Thanksgiving & a Road Trip in search of the Holy Grail of Bryce Harper Memorabilia

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Andrew Lang

Treasure hunting isn’t always limited to searching for a Pirates booty as we drove on dry land and into the mountains on our way into Pittsburgh Pirates territory deep into Pennsylvania to meet a Bryce Harper collector who was interested in selling one of the rarest of Bryce Harper items in existence.  A true treasure in the world of sports memorabilia. What we would later learn about the Bryce Harper item became a true Thanksgiving story. Continue reading →

Posted in Giolito, Harper | Leave a comment

Black Friday is here. Buy buy buy buy, re-gift, re-gift, trade. Holiday Gift Guide #Nats

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

We did our pre-Black Friday piece with buy and re-gift suggestions and now we will give you some excerpts from that post.

Big gifts to fill these holes:

  • Bullpen
  • Left-handed bat
  • Lead-off hitter

Mike Rizzo also wants to re-gift to some fellow GMs:

  • Jonathan Papelbon
  • Drew Storen

Some special gifts for the discerning Nats fan—this might be the best suggestion out there to anyone who is a fan of MLB.TV and the advanced at-bat features and wants it for FREE through April 30 2016. Start at http://shop.mlb.com/home/index.jsp and make a purchase, any purchase. May I suggest these festive Nats winter socks? NAT WINTER SOCKS  Full details below: Continue reading →

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Giving thanks on our first Thanksgiving together!

Posted on November 26, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

There’s that funny theory that questions if a falling tree in a forest really makes noise if there is nobody around to hear it, and the same could be said for a blog as to whether it exists if nobody reads it.  Thanks to you all we get read and shared and have become a thriving Nats community.

https://twitter.com/JWerthsBeard/status/669881456097804288

Continue reading →

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Thanksgiving Eve and Clubhouse Chemistry & 25 co-workers #Nats Bryce Harper and Jonathan Papelbon

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

On this Thanksgiving Eve, we look back to all we are thankful for, but also what we take for granted.  We get ready to hang out for the Holidays with family and friends. It gets you thinking how difficult it is in this world, in this country, in this community for everyone to get along.  It takes some effort to co-exist peacefully and thoughtfully.

It also gets you thinking that we get along well here because we have moderators and filters and protections against those who want to cause problems, but in a clubhouse or even a dugout or the typical workplace, there isn’t always that peacemaker to make sure everyone gets along all the time.

At home growing up, you had Mom to keep the peace. She isn’t there looking over her 34 year old son and how he gets along with his 22 year old co-worker. Yes, Papelbon and Harper are co-workers. They aren’t buddies, pals, or friends, they are simply put, highly compensated co-workers.  Papelbon said they are like brothers, but do you really buy that? If you believe Ryan Zimmerman, watch and listen to his interview:

zimmerman_MLB Network

Listen and watch this first:  MLB NETWORK INTERVIEW WITH RYAN ZIMMERMAN 

Continue reading →

Posted in Dusty, Harper, Papelbon, RyanZimmerman | Leave a comment

Proposed MLB Schedule Changes

Posted on November 25, 2015 by DonH

In a recent post (Exactly who are the DHs in the AL?) coolhandbane suggested an article on shortening the MLB schedule. And Laura Peebles mentioned double-headers and problems that MLB has in scheduling make-up games for rain-outs given that many teams don’t have common off-days. Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, PostSeason, Schedule | Leave a comment

Projecting the starting rotation for the 2016 Washington Nationals

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

At the GM Meetings in Boca Raton, Mike Rizzo was asked about the starting rotation for the 2016 season and said, “I’m happy sliding Tanner and Joe in the rotation. With that said, you can never have enough good starting pitching.”  That’s as much as you can get Mike Rizzo to commit to at this time, and Dusty Baker will pencil in his mind his rotation with the full knowledge that things can change and often do.

