It’s the final Sunday of a brutally slow and long January. If you’re into helping publishers get their pageviews, then you probably noticed Top 100 posts from Baseball America, Keith Law, and MLB.com. That these came during the week between the NFL’s Conference Championships and the Super Bowl is just a coincidence* * Narrator: It …
As noted in the comments, the latest transaction post from BA has more than one item for the Nats: • RHPs Taylor Hill (re-signed), Justin Miller • OF Moises Sierra • 1B Balbino Fuenmayor No word on whether batters in the International League and/or Eastern Leage have a sent thank-you notes to the Nats for …
I’ve made it through the first pass of writing the 2018 Watchlist and Player reports as I await the arrival of Baseball America’s 2018 Prospect Book, which is the only prospect book I use these days.
I really wish there was a worthy successor to Sickels. A few years back, there was the Minor League Baseball Analyst by Deric McKamey, but like a lot of folks from that era (~2005-2011), he’s now working for an MLB organization. I gave his successors (Rob Gordon, Jeremy DeLoney) a chance but when back-to-back editions (2010 and 2011) were nearly identical to each other, I called it quits.
So like last year, I didn’t punt as very many players. When the BA handbook arrives, I’ll finish ’em up, edit those that need it, and then lock ’em down. After that, it becomes clickbait reference material for the rest of the season.
As always, feel free to discuss in the comments as we wait out the offseason from hell…
Hinted at earlier this month, the Washington Nationals finally announced who the managers and coaches will be in 2018: Affiliate Manager Pitching Coach Hitting Coach Syracuse Randy Knorr Brad Holman Brian Daubach Harrisburg Matthew LeCroy Michael Tejera Brian Rupp Potomac Tripp Keister Sam Narron Luis Ordaz Hagerstown Patrick Anderson Tim Redding Amaury Garcia Auburn Jerad …
One of the saddest things in the offseason is doing a search for when you last did a post and finding it was roughly this time a year ago. Sadder: About 80% of it I could reuse word for word. As the headline says, I’ve begun writing the player reports for the 2018 Watchlist and …
Over at TalkNats.com, where I’ve been cross-posting to help drum up page views, there’s a story about how the Nationals will be changing things up with the minor-league coaching staffs. The focus is on the realigning of the pitching coaches – Franklin Bravo to Auburn (from Potomac), Sam Narron to Potomac (from Hagerstown), and Tim …
It’s Day 17 since the kids were in school and it feels even longer than that since there’s been any real baseball news. It’s so quiet that otherwise smart baseball writers are suggesting that a 28-y.o. LHP with 25⅓ IP (zero since 2016) of AAA experience might be the key to keeping Bryce Harper in …
Thanks to a lot of thoughtful comments last month—and more time spent following the GCL last summer—this was easier to put together than last year. One thing I did do this time around vs. pervious years is let the “Notables” be a larger contingent than usual instead of agonizing over whether to put a guy …
John Sickels released his Top 20 Prospects for the Washington Nationals last night, roughly 30 hours after posting a preliminary post. Here’s the breakdown by letter grade: A-/A Victor Robles B+ Juan Soto, Carter Kieboom B/B+ Erick Fedde B Seth Romero B/B- Wil Crowe, Daniel Johnson B- Yasel Antuna, Luis Garcia B-/C+ Raudy Read C+ …
While it may be Festivus for some, for many it’s the final weekend before Christmas, so I figured I’d better get this post in today vs. tomorrow. Because I’ve done time in retail, I know that some of you still aren’t done shopping. (These men are much more sober than the ones I remember in the ’80s)
Still, it is the weekend and even if your creed’s holiday has just passed or if you have none, you can still take advantage of the slowdown that comes with the end of Q4 the year.
Take a walk, spend some time with your friends, family, and/or loved ones, and do something that makes you happy (but safely and in moderation).