ESPN Baseball Tonight visits Viera and quotes aplenty! #Nats

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Bryce Harper played catch while being interviewed  by Karl Ravech, who along with John Kruk and the ESPN Baseball Tonight staff, descended on Viera with their video crew. They picked a few Nats to talk to for some great quotes. It was also the same day that Dusty called for a team scrimmage that was open to the public and attendance was free.

The Nats intra-squad scrimmage was ‘Team Scherzer’ against ‘Team Ross’ and there were some impressive plays all day, and KGWCoach gave us a play-by-play today of the scrimmage and emailed us a few more thoughts, and we say thank you for that Ken!

“Turner looked good yesterday and today. Ramos had a couple of good hits today. There were about 4 other…” — kgwcoach http://disq.us/9a31co

“Something I didn’t explain. At the end of each half inning, they did a bunt drill. Men on first and second and called different defenses.  Worked on catcher calling for throw first/third.  If there was four pitches without a bunt, they did a pickoff play.

Any ball in the dirt runners were going. Turner stole a base easily.

All the minor league players that weren’t suited to play were sitting in the stands behind home plate. KW”

Continue reading →

Posted in Roster, SpringTraining | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Breaking: Ian Desmond reported to be going to the Texas Rangers

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

It looks like Ian Desmond found a 1 year pillow deal with the Texas Rangers.  More to follow!  Once the Ian Desmond deal is official, the Nats will move up to the 28th and 29th spots in the Draft Order as the Rangers will forfeit their #19 pick moving everyone behind them up a spot.

Screenshot_2016-02-28-10-18-04

This has to be bittersweet for Desi and now it is up to him to improve his situation for next year.

Rumor has it that Desi will play LF for the Rangers although it’s entirely possibly he will be extra insurance if needed in the infield.

desi

Screenshot_2016-02-28-10-48-58

Posted in FreeAgents | Leave a comment

The Bryce Harper Lifetime Deal—What’s the rush?

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Bryce Harper is under contract in the employment of the Washington Nationals through an unknown date in early November of 2018. There is certainly many possibilities of what can happen in the future, and while time is finite, there should not be an immediate rush to ink Bryce Harper to an extension. With that said, sooner is better than later as shown with history, and history also knows that negotiating with Scott Boras won’t be easy. Bryce already might think the starting point begins at $400 million….but don’t sell him short! That is today. Market conditions change and the upcoming CBA could change the dynamics. Free agent years can play havoc on a player’s stress level. Look what it did to Ian Desmond.

Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton currently has the largest contract in MLB history after inking a 13 year, $325 million deal in 2014, and that averages to just $25 million a year. Stanton signed that deal at 24 years old.  Stanton’s best WAR season was in 2014 at 6.5 while Harper achieved a 9.9 last year. Both players have had their issues with staying healthy. Stanton has averaged 4.17 WAR/YR. It puts him right at that magic $6 million per point of WAR which is where Fangraphs had projected it.

What is Bryce Harper worth? As they say, whatever someone is willing to pay him.

Tagged | Leave a comment

Friday in Viera wraps up with Scherzer vs Harper in BP

Posted on February 26, 2016 by ArVaFan aka Laura Peebles

Hi, this is Laura (ArVaFan) with a final report for February

Feb. 26, 2016
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.—A whole lotta people, including me.
So, we’re driving up I-95 to Sanford to catch the auto train back to DC.

Lemon: Checked my email, and there’s one from Amtrak: please call this number regarding your reservation. That is unlikely to be good news, and it wasn’t: train delayed at least two hours (turned out to be a 9 hour delay, if we’re lucky).

Lemonade: next exit was Space Coast Stadium, we arrived in time to see the end of the warmups. Next step was explaining to all the folks I’d said goodbye to yesterday why we were back today.

Bryce got to play catch with his favorite partner today. Werth was back, looking shaggy as ever. Not feeling 100%, but a lot better than yesterday (I had a chance to chat with him as he went between fields). He kept up with most of the drills, although he did sit down rather than stand around while waiting for batting practice. Yes, he was wearing his wrist guard for batting practice. At the conditioning drills at the end, the trainer asked him if he wanted to be excused if he wasn’t feeling well, and he said “no.” He was still keeping up with Bryce on those drills.

laura 26 reed johnson excercise
Continue reading →

Posted in SpringTraining | Leave a comment

The Old Red Hat with the Curly W #Nats

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Ray Wyvill

Old-Hat-1-2 As Spring beckons and the players work through Training it’s also time to say “Good Bye” to what feels like an old friend. The old red hat started out as a stadium purchase in 2012. It was clean, beautiful, and bright red. Today it’s faded, threadbare, worn through in spots, and totally spent. It’s time for the trash.

