Hey, we’re still here. It’s just really, really slow.
The hope—as always—is that this post will jinx something into happening so I have something better to write about than, say, the 2017 spring training uniforms and caps or the trucks arriving amid the frenzied construction at the Nats new digs in West Palm Beach.
Until then, please continue to keep the hot stove going in the comments…
I’ve made it through the first pass of writing the 2017 Watchlist and Player reports as I await the arrival of Baseball America’s 2017 Prospect Book. With Sickels no longer doing his book, I couldn’t punt on too many guys, which may be better because it forced me to write and research a little more.
While it’s a lot of work, it pays off down the line. Once the season starts up, the focus is on delivering the news and notes every day, which I enjoy, but gets progressively harder as the season progresses (even with reduced coverage of the DSL and GCL).
This is when I get the legwork done, and more than a few times during the season I’ll use this as reference material (and I’m sure others do, too, so you should know what to do with that the images that appear under “Pay The Bills”).
As always, feel free to discuss in the comments – (UPDATE) preferably here, but I just enabled them on each category page.
Yes, it’s so slow that we’re doing back-to-back transaction posts. Yesterday, the folks at Baseball America posted their latest, which contained two signings for the Nationals:
• LHP Jordan Mills – It’s no secret that the Nats are loading up on lefties. What’s not clear is why Mills was cut loose by the Astros after a single season at High-A in which he posted a line of 3.81/5.16/1.77 in the notoriously hitter-friendly California Lg. Last summer, he pitched in the Can-Am Lg. with good nos. 6-0, 1.96 in 44 appearances (which is a lot considering it’s a ~90-game season).
• IF-OF Mario Lisson – Lisson, who split time between Harrisburg and Syracuse in 2015, returns to the Nationals after spending 2016 in Mexican League. He turns 33 in May, so it’s pretty clear he’s a roster-filler first and an emergency fill-in second.
Baseball America released its latest transaction post, and with it comes a few more signings: • LHP Neal Cotts • Irving Falu • Alex Santana Cotts and Falu are the classic minor-league deals with a non-roster invite to spring training, i.e. longshots who will most likely get mentioned here again when they are released in …
Still here, still waiting for some new, relevant Nats- or minors-related news. In the meantime, I have been plugging away at the player reports while we wait out the winter.
Perhaps not coincidentally, one of the last times I wrote a post like this, there was a story from the St. Louis Dispatch‘s Derrick Goold about qualifying offers and their effect on free agents. This week, Goold wrote about Seth Maness, who could be the trailblazer for a new UCL surgery (Hmmm, maybe this is Nats-related after all 😉).
Until next time…
Things have been so slow on the minor- and major-league fronts that both MASN and WaPo covered the release of the 2017 coaching staffs. TL;DR Everybody’s staying put. Well, not entirely, but with Washington being a football town (sorry, but a real baseball town wouldn’t make comments like these) we’re told about the team’s personal …
As expected, the post to refresh the site came a few hours too early, as Baseball America released its first transaction post of 2017.
Four pitchers were listed, three of which were not previously reported:
• RHP Pedro Gonzalez
• LHP Josh Outman
• LHP Stone Speer
It’s not clear which Pedro Gonzalez was signed, as there are multiple candidates choose from when searching baseball-reference.com (none of the most likely candidates have been pitchers).
Outman, who was released by the Pirates organization last August, hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2014. He spent 2015 in the Braves organization, though shoulder soreness limited him to just 8⅔ innings and nine appearances. He pitched 105 innings last season combined, 85 as a starter for independent New Britain (Atlantic League), 20 as a reliever for AAA Indianapolis.
Speer also spent time in the indys in 2016, pitching 18 innings over 18 appearances for Sussex County of the Can-Am League after missing all of 2015 (unable to confirm surgery).
Folks, we haven’t gone dark… there’s just not much going on. No relevant transactions – players getting assigned to a given roster at this time of the year is meaningless.
As promised, I’ve begun working on the player reports and have already knocked a couple, albeit with a couple of placeholders. Unlike years past, I would hold out hope that whatever BA won’t cover John Sickels might, but that option is gone. Now it’s a matter of guessing who might make the last 10 spots, and MLB Pipeline seems to have that largely covered.
This is the hardest time of the year for many us of anyways… holidays are over, diets have begun, and as we’ve seen this morning, cold and snow are back in the DMV (just in time for my being given medical clearance to run!). So my apologies in advance for the lack of enthusiasm. If the past is indeed prologue, something will break soon now that I’m written a post primarily designed to assure folks it’s still operating.
I know this keeps getting done later every year, but I won’t bore with you with why it’s been delayed. We’re all busy and it’s the holidays… yada yada yada. I should be used to how trades and lower draft positions make this harder than the year before, not to mention my no longer following …
We interrupt your Boxing Day celebration to bring you another transaction update, courtesy of BA and MiLB: SIGNED • RHP Gabriel Arias – Did not pitch in 2016. Unable to confirm whether he was in Dr. Andrew’s waiting room when the Nats were stopped by for their monthly meeting. • Player-Coaches Devin Ivany & Andruth …