Hibernation, as longtime commenter and e-migo Souldrummer suggested, seems to be in order as things have slowed down considerably, this being just the second post of 2023. The last BA transaction update had one signing: journeyman RHP José Mujica. Two days ago, the big club converted a waiver-wire pickup (A.J. Alexy) into a turning-19 RHP …
Here’s my semi-regular offseason post to let you know the site has not gone dark. There’s just not much news.
It turns out that only two of the four places I went to last summer on my baseball road trip had enough usable pictures, and I’ll be posting these shortly.
I’ve resisted the urge to cover the dumpster dives signs of Michael Chavis and Dominic Smith, as the beat writers and the rest of the Natmosphere have this covered like a blanket over a Junebug. Even if one or both end up in Rochester, this only confirms what we already know:
Until something else breaks, I return you to your winter loathing.
Apparently, this is an even-year thing, as when I went looking for past editions it was 2020, 2018, and 2014. I do recall that early on it was ten ’10, eleven for ’11, etc. Anyway, with time on my hands and the prospect of no news until next year, let’s take a look at ten …
It seems so long ago that I first drew this up, and yet it was only a little more than a month ago. Sadly, the two most notable changes are effectively dumpster dives – the selection of Thad Ward via the Rule 5 Draft, and picking up fallen-but-somehow-not-former prospect Jeter Downs, who lived up to …
It’s Festivus for some of us, the home stretch for those who celebrate Hannukah, and the Friday before Christmas and Kwanzaa for others.
By tomorrow morning, every state in the lower 48 will be at or below 20 degrees according to the National Weather Service. That means hell Florida will freeze over unless Bugs Bunny was successful.
So in addition to staying safe, stay warm. And my hope, as always, is that by the time you read this, you’re where you want to be, with whom you want to be, and all your to-dos are done.
And in the immortal words of William Shatner: “Don’t drink and drive – do one or the other.”
Shalom or Happy Sangria Day, depending on either your religion or the proximity of your family, iykwitm…
We haven’t gone dark. It’s just really, really, really slow.
I’m not sure why this has become the new normal. If you look at the URL string, you’ll see that this is the fourth time in the past four years it’s been so slow that I’ve had to run back-to-back posts that effectively say “I got nothing.”
Because of the timing of Christmas this year, I don’t expect anything to happen between now and Boxing Day, if not New Year’s Day. I hope I’m wrong – frequently posts “create” news to shake loose – but if not, you can expect one or two posts before I finalize the 2023 Watchlist.
With all eyes and interest on the free-agent signings, there’s not much else to pass along in our little corner of the Natmosphere.
Lucius Fox became the latest casualty of Mike Rizzo’s dumpster-dive approach to filling out the Washington/Rochester bullpen(s). About the only effect this has is reducing the 2022 Senators shortstops’ chances of making the 2023 Red Wings Opening Day roster, assuming there’s a means of measuring the gap between nil and none.
Otherwise, I return you to the 2022-2023 Offseason doldrums…
As noted in the comments, the Nats made a curious trade yesterday with the pickup of OF Frankie Tostado from the Mariners for cash considerations. What makes this odd is that Tostado was taken by Seattle in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft on Wednesday. He has already been assigned to Harrisburg, where …
For the first time since 2010, the Nats made a selection during the MLB phase of the Rule 5 Draft, taking Boston Red Sox minor-leaguer Thad Ward. Ward, who will fit right in having already had Tommy John surgery last year, made 13 starts across four levels in 2022. He posted a line of 2.28/2.69/1.15 …
While some fans may lament not getting the top pick, it could have been worse. Just ask our perennial (annual?) trade partners in Oakland. The actual draw took place prior to the MLB Network special, which you can read about here. TL;DR – the Twins getting into the Top 5 was quite the coup when …