Well, hey there, folks. I got back from my trip to Europe just in time to ring in 2014 in style, and we've now got a brand new calendar to kick off with less than six weeks separating us from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training.
It'll be here before we know it, I'm sure.
Hope everyone had a great holiday season as well as a happy and safe New Years. Thanks to Byron Kerr and Pete Kerzel for picking up the slack for me while I was on my trip, which was fantastic. I had a...
Before I kick off my morning blog post, I've got a quick housekeeping note to pass along.
I'm leaving the country later today for a 10-day trip to Europe, and will not be writing/tweeting/monitoring MLBTradeRumors during that time. I'm excited to say that I'm stepping away from the laptop for a week and a half, and will be enjoying my first European journey.
(For anyone who cares, I'll be hitting France, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium during this trip. Should be fun.)
My...
Mike Rizzo and Billy Beane are at it again.
The Nationals have traded outfielder Corey Brown to the Athletics, a source confirmed this afternoon, marking the seventh trade between the two organizations in the last two years and the eighth deal between them in three years.
No word yet on what the Nats will receive in return for Brown, who was designated for assignment last week to make room for newly signed outfielder Nate McLouth on the Nationals' 40-man roster.
Brown is out of options, so...
I went into spring training this year feeling that the Nationals were the favorites in the National League East by a pretty wide margin.
I wasn't alone in this line of thinking. In fact, I believe the vast majority of the baseball world was with me.
The Nats, after all, were coming off a 98-win season and their first division title in team history, had seemingly improved their roster with the additions of Dan Haren, Rafael Soriano and Denard Span, and would go into the 2013 season having...
The Syracuse Chiefs are the third Triple-A team the Nationals have had as an affiliate in their nine years of existence.
Today, the Nats announced that they'll be sticking with the Chiefs a while longer.
The Nationals have agreed to a four-year player development contract with the Chiefs, who play in the Triple-A International League. The deal will begin in 2015 and run through the 2018 season.
"This is the first PDC that we have signed with an affiliate in excess of two years and it...
As of today, the Nationals almost certainly have their eight starting position players in place, barring some kind of shocking trade.
They definitely have their top four starters set in stone now that Doug Fister is on board, and have a lengthy list of hurlers who will compete for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, including Ross Detwiler, Tanner Roark, Taylor Jordan, Ross Ohlendorf and Nathan Karns.
We know how the back end of the bullpen will look, with Rafael Soriano returning as closer and...
Another left-handed reliever that the Nationals were linked to this offseason has landed a multi-year, eight-figure contract.
J.P. Howell has agreed to a two-year deal with the Dodgers worth a guaranteed $11.25 million, with a mutual option for 2016 worth $6.25 million, according to various reports. The option can reportedly vest based on a certain amount of appearances over the two guaranteed years.
Howell's deal comes after Boone Logan agreed to a three-year, $16.5 million contract with...
We've learned that teams don't win based on how strong their offseason was. The 2013 Blue Jays and 2012 Marlins are recent proof of that.
We've learned that teams don't win based on how complete their team appears to be on paper. The 2013 Nationals taught us that.
Because of last season's disappointment in D.C., Nats fans probably won't get too excited about anyone declaring them the winner of the winter. It doesn't matter how strong your team looks in December or February. What...
Adam LaRoche might be back from his USO Holiday Tour, but he's got a little bit of time to relax before baseball takes over again.
Deer season, after all, runs through January 15th.
After that, LaRoche will start prepping for the 2014 season, one that he hopes goes better than the one both he and the team put up in 2013.
We know how things went from a team perspective, and we know how much LaRoche is itching to follow up a disastrous season on a personal level.
The now-34-year-old hit...
You'll have to forgive Adam LaRoche if he wasn't totally up to date on the moves the Nationals had made over the last week or so.
Seated at a table at the Occidental Grill on Pennsylvania Avenue last night, a couple of reporters briefed LaRoche on the Jerry Blevins trade and Corey Brown being designated for assignment, and LaRoche quietly took it all in. It was the first Nats news he had heard since leaving the country to be part of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin...
