewed.

Continue reading →

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Ex-Nat Brad Peacock finds himself as the bullpen ace last night!

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

In the way baseball goes, the road to success often has forks in the road. Brad Peacock got his first opportunity with the Washington Nationals in 2011 and was traded to the Oakland A’s in a blockbuster deal months later for Gio Gonzalez in a package that included A.J. Cole, Derek Norris, and Tommy Milone.

Peacock would never pitch for the Oakland A’s and was traded to the Houston Astros where he toiled for years and battled injuries. His fork in the road was learning a new way to throw his slider to go with his fastball, change-up and his curveball. It sounds like what we have been saying for years with Gio Gonzalez, Ross Detwiler, and other pitchers who needed to add some new tricks to their repertoire. Continue reading →

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Three post-season managers are gone; Three different headlines from USA Today

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Three 2017 post-season managers now have severed ties with their 2017 teams, and another post-season team removed three of their coaches. Winning is paramount in Major League Baseball, and when it is all said and done — there is only one winning team and twenty-nine teams that did not win the World Series.

The issue is only 1 of those 3 teams actually fired their manager — and that was the Boston Red Sox. As the theme goes at USA Today, the headlines and accompanying story is very different. Dusty Baker and Joe Girardi had finished up their current contracts and only John Farrell was fired. Sure you can play the semantics game with the word “fired” as some would say. Continue reading →

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Exclusive: Local and national media weigh in on the manager(s)

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by NavyYardNats for TalkNats

The talking heads have all weighed in on the Dusty Baker situation. The public opinion seems to be very different in Washington, D.C. then in other markets where Dusty Baker managed. Dusty Baker became a star in Washington, D.C. as fans embraced him after he replaced the unpopular Matt Williams. Baker finished his tenure in Washington winning two NL East titles and he repaired his reputation in baseball after he was fired by the Cincinnati Reds in 2013 and was out of baseball for two years.

MLB Trade Rumors did a poll regarding whether the Nationals should retain Dusty Baker. The poll had a large response of nearly 11,000 votes and it was almost split down the middle. Nearly 53% voted that Dusty Baker should stay and 47% thought he should leave. This poll was done before the ultimate decision became official last Friday. Some of the comments in their comments section are rough around the edges.

We talked to Holden Kushner who has a national radio show on MLB Tune-in Radio, and Kushner spent years in the local D.C. market on the radio and as a sports reporter on WUSA-9 and had many thoughts on the Nats managerial issues.

“Terry Collins, if they could get him away from the Mets ‘front office’ ”, Holden Kushner from MLB Tune-in Radio said would be his choice for the Nats new manager. “All he did was take a team to the World Series and then get them to a WC game with a rotation of Syndegaard, Colon, Gsellman and Lugo. The man is a winner and he would be a great fit for a championship-caliber team.”

Holden Kushner was 100% serious with that suggestion of Terry Collins. He also had thoughts on Dave Martinez who we believe is the frontrunner to be named as the Nationals next manager. Continue reading →

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My Top Ten Favorite Games of the 2017 Season

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Alex Ross

My Top Ten Favorite Games of the 2017 Season

By Alex Ross, Age 9

I am sad the Nats’ season is over but I had so much fun this season. I went to 34 games (that’s Bryce’s number!) and had fun at each of them. Here are my top ten moments of the 2017 season.

  1. Trea Turner 4 stolen bases

On June 27, I got to see domination!!!! Trea Turner had 4 stolen bases and Michael A. Taylor had 2. The Nats won 6-1. Also, Scherzer was great and got the win!!!!! It was so bad for the Cubs they got rid of their catcher because he insulted Jake Arrieta after the game 🙁 Continue reading →

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