Author Topic: Nationals in the National media — 2015  (Read 14317 times)

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Offline sph274

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #125: March 20, 2015, 09:27:14 AM »
we can beat the marlins with a few starters out. while we have a few hitters out, i think it is important to remember that we have the best rotation in the league hands down. Even if we dont score lots of runs against the unhittable Mat Latos, Henderson Alvarez, and Dan Haren, I am sure that behind Stanton, they arent gonna score frequently. Mike Morse is their starting 1b, he is 32 and prob will miss time. Dee Gordon will crash back to earth. Their ss cant hit, Saltalamacchia sucks. If anything, it is great that we have a super easy schedule at the beginning, those teams wont score against our rotation and our offense wont completely suck with Zimm, Harper, Ramos and Desmond.

Offline varoadking

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #126: March 24, 2015, 12:46:26 PM »

Offline mitlen

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #127: March 24, 2015, 01:06:25 PM »

Offline UMDNats

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #128: March 24, 2015, 01:07:18 PM »


Harper such a showboat doing this shoot. spend less time at photoshoots and more time tracking breaking balls, you jerk!

Offline varoadking

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #129: March 24, 2015, 01:07:56 PM »

Dunno...saw this on FB.  We have a free subscription so I'll holler when our copy arrives...if I remember  ;)

Offline mitlen

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #130: March 24, 2015, 01:12:27 PM »
Dunno...saw this on FB.  We have a free subscription so I'll holler when our copy arrives...if I remember  ;)

I'm headin' out to shag a few golf balls.    I'm gonna stop by CVS, Shoppers and maybe Walmart to take a peek.    Appreciate the follow-up.

Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #131: March 24, 2015, 01:18:16 PM »
Goes in the collection with the Strasburg and Harper covers. And one of these days I'm going to track down the cover with 16 year old Harper on it.

Offline PC

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #132: March 26, 2015, 09:18:28 PM »
Baseball Tonight has been doing a top 10 by position and top 100 players ranking this week.

The Nationals making the various list so far are:

Top 10 Right handed starters:

2. Scherzer
5. Strasburg
7. Zimmermann

Left handed starters:

8. Gonzalez

Left Fielders:

9. Werth

Right Fielders:

4. Harper

Shortstops:

2. Desmond

Third basemen:

3. Rendon

Offline varoadking

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #133: March 27, 2015, 01:32:28 PM »
Dunno...saw this on FB.  We have a free subscription so I'll holler when our copy arrives...if I remember  ;)

Our subscription issue was delivered today...


Offline mitlen

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #134: March 27, 2015, 01:34:21 PM »
Our subscription issue was delivered today...



Usually a couple of days before the news stands.    Thanks for the update   ..

Offline PC

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #135: March 27, 2015, 09:39:45 PM »
Cardinals, Nationals prove to be NL's best

By Jim Bowden | ESPN Insider


After touring both Arizona and most recently Florida, I have come to a relatively easy conclusion that the two best teams in the National League -- at least on paper as well as from the scouting seats this spring -- are the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals.

The Cardinals arrived in Jupiter, Florida, last month with a lot of questions surrounding their starting pitching mostly because of health reasons, but also because of the trade of Shelby Miller to the Braves in the offseason for right fielder Jason Heyward.

Every single question has been answered positively. Adam Wainwright feels great and even clarified to me he is 100 percent. Michael Wacha looks like the Wacha of 2013 according to GM John Mozeliak. John Lackey and Lance Lynn look like the pitchers who helped the Cards win the division last year.

In addition, all three starters fighting for the fifth job have pitched well enough to win the spot. Jaime Garcia has been the surprise of camp, not only completely healthy but pitching like he did when he was one of the league’s best left-handed starters. Carlos Martinez has shown that his fastball command is improving and he could start, even though he is expected to return to the eighth-inning role by Opening Day. Marco Gonzales has developed by light years this spring, adding a two-seam sinker, a cutter and a curveball, three new pitches to a repertoire that already included a solid four-seam fastball up in the zone and a plus-plus changeup he can use to get right- and left-handed hitters out.

Heyward has fit in nicely in the clubhouse, has shown his elite defensive skills and the Cardinals’ brain trust is convinced it can get another level of talent out of Heyward's bat. With a completely healthy and happy clubhouse, this will be a tough team to beat, even for the ever-improving Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Nationals entered spring training with MLB’s best team on paper, but unlike the Cardinals, they have not been so fortunate healthwise. Center fielder Denard Span will start the year on the disabled list with a right core muscle injury and is not expected to return until sometime in May. Anthony Rendon, their best position player, is also likely to start the year on the DL with a knee injury. They are waiting to see if left fielder Jayson Werth is ready for Opening Day and are cautiously optimistic according to GM Mike Rizzo, but I highly doubt he'll be ready to go either. Even when he is activated there is a big question of how much power he'll have because of the type of shoulder surgery he had.