The Nationals have announced the signing of three players to minor league contracts: first baseman Brock Peterson, right-handed reliever Manny Delcarmen and catcher Brian Jeroloman.
All three players also receive invitations to big league spring training.
Peterson is an interesting signing. A former 49th-round pick back in 2002, he appeared in 23 games with the Cardinals in 2013, his first taste of the big leagues at age 29. He went 2-for-26 (.077) with two RBIs, two walks and 11...
After five days down in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., for the madness that is the Winter Meetings, I'm back in the comfort of the mid-Atlantic region.
As soon as I had started to finally get comfortable with navigating through my massive hotel and getting to my room, it was time to go home. As soon as I had figured out the quickest way from the lobby at the Swan and Dolphin Resort to the media work room, I had a cab waiting for me to send me off to the airport.
Happens every year.
I'd like to...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Nationals won't be selecting anyone in today's Rule 5 Draft because their 40-man roster is full, but they lost minor league catcher Adrian Nieto to the White Sox with the No. 3 pick in the major league phase of the Rule 5.
Nieto, 24, was a fifth-round pick out of American Heritage High School in Plantation, Fla., in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. He hit .285/.373/.449 with 11 homers and 53 RBIs at high Single-A Potomac in 2013.
The White Sox will pay the...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Well, the Winter Meetings are finally almost complete. I wish I could say they've flown by, but that hasn't exactly been the case. These things are a grind.
Pretty much all that's left on the schedule here at the Swan and Dolphin Resort is this morning's Rule 5 Draft, in which teams can sift through unprotected minor leaguers in other organizations and try and supplement their own 40-man rosters. There are more specific rules on this process that I'll explain...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The end is in sight.
The sunlight shining into the lobby of the Swan and Dolphin Resort has started to dissipate as we get to the nighttime hours of the last full day of the Winter Meetings.
Soon enough, we'll be on our way back to the 30-degree temperatures many of you are experiencing, although if that means I get to sleep in my own bed, eat dinner before 10 p.m. and not have to chase down rumors all day, I'll be perfectly fine with it.
Within the last two...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - As the Nationals looked over the market for left-handed relievers, considering both free agent and trade options, they were looking to find a certain type of player: a relatively young southpaw whose contract offered more than a year of team control and who came with a price tag that made sense for the organization.
Under those qualifications, they were able to narrow their search. It left them discussing three or four trade proposals with various teams and making an...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Nationals will leave the Winter Meetings having accomplished their lone remaining major goal - acquiring a left-handed reliever.
For the sixth time in the last two years, the Nats and Athletics have combined on a trade, with the A's sending Jerry Blevins to the Nationals for minor league outfielder Billy Burns.
Blevins, 30, had a 3.15 ERA and 1.067 WHIP in 60 innings in 2013, and had a 3.06 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
He had reverse splits last season, as...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Nationals are making progress in their search for a left-handed reliever, a source confirmed, and it appears possible that they could leave the Winter Meetings with their one remaining major offseason need filled.
That said, the source cautioned a bit ago that there is "nothing imminent" at this point.
There are a host of left-handers available both via the free agent and trade markets, and the Nationals have been linked to quite a few of them over the last few...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Asked yesterday where specifically he wants to see the Nationals improve in 2014, we got a glimpse into where Matt Williams is placing his priorities. The first area that he mentioned was team defense.
There's a lot that goes into that, of course. The error total obviously needs to drop; the Nationals finished with 107 errors in 2013, tied for the seventh-most in Major League Baseball. The Nats threw out just 17.4 percent of attempted basestealers, last in the...
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Yup, another entry on left-handed relievers.
This is what happens when the team you cover has addressed pretty much every other area of its roster. You write entry after entry about the search for a left-handed reliever.
One of the Nationals' top targets when it came to left-handed relief, Eric O'Flaherty, could be close to coming off the market. And it certainly appears that he won't be landing with the Nats.
Multiple outlets have reported that there's a good...
