For the Nationals, this has been a fairly quiet offseason so far. There's still a long way to go before pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach, Fla., and certainly there will be plenty of significant roster moves made between now and then. But so far, the Nats have re-signed reserve outfielder Chris Heisey to a one-year deal and added a few players on minor league contracts. That's it.
For the rest of the National League East, this offseason has been anything but quiet. There's been...
If the Nationals are going to bolster their lineup with another right-handed slugger, they'll have to find somebody other than Yoenis Cespedes.
Cespedes agreed to a new deal with the Mets today, returning to New York for four years and $110 million, according to a host of reports. The 31-year-old outfielder had signed a three-year, $75 million with the Mets last winter but enacted an opt-out clause at the end of the season, making him a free agent and ultimately earning him a hefty raise.
The...
There's been a lot of chatter already this offseason about blockbuster trade possibilities, with White Sox ace Chris Sale at the top of the list and the Nationals among the clubs widely speculated to be contemplating a deal for the left-hander.
It's a long and winding path, of course, to get from the kind of preliminary chatter we've heard so far to an actual trade taking place. The same applies to any other possible big-name players the Nats may or may not be intrigued by this winter, such...
With a brief Thanksgiving break behind them, the Nationals get back to work today on what is sort of the unofficial first true day of the hot stove league.
Yes, roster moves have already been made over the last few weeks and a few other clubs have already signed a handful of prominent free agents. But most of the significant offseason transactions happen between Thanksgiving and Inauguration Day, and so that portion of the baseball calendar commences now.
A week from today, the Winter Meetings...
In all of the discussions we've had since the season ended six weeks ago about the various choices the Nationals have for their 2017 outfield, we've kind of glossed over one more option that isn't all that outrageous: bringing Ben Revere back as the starting center fielder.
Revere turned into a forgotten man over the season's final two months, once he was bumped from his starting job by Trea Turner. That bumping was more than deserved, but it left Revere with virtually no role down the...
We'll never know what might have been had Wilson Ramos not torn the ACL in his right knee on Sept. 26, whether it would have altered the Nationals' postseason fortunes and whether it would have altered their chances of re-signing him this winter.
Neither Ramos nor the Nationals can do anything about that now. They can only look forward. And for Ramos, that means some intense rehabilitation right now as the free agent catcher tries to convince teams around the sport he is still worth a...
It's Black Friday, which means around the country people stayed up all night so they could fight off their fellow citizens with sticks trying to snag a cheap television or washing machine or Tickle Me Elmo or whatever it is people fight each other over these days.
(Suffice it to say, I don't know a thing about any of this. I prefer to do my shopping at 11 a.m. on random Tuesdays, when nobody else can get in your way.)
But I guess Black Friday is a big thing for many because it presents the...
It's a tumultuous time in the world, but today we all pause to spend time with family and friends and appreciate what we have.
That applies to the Nationals, as well. (Hey, these guys are human beings. They have feelings, too!)
And so in honor of this fourth Thursday of November, we present to you what each of the following Nats are most thankful for right now. (These are 100 percent accurate, I assure you. I would never make up fake news just to get readers riled up!) ...
MAX SCHERZER: For...
The Nationals have acquired reliever Jimmy Cordero from the Phillies for a player to be named, hoping the hard-throwing right-hander can bounce back from an injury-plagued season in Philadelphia's farm system and become a late-inning arm for them at some point.
Cordero, 25, had been designated for assignment last week by the Phillies, who needed to clear space on their 40-man roster for other prospects who needed to be protected from the Rule 5 draft. He has no major league experience but now...
It is perhaps the Nationals' biggest dilemma this winter - who's going to pitch the ninth inning? - and there is no easy solution to the problem.
The Nationals could sign one of the three big-name closers on the open market this winter, luring Aroldis Chapman or Kenley Jansen to D.C. or bringing Mark Melancon back. They could take a chance and entrust the job to one of several in-house candidates, either veteran Shawn Kelley or young relievers Blake Treinen, Sammy Solis or Koda Glover. Or...