Team hats go through stages. There’s the “New Hat” phase where it’s pristine. It’s the hat to wear to the stadium, or to the family picnics. Then there’s the day you walk into the stadium store and the sales guy says, “That hat used to be red. It’s time for a new one.” You turn to the spouse. “Didn’t I just buy this?” The knowing eyes roll: “No, Dear. It was two years ago and he’s right, you need a new one…just like I’ve been telling you.” Ok. At that point it’s demoted to “Commute Hat.” The usage goes up to every work day. This goes on until it starts fraying on the bill. Then it becomes “Yard Hat.” At that point the days are decidedly sweaty, long, and numbered. Yard Hat is the toughest existence of all.
Continue reading →

Posted in Feature | Leave a comment

UPDATED: The future of the #Nats in Viera

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Andrew Lang

Here is a fantastic group of photos from Gerry Gleckel which gives you a look at several Nats up close.

Under the watchful eye of Nick Johnson, the Nats 1st baseman rotated in a group of Ryan Zimmerman, Tyler Moore, and Clint Robinson. Nick was giving pointers on positioning and angles to the bag. Clint Robinson was looking much better out there getting down on groundballs.
gerry nick johnson
Continue reading →

Posted in SpringTraining | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Trea Turner should start over Espinosa #TalkNats

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Alex Ross

Why Turner should start over Espinosa:
by: Alex Ross, age 7, Gaithersburg, MD

I really think that Trea Turner should start over Danny Espinosa.

alexross2
Continue reading →

Tagged | Leave a comment

Hope Springs Eternal….It’s a new year, new hopes and dreams. #Nats

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Hope Springs Eternal is something I’ve written about in Spring Training for years.  Hope Springs Eternal was originally a poem of a different meaning, and it’s been a title of books. To me, the eternal meaning of the years as they go by forever never changes what’s in our hearts, and each year you have the new seasons and every Spring we find new hope.  If we lose our hope, then we lose our dreams. This year starts those new dreams, and the games are played on the field of dreams.

Hope will come in different sizes and shapes……..

Photo by Laura Peebles

Photo by Laura Peebles

Hope will come from within, and be placed upon those who can look up and beyond, and those on the roster who must stay healthy, and beat the expectations.

donald miralle 1

Continue reading →

Posted in CoachingStaff, SpringTraining | Tagged | Leave a comment

Another Beautiful Day in Viera #TalkNats

Posted on February 23, 2016 by ArVaFan aka Laura Peebles

Spring Training Feb. 23, 1016

“I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean”—Lee Ann Womak, I Hope You Dance

laura Sunrise Feb 23
Continue reading →

Posted in SpringTraining | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A busy Monday in Viera

Posted on February 22, 2016 by ArVaFan aka Laura Peebles

Spring Training, Viera, Feb. 22, 2016
There’s nothing as beautiful as a sunrise over a beach . . . except a sunset over a ballgame.—ME

Yep, got up and took a jog on the beach before heading out. Watched the willets and sanderlings dibbing for their breakfast, and had a stare-down with a couple of terns who didn’t want to get up when I approached. I agree with A-Rod: running in the sand is a great way to disguise how slow you are.

But I digress. On to the fields, where although we arrived later than yesterday, so did the P & C. Susan at the gate informed me that in the DJ (and earlier) eras, the players could either walk over, or take a van that deposited them at the gate (then there was a “string course” to get them to the field without too much fan interference). MW had made them take the van or the golf carts over, so now that seems to be the routine for the players—although Dusty walked over, with one coach, while we were talking. Could have gotten him to sign my hat, but I already have that.

The camp seems more relaxed than last year. It’s not just one thing: it’s a sum of several little things (the timing of the drills, the air horn being more of a suggestion than an order, the amount of laughter between the players and coaches, Dusty teasing a few players, one of the coaches walking in singing “It’s a beautiful day for a ball game.”)

Pap did not get a separate ride over today. He seemed in high spirits greeting his teammates. Dusty did spend some time talking with him during the calisthenics portion of the workout.
laura Pap & Dusty
The team didn’t do the stretch that led to the Papelbon pretzel yesterday, so you’ll have to settle for this:
laura backsides
Had a chance to chat with Michael Barrett, the minor league catching coordinator. He’s not related to Aaron: they compared genealogies and they didn’t match up. Michael will be traveling to all the minor league teams.

Continue reading →

Posted in SpringTraining | Tagged , , | Leave a comment