nationals

Patrick Reddington: Baker feels Nats are on verge of breaking out offensively

August 25, 2016, 6:27pm

Stephen Strasburg in on the disabled list with right shoulder soreness. Joe Ross is still working his way back from shoulder inflammation, though there were positive reports on the right-hander on Thursday. Sammy Solis is on the DL with a left shoulder issue and likely a couple of weeks away from a return. Oliver Perez is dealing with back tightness, but reportedly available. Before beating the Orioles on Thursday, the Nationals had lost four straight and six of 10 games. Nationals skipper...

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Patrick Reddington: Rizzo on the Schrock-Rzepczynski deal

September 02, 2016, 4:43am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Rizzo on the Schrock-Rzepczynski deal

After drafting Max Schrock out of the University of South Carolina in the 13th round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft, the Washington Nationals signed the infielder to a $500,000 bonus, which MLB.com's Jim Callis noted was the highest bonus after the 10th round to that point. In a 46-game stint with the New York/Penn League's Auburn Doubledays in 2015, the 20-going-on-21-year-old put up a .308/.355/.448 slash line with 10 doubles, four triples and two home runs in 186 plate appearances. At...

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Patrick Reddington: Strasburg's latest injury not the worst-case scenario

September 09, 2016, 5:48am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Strasburg's latest injury not the worst-case scenario

Considering what the worst-case scenarios could have been, the diagnosis of a strained flexor mass for Stephen Strasburg was relatively "good" bad news. It's still a significant blow for the Washington Nationals and their 28-year-old starter, of course. "It's very good to know," Dusty Baker told reporters after the official announcement of the results of the MRI on Strasburg's elbow. "I met with our trainer Paul Lessard and we discussed it extensively and everybody was pretty satisfied...

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Patrick Reddington: Long season taking a toll on Wilson Ramos

September 16, 2016, 5:55am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Long season taking a toll on Wilson Ramos

Dusty Baker spent quite a bit of time before and after the first two games of the now-completed three-game set with the visiting Mets talking about the offensive struggles of Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos. Ramos, 29, was 4-for-28 (.143/.200/.179) over the first eight games in September, with a double, two runs batted in, two walks and nine strikeouts in 30 plate appearances. The rough stretch left the soon-to-be-free agent with a .259/.299/.414 line, six doubles, seven home runs, 25 RBIs, 10...

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Patrick Reddington: Joe Ross takes a cautious first step

September 23, 2016, 5:26am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Joe Ross takes a cautious first step

In spite of their needs in the rotation, with Stephen Strasburg currently unavailable, the Nationals resisted the urge to rush 23-year-old righty Joe Ross back. Dusty Baker was excited about the idea of adding Ross to the mix after he missed more than two months working his way back from right shoulder inflammation. "I've heard guys around the league tell me that when he's right, he's as nasty as any young pitcher in the big leagues," Baker said last week before Ross pitched in the majors...

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Patrick Reddington: Severino thrust into different role with Ramos injury

September 29, 2016, 8:27pm

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Severino thrust into different role with Ramos injury

Pedro Severino caught Max Scherzer for the first time on Aug. 3rd in Arizona's Chase Field. Scherzer talked after the outing, an eight-inning start in which he allowed four hits and three earned runs, striking out 11, about getting to know the 23-year-old rookie and getting comfortable with Severino behind the plate. "It was great," Scherzer told reporters. "He did a great job behind the plate of getting me in rhythm and trying to get on the page with me and get some sequences right. "When...

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Patrick Reddington: Murphy's return to New York a successful one

May 20, 2016, 6:44am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Murphy's return to New York a successful one

Daniel Murphy arrived in New York for Washington's three-game set with the Mets a .400 hitter after 37 games with the second organization he's known as a professional. Murphy signed a 3-year/$37.5M free agent deal with the Nationals in January after seven seasons with the Mets, who drafted him in the 13th Round of the 2006 Draft. "A lot of great memories in here," he told reporters before his first game in Citi Field as a member of the opposition. "A lot of great memories in this stadium,...

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Patrick Reddington: Decision to shut down Strasburg in 2012 played key factor in extension

May 13, 2016, 5:12am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Decision to shut down Strasburg in 2012 played key factor in extension

Think what you will about the decision the Washington Nationals made back in 2012, when they shut down a then-24-year-old Stephen Strasburg late in the season, as planned from the start that year, but the decision GM Mike Rizzo and the front office made played a part in the 27-year-old signing a seven-year extension with the team that drafted him with the No.1 overall pick of the 2009 Draft. They also came within a strike of the 2012 NLCS without him, of course. But the Nats' choice to shut...

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Patrick Reddington: Rizzo flourishing in role of building Nationals into contenders

May 06, 2016, 5:07am

Nationals

Before Mike Rizzo was hired as Washington's full-time general manager on Thursday, August 20, 2009, after serving on an interim basis for the Nationals throughout the '09 season, there was a bit of drama in the nation's capital. For a time, at least according to published reports, it appeared as if someone else might get the job. Once he was officially announced the full-time GM, Rizzo was asked about the week he went through leading up to the final decision and the published reports which...

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Patrick Reddington: Walking a fine line with Bryce Harper

April 29, 2016, 5:57am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Walking a fine line with Bryce Harper

Twins closer Kevin Jepsen challenged Bryce Harper and lost. Harper hit a ninth-inning home run to straightaway center field in Nationals Park to tie Sunday's game up and send it to extra innings. In an MLB Network Radio interview on Monday, Nationals manager Dusty Baker was asked about the Twins' decision to pitch to the Nats' 23-year-old slugger with a one-run lead. "The thing about it is you couldn't put the tying run on base when you've got the top of the order coming up behind him...

