A pair of Nationals went under the knife today.
Ryan Zimmerman underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder, while infielder Chad Tracy had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
Both players are expected to be ready for the start of spring training.
Both surgeries were performed by the Nationals' team doctor, Dr. Wiemi Douoguih, at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center in D.C.
I wonder if the team got some type of multi-player discount.
Zimmerman battled inflammation in the...
The previously unhittable Justin Verlander gets smacked around and sees his postseason ERA jump from 0.74 to 11.25? Barry Zito throws a gem in the World Series and then is relieved by Tim Lincecum? Pablo Sandoval joins Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols in elite World Series company?
You never know what will happen in this game.
We certainly didn't know what the Nationals would get from Kurt Suzuki when he came over from the Athletics in a trade at the beginning of August.
He had...
Finally, some postseason recognition for the Nationals.
Davey Johnson has been named National League Manager of the Year by The Sporting News. While this isn't the official baseball-sanctioned award - which is voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America and will be announced Nov. 13 - it's the first of what could be several nice honors following the team's best season since arriving in D.C.
In his first full season at the Nationals' helm, Johnson guided them to a 98-64...
After two straight subpar outings to open his Arizona Fall League season, Nationals farmhand Ryan Perry pitched a gem yesterday.
Perry threw four perfect innings for the Salt River Rafters, striking out four. The 6-foot-4 right-hander finished out the regular season on an absolute tear for Double-A Harrisburg after being converted to a starter, and could continue to creep his way back up the organizational depth chart with a strong AFL performance.
Also impressing out in Arizona is center...
Yesterday, it was Bryce Harper who fell short of the Sporting News Rookie of the Year award.
Today, it's Adam LaRoche coming up just a few votes shy of the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year honors.
LaRoche was edged out by Giants catcher Buster Posey, who won the award by earning 31 votes to LaRoche's 29.
The voting was done by a panel of major league players.
LaRoche battled shoulder issues through his first season with the Nationals last year, hitting just .172 with a .546 OPS...
It wasn't the tight, dramatic Game 7 that many, including myself, were hoping for.
No, it certainly wasn't that.
The Giants crushed the Cardinals 9-0 in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series last night, giving them the NL pennant and perhaps giving Nationals fans a bit of a reason to smile.
The Nats watched a 6-0 lead over St. Louis slip away in Game 5 of the Division Series, but the Cardinals had a big lead of their own disappear in the NLCS with a spot in the World Series oh...
Major League Baseball's official Rookie of the Year award, voted on by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, won't be announced until Nov. 12.
The Sporting News has announced the results of its own Rookie of the Year award, however. Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley will take home that honor, with Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper finishing third in the voting.
Reds infielder Todd Frazier was second.
The Sporting News polled 203 major league players for the award, and...
Maybe the Giants are this year's Cardinals.
Two straight San Francisco victories over St. Louis in win-or-go-home situations have forced the National League Championship Series to a decisive Game 7 tonight. That's now five victories in must-win spots for the Giants during this postseason, which brings back memories of the high-wire act the Cardinals walked during their 2011 World Series run.
The Giants will stay at home for Game 7 with Matt Cain taking the mound against Kyle Lohse. Should...
Tyler Moore's role for next year is very much uncertain.
He could become the Nationals' everyday first baseman. He could become their everyday left fielder.
He could be a right-handed bat off the bench. He could even be a trade candidate, if the Nats re-sign Adam LaRoche and other teams in need of some power come calling.
Very little regarding Moore is clear at this point. But this much is clear - the 25-year-old has shown he can flat-out hit at every level at which he's played, and that...
After putting away the Nationals in the National League Division Series, the Cardinals are showing no signs of slowing down.
Last night saw St. Louis crush the Giants 8-3 to move within a win of the World Series.
Adam Wainwright bounced back from his rough start in Game 5 of the NLDS, in which he allowed those six early runs, to surrender just a single run over seven innings and earn the win over the Giants in last night's NLCS Game 4.
The Cardinals' rotation is suddenly red-hot (even...
Coming into spring training, was there any player on the Nationals roster who had more riding on this season from an individual perspective than Ian Desmond?
