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Baseball’s Five Biggest Stories This Off-Season; Ohtani and Stanton Headline

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

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Posted in Analysis | Leave a comment

Mike Rizzo makes a sales pitch for Ohtani; Talks about his Nationals, Bryce Harper, and his own future

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

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Posted in Analysis, DaveMartinez, Lerners, MikeRizzo | Tagged Bryce Harper | Leave a comment

Potential Impact of the MLB Competitive Balance Tax on the Nats Payroll

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Power Boater

Having crossed the MLB Competitive Balance Tax threshold for the first time possibly in 2017, the luxury tax will start to have a major impact on the Nats’ payroll decisions in the upcoming years, that is a fact. What that impact will be is up for speculation for all of us who aren’t on the team’s board of directors. How will the tax affect the 2018 payroll? How with the Nationals plan for the impact for the future beyond 2018? And of course, how will the tax affect the teams ability to retain Bryce Harper?

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Competitive Balance Tax Rules

The tax runs from minimal at first to extremely expensive in both fees and draft picks. For the Nats last year it was only a 20% penalty on the team player expenses exceeding $195 million, reportedly a fairly small amount. However, if the Nats continue to exceed the limit the percent will rise to 30% in 2018 and then to 50% in 2019. Dropping back under the threshold for one season is sufficient to reset the fees back to the 20% level for the next season. For teams exceeding the threshold by $20 million there is an additional 12.5% fee on the overage, and then up to 45% for the excess amount over $40 million, a whopping 85%. Continue reading →

Posted in Lerners, MikeRizzo | Tagged Bryce Harper, Mike Rizzo, Washington Nationals | Leave a comment

Pre-prep for the Winter Meetings; Mike Rizzo and Dave Martinez deal in reality.

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

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Holiday Gift Guide for those who did not get that perfect baseball gift!

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Andrew Lang

Our Holiday Gift Guide has a lot of new items, and there are a few from last year like the baseball-themed Jeep that people inquired about.

We start off with a way for you to click and donate to the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation because it is always a great time to help others.

Most likely everyone will be saving up for the 2018 All-Star game at Nationals Park. The Sunday festivities are very affordable and while the Celebrity Softball game might not be your cup of tea — the All-Star Futures game is a great part of the weekend. Of course there is also the Home Run Derby on the night before the All-Star game which Valerie Camillo of the Nationals stated that there will be dream seats sold to put you in the best seat locations to catch home run baseballs.

If you want something a little more affordable for a baseball experience, Andrew Ross aka Draz will once again be coordinating at least one TalkNats/HSI road trip. Last year’s trip to CitiField was very affordable for the game ticket and premium charter bus transportation for less than $99 which also included a t-shirt.