If we take Rizzo’s suggestion on sliding Tanner Roark and Joe Ross into the rotation, this is what the starters and reserves will look like:

Starters 2016

 

Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Bullpen, CoachingStaff, Gio, Giolito, Ramos, Roark, Roster, Scherzer, Starters, Strasburg | Leave a comment

The Closer. Not all relievers are created equally. Mike Maddux must mentor and teach.

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

As Nats fans, the postseason heartache is all too painful with wins turned into losses from BS (Blown Saves) from the Closer spot. Mike Rizzo has tried and tried to upgrade the closer spot and this off-season will prove to be a “wait and see” as to who the presumptive 2016 closer is.  Rumors say it could be Aroldis Chapman or it could be Papelbon.

As we did our Bud Black interviews in October, and  listened to the Luke Gregerson tape we had, it became clearer that Closers aren’t a finished product until well into their career. Gregerson talked about early failures and learning from it. He talked about evolving and that relievers “must have short memories” as he talked about failures. Besides Eric Gagné who holds the record for consecutive saves, try to find a closer with 25 straight saves without a BS, and there aren’t many.

Can Mike Maddux be the mentor that Storen, Martin,  Treinen, Barrett, Grace and Rivero need to reach their full potential as well as youngsters like Koda Glover who looks good in the system. One of the positives if Bud Black took the Manager’s job was his handling of relievers, and Bud had Trevor Hoffman for his last year as a Padre and saw one of the best ever save 42.  Then Black transformed Heath Bell into a full-time closer as he became one of the best in baseball and his 3 All-Star seasons were all while Black was his Manager. Then Bud got Huston Street as his closer for 2 1/2 seasons. Now the job of mentor and leader will be with Mike Maddux who Mike Rizzo made the highest paid pitching coach in the Majors.

Continue reading →

Posted in BudBlack, Bullpen, CoachingStaff, Dusty, Papelbon, Storen | Leave a comment

Pre-Black Friday shopping list for Mike Rizzo #Nats

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Mike Rizzo has to buy some gifts for his new manager Dusty Baker, and we aren’t talking about a shirt and tie combination.  Rizzo has only given Dusty some housewarming gifts in Mike Maddux, Chris Speier, Davey Lopes, Jacque Jones, and Rick Schu for his coaching staff, and Chris Heisey was a player from Dusty’s past who was signed to a Minor League deal.

Big gifts to fill these holes:

  • Bullpen
  • Left-handed bat
  • Lead-off hitter

Mike Rizzo also wants to re-gift to some fellow GMs:

  • Jonathan Papelbon
  • Drew Storen

Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Bullpen, CoachingStaff, Dusty, FreeAgents, Harper, Jayson, MedicalStaff, Papelbon, Roster, Storen | Leave a comment

Exactly who are the DHs in the AL?

Posted on November 21, 2015 by DonH

In the Time for MLB to get rid of the DH article, there were a few interesting questions by our readers. For example:

  • Who are the DHs
  • How many teams have a dedicated DH vs. using it to rest position players.

This first chart shows for each AL team how the DH role is distributed. About half of the AL teams have a single DH who accounts for most of the games. There are a few where it seems to be spread around a bit more. The chart below shows the pattern of DH usage for each AL team. Continue reading →

Posted in Sabermetrics | Leave a comment

Trade Winds Are Blowing Towards Nashville #Nats #Rizzo

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

On December 7th, the Winter Meetings will begin, and you have to wonder with all the early trade action with Kimbrel and Andrelton Simmons if more big trades will happen before Nashville.  Can the GMs hold off another 17 days to get to Nashville and the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center to do some more blockbuster trades?

So far, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo has been quiet on major moves as so far.  On Rizzo’s ledger is signing Sean Burnett and Reed Johnson to MiLB deals with Spring Training invites and adding Kieboom, Lee and Bostick to the Nats 40 man roster as a protection from the Rule 5 Draft. Continue reading →

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