Plenty of player updates coming this weekend at Winterfest

After a week's worth of rumors and a lot of time spent hearing from the Nationals general manager and manager, this weekend we'll get a chance to hear from a whole bunch of players who have come from all parts of the country (and beyond) to attend Nats Winterfest.

Yes, it's time for the annual, two-day winter event at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. It has turned into quite a major event over the years, going all the way back to the days when the team hosted a one-day gathering at Nationals Park.

There are nearly 20 players scheduled to appear this weekend. (Sorry, we're not allowed to reveal the names, though only a couple of prominent players aren't on the list.)

We can say for sure that Daniel Murphy is scheduled to attend, because Mike Rizzo revealed that the other day at the Winter Meetings. This will be Murphy's first public appearance since his right knee surgery following the playoffs, and it will be very enlightening both to listen to what he says and see how he looks and moves nearly two months later.

We hopefully will also be hearing from other players returning from injury, not to mention some big-name pitchers coming off fantastic seasons. We won't, unfortunately, be able to see the club's lone major league acquisition of the winter so far: Brandon Kintzler, who hasn't yet taken his physical and thus hasn't officially signed his new contract.

We will, however, get to meet several members of Dave Martinez's coaching staff for the first time, which should be very interesting.

Check back throughout the day for the latest from me and Pete Kerzel, then again tomorrow when Byron Kerr joins us.