Scherzer on Roark, Baker on bullpen and minor league rainouts

Scherzer on Roark, Baker on bullpen and minor league rainouts
Right-hander Max Scherzer is relieved that the knuckle injury he suffered at the end of last season is fully recovered and he is feeling 100 percent as he prepares to make his season debut tomorrow afternoon in Philadelphia. Wednesday night, starter Tanner Roark (1-0) got roughed up early but managed to pitch six innings in a 6-4 win over the Marlins. It was only the third start for Roark with the Nationals since March 5 because of his involvement in the World Baseball Classic and Friday's...

With closer named, Nats bullpen has chance to be exceptional

With closer named, Nats bullpen has chance to be exceptional
While everyone spent the last seven weeks - or, actually, the last 5 1/2 months - worrying about who was going to be the Nationals closer in 2017, a slightly more important fact might well have been glossed over: This team could have a really good bullpen in 2017. And that's not just touting the company line. Stop for a moment and consider the seven men most likely to comprise the Nats' relief corps come Monday afternoon ... Blake Treinen Shawn Kelley Koda Glover Joe Blanton Sammy Solís...

Nationals tab Treinen as closer over Kelley, Glover

Nationals tab Treinen as closer over Kelley, Glover
FORT MYERS, Fla. - For more than six weeks, they considered their options, going back and forth in their minds, weighing the positives and the negatives for each of the candidates they had to open the season as their closer. And when the time finally came to make the call this morning, the Nationals made it with conviction. Shawn Kelley has experience. Koda Glover has the stuff. But Blake Treinen has both, not to mention a track record of good health. Thus, if Dusty Baker is fortunate enough to...

Nats have three final decisions to make before opening day

Nats have three final decisions to make before opening day
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals have wrapped up the home portion of their spring training schedule, with only two road games left on the docket before they leave Florida: Today against the Cardinals in Jupiter (note the early 12:05 p.m. start) and Thursday against the Red Sox in Fort Myers. They still have some things to sort out, though, before heading north for good. So let's run through those final decisions ... WHO'S THE CLOSER? You've heard everything you need to hear about this...

Still no closer, plus an update on Murphy (Nats lose 4-2)

Still no closer, plus an update on Murphy (Nats lose 4-2)
NATIONALS QUICK WRAP Score: Marlins 4, Nats 2 Recap: In their lone night game of the spring, the Nationals turned to Jacob Turner for the start, giving the non-roster right-hander one more chance to make a case for himself to make the club. Turner's night got off to a rocky start, though, with two hits, a walk, a stolen base and an error leading to three first-inning runs. He settled down after that and retired 11 in a row before departing after the fourth. The Nationals got a two-run homer...

Decision-makers meeting tonight to pick closer (Nats win 6-0)

Decision-makers meeting tonight to pick closer (Nats win 6-0)
NATIONALS QUICK WRAP Score: Nats 6, Mets 0 Recap: Max Scherzer cruised through the Mets lineup, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth before he allowed two singles. The right-hander did walk three batters and drove up his pitch count to 85 before departing after five scoreless innings. He got plenty of offensive support from Bryce Harper and Trea Turner. Each young star homered twice, with three of the bombs coming off Mets starter Seth Lugo. Enny Romero continued his dominant spring with two...

Nats have picked a closer, but haven't told him yet

Nats have picked a closer, but haven't told him yet
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals appear to have decided on their closer to open the season. They just haven't informed the winner of that spring training competition, so his identity will remain anonymous for now. "We've kind of settled on a guy," manager Dusty Baker said. "But we've got to tell the guy first." The most significant and intriguing battle of the spring hasn't proven particularly dramatic. Each of the candidates - Shawn Kelley, Blake Treinen, Koda Glover - has pitched...

Nats haven't picked closer yet, will inform him before opener

Nats haven't picked closer yet, will inform him before opener
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals coaching staff and front office decision makers have not yet formally gathered to discuss who will open the season as their closer, but Dusty Baker said that meeting will take place soon and the affected pitchers will know their roles before heading north. "We haven't really discussed it at any length who it is yet," Baker said this morning. "We'll have a meeting. I believe in giving everybody a vote, cause that's what good organizations do. You take...

Previously flawless defense falters in loss to Astros

Previously flawless defense falters in loss to Astros
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals have played exceptional defense all spring, entering the day with a major league-low 11 errors through 20 exhibition games. So Dusty Baker isn't about to start worrying just because things got sloppy during today's 5-4 loss to the Astros. "Our defense has been good all spring," the Nationals manager said. "We work on it every day tirelessly. I mean, you're going to have those (days like today)." What exactly happened today? Well, officially there...

More on González and Glover's dominant spring numbers

More on González and Glover's dominant spring numbers
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - There are any number of ways to evaluate Gio González's performance so far this spring, and all of them are positive. Start with an 0.75 ERA in four outings. Then consider he has allowed only eight batters to reach base in 12 innings of work. Opponents are hitting a scant .135 against him. And he has issued only three walks. All of that is great, especially for a left-hander was a model of inconsistency last season, often maddeningly so. Here, though, is perhaps the...

