Mark Zuckerman

What would Nats lineup look like at this point?

What would Nats lineup look like at this point?
We haven't talked much about the Nationals roster in the last two months, because the roster hasn't changed at all in the last two months. So it might be time for a refresher on the current state of things, because it's easy to forget what this team currently has in place for 2022 and what it still needs to address once everyone's allowed to address needs again. Obviously, there will be an opportunity to add players as soon as the lockout ends, though it could be quite a mad rush by all 30...
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Mark Zuckerman

What needs to happen this week to keep spring training on tap

What needs to happen this week to keep spring training on tap
Friday's news of the Major League Baseball Players Association declining the league's request to bring a government mediator into the stalled negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement made for a dour start to the weekend. As a new week arrives, we're all left wondering a seemingly simple, yet perhaps not-actually-simple question: What happens now? We don't have an official answer yet, but the actions of both parties in the next 48 hours or so should give us a good clue about...
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Mark Zuckerman

Friday morning Nats Q&A

Friday morning Nats Q&A

Well, here we are. It's February. The Winter Olympics are underway. The Super Bowl is nine days away. And pitchers and catchers will be reporting in ... well, who really knows at this point?

There was some news on the collective bargaining front this week, though apparently not positive news. The clock has nearly run out to ensure an on-time start to spring training, though there is still a little bit of time to ensure the season begins March 31 as scheduled.

In the meantime, we'll keep plugging along here and try to keep the content coming every single day. Today, it comes in the form of a Q&A. If you've got a Nationals question you'd like to ask, go for it! Use the comments section below, then check back throughout the morning for my replies ...

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Mark Zuckerman

Shortened spring could really hinder Nats' pitching prep

Shortened spring could really hinder Nats' pitching prep
There's a prevailing sense around the baseball world right now that a delayed start to spring training wouldn't necessarily mean a delayed start to the regular season. If owners and players can work out a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement by late February, it would be possible to shorten camps from six weeks to four weeks, or (gulp) maybe even three weeks and still wrap things up in time to begin the season March 31 as scheduled. This, of course, all makes sense. Does spring...
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Mark Zuckerman

Will new year bring resumption of labor negotiations?

Will new year bring resumption of labor negotiations?
Happy new year, everyone! And isn't it wonderful to put 2021 behind us, turn the page to 2022 and start gearing up for the start of spring training in six weeks ... er, hold the phone. The calendar may have changed, but the state of Major League Baseball remains just as it was last month, with a lockout still in place and no evidence it's about to end anytime soon. Not that any of this should surprise you. When the collective bargaining agreement expired Dec. 1 and the league enacted its...
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Mark Zuckerman

MLB can only watch as COVID-19 impacts rest of sports world

MLB can only watch as COVID-19 impacts rest of sports world
By sheer virtue of timing, Major League Baseball was the first major North American sport to return to play during the pandemic. July 2020 feels like a lifetime ago at this point, but it's worth remembering just how uncertain everything was as ballplayers took the field for the first time in empty stadiums. We didn't know if the strict protocols put into place were going to allow for games to be played without the spread of the virus. We didn't know if clubhouses would become petri dishes...
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Mark Zuckerman

Weekend additions suggest a developing pattern

Weekend additions suggest a developing pattern
While the rest of the baseball world pretty much locked itself indoors and watched football all weekend, the Nationals made two somewhat surprising moves, signing veteran infielders Dee Strange-Gordon and Maikel Franco to minor league contracts with invitations to spring training. And as the sun comes up to begin this new work week, it's probably safe to admit we're seeing a pattern developing from the office on South Capitol Street. At a time when clubs are prohibited from signing players...
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Mark Zuckerman

Franco is latest veteran to join Nats on minor league deal

Franco is latest veteran to join Nats on minor league deal
The Nationals are bringing in another experienced major leaguer who wasn't on a major league roster at season's end, signing veteran third baseman Maikel Franco to a minor league contract, a source familiar with the deal confirmed. Franco joins fellow infielder Dee Strange-Gordon, who agreed to a minor league deal of his own Saturday evening, as newly added veterans to a Nationals organization that is lacking in experience after this summer's trade deadline sell-off. Like Strange-Gordon,...
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Mark Zuckerman

Nats sign veteran Strange-Gordon to minor league deal

Nats sign veteran Strange-Gordon to minor league deal
Though clubs are prohibited from signing free agents who were on big league rosters last season during the lockout, they are allowed to sign players who weren't in the majors in 2021 to minor league contracts. And the Nationals took advantage of that Saturday night, striking a deal with veteran infielder Dee Strange-Gordon, a source familiar with the signing confirmed. Strange-Gordon, who appeared in 1,002 big league games with the Dodgers, Marlins and Mariners from 2011-20 but spent 2021...
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Mark Zuckerman

Friday morning Nats Q&A

Friday morning Nats Q&A
Well, there's not a whole lot going on right now in the baseball world, as you probably are painfully aware. The sport's first work stoppage in 27 years has brought a halt to the hot stove league, though those final 48 hours leading up to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement sure were eventful, weren't they? In our continuing quest to keep everyone engaged throughout this downtime, we're going to fire up the Q&A machine this morning and take your questions. On the...
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Mark Zuckerman

How will fans greet Scherzer when he returns as a Met?

How will fans greet Scherzer when he returns as a Met?
Because the baseball world was on the verge of shutting down when it happened, we didn't really get a lot of time to process Max Scherzer's decision to sign with the Mets and wonder what kind of reaction he'll get when he returns to Nationals Park to face his former team. But since we've now got nothing but time on our hands, let's return to the subject and contemplate the scene that ultimately awaits the three-time Cy Young Award winner when he emerges from the visitors' dugout next...
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Mark Zuckerman

A vote against expanding the postseason field

A vote against expanding the postseason field
Watching college football the last two weekends, I couldn't help but keep asking myself: Why does that sport still only allow four teams into its top-level playoff? How much better would it be if every major conference winner automatically qualified, plus two at-large teams and the highest-ranked team from one of the other conferences, making up an eight-team bracket? Which also got me thinking how baseball really does have its postseason system right at the moment. Ten of the sport's 30...
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Mark Zuckerman

Could work stoppage mean no rule changes in 2022?

Could work stoppage mean no rule changes in 2022?
In anticipating the negotiations between owners and players leading up to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, everyone assumed there would be two major areas of dispute: baseball's economic model and potential rule changes to the sport. Turns out the two sides really only discussed money before the CBA expired late Wednesday night and owners instituted a lockout. Commissioner Rob Manfred, during his Thursday news conference with reporters in Dallas, revealed the rule change...
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Mark Zuckerman

Nats have questions they can't answer until lockout ends

Nats have questions they can't answer until lockout ends
The baseball world came to an abrupt halt at midnight Thursday, and we don't know when the machine is going to be turned back on again. It would be weeks. It could be months. Which leaves every club and a whole lot of players feeling helpless for the time being. Normally, everyone would be gearing up for the Winter Meetings, which were to begin Monday in Orlando. Trades would've been made, free agents would've been signed, Scott Boras quips would've been trotted out to a throng of reporters...
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Mark Zuckerman

What happens now that the lockout has begun?

What happens now that the lockout has begun?
And so we have entered uncharted territory. Uncharted, that is, for the last 27 years. For the first time since the infamous 1994-95 strike, Major League Baseball is now officially in a work stoppage. When the collective bargaining agreement expired at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday with no new deal in place, owners enforced a lockout of players. How long will it last? What are they fighting over? What does this mean for the Nationals the rest of the winter? Let's try to address as much of this as we...
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