WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Spring training inevitably contains missteps and injuries. The Nationals had been lucky enough to avoid both - until today. Their 8-4 loss Tuesday afternoon didn't hurt as much watching Howie Kendrick pull up lame and limp back to the dugout with a left hamstring strain in the third inning or seeing Max Scherzer labor against a Red Sox lineup populated mostly with bench players and minor leaguers making the three-hour drive from Fort Myers. Luckily, neither issue seems...

Very soon - perhaps as soon as Monday, if right-hander Brandon Kintzler gets through his minor league rehabilitation assignment this afternoon with Single-A Potomac without any issues - the Nationals will be able to set up their bullpen with the goal of shortening games to six or seven innings. That will require the back end relievers - Kintzler, righties Ryan Madson and Kelvin Herrera, and left-handed closer Sean Doolittle - to slot into more regular roles. Kintzler and Madson will handle the...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals have made their first cuts of spring training, optioning right-hander Austin Voth to Triple-A Syracuse and reassigning seven players to their minor league camp. Voth, who went 4-12 with a 5.94 ERA at three minor league stops last season, appeared in three Grapefruit League games, and posted a 6.00 ERA in three innings of relief work. He allowed two runs on five hits with five strikeouts. Right-handers Jimmy Cordero, Brady Dragmire, David Goforth, Román...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals made 10 cuts this morning, optioning four players to minor league affiliates and reassigning six others to minor league camp. Right-handers Jimmy Codero and Austin Voth and infielder Matt Skole were optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. Catcher Raudy Read was optioned to Double-A Harrisburg. Reassigned to minor league camp were right-handers Dustin Antolin and Taylor Hill, infielders Corban Joseph and Drew Ward, and outfielder Andrew Stevenson. Additionally,...

When hard-throwing Koda Glover burst onto the scene last summer, his unshakable demeanor and plus stuff immediately had people talking about him as a future Nationals closer. Never mind that he went from Single-A to the majors in less than a full season. Glover had a 2.63 ERA through his first 12 relief appearances before he hit a significant bump in the road. The eighth-round selection in the 2015 First-Year Player Draft struggled mightily in September, posting a 7.20 ERA in his final 10...

When last we saw them assembled on a baseball field, the Nationals were managed by Matt Williams. Ian Desmond was their shortstop. Jordan Zimmermann was their most-consistent pitcher over a period of five years. Drew Storen was a key part of their bullpen. When next we see them assembled on a baseball field, none of that will be true. Williams was fired less than 24 hours after the season finale, ultimately replaced by Dusty Baker (after a brief fling with Bud Black went awry). Desmond and...

NASHVILLE - By now, most observers expected the Nationals to have gotten a lot futher in their bullpen makeover, perhaps swinging a trade for an eighth- or ninth-inning arm. But here we are, entering the second day of the Winter Meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, and the Nats have done nothing of significance. What's more, the once-promising plethora of shutdown relief arms has thinned out considerably in the past two days. Darren O'Day is apparently returning to...