Both Denard Span and Adam LaRoche came up short in their pursuits of Gold Gloves today.
Span, a finalist among National League center fielders for the second straight year, lost out to the Mets' Juan Lagares, and is still in search of his first career Gold Glove.
LaRoche won a Gold Glove with the Nationals in 2012, but this time, he saw Adrian Gonzalez of the Dodgers take home the hardware.
Span made four errors this season and posted a .990 fielding percentage, this after going the entire...
Matt Williams was recently selected as the Sporting News National League Manager of the Year, an award voted on by his peers.
Tonight, we found out that he's one of three finalists for the league-endorsed NL Manager of the Year award, voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Also nominated for this Manager of the Year award are the Giants' Bruce Bochy and the Pirates' Clint Hurdle.
Bochy won the award back in 1996, when he managed the Padres, while Hurdle is the...
The offseason technically began the day after the World Series ended.
Now free agency has officially gotten under way.
As of 12:01 a.m., teams could officially start making offers to free agents, this after teams had the last five days to exclusively negotiate with their players who were set to hit the open market.
The Nationals currently have five free agents - Adam LaRoche, Asdrubal Cabrera, Rafael Soriano, Nate Schierholtz and Scott Hairston. As expected, none of them were presented with a...
The Nationals announced today that they have hired Bob Miller as vice president and assistant general manager, filling the vacancy created when Bryan Minniti left the organization to join the Diamondbacks.
Miller comes to the Nats after spending the last nine years as an executive with the Reds, most recently serving as vice president and assistant GM to Walt Jocketty.
The 50-year-old Miller will assist the Nationals in all facets of baseball operations. In his recent role with the Reds, Miller...
If the Nationals don't end up trading away any of their key contributors this offseason, their roster in 2015 could very well look quite similar to how it did in 2014.
After all, the Nats only currently have five players who are free agents this winter. Two of them were starting position players down the stretch and in the postseason (Adam LaRoche and Asdrubal Cabrera), one of them was the closer for the bulk of the season but was demoted to a lower-leverage role in September (Rafael Soriano)...
As I mentioned yesterday, we shouldn't expect to hear much news about Nationals players being non-tendered this offseason.
The Nationals have 11 arbitration-eligible players (a list that you can find here), and are expected to tender contracts to pretty much all of them.
The only real question mark, in my mind, is Ross Detwiler.
Detwiler, a No. 6 overall pick of the Nats in the 2007 draft, has had a bit of an up-and-down last few seasons. In 2012, he established himself as a legitimate major...
The Nationals have gotten the option decisions out of the way, with Denard Span returning for 2015, and Adam LaRoche and Rafael Soriano heading for free agency after having their options declined.
In the coming days, the Nats will have to continue adjusting their 40-man roster, clearing space for minor leaguers who need to be added, and cutting players who aren't deemed necessary to the efforts to defend the National League East title and make a deeper postseason push next season.
But a little...
We've assumed for a while now that Denard Span would be back with the Nationals next season, with his $9 million being a relative bargain after the excellent 2014 campaign put up by the center fielder.
It's now official. Span's club option was picked up by the Nats yesterday, ensuring that Span will return for 2015. The club will retain its leadoff hitter and its center fielder, meaning two very important roles are accounted for.
We've also assumed for a little while now that neither Adam...
The Nationals have exercised their $9 million club option on center fielder Denard Span for the 2015 season, Span confirmed this afternoon in a text message.
"Very excited about returning," Span said.
The Nationals also announced that they have declined to exercise the options on first baseman Adam LaRoche and right-hander Rafael Soriano. Both will become free agents.
The decision to pick up Span's option was an easy one for the Nats after the 30-year-old outfielder hit .302/.355/.416 during...
There are a few things that I can't believe as of this morning.
I can't believe Madison Bumgarner is actually a human being, and not, in fact, a machine. Bumgarner's five-inning save in Game 7 last night left him with a ridiculous 52 2/3 innings of work this postseason, with a 1.03 ERA in that time. His career World Series ERA is now 0.25. How is that real?
I can't believe that the one postseason game that the Nationals won this year was started by Bumgarner. A guy who was that dominant for...
