Pete Kerzel

Nats, Astros hope Florida legislature can clear hurdle for new spring training complex

January 27, 2015, 11:54am

If the Astros and Nationals are going to get their long-awaited shared spring training complex in West Palm Beach, they're going to have to overcome a late-in-the-process hurdle. The Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale reported Monday that drinking water protections on the parcel of land where the teams want to have a $135 million facility constructed could stand in the way of the project's completion. In order for the shared spring training home to move forward, the Florida legislature needs to...

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Rizzo: With Scherzer deal, Nats have "strengthened a strength"

January 21, 2015, 11:58am

Nationals

Rizzo: With Scherzer deal, Nats have "strengthened a strength"

Most people looked at the Nationals rotation as 2014 morphed into 2015 and saw the strongest starting five in the major leagues. General manager Mike Rizzo looked at the potential juggernaut on the mound and thought about only one thing: making it even more imposing. The Nationals introduced Max Scherzer on Wednesday afternoon after the right-hander put pen to paper on a seven-year, $210 million contract. If the Nats weren't already the odds-on favorite to repeat as National League East...

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Orioles announce autograph lineup for FanFest (vouchers sell out)

January 16, 2015, 9:55am

Orioles

The Orioles have released their autograph schedule for FanFest. Autograph vouchers for the Esskay Autograph Stations will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17 at orioles.com/fanfest. FanFest will be held on Saturday, Jan. 31 at the Baltimore Convention Center from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., with early entry for Orioles season plan members beginning at 10 a.m. Autograph sessions will begin at 11:20 a.m., 12:40 p.m., 2 p.m., 3:20 p.m. and 4:40 p.m., and each will include three Orioles players, staff...

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Stammen joins Ramos, avoids arbitration (Espinosa, Lobaton agree to terms)

January 15, 2015, 4:26pm

Nationals

Stammen joins Ramos, avoids arbitration (Espinosa, Lobaton agree to terms)

The Nationals have been busy heading into Friday's deadline for arbitration-eligible players to come to contract terms before exchanging salary figures with their clubs. Earlier today, they announced that catcher Wilson Ramos had agreed to terms on a contract for 2015, avoiding arbitration. This evening, right-handed reliever Craig Stammen also came to terms, leaving the Nats with six unsigned players who are arbitration-eligible (the Nats removed one of their players on the list by trading...

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Mike Rizzo on the Nationals' acquisition of Yunel Escobar (Ramos wins award, signs)

January 15, 2015, 9:19am

Nationals

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo's reasoning for trading reliable reliever Tyler Clippard to the A's on Wednesday night for infielder Yunel Escobar was simple: The deal, made from a position of relative strength and involving a player who would be a free agent after 2015, fills an immediate need at second base with a veteran that the Nationals can control for up to three seasons. "It was a good baseball deal between Oakland and us," Rizzo said Thursday afternoon during a conference call...

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Orioles sign free agent Young to one-year contract

January 09, 2015, 12:20pm

Orioles

The Orioles today announced that they have signed free agent outfielder Delmon Young to a one-year contract. To make room on the 40-man roster, catcher Ryan Lavarnway has been designated for assignment. Young, 29, batted .302/.337/.442 with seven home runs and 30 RBI over 83 games with the Orioles in 2014, including a .316/.345/.481 slash line in 47 games at Oriole Park. He led the majors (min. 10 PA), batting .500 (10-20) as a pinch hitter. Originally selected by the Tampa Bay Rays with the...

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Carpenter, Holliday get Sportscaster of the Year honors

January 08, 2015, 1:13pm

Nationals

Carpenter, Holliday get Sportscaster of the Year honors

There's a distinctly MASN flavor to the Sportscaster of the Year awards announced today by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Bob Carpenter, play-by-play voice of the Nationals on MASN, was chosen the co-winner of the Sportscaster of the Year award for Washington, D.C. Carpenter, who has called Nats games for nine years and 31 years of major league broadcasting under his belt, shares the D.C. honor with longtime Capitals play-by-play man Joe Beninati. Holliday, who...

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Orioles Hall of Famer Stu Miller has passed away

January 05, 2015, 12:28pm

Orioles

Orioles Hall of Fame member Stu Miller passed away Sunday, January 4, at his home in Cameron Park, Calif., after a brief illness. He was 87. Miller, a right-handed reliever throughout most of his 16 seasons in the major leagues, led the Orioles in saves from 1963-67 and was a member of the 1966 World Series Championship team. In his five seasons with the Orioles, Miller compiled a 38-36 record with a 2.37 ERA and 100 saves, leading the American League with 71 appearances and 27 saves in 1963,...

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West Palm Beach agrees to negotiate land swap for new Nats spring training site

January 05, 2015, 11:51am

Nationals

West Palm Beach agrees to negotiate land swap for new Nats spring training site

The Nationals' long search for a new, permanent spring training home moved a step closer to a positive resolution on Monday. The city of West Palm Beach, Fla., has agreed to begin negotiations on a swap 160 acres of land at 45th Street and Haverhill Road to Palm Beach County for 1.8 acres of county-owned land in West Palm Beach. That transaction, if completed, could lead to the construction of a two-team spring training facility that would be shared by the Nationals and Houston Astros. "If an...

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Caps, Blackhawks turn Nationals Park into winter wonderland

January 01, 2015, 11:27am

Nationals

Standing against the wall of an elevator descending to field level at Nationals Park, Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner blends in a little too well with the rest of the red-clad Capitals fans streaming into the ballyard for the National Hockey League's Bridgestone Winter Classic. Nationals curly W sweater? Check. Winter Classic jacket to brave the chilly temps and biting breeze? You bet. Caps toque? Of course, even the little snowball on top seems both festive and appropriate. Sunglasses?...