Checking in on some camp storylines

Checking in on some camp storylines
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals are enjoying their second and final off-day of spring training today. Their complex at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches is closed. Players and staff have scattered like the four winds. Speaking of wind, a strong cold front has swept through South Florida, and it's supposed to dip into the 50s at night through the rest of the week. For here, that counts as winter. My flight home has been canceled by the winter storm (which I refuse to refer to by name) and...

Baker on "electric" Glover, Strasburg's mechanical tweak

Baker on "electric" Glover, Strasburg's mechanical tweak
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Another day, another scoreless inning for Koda Glover. The right-hander has now worked five innings this spring, allowing just one hit and two walks with nine strikeouts. This time, he contributed an important shutdown frame after the Nationals had rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to knot their game with the Tigers at 3-3. That's the way it ended after 10 innings. "Koda was electric," manager Dusty Baker said after watching the hard-throwing righty work...

Blink and you'll miss what Koda Glover is doing this spring

Blink and you'll miss what Koda Glover is doing this spring
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Every spring, there's a guy who opens eyes. This year, Koda Glover is that guy in Nationals camp. But blink and you'll miss what Glover is accomplishing as he tries to cement a spot in the Nationals bullpen, perhaps even worm his way into the closer conversation. Yesterday against the Red Sox, Glover made quick work of some established major league hitters. He struck out the side in the sixth, getting Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr. swinging and Chris Young on a...

Strasburg and Roark pitch intrasquad game, Scherzer bullpen set

Strasburg and Roark pitch intrasquad game, Scherzer bullpen set
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The rules were loosely defined, there were no umpires and players from both sides were wearing the same white uniforms, but the Nationals' intrasquad game today nonetheless offered an opportunity for everyone to progress beyond the simple workouts that had previously constituted spring training. The game, really more of a glorified scrimmage, lasted seven innings. None of the regular position players participated, but Stephen Strasburg and Tanner Roark started on the...

Notes from today's Nationals workout

Notes from today's Nationals workout
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Though the Matt Wieters news dominated the day, there was an actual workout this morning at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The Nationals' third full-squad workout, to be precise, and the second in a row to feature pitchers throwing to live hitters. All the guys who didn't throw off the mound Monday participated today (aside from Max Scherzer, who is restricted until his right ring finger is fully healed) and among the more notable throwers were Shawn Kelley and Koda...

Glover leveraging first big league camp into a learning experience

Glover leveraging first big league camp into a learning experience
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Under normal circumstances, a rookie pitcher in his first major league spring training would be a fly on the wall. He'd say little, listen a lot and hope he lasted long enough in camp to glean something from the older veterans with something to offer him. But nothing about Nationals right-hander Koda Glover is ordinary. Not his imposing look on the mound. Not the way he fires bullets at a catcher's mitt. Not the fact that he jumped from high Single-A Potomac, through...

Baker addresses closer situation as pitchers and catchers report

Baker addresses closer situation as pitchers and catchers report
With Nationals pitchers and catchers finally reporting to spring training at their new facility in West Palm Beach, baseball season is officially back, meaning a couple of things. First of all, you have obvious returns of the crack of the bats and that beautiful sound of ball meeting mitt. But it also means the return of many phrases ballplayers and managers love to use with the media, such as: "Next man up." Well, we here at MASNsports.com are taking that phrase quite literally over these...

Nats' most pressing spring question: Who's the closer?

Nats' most pressing spring question: Who's the closer?
The final countdown to spring training has arrived, and so we're spending the final days of the offseason counting down the Nationals' top storylines of the spring. We conclude today with the team's most pressing question in West Palm Beach: Who's the closer? When they departed the ballpark 122 days ago, dejected from yet another first-round loss in the postseason, the Nationals knew there was a chance they would have a different closer when they reconvened again in West Palm Beach. They...

Bullpen has some holes but plenty of talent

Bullpen has some holes but plenty of talent
As the start of spring training fast approaches, we're breaking down the state of the Nationals roster, position by position. The series continues today with the bullpen ... This may come as a surprise, given how much angst there seems to be over the subject, but the Nationals had one of baseball's best bullpens last season. The unit ranked in the top five in the majors in ERA (3.37), WHIP (1.187), opponents' on-base percentage (.300) and opponents' OPS (.673). So how come there's still so...

A brief history of the Nats' ever-changing closer identity

A brief history of the Nats' ever-changing closer identity
We don't know yet who will serve as the Nationals closer come opening day, but we do know it will be someone new. Mark Melancon is no longer in D.C., having signed a four-year deal with the Giants earlier this winter. Drew Storen also is long gone, having spent 2016 in Toronto and Seattle, and now signed with the Reds for 2017. Jonathan Papelbon? He remains in parts unknown, but we do know he's not in Washington anymore. If you've been following the Nationals closely over the years, though,...