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Patrick Reddington: Like Stephen Strasburg, focus on each of right-hander's outings

April 22, 2016, 8:48am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Like Stephen Strasburg, focus on each of right-hander's outings

Stephen Strasburg's agent Scott Boras told FOXSports.com's Jon Morosi this spring that the Washington Nationals and their 2009 No. 1 overall pick were not actively discussing a deal that could keep him in the nation's capital beyond 2016 and weren't likely to talk about one until the season was over. Strasburg and the Nationals avoided arbitration this winter, agreeing on a 1-year/$10.4M deal, but beyond that, there were no discussions about a long-term deal. "We amicably agreed to a...

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Patrick Reddington: The adaptable Dusty Baker

April 15, 2016, 6:01am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: The adaptable Dusty Baker

Jonathan Papelbon's first few appearances haven't been necessarily lights out, but the 35-year-old Nationals closer is a perfect 5-for-5 in save opportunities after Wednesday night's inning of work against the Braves. Braves hitters lined pitches to right and center for an out and a single before Papelbon got an inning-ending double play and his fifth save, and Nationals skipper Dusty Baker told reporters after the game that getting the save, or the final result, at least in this case, was...

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Patrick Reddington: Tanner Roark is back where he wants to be

April 08, 2016, 5:28am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Tanner Roark is back where he wants to be

With his lost season in the Washington Nationals' bullpen in 2015 behind him, Tanner Roark entered spring training on a mission. He wanted to return to the starting rotation. Roark told his new manager as much early in the process. "It was short," Roark said of the conversation with Dusty Baker this spring. "I told you guys once before that I wanted to start and I'm telling you guys again that I want to start, and I feel like I'm a competitor on the mound and I know that the fight inside...

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Patrick Reddington: Looking at Wilson Ramos' full season at the plate and behind it

October 02, 2015, 8:57am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Looking at Wilson Ramos' full season at the plate and behind it

The question for the last few years has been, "What would Wilson Ramos do with a full season's worth of at-bats?" In his 113-game, 435-plate appearance campaign in D.C. in 2011, the then-23-year-old catcher put up a .267/.334/.445 line with 22 doubles and 15 home runs in a 2.6 fWAR run, but knee surgery, a string of hamstring injuries and hamate bone surgery limited Ramos to a total of 191 games and 760 PAs between 2012 and 2014. He did, however, manage to put up a .269/.309/.428 line over...

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Patrick Reddington: Harper walking toward a franchise record

September 25, 2015, 4:31am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Harper walking toward a franchise record

The second of three free passes Bryce Harper took in the series opener of Washington's three-game set with the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night gave the Nationals' 22-year-old slugger 117 walks on the year, one more than the Nationals' previous single-season record holder, Adam Dunn, took in 2009. In the first of his two seasons in the nation's capital, Dunn, then 29, put up a .267/.398/.529 line on the year, with 29 doubles, 38 home runs, 116 walks and 177 strikeouts in 159...

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Patrick Reddington: Could Zack Greinke be free agent target for Nationals?

September 18, 2015, 6:31am

Nationals

In discussing the Washington Nationals' approach to negotiations of contract extensions with pending free agents like Jordan Zimmermann (a free agent this winter unless he re-signs) and 2009 No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg (under team control through 2016), both of whom are on their "second elbows" after having Tommy John surgery, Washington Post writer Thomas Boswell suggested last winter that in Zimmermann's case, previous talks likely centered around a deal similar to what Ian...

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Patrick Reddington: Nationals prospect Erick Fedde making strides after Tommy John surgery

September 11, 2015, 6:04am

Nationals

The reports from general manager Mike Rizzo and assistant general manager and vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline after they selected Erick Fedde out of UNLV with the 18th overall pick of the 2014 Draft were glowing to say the least. "He's a plus-stuff guy," Rizzo told reporters. "We've scouted him intensely over the last three years. He's got two plus plus pitches and his third pitch, the changeup, is on the come. We think that's going to be an above-average pitch. Big...

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Patrick Reddington: Have Nats put themselves in too big a hole?

September 04, 2015, 6:52am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Have Nats put themselves in too big a hole?

Coming off a division title and a postseason run that ended in a disappointing loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS, the 2013 Washington Nationals had high expectations. A disappointing start, an 11-16 July and a 48-47 first half put them in a hole, however, which eventually proved too much to recover from despite finishing strong, going 32-16 over the final 48 games. The Nationals finished ten games out in the National League East and four games out in the wild card standings. "I...

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Patrick Reddington: Innings, pitches piling up for rookie righty Ross

August 28, 2015, 4:46am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Innings, pitches piling up for rookie righty Ross

At some point in the near future, and no one's saying exactly when, Nationals right-hander Joe Ross will reach his innings limit/pitch count for the season and he'll be shut down for the year. The concern in his case is that the right-hander has never thrown this many innings in a season before. Ross threw six innings on Thursday night, leaving him at 66 2/3 so far in the majors and 142 2/3 overall on the year between Double-A, Triple-A and the Nationals. Ross went up to 122 1/3 innings in...

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Patrick Reddington: Gio Gonzalez hoping to rebound at home

August 21, 2015, 6:36am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Gio Gonzalez hoping to rebound at home

Gio Gonzalez was on a roll before he took the mound last week in San Francisco's AT&T Park. He was on a streak of eight straight starts in which he had allowed two earned runs or less, dating back to June 15th in Tampa Bay. In those previous eight starts, the Washington Nationals' 29-year-old left-hander was 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA and a .245/.296/.326 line against in 48 2/3 innings pitched. Gonzalez was coming off an eight-inning outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Chavez Ravine, in...