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Who will stay and who will go?

December 24, 2014, 8:16am

Nationals

In a previous life, I was a store Santa. For six years, beginning in college and lasting into my first newspaper job, I donned the red suit and white beard (and used professional makeup to whiten my eyebrows, mustache and facial hair), first for Montgomery Ward and later as a jolly ol' elf for hire at office functions, private parties and even delivered poinsettias for a florist friend. To this day, the Santa gig remains one of my all-time favorite jobs, especially when I could surprise...

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Why those minor league deals are important

December 23, 2014, 4:31am

Nationals

Why those minor league deals are important

There's been some spirited debate in NatsTown over the past couple of days sparked by the announcement that the Nationals had signed Heath Bell to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league spring training. People are wondering why the Nats would need to invest time, money and innings on a guy on the downside of his career, a pitcher obviously past his prime. Or, in the case of yesterday's news that third baseman Ian Stewart had signed a minor league deal, an infielder who has...

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Is Cole ready to contribute? (updated with promotion, signing notes)

December 22, 2014, 9:08am

Nationals

Is Cole ready to contribute? (updated with promotion, signing notes)

If now-departed outfielder Steven Souza Jr. was the most popular name brought up by other teams at the Winter Meetings in San Diego earlier this month, right-handed pitching prospect A.J. Cole might have been a close second. One scout told me in the lobby of the Manchester Grand Hyatt that his team had been trying to pry Cole away from the Nationals since general manager Mike Rizzo reacquired him from the A's in a three-team trade in January 2013. "No dice," the scout told me. "They ain't...

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Heath Bell signs minor league deal with Nationals

December 22, 2014, 7:36am

Nationals

Well, it wouldn't be spring training without at least one reclamation project, right? Former Padres All-Star closer Heath Bell announced in a self-penned post on The Players' Tribune this afternoon that he had signed a minor league deal with the Nationals. The contract includes an invitation to major league spring training, so Bell will be suiting up in Viera, Fla., when pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 19. Bell, 37, is the classic low-risk, high-reward guy at this stage of his career,...

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A few thoughts on Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang (updated)

December 21, 2014, 3:08pm

Nationals

A few thoughts on Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang (updated)

Later today, we'll learn the name of the major league club that won the opportuity to negotiate exclusively with Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang. So far, 18 teams have said they weren't engaged in the bidding through the posting system. But one club reportedly has paid $5,002,015 for the right to hash out a deal with Kang, a 27-year-old slugger who blasted 40 home runs and had 117 RBIs for the Korean Baseball Organization's Nexen Heroes in 2014. Here is a refresher to the posting system used...

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With Souza gone, is Taylor next man up? (plus minor league signing)

December 20, 2014, 9:05am

Nationals

With Souza gone, is Taylor next man up? (plus minor league signing)

This week's trade that sent outfielder Steven Souza Jr. to the Rays as part of a three-team deal creates a possible vacancy on the Nationals bench. If Souza was to have competed for a backup role as the fifth outfielder, part-time first baseman and pinch-hitter in spring training, as manager Matt Williams said at NatsFest, which player benefits most from his departure? For at least the time being, it appears that guy is outfielder Michael A. Taylor, who enjoyed a breakout 2014 season at...

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Orioles name Scott Coolbaugh as major league hitting coach

December 19, 2014, 1:09pm

Orioles

The Orioles today announced that they have named Scott Coolbaugh as Major League Hitting Coach. Coolbaugh, 48, has been in the Texas organization for the last eight seasons, most recently serving at Minor League Hitting Coordinator in 2014. He was also Major League Hitting Coach through 2012 after being named to the post on June 8, 2011 by the Rangers. In 2012, Texas led the majors in runs scored (808) and ranked 2nd in the American League in total bases (2493) and average (.272). Prior to...

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Rizzo on the trade for Ross and the player to be named

December 19, 2014, 10:28am

Nationals

Rizzo on the trade for Ross and the player to be named

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo just finished a conference call with the local media to make official what we've known for the past couple of days: The Nationals have dealt outfielder Steven Souza Jr. and minor league left-hander Travis Ott to the Padres for right-handed pitching prospect Joe Ross and a player to be named. Souza and Ott are then going from the Padres to the Rays as part of the deal that will bring 2013 American League Rookie of the Year Wil Myers to San Diego. Rizzo's...

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Looking back on the Gio Gonzalez trade

December 19, 2014, 9:17am

Nationals

There's a tendency for fans to judge every trade made on its face value in the moments immediately after the deal is consummated and announced. This can be tricky, since raw emotion, rather than careful consideration, takes over. It's often better - and more useful - to judge a trade in three ways: immediate impact, short-term results and long-term gains or losses. Yes, it's natural to have an opinion once a deal is struck. But how a deal plays out for the coming season, even a few seasons...

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What happens with Trea Turner? (deal is done)

December 18, 2014, 9:18am

Nationals

What happens with Trea Turner? (deal is done)

Most of baseball thinks Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo made another lopsided deal Wednesday, when he agreed to send outfielder Steven Souza Jr. to the Rays, Washington's contribution to a three-team, 11-player blockbuster that shipped 2013 American League Rookie of the Year Wil Meyers from Tampa Bay to the Padres. While I'm happy to recap the swap, you might want to go grab a snack and a soda. It'll take a couple of minutes to process everything. A flow chart may work well, too. OK,...