The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

The Washington Nationals are in their final week of Grapefruit League games, and we got more cuts yesterday. The final roster might have a surprise or two. You have to think that general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez have their roster set at this point, and have not announced it publicly yet.

Going by stats won’t get you to the roster or the starters. Your top batters in camp are James Wood 1.260 OPS, Cayden Wallace 1.083, Nasim Nunez 1.067, Alex Call .994, Luis Garcia Jr. .992, Andres Chaparro .973, Robert Hassell III .972, CJ Abrams .889, and Paul DeJong .829. Those are your Top-9. And Wallace has been cut, Nunez might be sent to Triple-A, Call will be the fourth outfielder and a bench bat, Chaparro is injured, and Hassell will probably start his season in Triple-A. The same goes for your pitchers. Kyle Finnegan and Evan Reifert have similar stats with a 3.000 WHIP and ERA’s north of 15.00. The difference is Reifert has no MLB saves or appearances. And Rizzo made the correct decision, and returned the Rule-5 Draft Pick, Reifert, to the Tampa Bay Rays this afternoon.  The 40-Man Roster is now at 39.

The Washington Nationals are in their final week of Grapefruit League games that will finish up on Sunday. Today we get to see MacKenzie Gore on the mound, and he is scheduled to pitch next on Saturday as his final tune-up before the regular season starts — and Gore was officially named today as the Opening Day starter.

As part of the Washington Nationals’ 20th anniversary season, the team invited alumni players as guest instructors in camp. Of course Gerardo Parra and Sean Doolittle are on staff as coaches and Ryan Zimmerman is on the team payroll. What has been great to have seen other alumni like Jayson Werth who was there over this past weekend. The other alumni who were scheduled to be in camp included position players: Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa, Adam LaRoche, and Denard Span. These are the alumni pitchers who were scheduled to appear: Tyler Clippard, Aníbal Sánchez, Drew Storen and Jordan Zimmermann. 

The Washington Nationals have two games on the schedule today. The first game is a traditional Spring Training game against the Tampa Bay Rays at the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches at 1:05 pm ET. Shortly after that game ends is an exhibition game of the Nationals top prospects against the Mets top prospects in the final SPRING BREAKOUT game at 5:05 pm ET.

The Washington Nationals have an early evening game today. The battle for the fifth starter’s spot in the rotation will get us another look at Mitchell Parker who starts this game against the Mets. The Nationals offense will get another look at Clay Holmes. He was very good when the Nationals faced him earlier in the week.

The Washington Nationals have two overlapping games on the schedule this afternoon. The first game is the final game of the Nats’ west coast of Florida games, as they play the Atlanta Braves in Venice, Florida. An hour later is the first pitch of the Nationals top prospects who will be playing in their first of two SPRING BREAKOUT games, with the other game on Sunday.

The Washington Nationals have their first road trip outside of their normal comfort zone that has only entailed trips to Jupiter and Port St. Lucie. Today, the Nationals are in Port Charlotte, Florida on the west coast of Florida to play the Tampa Bay Rays. The bus ride is just over three hours. Port Charlotte is south of Sarasota and north of Fort Myers.

Tomorrow, the Nats play the Atlanta Braves. Tonight, the team will stay overnight in the I-75 corridor between close to Venice, Florida. Also on Friday, the Nationals top prospects will be playing in their first of two SPRING BREAKOUT games with the other game on Sunday.

The Washington Nationals are the home team today at the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches again their neighboring Houston Astros. We have no TV coverage on a day when 9-of-the-10 projected Opening Day starters are in the lineup and on the mound for the Nats. MacKenzie Gore is set-up perfectly on regular rest to make the Opening Day start on March 27 which will include a start on Monday then a lighter load with a start on Saturday March 22. Today’s lineup has all projected starters except Luis Garcia Jr. who is probably sitting it out against a lefty starter today (h/t Stever20).

Tomorrow and Friday are long road trips to play the Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves, and you can expect those to be a mixture of minor leaguers and some players with MLB experience. The team will stay overnight on the I-75 corridor between Tampa and Venice, Florida. Also on Friday, the Nationals top prospects will be playing in their first of two SPRING BREAKOUT games with the other game on Sunday.