Can owners, players agree on parameters of 2020 season?

Can owners, players agree on parameters of 2020 season?
Major League Baseball owners reportedly agreed Monday to a proposal for a 2020 season, one that would include an abbreviated second round of spring training in June, then a regular season of roughly 80 games that would run from July through September, then an expanded postseason that includes two more wild card teams in each league but could still be wrapped up around Halloween. Sounds great, right? Our long national nightmare is almost over! The only thing the league needs now is approval of...

Casting Nats players as "Star Wars" characters

Casting Nats players as "Star Wars" characters
When it's Week 8 of writing about baseball when there's no baseball to write about, you start coming up with some weird ideas. Most of them never see the light of day, but some of them do. And this is one of them. Monday was May 4. For "Star Wars" fans, it's an unofficial national holiday. Why? Cause it's May the Fourth. As in: "May the Fourth be with you." Yeah, it's cheesy. Guess what? So is "Star Wars." I'm a "Star Wars" fan. Not the kind of fan who dresses up in a Stormtrooper...

Notes on Will Harris and proposed new division alignment

Notes on Will Harris and proposed new division alignment
In a possible three-division realignment for an abbreviated and rescheduled 2020 campaign due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Nationals would be placed in the East alongside the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Blue Jays, Rays and Marlins. Breaking down the teams in this potential division for 2020, the Yankees and Rays made the postseason last year. The Nats, Yankees, Rays, Red Sox and Mets all had winning records. The East division would include every member of the...

Carpenter safe and sound, optimistic baseball will return in 2020

Carpenter safe and sound, optimistic baseball will return in 2020
MASN broadcaster Bob Carpenter is back in Oklahoma with his family and is safe and healthy as the coronavirus pandemic unfolds across the globe. Like everyone else, Carpenter is waiting for the baseball season to get started. This will be his 15th season behind the mic for MASN as the television play-by-play announcer for the Nationals. Carpenter returned to Oklahoma on March 12 and has been able to enjoy time with his wife, Debbie, and their kids. I caught him running errands as they worked on...

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 1

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 World Series Game 1
The Nationals and their fans waited a long time to reach the World Series for the first time. So, really, who was going to complain about the extra six days they had to wait after sweeping the National League Championship Series before finally taking the field in Houston for their first appearance in the Fall Classic? The long layoff may have been a dominant storyline entering the World Series, but it sure didn't hold up for long. By the end of their tense Game 1 victory - 5-4 over the...

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 1

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 1
Because the wild card game, the National League Division Series and the World Series were so dramatic, with the Nationals fighting off elimination five times along the way, the NL Championship Series kind of gets lost in the shuffle when you think back to the 2019 postseason. We know the Nats swept the Cardinals in four straight. They never even trailed at any point in any of the four games. It was as one-sided a postseason series as you're likely to see. But let's give the NLCS more credit...

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 2

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLDS Game 2
Confession time: My favorite game of the 2019 postseason wasn't the wild card game. It wasn't Game 5 of the National League Division Series. It wasn't the pennant clincher over the Cardinals. And it wasn't Game 6 or 7 of the World Series in Houston. It was Game 2 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Seriously. This was an absolutely fantastic ballgame, overstuffed with star power, clutch performances, bold managerial decisions, a surprise relief appearance from a three-time Cy Young Award winner...

With more help, Doolittle hopes this is the year he avoids IL

With more help, Doolittle hopes this is the year he avoids IL
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Sean Doolittle first reached the big leagues in June 2012, and over the next 26 months he managed to make 168 relief appearances without suffering an injury that cost him anything more than a couple of days. Then, one day in August 2014, he strained his right intercostal muscle and thus began a long streak of annual trips to the injured list. A six-year streak, as a matter of fact. Each of the last six seasons, Doolittle has spent at least two weeks on the IL. He's had...

Despite October success, Hudson is still a reluctant closer

Despite October success, Hudson is still a reluctant closer
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Daniel Hudson pitched the ninth inning of three postseason clinching Nationals wins last October. He recorded the final three outs of the National League wild card game, preserving a 3-2 victory over the Brewers. He notched the final four outs of the team's NL pennant-clinching win over the Cardinals. And when it came time for the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series, Davey Martinez handed the ball to him and watched as he finished off the Astros and set off a...

Trio of big name pitchers struggles in blowout loss

Trio of big name pitchers struggles in blowout loss
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The games down here don't count, so the Nationals could afford to brush off tonight's 11-0 trouncing at the hands of a split-squad Cardinals team as insignificant in the grand scheme of things. And that's probably a fair reaction to a blowout loss on March 5. Really, what conclusions can reasonably be drawn from a game like this? Still, it had to be at least a little concerning for Davey Martinez to watch three of his most important pitchers get roughed up by a...

