Exactly who are the DHs in the AL?

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

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Trade Winds Are Blowing Towards Nashville #Nats #Rizzo

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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Bryce Harper: “If they’re not laughing at your dreams, you’re not dreaming big enough.”

Bryce Harper last night was officially named the NL MVP in a unanimous vote from all 30 of the voting baseball writers of the BBWAA who were tasked with choosing the NL MVP.

Bryce had dreams, like all of us do, and the most important one Bryce had didn’t come true, and that was the ‘ring’ that he joked about at Spring Training after Scherzer was signed where he said, “Where’s my ring” in an interview on February 25, 2015.

Bryce’s pre-season interview went viral, and he was widely criticized by those who tried to make that quote more than what it was.

“I mean, that’s unbelievable,” Harper said. “So to be able to have a guy like Scherzer come in, I just started laughing. I was like: ‘Where’s my ring?’ Cause it’s just stupid.”

This is why so many Nats fans love Bryce Harper because he said what his fans were thinking.  The Nats didn’t necessarily need to get Max Scherzer to win the World Series; however, getting Max Scherzer seemed to solidify a strength for the Nats in their starting rotation.  Of course reality plays out, and the Nationals did not even make the playoffs in 2015, and that’s why they play the games.

Personally, Bryce had a historically great 2015 season, and did get some nice hardware in the form of the NL MVP which is the 1st in Washington Nationals history.

nl-mvp-trophy

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Updated: The MVP Award will be announced tonight! Bryce Harper ‘should’ win unanimously.

Bryce Harper will win the NL MVP tonight in a landslide if not unanimously and prove to the world how ‘legit’ he is.  Bryce will also be the first player ever to go from MLB’s most overrated to win the MVP in the same season.  In fact Bryce Harper got 41% of the vote to be named most overrated in the 2015 off-season which was tops in the baseball vote from his fellow players and that is even worse than 2014 when Bryce led the overrated list with 24% of the vote and that is a 71% increase, year over year.  Prediction—Bryce won’t be on the overrated list in 2016.

https://twitter.com/nats_fanly/status/664288196058968065

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1st sign of Spring has Sprung: #Nats announce Spring Training Schedule

Today is a big day in Nats history as Bryce Harper will win the team’s 1st NL MVP award when it’s officially announced tonight.  The Nats also officially announced their Grapefruit League Spring Training Schedule which marks the last year in Viera Florida.

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Time for MLB to get rid of the DH

One of the recurring topics that the talking heads like to talk about during the Hot Stove season is why the NL needs to get with the times and adopt the Designated Hitter. And with the recent announcement of David Ortiz’s retirement, I am sure that it will come up again. Well, let me say that his impending retirement is exactly why the time is now right to get rid of the DH.

There are two arguments for why the NL needs to adopt the DH that drive me crazy. Continue reading

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#Nats transition shows 6 years goes by quickly

The Nats said goodbye last week officially to their most tenured player in Ian Desmond when he turned down his Qualified Offer to become a Free Agent.  Desi was here or there depending how you look at it when he signed with the Montreal Expos out of High School in the 3rd round of the 2004 draft.  The Nats for lack of a better word had ‘garbage’ in the Farm System when the Nats were moved to Washington from Montreal.  Desmond was perhaps the Top Prospect and he was just an A ball player as a Sand Gnat in 2005 in Savannah Georgia before the Nats had transitioned the Minor League homes.

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Updated: #Nats -finally- announce details of a massive medical staff

On October 19th, it was made public that the Nats dismissed their medical training staff led by Lee Kuntz and their head of strength and conditioning John Philbin.  A few days natslater we learned that players were not pleased with their medical care.

The Nats, after several weeks since we announced Paul Lessard was hired, has made his hiring official along with several other Doctors and staff members. We’re not exactly sure why there was a long delay, but believe it was to fully name the entire medical team.

From the Nats Official Blog: “With a focus on being proactive and utilizing injury-prevention techniques, the Washington Nationals announced a new medical structure and expansion on Tuesday, with several personnel additions and changes. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcements.

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The #Nats projected 2016 Opening Day line-up as of today!

The afternoon conversation on the last post was whether Rizzo turns to making a trade or dives into free agency, or both, to add some key players to this 2016 team.

Names bounced around are Ben Zobrist, Gerardo Parra, Denard Span and Dexter Fowler. Only Fowler would require the Nats to forfeit their #1 pick in the 2016 amateur draft as the rest were not Qualified Offered players.

Mike Rizzo last week at the GM Meetings had this to say:

“You’re going to have a team that is going to have 4 or 5 players that are 24 and younger. It’s going to be a younger, less experienced, but more athletic team with more speed. Those are the characteristics that we’re going to bring into the season.”

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Free Agency or Trade Route? What’s the better path? #Nats

We certainly know from Dusty Baker’s radio interview on Friday that Dusty wants a prolific lead-off man and he made it clear that he wasn’t enthused over the Nats lead-off situation.  Dusty said he hadn’t discussed with Rizzo what the budget is or the players he is targeting for the team.

Sol Tucker for TalkNats

Sol Tucker for TalkNats

Casey Sterns during the radio interview said Dusty went through 74 (exaggerating) lead-off men with the Reds.  They discussed how important the lead-off is.  Dusty acknowledged:

“I don’t know if we got that guy yet because the other guys are prone to strikeouts and don’t have that high OBP. We had that guy in Denard Span. I don’t know if we will sign him or have a chance of re-signing him.  I haven’t really talked to Rizzo or the organization yet about potential Free Agents…or what the payroll is going to be…I’m always trying to pump people to get the best team, not only the best team, the best overall balanced team. This is what I’m shooting for.”

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