Nationals in the National media - 2014

[mitlen]

Buster Olney is publishing his rankings of the top 10 players by position (Insider access on epsn.com required).

Nat who made the list so far:
3B: Rendon - 2nd (behind Josh Donaldson)
SS: Desmond - 3rd (behind Peralta and Simmons, Tulo is 4th)
2B: We can skip this one (Cano is #1)
1B: Nobody, though LaRoche makes the honorable mention list (Goldschmidt is #1)
C: Nobody (Posey is #1)

Rendon is a star under the radar.    This and the AS voting  ....   I like it.

[PC]

Buster Olney is publishing his rankings of the top 10 players by position (Insider access on epsn.com required).

Nat who made the list so far:
3B: Rendon - 2nd (behind Josh Donaldson)
SS: Desmond - 3rd (behind Peralta and Simmons, Tulo is 4th)
2B: We can skip this one (Cano is #1)
1B: Nobody, though LaRoche makes the honorable mention list (Goldschmidt is #1)
C: Nobody (Posey is #1)

LF

4. Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals

Justin Havens of ESPN Stats & Information made a strong case that I should place Harper higher on this list -- No. 1, in fact. "I know putting Harper at No. 1 is aggressive," Justin wrote, "but if I was getting one player's performance from 2015, I would actually want Harper's. I'm doubling down on my bet from 2014 that he becomes a borderline MVP candidate."

Harper just turned 22 last month, and has played through injuries the past couple of seasons, missing 44 games in 2013 and 62 in 2014. Harper has shown flashes of dominance, and it really wouldn't surprise anyone in the industry if he had an MVP-type season in 2015. But he has to stay on the field to do so, something Brantley, Gordon and Upton all have been able to do. I'm not as brave as Havens; I'm placing Harper in this spot.

[PC]

CF

8. Denard Span, Washington Nationals

As Havens notes, Span "has averaged 4.2 WAR per 650 plate appearances, or 3.3 WAR per season, over his seven-year career." His 2014 OBP and slugging percentage were the best he's posted over the past four years.

Last year, Span had his highest OBP since 2009, and also stole a career-high 31 bases. He's played in 153 and 147 games over the last two seasons, respectively.

[imref]

MLB TV aired its top 55 plays of 2014 special today.  Souza's catch was #4. 

#3 was Morse's 8th inning HR against STL in the NLCS
#2 was Jeter's walk-off in his last bat at Yankee stadium
#1 was Ishikawa's walk-off against STL to end the series.

[Baseball is Life]

MLB TV aired its top 55 plays of 2014 special today.  Souza's catch was #4. 

#3 was Morse's 8th inning HR against STL in the NLCS
#2 was Jeter's walk-off in his last bat at Yankee stadium
#1 was Ishikawa's walk-off against STL to end the series.

Souza's play should have been #2.

[PC]

RF

4. Jayson Werth, Washington Nationals

Injuries have greatly impacted his career, but last season, Werth missed just 15 games and played well, posting a .849 OPS and an OPS+ of 134; only Bautista, Stanton and Heyward ranked higher in WAR. At the time that Werth signed his seven-year, $126 million deal, there was much shock and outrage within the industry, but in the first four years, he’s quietly provided value for Washington -- and unlike many other long-term deals, this one doesn’t look bad as he enters the final three seasons.

[imref]

Souza's play should have been #2.

i'd have had Jeter at #1, Ishikawa at #2, Souza at #3.

[imref]

From an article on fangraphs saying that the braves should trade Kimbrel.

[Mr Clean]

Alright not Nationals but a little DC in the news:  http://mlb.com/fancave/blog/article.jsp?content=article&content_id=102817096&partnerId=th_twitter

[PC]

Top 10 starting pitchers in MLB

Honorable mention: Where do we start? Here are a handful of pitchers I considered:

...

Stephen Strasburg, Nationals: Because of the controversy over his shutdown in 2012, he is constantly underrated, maybe even in these rankings. In 2014, Strasburg had 242 strikeouts and just 43 walks.


...

Jordan Zimmermann, Washington Nationals: His "plow horse" work ethic and reliability reminds you of Bumgarner. Last year, Zimmermann had 182 strikeouts and just 29 walks.

[Slateman]

http://www.federalbaseball.com/2014/12/5/7338597/the-disappointing-end-to-nationals-outfielder-jayson-werth-2014-campaign

Yahoo front page

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Isn't Werth's trial for driving while Porsched today?

[mitlen]

Isn't Werth's trial for driving while Porsched today?

He was only clocked at 105.    That's more being 'vetted.   

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Next time I'm in Germany I'm gonna rent something with a huge engine. That Opel I had last time started to shake violently at 150 kmh

Werth might want to consider switching down to something plush but a bit more sedate, like a Bentley.

[spidernat]

I don't know if this counts but the racing Presidents raced at the Military Bowl. George got into it with the Bearcats mascot. Teddy won.

[Ray D]

Did anybody ask him why he hasn't made a good movie in 20 years?

Meathead was great in Wolf of Wall Street.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

It is discussed in passing in this article, but there is some interesting data on Wilson Ramos's offense buried in his ball in play data.  Ramos had one of the highest GB% and lowest FB% of all NL hitters.  OTOH, his batting average and SLG on flies was one of the highest.

The relevant quotes:

The fly-ball laggards, by definition, put a cap on their power production by rarely elevating the baseball. Most of the laggards generally don’t hit the ball very hard, so this isn’t a big surprise. For players like Yelich and Wilson Ramos, who are quality ball-strikers, increasing their fly-ball rate into even the average range could have a big payoff down the road.
...
Interestingly, Ramos, among the fly-ball laggards frequency-wise, is among the leaders production-wise. There is a great deal of upside to his offensive game if he can learn to elevate the ball more often without sacrificing contact or authority.