My remaining hours in the mid-Atlantic region are dwindling.
I leave for Viera, Fla., and Nationals spring training tomorrow morning, meaning today is my final day to run errands, pay bills and pack seven weeks' worth of clothes into two suitcases.
OK, so there's a laundry room in my hotel, and I don't actually need seven weeks' worth of clothes. But I really hate doing laundry, and as a result, I'm a self-admitted over-packer.
I'm also a self-admitted procrastinator, leaving me with...
I've got another jersey number switcheroo to report.
Wilson Ramos will make the switch from No. 3 to No. 40, which was his number in winter ball, according to his publicist.
Ramos had only three home runs last season while wearing No. 3, as his torn right ACL and meniscus cut short his season. I bet he wouldn't mind too much if he hit 40 home runs this season wearing No. 40.
The Nationals announced today that single-game tickets for this season will go on sale to the general public on...
We all know the major storylines involving the Nationals' pitchers this spring.
How will Gio Gonzalez react to all the off-the-field issues regarding his linkage to Biogenesis, the anti-aging clinic that allegedly supplied performance-enhancing drugs to major league players? Can Dan Haren stay healthy and showcase the form he displayed over his last seven starts last season, when he pitched to a 2.76 ERA? How many questions about "The Shutdown" will Stephen Strasburg field before getting...
After months of rehabilitation following Tommy John surgery late last summer, Lucas Giolito has started to pick up a baseball again.
Giolito, the Nationals' first-round pick in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft, pitched just two professional innings last season (for the Gulf Coast League Nationals) before needing to undergo surgery to repair a small tear in his UCL.
That surgery came in late August, but a little over five months later, the 18-year-old Giolito has begun working his way...
The minor league deals are coming fast and furious now. And this one's pretty interesting.
The Nationals have agreed to terms with first baseman Micah Owings on a minor league deal with an invitation to big league spring training.
Yes, you read that correctly. Owings, a former starter turned reliever who went 8-0 with a 3.57 ERA in 2011 and picked up a win in the postseason, is now a position player.
The 30-year-old Owings, who was drafted by the Diamondbacks when Nats general manager Mike...
Just a couple of hours after the Nationals announced that they had signed veteran catcher Chris Snyder to a minor league contract yesterday, a deal that provides even more depth should Wilson Ramos' surgically repaired right knee not allow him to be ready opening day, Ramos sent out a couple tweets.
One of the tweets, written in Spanish, roughly translates to the following: "Almost green-lighted to enter action, thank you my God."
No, I didn't translate that myself. The Internet helped....
Of all the positions on the diamond, the Nationals might have the most organizational depth at catcher.
Kurt Suzuki and Wilson Ramos appear poised to make up one of the most talented catching duos at the major league level, and waiting in the wings on the farm, the Nats have Jhonatan Solano, Sandy Leon and Carlos Maldonado, ready to step in if needed.
But with Ramos coming back from major knee surgery, the Nationals aren't willing to take any chances. That's why they've signed veteran...
Just a little over a year after being shipped out to Oakland as part of the Gio Gonzalez trade, Brad Peacock finds himself switching organizations yet again.
Peacock, the former Nationals right-hander who was a key piece in the Gonzalez deal last January, was traded to the Astros last night in a five-player deal that will send infielder Jed Lowrie to the Athletics.
The trade threw a minor wrench into Peacock's plans to make a cross-country drive from West Palm Beach, Fla. to Phoenix, where...
I sarcastically made enough comments about the Ravens and Nationals making the postseason every year that I covered them that I might as well take responsibility for what happened last night, as well.
The year that I stop covering the Ravens, they win a Super Bowl. Call it the Reverse Kolko Factor.
Now that the NFL season is over, there's nothing but time standing between us and the start of baseball season.
I fly down to Viera, Fla., in just six days, and the first official workout for...
The Miami New Times has released images they obtained from the notebooks of Anthony Bosch, an alleged distributor of performance-enhancing drugs, images that appear to connect Gio Gonzalez and his father Max to Bosch and his anti-aging clinic, Biogenesis.
The images show the five times that Gonzalez, a 21-game winner with the Nationals last season, appeared in Bosch's records, and the according to the New Times, all five references come from the notebook marked "2012".
