Nationals

MLB.com released its 2012 Top 100 Prospect list earlier this week. The Washington Nationals have a solid prescence on the list, having four players ranked among the top prospects in all of Major League Baseball. The organization has been steadily building their farm system into one of the better ones in all of MLB, but the system seemed relatively depleted after the recent trade to acquire Gio Gonzalez which cost the Nationals four players ranked in Baseball America’s organizational Top 10. For what it’s worth, two of those players made it to MLB.com’s Top 100: right-handed pitchers Brad Peacock (#75) [...]

The Nationals have made yet another move to shore up their pitching staff, agreeing to terms with former Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge, the team announced on its Web site. According to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com, who first reported the deal, it is  worth $1 million over one year and includes incentives. The 35-year-old right-hander established a reputation as one of baseball’s top closers in six seasons with the Houston Astros, before moving to Philadelphia in 2008 to help the Phillies win the World Series, going 41-for-41 in save opportunities during the regular season with 92 strikeouts in 59 innings. [...]

Earlier this week, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus – easily one of the more authoritative voices on minor league prospects – released his 2012 Top 20 Nationals rankings. Goldstein is usually one of the later sources to release their rankings – as we’ve seen and covered those from Baseball America, MLB.com, FanGraphs, Seedlings to Stars, and of course, introduced our first annual DoD Top Prospect list (which I’ll conveniently remind you can be found using the “Featured Posts” page atop our home page). Goldstein delves into scouting reports after listing his Top 20 prospects, but those are behind BaseballPro’s Insider [...]

Wednesday afternoon, the Washington Nationals held a formal press conference to introduce Gio Gonzalez to the local media and fans. These typically take place shortly after deals are officially completed, but due to timing and logistical factors, the press conference itself comes just over a month after the trade was completed and nearly two weeks after Gonzalez (who was a high school teammate of first baseman Chris Marrero – cool fact) signed a contract extension with the organization. Most Nationals blogs have already dissected and discussed the addition of Gonzalez to the projected starting rotation – we did this over [...]

Many Nationals fans might be disappointed that the team has missed out on signing free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder. After all, at first blush, who wouldn’t want to see a left-handed slugger who’s hit as many as 50 home runs taking aim at the right field porch at Nationals Park? The team has been missing that since Adam Dunn left for Chicago. With his power and plate presence, Fielder is, no doubt, very good. Maybe even good enough to be worth the roughly $23.8 million a year the Detroit Tigers are reportedly going to be paying him. He might be [...]

Tomorrow afternoon, roughly around 3:30 PM EST, the Washington Nationals will hold a formal press conference. No, they won’t be introducing Prince Fielder (we’ll have some more direct thoughts on his signing with Detroit a little later), but rather the organization will finally introduce Gio Gonzalez to the Washington fans and media. Yes, that’s the same Gio Gonzalez who the organization acquired just over a month ago in a blockbuster trade with the Oakland A’s. The deal was completed just prior to Christmas and the Nationals’ front office was closed for the holidays (as most team’s front offices are). A [...]

News is now coming out through Twitter that longtime Nationals target Prince Fielder has agreed to a 9 year, $214 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. The deal is pending a physical, but barring that, Fielder is officially off the market.

There have been rumblings for the past few months that the Washington Nationals and Ryan Zimmerman have discussed (or, are discussing) a possible contract extension. The team’s third baseman and incumbent “Face of the Franchise” is scheduled to reach free agency after the 2013 season if an agreement can’t be reached in advance. According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, Zimmerman’s representation has given the team an idea of what terms Zimmerman is prepared to accept. Those details have not been made public (and presumably they won’t) so we’re left to speculate on what it might take to keep Zimmerman [...]

Over the weekend the Tampa Bay Rays agreed to sign first baseman Carlos Pena, filling one of the last remaining holes that they hoped to address over the offseason. Once the deal was formally announced, most of the analysis looked back at Pena’s 2010 season with the Rays and how his presence will affect the team’s lineup in 2012. But that analysis also included numerous mentions that the team’s biggest remaining need appears to now be at shortstop and there is renewed speculation that the organization may once again look to move center fielder B.J. Upton. As one would expect, [...]

When the Nationals were first brought to Washington for the 2005 season, the local television contracts were weighted highly in the favor of the Baltimore Orioles. The first “reset period” has finally come up, however, and the Nationals are currently in negotiations with MASN over how the deal will be restructured. The resulting agreement could boost the team’s incoming cash flow by as much as $35 Million according to various reports. Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post has a lot more of the details and specifics regarding the whole situation. I won’t pretend to be an expert in television contracts [...]