The history of Nats managers, through Zimmerman's eyes

The history of Nats managers, through Zimmerman's eyes
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals have experienced plenty of change over the years, nowhere more so than in the manager's office. Davey Martinez is now the club's seventh full-time manager in 14 seasons in Washington, with none of his predecessors having survived longer than 2 1/2 seasons. Only one player has been around for every one of the seven skippers: Ryan Zimmerman, the organization's first draft pick in 2005. Zimmerman's career has included its own share of changes, but he has...

Top stories of 2017: Baker fired, Martinez hired

Top stories of 2017: Baker fired, Martinez hired
As we count down the final days of 2017, we're counting down the most significant stories of the year for the Nationals. Some are positive. Some are negative. All helped define this baseball season in Washington. We'll reveal two per day through New Year's Eve, continuing right now with ... No. 2: Baker fired, Martinez hired The question of Dusty Baker's future with the Nationals lurked underneath the surface for most of the 2017 season, but it never truly felt like that much of a question...

Turner healthy for 2018, confident as everyday shortstop

Turner healthy for 2018, confident as everyday shortstop
It will be exciting to see what shortstop Trea Turner can accomplish after a season that was interrupted by injury. Turner was limited to 98 games after missing all of July and most of August, yet still hit .284 and stole 46 bases. One big question for Turner: How will he handle the regime change at manager? Turner valued his time with the experienced Dusty Baker. "Unfortunate," Turner said of Baker's dismissal over the weekend at Nationals Winterfest. "I really enjoyed Dusty as a manager...

Friday morning Nats Q&A

Friday morning Nats Q&A
It's been quite a long time since we did one of these things. And quite a bit has happened to the Nationals since then. Dusty Baker was let go. Dave Martinez was hired. Daniel Murphy had knee surgery. Max Scherzer won another Cy Young Award. Plus a lot of other stuff. So let's take a step today and give all of you an opportunity to ask what's on your mind. Leave your questions in the comments section below, then check back throughout the morning as I do my best to answer as many as I can ...

Scherzer, Strasburg highlight finalists for NL Cy Young Award

Scherzer, Strasburg highlight finalists for NL Cy Young Award
The Nationals raced out to a big lead in the National League East and secured the division with outstanding starting pitching throughout the season. The leaders in the starting rotation for the Nats were Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. The pair has been rewarded as finalists for the NL Cy Young Award, announced tonight by the Baseball Writers' Association of America on MLB Network. But Dusty Baker was left out of the top three for NL Manager of the Year. Scherzer won the Cy Young last...

Nats' two-year managerial policy leaves them in a familiar place

Nats' two-year managerial policy leaves them in a familiar place
Let's for a moment try to view the Nationals' managerial situation in a vacuum. Block out past history and reputation of both the organization and of Dusty Baker. Forget about dollar amounts. Don't consider who else might be available for the job right now. Baker's Nationals won 95 games and a division title in 2016, then lost a heartbreaker of a five-game National League Division Series to the Dodgers, with all three losses in the series coming by one run. Baker's team then won 97 games...

Looking at some possible successors to Dusty Baker

Looking at some possible successors to Dusty Baker
With Dusty Baker out as manager after leading the Nationals to back-to-back National League East titles and consecutive first-round playoff departures, one question is on the lips of Nats fans: Who's next? Do the Nats turn to a veteran field boss, someone who's shown a propensity for getting teams deep into the postseason? Do they focus their attentions on someone whose personality is a good match for a star-filled clubhouse? Do they eschew an old-school candidate for someone more cutting...

Rizzo: Managerial change was "baseball decision," not financial

Rizzo: Managerial change was "baseball decision," not financial
Dusty Baker's unsettled contract situation hovered over the Nationals all season, but throughout it all, both Baker and general manager Mike Rizzo expressed confidence not only that both sides wanted the manager to return in 2018 but also that a deal was likely to get done once the season ended. Only two weeks ago, as his team prepared for the National League Division Series, Rizzo continued to express that same confidence, even though they had not yet engaged in contract negotiations. "We...

Contracts of entire Nats coaching staff won't be renewed

Contracts of entire Nats coaching staff won't be renewed
It's not just manager Dusty Baker who will not return to the Nationals next season. The contracts of his entire coaching staff will not be renewed, allowing for whoever replaces Baker to choose his own coaches. Pitching coach Mike Maddux, hitting coach Rick Schu, bench coach Chris Speier, first base coach Davey Lopes, third base coach Bobby Henley, bullpen coach Dan Firova and assistant hitting coach Jacque Jones won't be retained, the team announced Friday. President of baseball operations...

Baker out as Nationals manager after two seasons

Baker out as Nationals manager after two seasons
Dusty Baker is out as Nationals manager, leaving the franchise yet again looking for a new clubhouse and dugout leader. The club made the surprising announcement this afternoon, electing not to bring back Baker, who had won back-to-back National League East titles and an average of 96 wins per season. The 68-year-old Baker, whose teams lost in Game 5 of the National League Division Series each of his two seasons, was not under contract beyond 2017. "The Lerner family, on behalf of the entire...