The best news is that their top six starters are relatively healthy, with Stephen Strasburg's sprained ankle tweak being the only minor injury so far. As good as this team is, they'll have to fight off strong competition from both the Marlins and Mets, who are way better than most people think and will give them a pennant race until the end. For the Nationals to live up to their potential, their two high-ceiling talents in outfielder Bryce Harper and Strasburg will have to take their games to elite status.

Harper was recently dubbed the most overrated player in baseball by his peers in a recent ESPN The Magazine article. I can understand this because scouts and analysts like myself have been riding high on Harper’s 40-home run power ceiling. However, MLB players haven't seen him do it yet nor have they seen a consistent professional approach like his teammate Rendon's. However, make no doubt about it, he will reach his ceiling and when he does, those who call him overrated will start focusing on another player who hasn't done it yet.

Remember, Harper is just 22 years old. He also has to deal with more off-field drama than most players and it has been overwhelming for him. However, when he finally learns how to leave it at the clubhouse door and not think about it again until he heads home after the game, watch out because he will reach that potential. At least 30 home runs are needed this year for the Nats to win it all, and I think he'll provide it.

Strasburg, on the other hand, has a chance to win the Cy Young Award, despite the fact he's the Nationals’ third starter behind Max Scherzer and Jordan Zimmermann. I think Scherzer could be the key to Strasburg's success because Scherzer brings looseness, fun and happiness to the clubhouse and the tightly wound Strasburg will have to start having fun, especially with Gio Gonzalez and Matt Thornton on the same fun team as Scherzer. If the Nats can have a little more fun this year with their starting pitching, they should be facing the Cardinals in the NLCS.

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/the-gms-office/post?id=10905

Offline varoadking

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #136: March 28, 2015, 05:48:49 PM »
I guess I missed Zimmermann's perfect game last year...glad I was at least there for the no-hitter...

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/115272606/matt-williams-sets-nationals-rotation-behind-max-scherzer

Offline PC

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #137: March 28, 2015, 09:22:44 PM »
Baseball Tonight has been doing a top 10 by position and top 100 players ranking this week.

The Nationals making the various list so far are:

Top 10 Right handed starters:

2. Scherzer
5. Strasburg
7. Zimmermann

Left handed starters:

8. Gonzalez

Left Fielders:

9. Werth

Right Fielders:

4. Harper

Shortstops:

2. Desmond

Third basemen:

3. Rendon

Another

Catcher:

10. Ramos

Offline Lintyfresh85

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #138: March 28, 2015, 09:26:25 PM »
I'm going JZ over Strasburg until proven otherwise on the field.

Offline RobDibblesGhost

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #139: March 28, 2015, 09:56:03 PM »
I guess I missed Zimmermann's perfect game last year...glad I was at least there for the no-hitter...

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/115272606/matt-williams-sets-nationals-rotation-behind-max-scherzer

:lmao:  I'd live to blame it on Blog Latherspoon, but it was actually someone else who wrote that article. Maybe it's his intern :shrug:

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #140: March 30, 2015, 09:35:17 AM »
BP's effectively wild has their nationals season preview up http://www.baseballprospectus.com/blog/daily_podcast/

Offline PC

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #141: March 31, 2015, 07:43:04 PM »
MLB Confidential
Who is the best player in baseball? The most overrated? We poll 117 major leaguers to find out.

Who will win the World Series?
Nationals 30 percent
Mariners 17 percent
Angels 10 percent


Who is the most overrated player in MLB?
Bryce Harper 41 percent
Yasiel Puig 15 percent

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12586991/mlb-pros-weigh-mike-trout-bryce-harper-alex-rodriguez-more


Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #143: April 01, 2015, 08:25:59 AM »
4 starting pitchers in the top 100, 3 in the top 3.  4 position players.  Werth is too low.  Really expecting a fall off this year from his performance the past 3. 

Offline varoadking

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #144: April 03, 2015, 06:58:51 PM »

Not sure if I missed any...don't think I did...but MLB Network played what they thought were the top 50 plays of the 2014 playoffs.

All 4 Nationals highlights that I saw involved Bryce - 2 of his home runs (#49, #28), a shoestring catch in left (#44), and his relay to Desi that got caught Posey at home (#18)...



Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #146: April 05, 2015, 11:54:25 AM »
Quote
The franchise has not won a playoff series since 1981, when it was the Montreal Expos,

:couch:


Offline PebbleBall

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #148: April 28, 2015, 12:55:01 PM »
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-nationals-have-lost-almost-all-of-their-edge/

Among other things, this has a good link to fodder for the Fire Matt Williams thread.

Offline PC

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Re: Nationals in the National media — 2015
« Reply #149: May 31, 2015, 10:28:43 PM »
Good job, Matt Williams.  Keep making us proud with your magnificent leadership and attention to detail.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/31/joey-votto-drew-a-three-ball-walk/