Sure, guys like Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche felt the need to put up bounceback campaigns after really tough 2011 seasons. But they were proven big leaguers who simply were coming off a down year. Yeah, Ross Detwiler's emergence this year allowed him to establish himself as a true major league starter and cement a spot in the Nats'...
Outfielder Brett Carroll and catcher Carlos Maldonado, two players who spent the bulk of the 2012 season with Triple-A Syracuse but had brief stints with the Nationals, have filed for free agency.
Carroll was on the Nationals' opening day roster and appeared in five games before being designated for assignment. The 30-year-old went 0-for-2 with two runs scored with the Nats and batted .250 with 10 home runs and 50 RBIs in 111 games at Syracuse.
The former 10th-round pick of the Marlins in...
I mentioned yesterday that if the Nationals want their 2013 roster to closely resemble their 2012 roster, they can make that happen.
Re-sign Adam LaRoche this offseason, opt not to add a center fielder via free agency or a trade and keep Michael Morse in left.
Bing, bang, boom, you've got the exact same outfield and infield alignment that we saw this season.
Of course, general manager Mike Rizzo has plenty of other options that he can consider if he wants to shake things up a bit, the...
I've got some good news if you were a fan of the makeup of the 2012 Washington Nationals: There's a very good chance that the 2013 Nationals won't look a heck of a lot different than they did this season when the Nats went on a run to their first National League East title.
The Nats enter the offseason with only two players who were on their National League Division Series roster definitely bound for free agency: right-handed starter Edwin Jackson and left-handed reliever Michael Gonzalez....
Has any of the sting worn off yet?
Have the past two days done anything to help alleviate the pit in the bottom of your stomach, or will that still be there for a little while?
I'll admit, it was a little strange watching Game 1 of the National League Championship Series from my couch yesterday instead of being in a cramped press box covering the action.
You wouldn't have heard any complaints from Nationals beat writers if we ended up having to make a trip to San Francisco to cover the...
One of the moments from the postgame scene after Friday's loss that I won't forget for quite a while was catcher Kurt Suzuki, who had just finished talking to a group of reporters, slowly walking away from his locker.
Suzuki seemed unsure of where to go or what exactly to do. He turned to infielder Chad Tracy and quietly said what everyone in the Nationals' clubhouse was probably thinking.
"I'm not ready to be done playing," Suzuki said.
The Nats will have a while to think about their...
A number of Mark DeRosa's teammates have said he'd make a great manager one day. DeRosa is a baseball man through and through, can relate to players regardless of their age or position and has a sense of humor which allows him to bring levity to tough situations.
But DeRosa doesn't think he's ready to stop playing just yet.
The 37-year-old hit just .188 in 85 at-bats during yet another injury-riddled campaign. An oblique injury cost him much of the season and the death of his father made...
I just got home from Nationals Park a few minutes ago, and wanted to post some quotes from Nats general manager Mike Rizzo before hitting the pillow for the next 3 1/2 weeks.
Before I share Rizzo's postgame comments, though, I wanted to say thank you to all of you who read my work here on MASNsports.com, commented, interacted with me on Twitter or in any way helped make this season so fun for me.
I joined the Nationals beat a couple weeks into spring training this year and had to play a bit...
Adam LaRoche has a $10 million mutual option for next season, which he's sure to decline in search of a more lucrative deal.
Edwin Jackson is set to become a free agent yet again.
The Nationals' 2012 season just ended, and ended in stunning fashion. But general manager Mike Rizzo and his staff have been preparing for the offseason for about three or four weeks, and soon enough, they'll need to decide how to proceed with both LaRoche and Jackson.
LaRoche says he hopes to be back with the...
Drew Storen stood in front of his locker wearing his grey undershirt with red sleeves.
He looked at the floor, paced around the Nationals clubhouse a bit, then came back to his locker. Veteran infielder Mark DeRosa walked over and gave Storen a hug and a few words of encouragement. Starter Gio Gonzalez followed, as did general manager Mike Rizzo.
Storen stared at the ground a bit more, playing at the carpet with his toes. Plastic sheets were pulled up above the lockers towards the ceiling. A...
