The Winter Meetings were our first opportunity this week to get a much-needed baseball fix in December. Now comes the second opportunity: Nationals Winterfest.
The club's annual fan festival takes place today and tomorrow at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, and it will feature a few nice morsels of Nats winter cheer to fill you up before pitchers and catchers report for spring training in two months.
For example, the two newest members of the roster are scheduled to attend. Adam...
Barring unforeseen developments - which is always a great caveat - we now know who should be in the Nationals' starting lineup come opening day.
Bryce Harper, Adam Eaton and Jayson Werth are the outfielders. Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman go around the horn in the infield. Derek Norris is the new catcher, though with Jose Lobaton and Pedro Severino also under contract, that's the one starting position that's a little less set in stone.
We don't know, however,...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Winter Meetings officially ended around 9:30 a.m. when the always-dramatic Rule 5 Draft came to a close, leading to a mass exodus of baseball executives from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center and a long line waiting for cabs to Reagan National Airport.
But the end of the Winter Meetings is by no means the end of the hot stove league, so the Nationals aren't exactly closing up shop and refusing to pick up the phone for the next two months.
They still...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The news late yesterday afternoon of the Nationals sending Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning to the White Sox for Adam Eaton sent more than a few shockwaves through the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. It also pushed aside a bunch of other interesting tidbits of the day related to the Nationals.
Better late than never, though, so here you go ...
* The Nats have addressed two of their three biggest needs this winter so far: an outfielder and a...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Nationals knew all along the price tag to acquire the kind of impact players they were seeking in trades would be steep. And so when the opportunity arose this week to acquire one of their primary outfield targets, Adam Eaton, they knew they'd have to make the tough call to deal away not one, not two, but three of their most prized possessions: Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning.
"You've got to give to get," general manager Mike Rizzo said in formally...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Nationals are about to acquire their much-desired new outfielder in a trade, but it's not the guy who has drawn most of the headlines over the last week.
The Nats and White Sox have agreed to a deal that would bring Adam Eaton to Washington in exchange for pitching prospects Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning, according to a source familiar with the talks. The trade's completion is still contingent upon the review of all players' medical records, but...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - Day Three of the Winter Meetings has arrived, and the Nationals roster ... well, it hasn't changed at all since this event officially kicked off Monday morning.
Which isn't to say the roster won't change before the event officially ends after Thursday morning's Rule 5 draft. And even if it doesn't, there's no reason to believe it won't change as the remainder of the offseason plays out.
In fact, recent Nationals history suggests just that. Trea Turner and Joe Ross...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - As talks with the White Sox about a potential Chris Sale trade progressed over the last week, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo found himself willing to part ways with some of the kind of elite prospects he normally would deem untouchable.
The availability of Sale, a five-time All-Star left-hander under contract for the next three years at an affordable price, led Rizzo in a direction he hasn't gone before. But in order to pull off this blockbuster, the Nationals GM...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Nationals finished runners-up in the Mark Melancon sweepstakes on Monday. And it appears they've now finished runners-up in the Chris Sale sweepstakes today.
The White Sox have struck a deal to send Sale to the Red Sox for elite prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech, plus two other minor-leaguers, according to multiple reports here at the Winter Meetings.
It's a blockbuster trade featuring one of the game's best left-handers going to a powerhouse contender in...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - Nothing is done until it's done. And nothing is done in this case. But the Nationals front office went to bed late Monday night hopeful they were closing in on a blockbuster trade for White Sox left-hander Chris Sale, one that would likely cost them at least two of their top four prospects.
Club officials spent a good part of Day One of the Winter Meetings engaged in talks with the White Sox and by early evening had made significant progress toward a deal for Sale,...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Nationals came to the Winter Meetings having already begun trade talks with the Pirates for outfielder Andrew McCutchen and the White Sox for left-hander Chris Sale. They've continued those talks since arriving at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, getting a better sense of what those two clubs are seeking in a deal.
The end result as of early Monday evening? No trades have been made, and the asking price for both players remains high.
"We've had...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - Just when you thought all the chatter about the Nationals at the Winter Meetings was going to be focused on Andrew McCutchen, Chris Sale and closers, an even bigger name got thrown into the fire this afternoon and nearly drowned out everything else: Bryce Harper.
A report by USA Today's Bob Nightengale suggesting the Nationals are "balking" at Harper's demands for a long-term extension and are "preparing themselves to be without their All-Star outfielder after 2018"...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Nationals have employed four different experienced closers in the last four years, and it appears they'll have to employ a fifth one next season.
Mark Melancon, whom the Nationals acquired in July to fortify a tenuous position at the back end of their bullpen, has agreed to a deal with the Giants, according to ESPN's Buster Olney. And if that deal is finalized after Melancon passes a physical, the Nats will be left searching elsewhere for a ninth-inning pitching...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Winter Meetings officially open for business this morning - no, anything you saw or read about yesterday at the Gaylord National Resort didn't officially happen - and so the rumors will begin to fly fast and furious through the lobby here.
Whether the Nationals make official news these next four days or just continue to find themselves the subject of potential news remains to be seen. But there's certainly a sense among everyone that they are primed to do...
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - Former Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and longtime Royals and Braves general manager John Schuerholz were elected to the Hall of Fame this evening, emerging as the only two inductees from a list of candidates selected by the newly altered version of the Veterans' Committee that included former Nationals manager Davey Johnson.
Johnson received fewer than five votes from the panel of 16 Hall of Fame members, executives and veteran media members who made the...
For the next four days, Washington will be the center of the baseball universe. The question around here is whether the Nationals will be the center of attention at the Winter Meetings being held in their backyard.
Few teams around the sport have the potential to be in the spotlight as much as the Nationals do this week at baseball's annual offseason event, held for the first time at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, a mere seven miles south of Nationals Park.
The hometown...
Friday turned out to be a busy day for the Nationals, but not for the reason many were expecting.
There was no trade with the Pirates for Andrew McCutchen, not yet at least. But there was a trade with the Padres for Derek Norris. And there was the non-tendering of Ben Revere, coinciding with the tendering of Danny Espinosa.
What does it all mean in the bigger picture? Some thoughts on each of the moves (and non-moves)...
* The McCutchen trade didn't happen yesterday, which may have prompted...
Ben Revere's tenure with the Nationals has ended after one disappointing season. Danny Espinosa's tumultuous tenure with the organization will extend into its ninth year.
The Nationals elected not to tender a contract to Revere before tonight's 8 p.m. deadline, cutting the outfielder loose and making him a free agent.
Four players who are eligible for arbitration - Espinosa, Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon and Tanner Roark - all were tendered contracts. The latter three were all expected,...
So much of what the Nationals do this winter is dependent on something else they do. They won't know if Trea Turner is their center fielder or shortstop until they either acquire another outfielder or not. They won't know if Danny Espinosa is still their shortstop until they know if Turner is switching positions.
There are dominoes lined up all over the place, but most of them can't fall until the first one does. Which may finally begin to happen today.
Whether they're able to consummate a...
The Nationals announced a player transaction this afternoon, but not the transaction many have been on pins and needles on while they wait for it to be completed.
Pushing a proposed trade with the Pirates for star outfielder Andrew McCutchen aside for at least a moment, the Nationals agreed to terms on a one-year contract with Jose Lobaton, avoiding arbitration with the popular veteran catcher.
Terms of the deal weren't immediately known, but Lobaton was due to receive a modest raise from his...