Gonzalez's name...
When I woke up yesterday morning, my initial intention was to lead off my morning blog entry writing a couple lines about Nationals infield prospect Cutter Dykstra and former "The Sopranos" actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler getting engaged.
Then something slightly (just slightly) more important went down.
Yesterday's news that six major leaguers had been linked to an anti-aging clinic called Biogenesis that was heavily involved in the dealing of performance-enhancing drugs shocked the baseball...
A bombshell has been dropped on the Major League Baseball community this morning, as a report in the Miami New Times details a number of major league players who are linked to a Miami-area anti-aging clinic called Biogenesis, which allegedly supplied massive amounts of performance-enhancing drugs.
Among those players is Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez, a Hialeah, Fla. native, who won 21 games last season and finished third in the National League Cy Young voting.
Also named in the New Times...
Entering spring training, every Nationals player - every player in the major leagues, for that matter - has the same goal for 2013.
That goal is to be holding the World Series trophy at the end of the year.
Pretty simple stuff, really. Nothing too groundbreaking.
Beyond that, however, there are individual goals that many players set for themselves, goals that, if accomplished, will help their team get closer to the overarching goal of winning a World Series title.
Ian Desmond goes into the...
A day after NatsFest, an event which was so popular that some fans unfortunately were held back from entering for an extended period because the Walter E. Washington Convention Center was filled to capacity, there are still plenty of tidbits to pass along from conversations with a number of Nationals players.
First, a few more injury notes.
Jayson Werth says that his left wrist, which he broke early last May, is not completely healed, but feels good enough that he can play and still be...
Drew Storen found out about the Nationals' surprise signing of closer Rafael Soriano just like many fans.
He saw it on Twitter.
Storen, who saved 43 games for the Nats in 2011 and then returned from elbow surgery last year to post a 2.37 ERA in 30 1/3 innings, then contacted his fellow reliever and in-season roommate Tyler Clippard and broke the news.
"I just called (Clippard) and said, 'Did you see this?' And we were like, 'What?' It was kind of a random thing," Storen said. "I...
Bryce Harper won't enter spring training this year with all eyes on him, like they were last year. He won't enter spring training trying to impress manager Davey Johnson or trying to win a spot on the 25-man roster, like he did last year.
This time around, the 20-year-old outfielder will just go in trying to get himself in the best shape possible to be ready for the start of the regular season, when he'll play left field and likely hit somewhere in the top third of the Nationals' batting...
Ready for some good one-liners so far from NatsFest?
Jordan Zimmermann on possibly increasing his innings this season: "The way it looks, I'm going to have to throw five innings and the bullpen should be able to handle it."
Ian Desmond on having some more "daddy strength" after the birth of his second son earlier this offseason: "Yup, double dose this year."
Bryce Harper, sarcastically, on having all the fans cheering for him here at NatsFest: "Well, Strasburg's not here, so...
A couple things are different about Danny Espinosa from the last time we saw him.
First, he's got a massive beard, which he started growing around Oct. 1 and hasn't shaved since. That will go before spring training starts. Also, he finally knows what was wrong with his left shoulder, which bugged him for the better part of the final two months of last season.
Espinosa was originally diagnosed late last season with a bone bruise inside the capsule of his shoulder. Turns out, Espinosa...
Danny Espinosa still has his beard, and it's still fierce.
Never say I don't bring you all the important updates.
Mike Rizzo took part in a fan Q&A session here at NatsFest at bit ago, and at one point was asked about the chances of the Nationals and Washington D.C. getting to host an All-Star Game.
Rizzo's response? "We deserve the damn All-Star game, I'll tell you that," he told the fans, who broke out in applause.
The Nationals would have loved to have been selected to host the...
It might still be January and spring training still might be nearly three weeks away, but for today, at least, Nationals baseball will be in full swing.
In just a little bit, I'll be taking off for the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown D.C. to take part in NatsFest, which runs from noon-4 p.m. Season ticket holders can arrive even earlier for special events that begin at 11 a.m.
At least 22 players will be in attendance today, as well as general manager Mike Rizzo and other...
