Mark Zuckerman

Martinez on roster, Murphy and Zimmerman (Nats lose 3-1)

March 23, 2018, 2:12pm

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - As the clock ticks down on spring training and opening day looms in the near future, the Nationals have a pretty good idea what their 25-man roster will look like. "We're close," manager Davey Martinez said today. "I won't say we're quite there yet, but we're close. We've still got a few games left. I just want to leave spring training, get to Washington, play Minnesota (in Tuesday's exhibition game) and get through those days healthy and ready to go for...

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Starting lineups: Nats vs. Astros and Marlins

March 23, 2018, 10:54am

Nationals

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Astros and Marlins

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - It's not exactly ideal to have to play split-squad games this late in the spring. But with an odd number of teams training in both Florida and Arizona, somebody has to split up (or be off) every day of the exhibition season. So the Nationals drew the short straw tonight and will be playing a pair of games: home against the Astros (6:05 p.m. on MASN) and road against the Marlins (7:05 p.m.). Davey Martinez will be staying here in West Palm Beach to watch A.J. Cole start...

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Lineups fun: Martinez may bat pitcher eighth, Harper first

March 22, 2018, 7:45pm

Nationals

Lineups fun: Martinez may bat pitcher eighth, Harper first

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If you've been paying attention to the Nationals' starting lineups in recent days, you've certainly noticed a new wrinkle by manager Davey Martinez, rarely seen in these parts before but a bit more common around the rest of the National League: The pitcher batting eighth. It's happened the last three days, with Stephen Strasburg on Tuesday, Gio Gonzalez on Wednesday and Tanner Roark on Thursday night. And, if we are to believe Martinez, it's going to happen...

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Roark and Kelley roughed up, vow to be ready for regular season

March 22, 2018, 5:37pm

Nationals

Roark and Kelley roughed up, vow to be ready for regular season

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - If there's such a thing as the Dog Days of March, this is it. The Nationals head north Sunday night. They open the season in Cincinnati in one week. They have long since practiced every bunt play and every pickoff move. With only a couple of exceptions, hitters have gotten all the at-bats they need and pitchers have thrown all the innings they need. At this point, everyone simply wants to get through the weekend in one piece and get out of town. Which doesn't...

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Fedde optioned to Triple-A to begin season (Nats lose 12-5)

March 22, 2018, 1:21pm

Nationals

Fedde optioned to Triple-A to begin season (Nats lose 12-5)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - The Nationals expect Erick Fedde to be a significant part of their big league rotation for a long time. But that day won't be coming quite yet. Fedde was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse this afternoon, a move the organization's top pitching prospect had sensed was likely for a while, certainly since the Nationals signed veteran Jeremy Hellickson last week. Though he didn't make the major league roster, Fedde did make an impression on the Nationals' new coaching staff,...

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Starting lineups: Nats vs. Mets in Port St. Lucie

March 22, 2018, 11:13am

Nationals

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Mets in Port St. Lucie

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - If now is the time to start really preparing for the regular season, the Nationals are doing so by playing back-to-back night games. Might as well, right? This stretch of two games under the lights - unusual for spring training - begins tonight on the road against the Mets and concludes Friday with split-squad night games (home against the Astros, road versus the Marlins). Adam Eaton is starting in left field and leading off tonight, making this the first time he's...

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Breaking down the remaining bullpen candidates

March 21, 2018, 8:00pm

Nationals

Breaking down the remaining bullpen candidates

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Perhaps the most difficult roster question the Nationals face in the final days of spring training is how to fill in the final vacancies in their bullpen. It doesn't help that more vacancies have opened up during the course of the spring. Koda Glover's recurring shoulder woes and now Joaquin Benoit's forearm strain have created some openings that might not previously have existed. Not that there's an easy answer to this quandary. Let's begin with the bullpen slots...

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Martinez trying to navigate team through late March lull

March 21, 2018, 1:01pm

Nationals

Martinez trying to navigate team through late March lull

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Gio Gonzalez might as well have been speaking for every ballplayer (and perhaps a few reporters) when he summed up today's rough outing - eight runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings - in simple terms that can be applied to lots of matters that take place in spring training. "There were more positive results than what we saw out there," the left-hander said. "Don't read into what you see. It's all B.S." It's easy to say that after a bad start, of course. Why would...

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Benoit won't open season on active roster (Nats lose 8-3)

March 21, 2018, 10:00am

Nationals

Benoit won't open season on active roster (Nats lose 8-3)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals are going to need to tap into their right-handed bullpen depth to open the season. Already down one arm all spring when Koda Glover reported to camp with a sore shoulder, the Nats now acknowledge they won't have veteran Joaquin Benoit for opening day after the 40-year-old was diagnosed with a strained forearm. Benoit, who was signed to a $1 million major league contract one week after camp opened, made three Grapefruit League appearances, most recently...

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Murphy admits he won't be ready for opening day

March 21, 2018, 8:05am

Nationals

Murphy admits he won't be ready for opening day

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Daniel Murphy acknowledged what has become obvious over the course of the spring: He won't be on the Nationals' active roster to begin the season. "I think it's reasonable to expect I won't be in the opening day lineup," the veteran second baseman said this morning. From the day Murphy had microfracture surgery on his right knee in October, the Nationals qualified their timetable for his recovery by saying they were "hopeful" he'd be ready for opening day. And...