Hearing from Doolittle, Sánchez, Zimmerman, Martinez after 3-1 loss

Hearing from Doolittle, Sánchez, Zimmerman, Martinez after 3-1 loss
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Sean Doolittle's primary goal in his first game action of spring training was to focus on his secondary pitches. For a guy who usually makes hay with an array of rising fastballs, challenging hitters to square up a pitch they know is coming at them, that can be a tall order - especially when he hasn't faced hitters in a game yet this spring. "I have some different grips I'm trying," he said after throwing a scoreless inning, fanning a pair and allowing a hit in a 3-1...

Lineups: Nats vs. Mets in Port St. Lucie

Lineups: Nats vs. Mets in Port St. Lucie
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - The Nationals hit the road for a second straight day, facing the Mets at Clover Park with Aníbal Sánchez taking the mound for his second spring start. Facing the Cardinals in Jupiter on Feb. 25, Sánchez worked two innings, surrendering one run on two hits with no walks and two strikeouts. In his second start, Sánchez is likely to increase his workload to three innings and/or about 50 pitches. Among those pitching in relief today will be closer Sean Doolittle,...

Updates on relievers, Robles and Braymer (Nats lose 6-3)

Updates on relievers, Robles and Braymer (Nats lose 6-3)
JUPITER, Fla. - The Nationals are about to start getting a better look at the three pitchers who will form the back end of their bullpen in 2020. Closer Sean Doolittle and setup man Daniel Hudson, neither of whom has pitched in a Grapefruit League game this spring while manager Davey Martinez slow-plays them into action, are both nearing their debuts. Doolittle, a left-hander, has progressed through a side session, will get today off and is scheduled to pitch Sunday when the Nationals travel to...

Turner gets first opportunity to bat third (Nats lose 8-2)

Turner gets first opportunity to bat third (Nats lose 8-2)
TAMPA, Fla. - Davey Martinez has been talking about it much of the winter and through the first two weeks of the spring. Today the Nationals manager will finally see his unconventional lineup idea in action: Trea Turner is batting third against the Yankees. It's not a perfect way to evaluate this lineup wrinkle, because only three players guaranteed to be in the opening day lineup (Turner, Victor Robles, Starlin Castro) made the 3 1/2-hour trip from West Palm Beach for today's exhibition...

The infield and catching plans, cabbage race and title sign

The infield and catching plans, cabbage race and title sign
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If it wasn't already clear before, Davey Martinez today made his plan for the Nationals infield this spring very clear. Starlin Castro will get all of his work at second base for now. Carter Kieboom will get all of his work at third base for now. Asdrúbal Cabrera will get the bulk of his work at third base. Howie Kendrick will work mostly at first and second bases for now, but will get some action at third later in camp. Though this new conglomeration of Nationals...

As Astros apologize, Nats players share thoughts on scandal

As Astros apologize, Nats players share thoughts on scandal
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The contrast was impossible to ignore. On one side of FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, more than 50 reporters and photographers listened to Astros owner Jim Crane and players Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve apologize for the sign-stealing scandal that has engulfed baseball since it was revealed three months ago. It was not, by all accounts, well received. On the other side of this sprawling complex, a grand total of seven media members (four writers, one print...

Nats hope improved depth leads to improved bullpen

Nats hope improved depth leads to improved bullpen
As spring training fast approaches, it's time to break down the state of the Nationals roster, position by position. The series continues today with the bullpen ... We know the Nationals bullpen was terrible last season. That's not news to anyone. How bad was it, though? And, more importantly, why was it so bad? The stat most often cited throughout the ordeal that was the 2019 regular season was the Nats' bullpen ERA: 5.66. That was worst in the majors, and worst by any major league bullpen...

Better, worse or the same in 2020: Pitchers

Better, worse or the same in 2020: Pitchers
Yesterday we looked at Nationals position players and tried to project whether the club will be better, worse or the same at each position. Today we'll attempt the same exercise for their pitching staff. Keep in mind, this is broken down into roles on the pitching staff (i.e. No. 1 starter, setup men). In some cases where there hasn't been a change, it's essentially a projection of how one pitcher is going to compare to last season. But in other cases where there have been changes, it's a...

Strickland now at full health, hopes for calm seas ahead

Strickland now at full health, hopes for calm seas ahead
Reliever Hunter Strickland allowed three homers in two games against the Dodgers in the 2019 National League Division Series. But the right-hander had his moments for the Nationals that helped calm down a beleaguered bullpen and he is back for the 2020 season. Strickland remembers his wife, Shelley, was a bit nervous when he got the call to join the Nats. He spent the first part of the season with the Mariners after five seasons with the Giants. And when he arrived in D.C., his new teammates...

Martinez on his No. 3 hitter, Zimmerman, Doolittle and the Astros

Martinez on his No. 3 hitter, Zimmerman, Doolittle and the Astros
The most newsworthy thing Nationals manager Davey Martinez said Friday following his taping of an hour-long special with "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd at SiriusXM's local headquarters was that Carter Kieboom will have an opportunity to win the starting third baseman's job this spring. But it wasn't the only newsworthy thing Martinez said while talking to reporters for the first time since the Winter Meetings in early December. Here are some more highlights from the session ... *...