Nats Trade for Hard-Throwing Reliever
Out-of-options southpaw sometimes gets it over the plate, too
Transaction Update
Back to the offseason grind, where we pass along the signings of journeymen with non-roster invitations and pretend that it’s meaningful:
• RHP Matt Albers
• RHP Joe Nathan
• RHP Vance Worley
• 2B Grant Green
[Crash Davis] They’re just happy to have the opportunity to see if they can help this ballclub win, and if they can’t make the Opening Day Roster, showcase themselves to the other 29 teams. [/Crash Davis]
The BA Prospect Handbook, Part Two
Alright, no sense in wasting time; here’s nos. 16-31: 16. Kelvin Gutierrez 21. Osvaldo Abreu (15) 26. Jose Marmolejos 17. Sheldon Neuse 22. Raudy Read (22) 27. Tyler Watson 18. Jakson Reetz (14) 23. Edwin Lora (22) 28. Telmito Agustin 19. Brian Goodwin (31) 24. Jose Sanchez 29. Joan Baez (18) 20. Blake Perkins (12) …
The BA Prospect Handbook, Part One
As always, when I make a post to refresh the site, something comes up to predicated an additional post. As the headline gives away, the 2017 Baseball America Prospect Handbook came in the mail today. For those obsessed with how the Washington organization ranks relative to the rest of MLB, it came in at No. …
All Quiet on the Minor-League Front
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…
Initial 2017 Player Reports Completed
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.
Transaction Update
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.
A Few More Minor-League Signs
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 …
Plugging Away at the Watchlist
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…
Nationals Name 2017 Farm Managers, Coaches
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 …