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Starting lineups: Nats vs. Astros in West Palm Beach

March 21, 2018, 5:21am

Nationals

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Astros in West Palm Beach

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If you're stuck indoors all day because of the snow back home, you're in luck: Tune into MASN at 1 p.m. and watch the Nationals face the Astros on a sunny, 73-degree afternoon in Florida! (Sorry if that sounds like I'm trying to rub it in. I'm not.) The whole crew is back in town for the next few days and will have the broadcast of this matchup. It'll be your first chance to see Adam Eaton with your own eyes. It's Eaton's third Grapefruit League game, and he's...

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Strasburg on pitching in the heat, Martinez on demoting Robles

March 20, 2018, 7:18pm

Nationals

Strasburg on pitching in the heat, Martinez on demoting Robles

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Stephen Strasburg's aversion to pitching on muggy, East Coast summer afternoons is well known. The San Diego native has long proclaimed his preference to take the mound in cool weather vs. hot weather. But Strasburg also chose to sign a seven-year extension with the Nationals, making Washington (not to mention the rest of the National League East division) his home for the long-term. And that includes South Florida in March, because the conditions Tuesday at FITTEAM...

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Zimmerman: "Not a doubt in my mind that I'm ready to go"

March 20, 2018, 12:30pm

Nationals

Zimmerman: "Not a doubt in my mind that I'm ready to go"

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Ryan Zimmerman played in a Grapefruit League game March 2, going 1-for-2 against the Mets. He hasn't played in another one since, and it doesn't appear he'll be playing in another one until this weekend, sticking to the minor league fields as he has for the last three weeks. It's a highly unusual way for a major leaguer to prepare for opening day, and one that has left scores of outside observers wondering if something's wrong. To those skeptics, Zimmerman is trying...

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Strasburg is latest starter to struggle vs. Marlins (Nats win 8-3)

March 20, 2018, 10:47am

Nationals

Strasburg is latest starter to struggle vs. Marlins (Nats win 8-3)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If Stephen Strasburg was looking to take a cue from Max Scherzer, he picked the wrong start to imitate. Only 24 hours after Scherzer was roughed up by the Marlins in his first subpar outing of the spring, Strasburg was battered around by the same Miami club this afternoon. Strasburg wound up allowing three runs on eight hits and three walks in only 4 1/3 innings and was pulled by Nationals manager Davey Martinez with his pitch count at 81. It was a ragged performance for...

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Robles optioned to Triple-A, will open season in Syracuse

March 20, 2018, 8:50am

Nationals

Robles optioned to Triple-A, will open season in Syracuse

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Mike Rizzo insisted all along Victor Robles would play every day in 2018, wherever that may be. We found out today where the Nationals' top prospect will be playing every day to begin the season: Triple-A Syracuse. The Nationals optioned Robles to Triple-A this afternoon, a not-terribly-unsurprising move but one that did come well before the club makes its final round of cuts before it breaks camp and heads north Sunday evening. Left-hander Isamel GuillÃ³n also was...

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Starting lineups: Nats vs. Marlins in West Palm Beach

March 20, 2018, 6:26am

Nationals

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Marlins in West Palm Beach

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - It's the warmest day of the spring here, and quite muggy. Not exactly the kind of conditions the Nationals are going to face next week in Cincinnati, but they can't do anything about that now. The Nats and Marlins meet for the second straight day, this time in West Palm Beach following yesterday's 9-1 Miami win in Jupiter. It's Stephen Strasburg on the mound, scheduled to throw 75-90 pitches, according to manager Davey Martinez. Strasburg also will be batting eighth,...

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Nats won't get "too cute" with No. 5 starter this time around

March 19, 2018, 7:13pm

Nationals

Nats won't get "too cute" with No. 5 starter this time around

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - There have long been differing opinions around baseball on the proper way to use a No. 5 starter. Should he pitch every fifth game, regardless of any off-days on the schedule? Should teams take advantage of that schedule and skip over the worst starter in the rotation in favor of the best starters? Should teams view that position as something of a revolving door, shuttling different starters back and forth from the minors in an attempt to control their workload? The...

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Scherzer tries to find the silver lining to ragged start

March 19, 2018, 12:36pm

Nationals

Scherzer tries to find the silver lining to ragged start

JUPITER, Fla. - Max Scherzer could look at today's ragged outing against the Marlins, one in which he gave up six runs (five of them scoring via three home runs) in five innings, with a glass-half-empty mindset and insist he needs to be better next time. Or he could try the glass-half-full approach and find the positives in what for all practical purposes was an ugly afternoon on the mound. He chose the latter. "I actually liked that I got hit around," the Nationals ace said. "That was...

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Turner is latest victim of ingrown toenail (Nats lose 9-1)

March 19, 2018, 10:05am

Nationals

Turner is latest victim of ingrown toenail (Nats lose 9-1)

JUPITER, Fla. - The ingrown toenail bug has returned to wreak havoc on the Nationals clubhouse for the second time this spring. OK, so that may be overdramatizing the situation a bit, but for the second time this month a key member of the Nats lineup had to undergo a procedure to remove an ingrown toenail. Earlier this spring it was Bryce Harper. Now it's Trea Turner, who was scratched from today's lineup against the Marlins and may need another day or two to heal before he can return to...

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Martinez reveals rotation order, Rizzo says Cole will make club

March 19, 2018, 8:09am

Nationals

Martinez reveals rotation order, Rizzo says Cole will make club

JUPITER, Fla. - Max Scherzer will start opening day for the Nationals. That news, though made official by manager Davey Martinez this morning, was never in doubt. Asked when he made the decision, Martinez replied: "The day I got the job." Perhaps more interesting than the fact Scherzer will be on the mound March 29 in Cincinnati against veteran right-hander Homer Bailey is how the rest of the Nationals rotation will be configured behind him. Martinez revealed that this morning, as well....