It’s a weird world we live in when a mere tweet can be the peg for a news story. Such was the case yesterday when Jake Skole, the younger sibling of Matt Skole, congratulated his brother on his invite to Washington Nationals spring training, prompting this story from Byron Kerr, who confirmed it independently. The …
Perhaps the most depressing thing is that this is the third time I’ve had to write this kind of post, thanks to the news slowdown. Today’s spring-like weather certainly won’t help because, like the first full week after a long weekend (or, say, a winter break), when it gets cold again (it is January, after …
The latest transaction post from Baseball America is in and it’s the beginning of comings and goings to/from the farm. First, the additions: RHP Ross Ohlendorf LHP Sean West C Joe Witkowski Ohlendorf, a former stalwart in the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation, has been largely ineffective since suffering a shoulder strain in 2011. He began 2012 …
Unfortunately, he’s an American returning back to affiliated baseball for the first time in three years. Sorry. Jon Morosi of FOXSports.com has reported that LHP Brandon Mann has signed a minor-league deal with the Washington Nationals. The deal also includes an invite to spring training. The 28-year-old southpaw has spent the past two seasons in …
As the previous post indicated, I’ve been working on the player reports for the 2013 Watchlist and have completed the “first draft,” if you will. After the book from Baseball America and the .PDF from John Sickels are received and reviewed, I’ll fill in the “Report Not Yet Written” entries and revise/rewrite the others as needed.
With the signing of Adam LaRoche, we can hope that the dominoes will begin to fall elsewhere in baseball, eventually rippling down to the AAA and AA levels. Invariably, folks are talking trade for Michael Morse, which GM Mike Rizzo can deny isn’t inevitable with all the sincerity of a college basketball coach.
Personally, I’d much rather write a story about “the new guys” than run another pic of Spike forlornly looking out the back window, but I digress.
As always, feel free to discuss in the comments while we wait out the winter.
As mentioned previously, we’re in a slow stretch here… typical of this time of year, but still a bit painful. I know the casual fans are dying for new on if/when/whether Adam LaRoche will re-sign, a drama which is playing out elsewhere in MLB — most notably in St. Louis, where Kyle Lohse must wonder …
With the close of the Venzuelan League’s regular season, we can now take a look at the final numbers of the Nationals players in the 2012-13 winter leagues. VWL HITTERS DWL HITTERS PRWL HITTERS VWL PITCHER DWL PITCHERS PRWL PITCHER MWL PITCHERS As I semi-predicted, the latest BA Transaction post was indeed no new news. …
It’s back to work and back to school for most folks today, as the too-long-for-parents winter break is finally over. As the headline says, I’ve completed the essays for the Notable Arms and Notable Bats and will be working on the other portions of the list that can be done without the books by John Sickels and Baseball America.
This, of course, is a tough time for the minor-league baseball blogger fan. Beyond one more winter-league update and the next transactions post from BA, which could very well only contain the signings from last weekend, it’s a waiting game.
As always, I’ll do my best to keep the site fresh, even it means, um, well, a post like this. Happy New Year!
Thanks to our handy-dandy multiplication table, you can see that the finish of Year Three equals 36 months of NationalsProspects.com. It’s time for the annual look at the year that was, a staple of news during the end of the year no matter what the medium. Last year in this piece, I remarked about how …
The estimable Bill “The Rocket” Ladson has passed along news that the Nationals have signed two more minor-league free agents. Both are of the veteran variety, likely to fill out the Syracuse roster. Mike “Don’t Call Me George” Constanzo is a corner infielder who was originally drafted by the Phillies in the second round of …