The Money Bubble

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Laddieblahblah

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Posted in Analysis, MASN | Leave a comment

Breaking: Ben Revere is the #Nats new leadoff man and lefty CF

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

As we say, once Rizzo says he loves the team he has, you better get ready for a trade!

A day earlier:

Rizzo was asked if his roster is now set, “If there’s a value out there that can help the ballclub, then we would certainly look into it, but we like our depth and we like our talent level.  I like the roster. I think we’ve achieved a lot of our goals going into it. We’ve balanced our lineup, we’ve acquired high skill sets, and I think the roster as constructed today is something that we really like.”

A day earlier on if Michael A. Taylor was Rizzo’s guy:

Rizzo said, “[Michael A. Taylor] had a heck of a year for us last year, first of all, for a player that was probably 3 or 4 months ahead of schedule and forced into an everyday role that he probably developmentally wasn’t prepared for, but mentally he came through. Mentally he was extremely prepared, and as the season wore on he got better and better and better every month. And again, I say it when I describe Daniel Murphy, this guy, when the pressure was the biggest, he performed at his best. This guy got as many big hits for us as anyone on the ballclub did last year, and performed extremely well for us. I have very high hopes for Michael Taylor, and a guy we really like.”

Going sjm308 here with Trea Turner batting 9th:

1. Revere CF LH
2. Murphy 2B LH
3. Rendon 3B RH
4. Harper RF LH
5. RZim 1B RH
6. Werth LF RH
7. Ramos C RH
8. Pitcher
9. Turner SS RH

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Depth Chart Updates and Trea Turner listed as starter! #Nats

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

You always wonder who the person(s) are who analyze and compile these team depth charts.  They left 2 relievers off the list ( Oliver Perez and Shawn Kelley) and had Aaron Barrett as the 6th reliever so clearly much to be desired overall.  Trea Turner is listed as the starting shortstop!

 

depth chart

Screengrab from Nationals.com ©

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The rise of Joe “Cool” Ross from the San Antonio Missions to the Majors in less than 1 year

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Joe Ross finished his 2014 season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions in the San Diego Padres system with a lackluster 2014 in the Minors finishing with a 3.92 ERA.  When the Tampa Bay Rays, Padres and Nationals crafted a 3 team trade on December 19th of 2014, it was Wil Myers and Steven Souza and the PTBNL (Player To Be Named Later aka Trea Turner) who were the centerpieces of the trade.

joe ross trea turner

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Daniel Murphy Day at Nats Park or should we say #20 Day!

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

As Daniel Murphy prepares for his presser as the Nats top free agent signed this year, we could look back at this signing as a key to the Nats 2016 success and beyond if all goes according to plan.

Rizzo got Murphy on a team friendly deal that is backloaded to create more room just in case Rizzo makes that 1 big signing!

No photoshops needed anymore to get Murphy pictured in a Nats jersey:

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2016 Nats almost complete! Payroll, 40 man, Opening Day Roster

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

With the official announcements that Daniel Murphy and Stephen Drew are part of the 2016 Nats roster, there is certainly more clarity on the payroll and personnel.  Of course Mike Rizzo will most likely make another tweak or 2 and if he does we will trash these charts and spreadsheets and make edits and publish reworked charts and spreadsheets.

Here is our Opening Day roster projections with 2 spots left for the remaining spot on the bench and the remaining spot in the bullpen: Continue reading →

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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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Posted in RizzoForADay, Roster | Tagged | Leave a comment

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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