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

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

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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Dusty Baker talks Jeff Kent. Lessons in Dugout Fights. Can Papelbon co-exist with Bryce Harper?

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Dusty Baker called into MLB Network Radio on the “Inside Pitch” show hosted by Jim Bowden and Casey Stern yesterday. The “Inside Pitch”show airs weekdays starting at 2pm EST on Sirius XM. http://www.siriusxm.com/MLBNetworkRadio

It was a long interview that was lengthened when Dusty lost his cellphone connection twice.  At one part of the interview Dusty seemed to digress to a text message he received from Jeff Kent and then Dusty corrected himself that it was actually an email from Jeff Kent which Dusty revealed,

“Tell my soul Mormon brother don’t play so angry ’cause you will make it harder on yourself”

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Dusty Baker talks on MLB Network Radio, worth a listen.

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Dusty Baker this afternoon had a call-in interview on MLB Network Radio on the “Inside Pitch” show hosted by Jim Bowden and Casey Stern.  Stern has a relationship with Dusty from his on-air TV work with Dusty. Dusty’s intro from Stern was “my friend and a brotha from another mother” which set the tone as a lighthearted interview.

This is just 4 minutes on the link in the Tweet from Dusty’s interview:

Dusty said that Ted Lerner personally called to tell him don’t believe what you’re hearing in the media about the Nats managerial job meaning the job was not necessarily going to Bud Black and shortly afterwards his agent John Hamilton was negotiating the deal with the Nats.

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Posted in BudBlack, CoachingStaff, Dusty, Harper, Lerners, RizzoForADay | Leave a comment

More than just baseball – the Nationals Dream Foundation

Posted on November 13, 2015 by DonH

The Hot Stove season is long and there are only so many what if stories we can come up with during the winter. We thought that an occasional story about things the Nationals do off the field might be of interest to Nationals fans. Most of us know about honoring military folks at every game. And a lot of us have heard that the Nationals have created the Dream Foundation, but very few of us know much about the activities it is involved with. Continue reading →

Posted in Jayson, NationalsPhilanthropies | Leave a comment

Proposed Rule Change: Relievers must face two batters

Posted on November 12, 2015 by DonH

One of the reports out of the GM meeting was that support was growing for a rule change that would require a reliever to face at least two batters. There was little or no detail about how the rule would be implemented. For example, does the reliever have to start the next inning if he has only one PA, but he gets the third out? Continue reading →

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The SB Meetings, uh, GM Meetings were real busy today with #Nats News

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Scott Boras was the center of attention at the GM Meetings today at the Boca Raton resort today in Florida. Boras had many subjects to talk about today which included talk on everything from Bryce Harper to Max Scherzer to Stephen Strasburg to Denard Span.

The other agents name that sounds like “Boras” is Jeff Borris who is recognized by few. He’s the agent at Beverly Hills Sports Council and reps Darren O’Day who is the most popular reliever this year given the very light crop of Free Agent relievers. Even the bullpen rich Royals are rumored to have their GM, Dayton Moore, in touch with Borris.

The center of the universe at the SB meeting!

Screenshot_2015-11-12-12-13-28_1

 

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Projecting The #Nats 2016 Payroll

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nats 2015 payroll moved the team into the upper echelon with the big spenders moneyballbreaking into a figure firmly in the Top 1/2 Dozen for Opening Day 2015.  The Nats Opening Day payroll was #6 according to Sports Illustrated’s calculation of Opening Day payrolls at $162,014,559.  The 2016 Opening Day payroll budget for the Nats is almost certainly known by Mike Rizzo at this time; however, without the MASN settlement for RSN rights, don’t expect the payroll to far exceed 2015’s $162 million figure.

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Nats News | -n- Notes. Groundbreaking, MASN quaking, GMs Taking, Dusty Baking, Desi Aching, Stupid Trading

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Nats Groundbreaking Ceremony Was Today in West Palm Beach

While the bulldozers have been on site for weeks, the ribbon cutting was today on the 2017 Spring Training home for the Nats and Astros.

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Posted in Breaking, CoachingStaff, Dusty, Lerners, MASN, NewsAndNotes, NLEast, Prospects, Strasburg | Leave a comment

Who are your Free Agent Reliever Targets? #Nats

Posted on November 9, 2015 by DonH

It is pretty clear that Mike Rizzo needs to build a better bullpen for 2016 than he did in 2015. Continuing our Rizzo for a Day series, who are your free agent reliever targets? Continue reading →

Posted in Bullpen, FreeAgents, RizzoForADay, Sabermetrics | Leave a comment

Nats News | -n- Notes

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Lots of different notes to go through this weekend on Dusty Baker, the training staff, and the health of Denard Span, and whatever happened with managerial candidate Dave Martinez.  Lastly, what’s Bryce up to? Continue reading →

Posted in CoachingStaff, FreeAgents, NewsAndNotes | Leave a comment