Click to Read an Important Member Update Regarding Our Comment System
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.
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Did you expect Bryce Harper to be on the list with Mike Trout and Andrew McCutcheon? We did.
Statcast™ only had 8 players who met or exceeded the minimum criteria, and Ian Desmond is one of those 8 players. The reason Desi made this grouping is because Batting Average was not part of their criteria as it was replaced by “Batting exit velocity of 110 mph or more” and errors weren’t factored into the Fielding criteria.
Here is the Statcast™ “5 Tool” criteria:
Hitting: Batting exit velocity of ≥ 110 mph Hitting for power: Home run distance of ≥ 425 feet Fielding: Route efficiency of ≥ 98 percent Throwing: Throws of ≥ 85 mph Running: Top baserunning speed of ≥ 21 mph
Most players keep milestone baseballs and bats and other mementos from key moments. Trea Turner has already compiled his 1st hit, 1st stolen base, and 1st HR quickly in his career and is filling his trophy shelf quickly. Recall that Ryan Zimmerman who debuted in 2005 had to wait for that 1st HR baseball until 2006.
Trea Turner also hit his 1st HR at Turner Field which we understand is the 1st time a player hit his 1st HR in a park he shares a name with. We checked to see where Justin Turner hit his 1st HR and it was in Minute Maid Park in Houston. Justin Turner hit his 1st Turner Field HR 2 months ago for his only one.
Trea Turner had 2 hits today and a walk and continues to boost his stats in all categories. His HR tied the game at 1-1 and the Braves announcers as usual couldn’t help themselves with this comment:
#Braves' announcer on celebration of Trea Turner's 1st HR: "For a moment I thought there was another National getting mugged in the dugout."
Trea Turner gets the start at 2nd base and Bryce Harper is back in the lineup in CF with the hottest hitter in the MLB (the past 2 games) MdD gets another start!!!!
The Nationals won game #81 at home with great starting pitching and a new-found energy. The Nats displayed some exciting defense that looked like a Web Gem reel which started with a Superman-esque leap mid-air dive by Tyler Moore, yes, Tyler Moore! It saved a run and kept the no-hitter alive. Web Gems added by Dan Uggla, Trea Turner, and Anthony Rendon.
Scherzer kept his no-hitter going into the 8th inning, and around the 6th inning you started to think the no-no was possible. Why not, it’s September 28th.
Matt den Dekker provided the bulk of the offense with another HR, 2 doubles, and continued to pad his slashline as he ended the day with a BA of .276, and that’s a 61 point improvement in just 2 games. Ramos added an oppo HR and Scherzer went 2-3 pushing his BA above Mendoza, and Trea Turner went 1-3 with a walk.
Should it be a surprise to anyone that Papelbon is listed on the line-up card for available pitchers? All this means is that of right now Papelbon has not accepted any type of suspension including his appealed 3 day suspension for the plunking of Machado. As we learned in our previous post, working through a team suspension is not easy as it is covered by the 2012 CBA (collective bargaining agreement) that all teams and players must abide by and there is no specific language for fighting with a teammate in the CBA. As much as we don’t like it, this is a process.
The Nats do have a 3pm makeup game against the Reds today and the Nats roll-out a split-squad type of line-up with a glimpse of the future and the past. Trea Turner starts at shortstop and Dan Uggla starts at 2nd base. Max Scherzer is the pitcher.
Here is your line-up and updates to follow:
MAT CF
Turner SS
Rendon 3B
CRob 1B
Ramos C
TyMo LF
MdD RF
Uggla 2B
Scherzer P
Brandon Finnegan, one of the stars of the 2014 Royals will start for the Reds. He is a hard throwing lefty and this will be the 1st time the Nats have faced him.
BREAKING 12:42: According to our sources, Papelbon will immediately accept the 3 game suspension for plunking Machado
BREAKING 1:38PM EST: With the 3 game MLB suspension and 4 game suspension from the Nats, Papelbon is indeed done for the season and confirms what our sources said were the intention to accomplish.
UPDATE 2:10PM EST: Papelbon accepted and will not appeal the Nats 4 game suspension without pay according to our sources.
7:30AM EST: Our sources: Nats will discuss with MLBPA and Papelbon’s agent to send Jonathan Papelbon home for the remainder of the season! This is not easy to do as player’s have rights, especially a veteran player. The collective bargaining agreement is 298 pages and of course does not have specific language to cover fights in the dugout.
More to follow as we have the information.
8:00AM EST: Outside of suspensions covered specifically for drug suspensions, there are detailed agreements between the MLB and the player’s union as to what teams and the MLB can and cannot do.
Three years ago Delmon Young was suspended 7 games by MLB without pay following his arrest on a hate crime harassment charge in New York City.