Reflecting on Werth with the Nats and where he might be next season

Reflecting on Werth with the Nats and where he might be next season
A few days have passed since the difficult Game 5 National League Division Series loss and reflection continues on the impact of left fielder Jayson Werth and whether or not 2017 was his final year in a Nationals uniform. Werth played seven seasons with the Nats from 2011-2017, the longest tenure for him with one team in his career. The Nats won 95 or more games in four of those seasons. In his first season with the Nats, the win total jumped from 69 to 80. That was the only season the Nats...

The Nationals' biggest offseason questions

The Nationals' biggest offseason questions
The Nationals have been in this position before, entering the offseason following an abrupt and disappointing exit from the postseason, facing a handful of significant questions that need to be addressed in the weeks and months to come. There's the managerial situation to sort out. There are some veterans about to become free agents. There are some really important players about to enter their contract years. And there are a few holes that need to be filled. So as we transition into offseason...

Taylor solidifies place in outfield with powerful NLDS performance

Taylor solidifies place in outfield with powerful NLDS performance
Every Nationals player would be the first to admit personal accolades can never replace the accomplishment of moving on to the National League Championship Series, a prize the Nats have been unable to reach in four trips to the postseason since 2012. But one thing is for sure following Thursday's Game 5 loss to the Cubs: Michael A. Taylor is a budding star. Taylor's grand slam to beat the Cubs in a rainy Game 4 has got to rank as the biggest, or at least in the top two or three, hit in a road...

What does the future now hold for Baker and Werth?

What does the future now hold for Baker and Werth?
In those immediate moments after elimination, once the reality sets in and everyone understands the season has just ended, it's impossible not to start wondering about the future. And for two of the most prominent members of the Nationals, the future is awfully cloudy in the wake of Thursday night's Game 5 loss to the Cubs. Did Dusty Baker just manage his last game for the Nats (or for anyone)? Did Jayson Werth just play his last game for the Nats (or for anyone)? It'll be a little while...

Nationals once again left to make sense of an NLDS loss

Nationals once again left to make sense of an NLDS loss
Most of them had been through this at least once before, some twice, a select few three times. The Nationals have grown accustomed to - and, quite frankly, tired of - standing inside a dead-silent clubhouse late at night following an agonizing loss in the National League Division Series and trying to make sense of it all. They did it after the ninth-inning fiasco against the Cardinals in 2012. They did it after a poorly played series against the Giants in 2014. They did it after a dramatic...

Scherzer on a bewildering fifth inning that changed the game

Scherzer on a bewildering fifth inning that changed the game
With the Nationals leading 4-3 in Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the Cubs, the fifth inning started off well for Max Scherzer in his first relief appearance of the postseason. Scherzer recorded a pair of outs. But then the trouble started. The Cubs' Willson Contreras singled. Then Albert Almora Jr. singled. The hit that changed the game came next from Addison Russell, who laced a double that hugged just inside the bag at third and down the line. Contreras and Almora...

Baker sticking with Werth, rest of lineup for Game 5

Baker sticking with Werth, rest of lineup for Game 5
Through four games of this National League Division Series, the Nationals have scored a grand total of 12 runs on 16 hits. For the arithmetically challenged, that's an average of three runs on four hits per game. That's not good. Throughout it all, though, Dusty Baker has stuck with the same eight batters in his starting lineup. The order changed for Game 4, but the names remained the same. And they'll remain the same for tonight's do-or-die Game 5. Which means Jayson Werth is again...

Baker on Gonzalez as starter and where that leaves Scherzer, Roark

Baker on Gonzalez as starter and where that leaves Scherzer, Roark
Left-hander Gio Gonzalez gets the nod for the Nationals' most important game in 2017 and, really, in their franchise history to date. Gonzalez will be on the hill tonight for Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the Cubs. Manager Dusty Baker could have easily given the start to right-hander Tanner Roark, who until late Wednesday morning appeared to be the planned Game 4 starter in Chicago. Right-hander Stephen Strasburg felt good enough to go after battling sickness for a few...

Will a third Game 5 at home be the charm for the Nationals?

Will a third Game 5 at home be the charm for the Nationals?
CHICAGO - Jayson Werth has played in two do-or-die games before. Both came with the Nationals, both of them Game 5 in a National League Division Series, both of them ending in heartache. Tonight might well be the last one of these the 38-year-old outfielder gets to experience. And because of that, more than a few of his teammates have made it known they're trying to win this October for one of the guys whose arrival in D.C. had the largest impact on taking this franchise to its current...

Taylor defies elements with grand slam at Wrigley Field

Taylor defies elements with grand slam at Wrigley Field
CHICAGO - A game removed from taking the blame for not catching the Cubs' game-winning bloop hit, Michael A. Taylor stepped to the plate in the eighth inning Wednesday night with rain falling, wind blowing and the bases loaded. With the elements stifling fly balls at Wrigley Field, the only run of the game was the Nats' unearned run in the third inning. After Daniel Murphy's single off Jon Lester, who was pitching in relief, Cubs manager Joe Maddon opted to bring in Carl Edwards Jr., who...