Mar 10
I recently answered a few questions for Daniel Shoptaw’s “C70 At the Bat” St Louis Cardinals blog about the Nationals prospects for the 2013 season. My answers are below: 1) How would you grade the offseason?I’d give it an A. The Nationals acquired players to shore up their two most glaring weaknesses: Speed in the …
Jan 31
Two members of the team that brought baseball back to Washington have hung up their spikes. Nick Johnson is calling it a career after 10 seasons, and Brian Schneider is retiring after 13 years in the big leagues. You may never see their names in the Ring of Stars at Nationals Park, but they are …
Jan 16
The Nationals have completed the eagerly-anticipated Michael Morse trade, a three-team deal with the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics that will leave some of the major players with a sense of deja vu. According to The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore and other media outlets, Morse returns to his first big league organization, Seattle, while the …
Jan 15
The pain of the Nationals’ bullpen collapse against the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series must still be fresh in general manager Mike Rizzo’s mind. How else to explain his move to burnish a bullpen that is already stocked with right-handers with the signing of a former All-Star right-hander who has been …
Jan 08
Nationals General Manger Mike Rizzo has the patience to wait for what he wants, and now that patience is being rewarded with the re-signing of one of baseball’s premier first basemen and a potential trade windfall. Rizzo’s offer to Adam LaRoche hasn’t changed substantially since LaRoche became a free agent following a season in which …
Dec 05
For those who were looking for Nationals GM Mike Rizzo to make a blockbuster trade involving Mike Morse or sign a big money free agent, the annual baseball winter meetings must have been a disappointment. But for fans expecting Rizzo to continue his practice of finding talent at bargain prices, they were satisfying enough. Rizzo …
Nov 29
The Nationals’ search for a leadoff hitter is seemingly over, now that the team has traded for speedy center fielder Denard Span. But with a surplus of outfielders, what future moves does this trade portend? After running through an assortment of leadoff hitters last year that included Ian Desmond, Steve Lombardozzi and finally Jayson Werth …
Oct 19
I got to be 11, all over again this summer, thanks to the greatest season in Washington Nationals history, and my boy, Mark. Growing up in the suburbs of Washington, baseball was not a huge part of my life. When I was 11, in 1975, I could still remember the Senators and their move to …
Oct 15
Let’s face it, for the fans of 29 teams, the end of the baseball season is hard to take. To be sure, it’s harder in some cities than in others. Here in Washington, after watching seven regular seasons mercifully conclude with the reality of a losing team, we got not only our first winning season, …
Oct 12
After Chad Tracy grounded out to end the eighth inning and leave the score tied at 1-1 in Thursday’s National League Division Series Game 4, a friend turned to me and asked, “Deep down, in your heart of hearts, you really wanted a walkoff, didn’t you?” Who would want anything else? Didn’t every one of …