Here is an excerpt from the collective bargaining agreement:
Disputes 9.(b) All disputes between the Player and the Club which are covered by the Grievance Procedure as set forth in the Basic Agreement shall be resolved in accordance with such Grievance Procedure.
We are not lawyers but terminating the contract appears to be in the realm of possibilities which would automatically turn Papelbon into a Free Agent and the Nationals would be responsible for his $11 million salary for 2016.
Here is an excerpt from the collective bargaining agreement:
By Club 7.(b) The Club may terminate this contract upon written notice to the Player (but only after requesting and obtaining waivers of this contract from all other Major League Clubs) if the Player shall at any time: (1) fail, refuse or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship
This Harper and Papelbon altercation will be the biggest story to end the season. The comments that Bryce made about the Papelbon plunking calling it “tired” and Bryce made it about himself saying he would be the target of the Orioles on the finale of the series.
Here it is:
Bryce Harper called Papelbon hitting Machado "tired". He said he wouldn't be surprised to get hit tomorrow. #Nats.
Papelbon still has that 3 game appealed suspension hanging over him. We will see what happens from here.
Matt Williams wouldn’t give details on the fight calling it “a family issue and we will deal with it this way”. Matt Williams said that Papelbon is “his closer”.
Papelbon said “I was wrong there and I told him that. He has a brother. I have a brother. We are all brothers here. In light of that I was wrong. We are all brothers here. The next day you give each other a hug. I think Bryce understands where I’m coming from.” He went on to say, “Emotions spill over”. Papelbon said it didn’t come from the plunking of Machado incident when asked by the media if that started the issue. “You have to admit when you’re wrong. You have a brotherly relationship. We will come closer together”.
That’s one way to defuse the situation but will Bryce Harper be okay going forward with Papelbon.
Bryce when asked about the altercation, “Just getting ready for the next 6 days” and looks like he is taking tomorrow off as a scheduled day off. Bryce repeated the “next 6 games” quote several times which was reminiscent of Marshawn Lynch at the Super Bowl press conferences.
Bryce was asked if he’s fought with a teammate before, “I’m used to fighting with the other team”. A media member told Bryce that Papelbon said he apologized and Harper responded, “He apologized. So whatever. [pause] I really don’t care. It’s like brothers fighting. That’s what happens”.
The 79-75 Nats will not be playing for the post-season in 2015; however, there are some players with something to prove in the remaining 8 games and we begin to wonder if and when we will see these youngsters play.
Take a long look in the mirror and heed the words of Max Scherzer:
Max Scherzer: "Everybody in this clubhouse needs to reflect on what happened this year and why we weren’t able to achieve our goals." #Nats
A.J. Cole hasn’t pitched in a game since his last start in AAA-Syracuse almost 4 weeks ago. It seems like he wouldn’t even be available to pitch with that length of time off the mound. The same for Taylor Jordan who hasn’t seen any big league action since the Minor Leagues.
The position players we are clamoring to see extended looks of are Trea Turner, Wilmer Difo and Pedro Severino.
Trea Turner in the month of September (small sample size 10 PAs) is batting .500 with a .600 OBP and .625 slugging % and only 1 K and 2 SBs. Compare that to Ian Desmond in the month of September (large sample size 104 PAs) is batting .209 with a .275 OBP and .286 slugging % and 33 Ks and no stolen bases and 1 caught stealing.
The good news is the end is near and today’s pitching match-up is a good one between Stephen Strasburg and the Phillies #1 pitcher Aaron Nola who the Nats just faced 12 days ago and knocked him around for 6 runs over 5 innings.
To give you an idea of how things are with the team, it’s been reported that Scherzer’s pet dog took a deuce in centerfield. Is it a coincidence that Michael A. Taylor is out of the lineup and not playing centerfield:
A reminder on Nola who was the 7th overall pick in the 1st round of the 2014 Draft. This will be Nola’s 13th career start and he has a 3.84 ERA but his starts are either very good or not so good. Nola has 2 shutouts and 3 starts giving up 1 run and 1 start giving up 2 runs. Of course his worst starts were against the Mets giving up 6 runs and against the Nats.
This could be Jordan Zimmermann’s last home start of his career in Washington, DC. Jordan Zimmermann takes the mound on Jordan Zimmermann bobblehead day.
Could this also be the day that the line-up has Trea Turner starting and that it remains that way for the rest of the season? Nats fans seem to want a glimpse of the future now.
The Phillies will pitch another rookie with Jerad Eickhoff who came over from Texas in the Cole Hamels trade and Eickhoff had a great debut. This will be his 7th start and he brings in a 3.16 ERA and some impressive stats.
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.