NationalsProspects.com – News and Notes on the Nationals Minors from the perspective of the fan, sportswriter, and amateur scout

Nats Send PTBNL to Indians

December 18, 2018

The player to be named later with the Nats-Indians trade has been identified as Andruw Monasterio, a.k.a. the player the Nats got when they traded ~~raging homophobe~~ infielder Daniel Murphy to the Cubs this past August.

As noted in the comments, this may render the latter trade as essentially giving away Murphy. It’s not clear if/when Chicago and Washington completed their trade, which at the time (Aug. 21), was reported to be Monasterio and a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Occam’s Razor suggests it was indeed cash, which is far less satisfying, but par for the course with Rizzo’s July-August trades of late, where the Nats GM has been more Napoleon than Jefferson.

The NationalProspects.com Top 10 Pitchers

December 15, 2018

If you’re wondering why Mike Rizzo is on the hunt for more starting pitching, this list ought to be a clue. Simply put: Just one of these 10 is age-appropriate-to-the-level and has had a modicum of success as a starter. And since Sterling Sharp doesn’t throw 95 and isn’t lefthanded… Please hold while I pass …

Nats Lose One, Pick Up One in Rule 5 Draft

December 14, 2018

No player taken in the MLB phase for the fifth straight year

Nats Trade For Younger Tanner

December 13, 2018

Apparently deciding not to risk a third straight year of decline, the Nationals traded Tanner Roark to the Reds for Tanner Rainey. As noted by the Post’s latest beat writer in his lede, the move is also about reallocating money—with the exception of second wives, younger is cheaper—toward other another starter. It also probably didn’t …

Vote for Your Favorite Arms

December 11, 2018

While the argument about how much the bar for the Hall of Fame has been lowered again has resurfaced, it’s time for us to move on to our next step toward riding out another winter. Mason Denaburg will probably assume the mantle of the clear-cut #1—despite not having thrown a pitch against a professional batter—as …

The NationalsProspects.com Top 10 Position Players

December 8, 2018

This year there was both consensus and chaos in the voting. Victor Robles was the undisputed #1 pick, Carter Kieboom was voted #2 on nine of ten ballots, as was Luis Garcia for the #3 spot (one voted flip-flopped the two). Telmito Agustin was the only other player named on all ten ballots. Sixteen other …

Vote for Your Favorite Bats

December 6, 2018

Quick! Before they get traded! It’s time for our annual offseason ritual to fill the void between when Boswell stops blathering about baseball and starts blathering about football October and March by crowdsourcing our favorite position players in the Nationals minor leagues. OK, so here’s how it works… Send me your Top 10 list of …

Daniel Johnson, PTBNL part of Nats-Indians Trade

December 1, 2018

It’s another reminder that the days of us getting excited by news of a trade (“ooh – someone new”) have shifted (“ugh – who’d we lose?”) as Daniel Johnson, Jefry Rodriguez, and the eponymous player to be named later were traded to Cleveland for catcher Yan Gomes. Johnson, who had a meteoric rise through the …

The Preliminary 2019 Watchlist

November 27, 2018

With the passing of Thanksgiving, it’s time to take a look at the next edition of the watchlist – 2019, our ninth one since the inaugural watchlist in November 2010. While everyone and their grandmother seems to favor rankings, I’ve always preferred to not focus on enumeration because (A) it’s specious (B) it leads to …

Happy Thanksgiving

November 22, 2018

Greetings from the Crystal Coast of North Carolina. No, we don’t have family here – we were offered a week here at ridiculous price (and this was before the hurricane) and decided we’d rather chill on the beach than deal with craziness in the DMV. As it turns out, it looks like we’ll be missing …