The 2017 Hall of Fame ballot was released yesterday, and as noted here, there's a decent chance Ivan Rodriguez could become the first ever permanent resident of Cooperstown to have played for the Nationals.
Rodriguez, of course, would not go into the Hall wearing a curly W cap on his head. He'd almost certainly be a Ranger, with only a passing mention of "Washington, N.L." on his plaque.
Which raises the following question (kudos to reader Ed Frank for bringing it up): Who will be the first...
There are a number of Hall of Famers who played at least a portion of their careers in Washington, but none played for this incarnation of the Nationals, and none sports a plaque that includes the words: "Washington, N.L."
That could change next summer if Ivan Rodriguez is inducted to the Hall in his first year of eligibility.
Rodriguez, who caught for the Nationals in 2010-11 to wrap up a remarkable career, officially became a candidate today when the Hall of Fame released its 2017 ballot....
It's been a while since we did one of these, so it seems like a good time to bring back the Q&A.
What to discuss? Well, there's the question at catcher, at closer and perhaps one other spot in the lineup. There's the question of pursuing another big-name starting pitcher. There's the question of Trea Turner's eventual position on the field. There's the question of the health of prominent players. There's the question of veterans trying to bounce back after disappointing seasons.
And...
The Nationals have signed former Orioles first-round pick and Northern Virginia product Brandon Snyder to a minor league contract.
Snyder, who turns 30 this week, will have an invitation to big league camp with an opportunity to compete for a spot on the opening day roster, according to a source familiar with the deal.
The Orioles made Snyder the 13th overall pick in the 2005 draft out of Westfield High School in Chantilly, but the corner infielder has struggled to stick in the major leagues...
The Nationals officially announced their one-year contract with Chris Heisey this morning after the outfielder passed a physical, ensuring one of their most productive bench players returns in 2017.
Heisey will earn $1.4 million in base salary plus incentives, according to a source familiar with the deal. The two sides had agreed in principle to the contract Nov. 11, but its completion was pending the physical.
The 31-year-old outfielder joined the Nationals last winter on a minor league...
We are a mere 14 weeks away from the Nationals' spring training opener, which means pitchers and catchers are due to report to West Palm Beach in roughly 12 weeks (no official date yet).
Which raises a fairly important question: Is West Palm Beach going to be ready for the Nats?
Crews continue to work furiously on the brand-new Ballpark at the Palm Beaches, the new spring home of both the Nationals and Astros. They've been working on a tight timeline throughout, but the consensus opinion all...
The Nationals added five players to their 40-man roster this afternoon, in the process protecting outfielder Rafael Bautista, first baseman Jose Marmolejos, catcher Raudy Read, infielder Matt Skole and right-hander Austin Voth from being scooped up by another organization in next month's Rule 5 draft.
The additions, which were required to be made before a 5 p.m. EST deadline, leave the Nationals with 36 players officially on their 40-man roster for the moment. (That number will rise to 37 once...
There's a deadline this afternoon around baseball. It's not one of the major deadlines, like the trade deadline or the qualifying offer deadline. But it's nonetheless a potentially significant one when it comes to organizations keeping their best prospects from getting swooped up by another club.
By 5 p.m. EST, all teams must add any players they wish to protect from being selected in the Rule 5 draft to their 40-man roster.
What does that mean? A quick primer for those who aren't familiar...
Daniel Murphy had an MVP-caliber season and might well have taken home the hardware had he put up the same stat line in a previous year.
This year, though, Murphy was forced to take a back seat to Kris Bryant, who as the best player on the best team in baseball easily captured the National League MVP.
Bryant, the brightest young star on a Cubs roster filled with them, won his first career MVP this evening, garnering 29-of-30 first-place votes and 415 total points from members of the Baseball...
Max Scherzer and his wife, Erica, have been going on boating trips with old college friends and their spouses every November for years. It's an annual tradition, and one the Scherzers weren't about to pass up, not even when it overlapped with another annual tradition: the announcement of the Cy Young Award winners.
"For the past few years, we all get together over this time of the year and find a way to do the vacation together with all of our wives," the Nationals ace said. "And it took a...
