Today’s District Daily features stories about Dusty Baker‘s use of the Washington Nationals’ bullpen and his desire for more diversity in the game.
Good evening DoD readers, and welcome to today’s District Daily. Get caught up on the latest Nats news and opinions with some great Washington Nationals articles from around the web below.
In today’s Daily, The Washington Post’s James Wagner discusses Dusty Baker’s use of the bullpen this season. As Wagner notes in his article, Baker has quickly become accustomed to the makeup of the bullpen — a bullpen that was mostly new to him going into Spring Training.
Overhauling the bullpen was one of General Manager Mike Rizzo’s biggest goals going into the offseason, and that’s exactly what he did. Out went the likes of Drew Storen, Matt Thornton and Casey Janssen, and in came the likes of Oliver Perez, Matt Belisle and Shawn Kelley, among others.
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As Wagner notes, Baker appears to have established roles for his reliever: Jonathan Papelbon is the closer, Felipe Rivero and Blake Treinen have settled into setup man roles, and the other relievers have mostly been based on match-ups. As the season goes on, Baker will likely have a clearer picture of his bullpen and more defined roles for each player.
Also in today’s Daily, MLB.com’s Alex Putterman discusses how Baker hopes the league works faster towards increasing diversity. Here’s what Baker had to say, via Putterman’s article:
"“It’s similar to Black History Month. It needs to be more than just a day or more than just a month,” Baker said. “I was thinking about it [Wednesday] night, we’ve got to have more candidates than [White Sox executive vice president] Kenny Williams and [D-backs general manager] Dave Stewart in the front office. We’ve got to have more managers than me and [Dodgers manager] Dave Roberts.”"
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 needs.
As Dusty Baker gets used to bullpen, Jonathan Papelbon notches another save
(James Wagner, Washington Post)
Even though he knew who comprised the bullpen, the Nationals relief corps — except for Matt Belisle — was new to Dusty Baker. And there so was much turnover — in the bullpen and coaching staff — that both groups knew little about each other. Blake Treinen was the lone reliever on last year’s opening day roster. Felipe Rivero, Jonathan Papelbon and Treinen were the only holdovers from the closing 2015 bullpen.
A full spring training and seven games into the season, Baker is gaining a better grasp of his relievers, their strengths and weaknesses, and what roles to best slot each of them into. Read full article here.
Baker urges faster pace toward gains in diversity
WASHINGTON — On the eve of Jackie Robinson Day, Nationals manager Dusty Baker was thinking about how far the sport has come since Robinson’s debut in 1947, and also about challenges that remain.
Baker said baseball’s commitment to diversity is about a lot more than this important celebration.
“It’s similar to Black History Month. It needs to be more than just a day or more than just a month,” Baker said before Thursday’s 6-2 win over the Braves. “I was thinking about it [Wednesday] night, we’ve got to have more candidates than [White Sox executive vice president] Kenny Williams and [D-backs general manager] Dave Stewart in the front office. We’ve got to have more managers than me and [Dodgers manager] Dave Roberts.” Read full article here.