Breaking: Daniel Murphy officially named to the Washington Nationals

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Nats make Murphy signing official and per our source that we quoted last week Erik Davis was DFA’d.

It’s been no secret that Daniel Murphy was acquired via Free Agency on December 24th as Jim Bowden broke the news.  The initial news of the acquisition came as a bit of a surprise to many as even Ken Rosenthal said that Murphy was a low priority for the Nats, but after the Brandon Phillips deal dissolved Rizzo went back to his priority of getting that lefty bat which he accomplished with this signing as the cost to acquire a middle infielder through a trade was too high. Continue reading →

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Can Rizzo pull off the 11th hour trade to balance the 40 man roster while improving the 25 man roster?

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Bill Ladson with some breaking news on Daniel Murphy per his tweet says

“New #Nationals infielder Daniel Murphy will take his physical Wednesday and will likely have a press conference Thursday, according to a baseball source. #Nats #MLB“

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That was then and this is now. 12 days and counting on Daniel Murphy #Nats

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Today is the 5th of January of 2016,  and we all found out over 12 days ago on the afternoon before Christmas Eve that Rizzo inked Daniel Murphy to a deal pending a physical.

This was written in the Washington Post on 12/24/15: “Because the agreement is pending a physical exam, which will take place after the holidays, the Nationals have not yet announced the deal. “

We later were told again via the Washington Post that the physical would be done after the Holidays and that tidbit was written on December 28th leading us to believe New Years.  Many had assumed ‘Holidays’ meant Christmas, and they would be wrong.  Which ‘Holidays’ were the Washington Post referring to?  Was the holiday Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years, or should we get real creative and stretch that to January 18th for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday?  Very nebulous on when to expect the news conference so we continue to wait.

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The employment model of supply and demand with MLB teams

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

From Opening Day to August 31st, there are only 750 employed Major League baseball players (plus disabled list players) at any one time.  That breaks down to 150 starting pitchers, 210 relief pitchers, and 390 position players.

There’s only 30 starting centerfielder jobs in the MLB and Denard Span wants one of those jobs.  His resumé is written and his issue is proving that he can do the job at the highest levels due to previous injuries to his hip and abdomen. The word that came out last week was that Span auditioned for teams and today Span put out a short video on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/thisisdspan/status/684047970493403136

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Decisions, decisions. #Nats must make roster moves. Talk Nats

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

There is some very simple math in the roster shuffle that the 40 man roster can’t ever go above 40.  Simple math doesn’t make the reduction in staff simple.

If the Nats don’t make any trades of players on the 40 man roster to reduce the roster down to 38 players,  then as soon as the Nationals officially announce the signings of Daniel Murphy and Stephen Drew the Nats must also give the corresponding moves to remove players from the 40 man roster via the dreaded DFA (Designated For Assignment).  Most likely the Nats have already contemplated the DFAs and could be announcing the fate of those players simultaneously along with the new signings. In the meantime we will still hold out hope for that rumored trade(s) since Rizzo is due for his annual blockbuster!

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The Fallacy of 5 Starters

Posted on January 3, 2016 by DonH

There has been a lot of discussion lately about trading Gio. And many of those suggesting it do qualify that suggestion by saying that the Nats should first sign a Free Agent starter.

In 2015, the Nationals had 9 different pitchers who started games:

  • Max, Jordan and Gio all started 30+ games.
  • Strasburg started 20+ games
  • Roark, Ross and Fister started between 10 and 19 games
  • And two pitchers, AJ Cole and Taylor Jordan each started one game.

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Book Report: Kiss the Sky by Dusty Baker

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Power Boater

Name the title, author, and the number of pages:
Kiss the Sky: My Weekend in Monterey at the Greatest Concert Ever, Dusty Baker, 155 pages

Identify the type of book:
Autobiography

Identify the main characters:
Dusty Baker: Author and protagonist, Dusty details growing up in California, listening to all sorts of music during the San Francisco hippie movement and his early days playing sports. Followed by his success on the ball field which allowed him to meet many of his musician heroes.

Jimi Hendrix: Rock and Roll God who Baker idolized having seen him in concert.

Hank Aaron: All time baseball great who Baker played with during his early seasons in professional baseball. Continue reading →

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47 days to Spring Training & Rizzo has more work to do. Let’s Talk Nats!

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

New Years seems so yesterday! Spring Training has an official reporting date on February 18th for MLB, and players will start reporting to Viera Florida long before Spring Training officially begins.

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New Year, New Hope, New Expectations, New #Nats

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

As we turn the calendar from 2015 to 2016, we can finally refer to 2015 as last year.  This year brings new hope and many new faces led by new manager Dusty Baker and a revamped coaching staff which includes 5 new coaches:  bench coach Chris Speier and 1st base coach Davey Lopes, pitching coach Mike Maddux, bullpen coach Dan Firova, and assistant hitting coach Jacque Jones.  There is also a totally revamped medical and training staff that is a new concept to baseball designed around data and prevention to keep players on the field instead of the DL.

The Nats have said goodbye to Yunel Escobar who was traded to the Angels and Jordan Zimmermann  signed with the Detroit Tigers, and there is very little chance that Dan Uggla, Ian Desmond, Casey Janssen, Matt Thornton or Doug Fister would return for 2016, although it is possible that Denard Span could re-sign as the Nats still have that need for a lead-off lefty centerfielder, and Span fits that need.

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

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A Trip through history: Negro Southern Leagues Museum

Posted on December 31, 2015 by ArVaFan aka Laura Peebles

Negro Southern Leagues Museum

If you ever find yourself with an hour or two to spare in Birmingham, head over to the Negro Southern Leagues Museum, located right next to Regions Park (home of the Birmingham Barons). It’s open year round, admission free (amazingly enough, it’s the only museum I’ve ever been to that doesn’t solicit donations). No restrictions on photography, which is also unusual for any museum.

In addition to the narrative history of the many Negro Leagues, the process of integrating southern baseball, a collection of signed balls, video interviews with former players, and exhibits of old gear and uniforms, there is memorabilia associated with some famous and not-so-famous teams and players. Did you know the Harlem Globetrotters were a baseball team before they were a basketball team? I also found it interesting that many players played winter ball on integrated teams in Mexico long before the major leagues integrated.

Robinson Jersey NSLM 12 2015

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