And so the end of another week is upon us, the 12th such week since we last had baseball players doing baseball things on a baseball field. It's hard to believe that much time has passed, and it's hard to believe there is still no agreed-upon plan for bringing the sport back.
Obviously, there are more important issues in the world right now than baseball, and our heads and our hearts need to remain focused on those issues. But it's also OK to care about baseball right now. It's what...
Precisely 12 weeks have passed since Major League Baseball shut down spring training and delayed the start of the regular season, the novel coronavirus having forced the entire nation to shut down like never before.
Nobody knew at that moment how much time would pass before baseball could be played again, but slowly it became clear the target date for starting a condensed 2020 season would fall right around July 4.
Which meant teams would need to be able to start holding workouts for a second...
Following the trend initiated by a few Major League Baseball clubs over the weekend and echoed by many more franchises throughout the day, the Nationals issued a statement late Tuesday in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the charging of police officer Derek Chauvin with third-degree murder and manslaughter, and the protests that have taken place across the country in the aftermath.
The statement was attributed to the Nationals' Founding Partners Group, which consists of...
It's hard to look at the competing proposals for the 2020 season offered up by Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association and come to the conclusion that the two sides are anywhere close to striking a deal.
But here's a key point that must be taken into consideration when trying to gauge the state of negotiations: Both sides are purposely making proposals that fall at the extreme ends of their acceptable spectrums. Not because anyone believes the opposing side is going to accept...
One day after learning their own major league players had pledged to cover the pay cuts the organization was imposing on minor leaguers, Nationals ownership reversed course and elected to continue making full weekly stipend payments to their players, a source familiar with the decision confirmed.
The Nationals' intention to reduce the stipends given to minor leaguers from $400 per week to $300 per week throughout June was immediately met with a harsh reaction from the franchise's own big...
Nationals players, after learning Sunday the organization is cutting minor leaguers' weekly pay this month, have collectively pledged to cover the difference on their own.
The club, which by Major League Baseball mandate had been paying all minor leaguers $400 per week throughout April and May, will reduce that amount to $300 per week in June, a source familiar with the decision confirmed. The reductions come as the organization also released more than two dozen minor league players, a trend...
It all seems so trivial right now, doesn't it, the bickering between Major League Baseball and its players over how to fairly set salaries for the 2020 season?
Our country is coming apart at the seams, protests and riots consuming cities across America over an issue that has plagued this land of ours for centuries and has now reached a boiling point. All of this, mind you, against the backdrop of a global pandemic and collapsed economy.
We're supposed to care about baseball right now?
But...
It's been a particularly tough week, with far too much negative news in both the baseball and larger world. So let's try to end it on a lighter note, with a personal anecdote. About the time I ran in the Presidents Race.
It's Aug. 17, 2006, and the fourth-inning Presidents Race is still a new event during Nationals games. First conceived as an animated race on the scoreboard, it became live action in July of that summer, after the Lerner family officially gained control of the organization...
If you didn't realize how far apart Major League Baseball owners and players were in their negotiations over pay cuts for the proposed 2020 season, Max Scherzer served up a harsh reminder late Wednesday night that the chasm right now is vast.
The Nationals ace and member of the MLB Players Association's eight-person executive subcommittee said the union has no intention of accepting any more salary reductions beyond what was already agreed to in late March. And he put the onus on owners to...
While Major League Baseball and its players continue to spar over how to restructure salaries for the 2020 season, club employees around the sport are beginning to learn they won't be paid in full this year.
The Nationals joined the list Tuesday, informing all full-time team employees they will see their salaries and work hours reduced by a modest amount.
According to a source familiar with the club's decision, all full-timers in both the baseball and business sides of the organization will...
We continue today a periodic look at the state of the Nationals roster at the point spring training was suspended and project how things may look whenever baseball is played again. Up next is the bullpen...
Team officials are always going to speak optimistically about their roster during spring training. If you can't be positive in February and March, what hope do you have?
But the optimism the Nationals displayed in West Palm Beach over their bolstered bullpen was genuine. They legitimately...
They won't get to try them on for real until some undetermined date, but the Nationals finally got a chance to see what their World Series rings look like during Sunday night's virtual presentation.
What do they look like? Like a million bucks. (Note: They're not actually worth $1 million.)
Created by Jostens, the Nats' rings include 170 round diamonds, 31 custom-cut rubies, 24 princess-cut rubies and 32 custom-cut genuine sapphires, bringing the total gem weight to 23.2 carats.
The...
Well, it's May 24. And as everybody knows, May 24 is the most important day in Nationals history.
Or something like that.
Look, there's nothing wrong with noting the low point of a most improbable season. It serves as an obvious demarcation point that separates the wretched first portion of the 2019 campaign from the glorious five months that followed. And as has been said over and over since then, there really aren't many other teams in major league history that came back from such an...
After consulting with players who expressed a strong desire to wait to receive their World Series rings until they could all gather in person, the Nationals announced they will no longer hold their originally planned virtual ring ceremony Sunday night.
The Nationals still will televise a show at 7 p.m. Sunday night on MASN in which the ring design is revealed and a handful of key players are interviewed, but they won't hand out the rings to players until a future date when everyone is gathered...
Are we possibly only a few weeks away from baseball? If Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association can come to an agreement - and if society at large is ready for it - we could see "Spring Training 2.0" begin roughly three weeks from now, then the regular season begin the first week of July.
In the meantime, the Nationals are all set to hold their virtual ring ceremony on Sunday at 7 p.m. on MASN, a surprise development that has caught some folks off guard this week. It's not the...
All this time off has given us plenty of opportunity to look back and fondly remember events of the past 15 years. Great games that were won. Great players that made an impact. Big decisions that had long-lasting ramifications for the future of the organization.
But what if some of those big moments didn't happen? What if one of those decisions wasn't made the same way? What impact would that have had on the Nationals in the long term?
I've thought of several possible moves that could've...
The Nationals had made it known they would not raise their championship banner or hand out World Series rings in an empty ballpark. No fans? No formal celebration of the franchise's first title.
"I think as far as raising the banner and the distribution of rings, we're going to wait for our fan base to be involved to do those types of things," general manager Mike Rizzo said last month during an interview with MLB Network Radio. "Those are once-in-a-lifetime things to do, and our fan base...
The Nationals announced this evening they will hold a virtual ring ceremony and present players and staff members with their long-awaited World Series championship rings Sunday night, a concession to the reality of the world during the coronavirus pandemic.
With the 2020 Major League Baseball season on hold and fans unlikely to be in attendance if and when games do begin this summer, the Nationals decided to mail out their championship rings to be opened in unison Sunday night on a group Zoom...
There are so many questions that must be answered before baseball returns, but let's attempt today to tackle one of the most pertinent questions facing the Nationals: Where would they hold the resumption of spring training, and then where would they play their season?
Based on Major League Baseball's official proposal to the MLB Players Association, it looks like the answer is: In Washington, as long as it's safe to do so, and as long as local authorities say it's OK.
Those are some pretty...
We continue today a periodic look at the state of the Nationals roster at the point spring training was suspended and project how things may look whenever baseball is played again. Up next is the starting rotation ...
The Nationals have one of the best rotations in baseball. That much we've known all along. But is it possible this group might prove even more valuable if given an opportunity to pitch in 2020?
There's reason to believe so, if Major League Baseball's current proposal for...