The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Ted Williams‘ coaching helped Ed Brinkman raise his average 79 points in one season

The very nature of baseball is the absence of frenzy.  It is our only major sport without a game clock.  So it should be no surprise that the game takes its sweet time doing things.  Since the introduction of a second tier of playoffs in 1969 the traditional approaches to managing a team have been largely untouched…until now.  Change is never easy.  But, making change in the Byzantine business of baseball is akin to using oarsmen to move an ocean liner.  Eventually any organism with a pulse, however slow, responds to continual stimulus. Continue reading →

John Smoltz has correctly predicted 29 of the last 30 Cy Young awards. His system used to be based on 6 statistical pitching categories, and now he has eliminated wins and it is only a tie-breaker while still using the other 5 categories. The 5 categories are: ERA , K, K/9, IP, WHIP and BAA (batting average against). Continue reading →

Photo by Marlene Koenig for Talknats

Narratives are always ongoing in sports, and in time an opinion can become gospel. Take for example the tale that general manager Mike Rizzo is really bad at constructing bullpens. That’s pretty much as solid as the US Constitution – I’ve fallen for that one myself. The truth is as usual it is somewhere in the middle. Let’s examine this a little. Everyone agrees that Rizzo never converts failed starters to the pen, hello Craig Stammen. Rizzo doesn’t find gems on other teams, well then I guess Sean Burnett, Blake Treinen and Felipe Rivero never happened — oh, there’s also one Mr. Tyler Clippard. Rizzo also drafted Drew Storen who for all his faults was a capable closer for several years. Continue reading →