Good morning DoD readers, and welcome to today’s District Daily! Start off your day with some great Washington Nationals from around the web below.
In today’s Daily, MLB.com’s Bill Ladson discusses Max Scherzer‘s mindset as he enters the regular season as the team’s “Ace”. As Ladson notes, Scherzer understands the importance of being the team’s No. 1 starter, but he also realizes that winning is much, much more important than his status within the rotation.
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If you’re a Nationals fan, that’s exactly the mindset you want Scherzer to have. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who takes the ball on Opening Day. Most of the reasoning behind putting a player at No. 1 is rendered null within the first few weeks of baseball’s crazy schedule, anyway. And that’s especially true in this rotation, where arguably any of the five pitchers could be considered an ace on many rotations in baseball.
Of course, it’s important that every pitcher goes into the season with the same mentality as Scherzer. Whether it’s Jordan Zimmermann at No. 2 or Stephen Strasburg at No. 3, it’s important that they treat every game as if they were the team’s No. 1 pitcher and realize that winning is far, far more important than inter-rotation politics. Fortunately, these are professional ballplayers we’re talking about, so this shouldn’t be an issue at all.
Also in today’s Daily, the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell discusses the future for the Nationals—a future that might not include many of the players the team will rely on for success this season. As Boswell notes, however, the Nationals still have what it takes to continue to succeed years down the road, even if several players leave for free agency in the next couple of years.
Be sure to check out both articles below, they’re definitely worth a read. And as always, stay tuned to DoD for all your Washington Nationals Spring Training needs.
Status comes 2nd to winning for Scherzer
VIERA, Fla. — After he was traded to Detroit, Max Scherzer became the pitcher everyone expected him to be when the D-backs made him the 11th overall pick in the 2006 Draft. He won 82 games over five seasons with the Tigers and captured the American League Cy Young Award in 2013, culminating with a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Nationals in January.
But if you talk to Scherzer, there’s still a lot of work to be done on the mound, and he says that he’s still learning on the job.
“You never stop learning, no matter how deep you go in your career. That’s something you have to be willing to do,” the 30-year-old Scherzer said. “It could be a pitch-selection type of pitch, even mechanical or how you attack a hitter. There are so many different things you can learn about your instincts, because when you are on the mound, you have to have good instincts on what you are trying to do and what the next pitch needs to be.” Read full article here.
The Nationals are on the clock
(Thomas Boswell, Washington Post)
VIERA, Fla. — For one last season, the Washington Nationals’ clubhouse is a comfortable, almost old-shoe place, full of familiar faces who have played and joked together for years.
Next winter, it’s highly likely Jordan Zimmermann , Ian Desmond, Denard Spanand Doug Fister will be gone via free agency. The Nats report no progress, no especially active talks with any of them. By next spring, Stephen Strasburg, Drew Storen, Wilson Ramos and Craig Stammen may be entering their walk years.
“One of us is already gone,” Stammen said of Tyler Clippard, a seven-season Nat, traded in January to get value before he became a free agent. Read full article here.