For us, the loss of the WaPo sports section combined with the MASN-Nats divorce means we’ll be reliant on the the Athletic or ESPN and whatever MLB deems we should know about the big club. Sorry, but I don’t have the chutzpah to believe that the freelancers will fill the gap, though I am very confident they’ll clear the corgi-puppy-low bar set by the Washington Times.
In better news, it appears that the Nats spring training coverage will not suffer as badly as feared (excluding the decision to retain the MASN hacks in the booth, natch). In fact, as one of out regulars put it in the comments, “[it] seems in line with what the Nats ST coverage under MASN.” I may not be one of the toxic optimists who go after the white whale with the tartar suace in hand, but this is when my New England pessimism pays off. (For the record, I would pick the Seahawks to win on Sunday, despite having been a Patriots fan since Steve Grogan took snaps behind center).
I’ve been holding off on a transaction update because most of the action has been of the 40-man waiver claim variety, which mostly affects “our guys” insofar as crowding the AAA roster. Not that the Nats have that many guys knocking on the door. Harry Ford has a legitimate shot of unseating Keibert Ruiz’s as the starting backstop, which is not man-bites-dog but rock-star-dates-model. First base is anyone’s job to win, same as it ever was (at least since Josh Bell left in ’22), so perhaps Yoyo Morales might get a look-see (presuming the “let’s try Luis Garcia at 1B” is merely a pipe dream). And anyone who can throw strikes consistently has a shot to make the pitching staff (ibid).
Stay warm as we wait for warmer weather to at least soften the snowcrete (unless you’re this guy).