Tonight, we will get to witness one of my favorite things in all of sports - a Game 7.
I love Game 7s regardless of when they occur or what sport they come in. A Game 7 in the NHL playoffs is thrilling to me. A Game 7 in baseball's League Championship Series, with a spot in the Fall Classic awaiting the winner, is pretty special.
And then there's a Game 7 in the World Series, which we will be treated to between the Giants and Royals tonight.
There have only been 36 decisive Game 7s in the...
Veteran right-hander Ross Ohlendorf has elected free agency after being activated off the 60-day disabled list by the Nationals and subsequently outrighted off their 40-man roster.
Ohlendorf was a solid contributor to the Nats pitching staff in 2013, going 4-1 with a 3.28 ERA in 16 appearances (seven starts). The club ended up avoiding arbitration with the now 32-year-old by signing him to a one-year, $1.25 million deal for 2014, but Ohlendorf never factored into things this season.
He...
When assessing the roster moves made by Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo that made a major impact on the Nats' division title, a couple jump out at you.
The trade that brought Asdrubal Cabrera over just before the non-waiver trade deadline gave the Nationals an experienced infielder who delivered a number of clutch hits and played a smooth second base.
The waiver claim that added left-hander Matt Thornton to the bullpen in early August bolstered the left side of the 'pen and added a...
The baseball world was hit with some awful news yesterday, as Cardinals prospect Oscar Tavares and his girlfriend were killed in a car crash in his native Dominican Republic.
Tavares was just 22, and only two weeks ago, he hit a game-tying home run late in Game 2 of the Cardinals' National League Championship Series against the Giants, leading to an eventual St. Louis win.
It was Tavares' first career postseason homer, and if not for this tragic accident, quite a few more were likely on the...
Yesterday, I discussed the Nationals bullpen, and how they could look to add to that already strong group this offseason, either via free agency or a trade.
The Nats have plenty of talented arms in their system, but that's certainly an area where you can never have enough talent. And don't be shocked if the Nats do choose to bolster their relief corps this offseason.
As I mentioned yesterday, the Nats will have Rafael Soriano's contract coming off the books this offseason, as they almost...
One thing that I've really taken note of this postseason is how a couple of teams with dominant back ends of their bullpen have really been able to shorten games in their favor and turn a one-run lead after six innings into a fairly comfortable victory.
We've seen it time after time with the Royals, who have relied on Kelvin Herrera in the seventh inning, Wade Davis in the eighth and Greg Holland in the ninth. All three bring heat and all three are nearly untouchable, both over the course of...
The Nationals announced a few changes to their front office today, including the expansion of their baseball research and development department.
Adam Cromie, the Nats' director of baseball operations, will keep that title but has also been promoted, getting the title of assistant general manager.
Sam Mondry-Cohen was promoted to director of baseball research and development after previously serving as the Nats' manager of baseball analytics.
Michael Debartolo, previously the Nats'...
Bryan Minniti has found a new home, as the Diamondbacks have announced that the former Nationals front office man has joined Arizona's organization as an assistant general manager.
Minniti spent the last five years with the Nats as an assistant GM under Mike Rizzo, before announcing that he was leaving the organization just a few days after the Nats were knocked out of the postseason.
Minniti was a well-liked member of the Nats' front office, and assisted with everything in the baseball...
For the third straight year, the Nationals have two players named finalists for Rawlings Gold Gloves.
This time, it's Adam LaRoche and Denard Span.
LaRoche was selected as one of three finalists among National League first basemen, along with the Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez and the Rockies' Justin Morneau.
The 34-year-old LaRoche won his first Gold Glove in 2012. This season, he posted a .994 fielding percentage, making seven errors in 1,200 chances.
LaRoche doesn't have tremendous range at...
In 2012, Tanner Roark lost 17 games at Triple-A Syracuse.
In 2013, Roark pitched well at Syracuse, made his way to the big leagues for the first time in his career and posted a stellar 1.51 ERA in 14 games, split between the bullpen and rotation.
In 2014, Roark became arguably the best fifth starter in the majors.
Roark's rise from frustrated minor leaguer to legitimate major league starter has been one of the more interesting stories we've seen on the Nationals roster over the last couple of...
