Offseason moves?

[UMDNats]

Trade a prospect for Greg Dobbs, for example. 

[blue911]

He must have meant Lou Dobbs so we could deport Jose Fernandez.

[Mr Clean]

Has anyone mentioned Ubaldo? He's available.  Also, sign Ellsbury and move Werth to first. He's headed that way soon anyway. Would make for a powerhouse lineup.

[Mathguy]

Have you noticed there is a contingent on here that advocates Ryan Zimmerman being moved to 1st base ?

Has anyone mentioned Ubaldo? He's available.  Also, sign Ellsbury and move Werth to first. He's headed that way soon anyway. Would make for a powerhouse lineup.

[Mr Clean]

Have you noticed there is a contingent on here that advocates Ryan Zimmerman being moved to 1st base ?

Oh I noticed that for sure but it ain't happening. Since Werth is in his mid thirties though he is definitely moving in that direction.

[DPMOmaha]

so the fact that they got nothing from a (the?) premiere offensive position has less to do with losing than getting nothing from the bench (which is expected to be terrible)

It was?  It was essentially the same group of guys coming back from a season where it was the best in baseball and we were expecting it to be bad?  That's not the conversation I remember.  We had a pen that was supposed to be three deep at the closer position with dependable guys behind that.  Both of those areas are filled with guys that are put in big spots late in games and when they don't come through like expected, that is often the difference between good teams and the bad and it was a big part of why this team failed to live up to expectations, combined with Detwiler's health and Haren's awful first half.  If they fix those, that'll have a huge impact on how this team fares next season.  If they can improve the 1B spot, I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying it's not really at the top of the list of things that kept this team from reaching it's goal this year or next.

[DPMOmaha]

Oh I noticed that for sure but it ain't happening. Since Werth is in his mid thirties though he is definitely moving in that direction.

He's headed to LF, not 1B.

[varoadking]

Relax...Williams is a big D proponent, so LaRoach will be a fixture at 1st...

[Slateman]

Oh I noticed that for sure but it ain't happening. Since Werth is in his mid thirties though he is definitely moving in that direction.

Zimmerman is closer tp being moved to first than Werth. You can move Jayson to LF though

[imref]

Relax...Williams is a big D proponent, so LaRoach will be a fixture at 1st...

i assumed he was bringing Goldschmidt with him, is that not the case?

[imref]

End of an era (or is it error?): Haren and Tracy are free agents.

[Lintyfresh85]

Honestly I think this move will be the biggest and most important of the offseason.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2013/11/01/nationals-coaching-staff-to-return-nearly-intact-will-add-a-new-position-focused-on-defense/

The biggest difference, however, will be the new position created by Williams. It signals a change in philosophy from Davey Johnson. Williams spoke openly at his introductory press conference about embracing the new wave of advanced statistics and analytics. “I want to use all of it, but I want to use all of it in the right way,” he said.

Next season, the Nationals will have a seventh coach on staff, Mark Weidemaier, formerly an advance scout and a special assistant in the Arizona Diamondbacks front office, to serve as an advance coach focused on defensive alignments. Weidemaier will be in uniform and in the dugout, but will be tasked with working with the Nationals other advance scouts and video scouts and filter the information down to the coaching staff.

“I believe that’s very important,” Williams said. “I believe that preparation is the most important part of this game …  We understand that it’s a very fine line between 2 1/2 runs or 3 1/2 runs or 4 1/2 runs. It’s a very fine line. But I do understand also that if we can cut one down at some point during that game, we have a much better chance of winning with the kind of club we’ve got. So that’s important. That’s going to be our focus as a coaching staff, and we’ll let the players know certainly that we expect that to be a focus of theirs moving forward.”

The Nationals were among the team’s least likely to shift the defense for a hitter in 2013, according to BillJamesOnline.com. Among the teams most likely to shift and save runs were the Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox, three of which made the playoffs. Williams’s hope of applying new ideas, including defensive shifts, resonated with some of the Nationals players at his press conference on Friday afternoon.

[houston-nat]

Honestly I think this move will be the biggest and most important of the offseason.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2013/11/01/nationals-coaching-staff-to-return-nearly-intact-will-add-a-new-position-focused-on-defense/

You might be right.

[DPMOmaha]

Are there limits to how many coaches you can have on a staff?

[varoadking]

Are there limits to how many coaches you can have on a staff?

As many as you need to change a light bulb...

[Slateman]

Jose Veras is a free agent. Any interest? Obviously not as a closer, but he is a decent righty out of the pen.

[RobDibblesGhost]

Are there limits to how many coaches you can have on a staff?

Used to be 6, now it's 7.

[Vega]

Matt Thornton's option declined by Boston.

[CALSGR8]

Get Zuki back!

[PC]

Get Zuki back!

From sfgate:

Suzuki was a nice pickup for Oakland when the team was down to one healthy catcher late in the season and he performed well when he did play; he’s very good working with pitchers, calling games and blocking the plate and he’ll find a job easily, probably as a backup with a contender. He’s always a popular teammate and he’ll be a plus for whichever club signs him.

[sph274]

thornton is an okay LOOGY but cannot pitch to right handers. jose veras maybe as a middle reliever?

[MorseTheHorse]

Suzuki:  .222 /.283 /.310 /.593

NO!  Ramos playing instead of Suzuki in the second half was a big reason why we were better in the second half.      

[aspenbubba]

Are there limits to how many coaches you can have on a staff?

I've read 7 as of 2013 . Nats did not choose to add a uniformed  one until now

[PC]

I just watched Masahiro Tanaka pitch the 9th inning of Game 7 of the Japan Series (thank you, vipbox).

They certainly do treat their “aces” strangely in Japan.  He pitched a complete game yesterday (and lost, breaking his 30 game winning streak) and they had him pitch the 9th in this game. He didn’t look that great, not surprisingly.  His team (and Andruw Jones’), the Eagles, were leading 3-0 and he brought the tying run to the plate before ending the game.

According to all reports, he’s soon to be posted and might get a $100 million posting fee.

[Slateman]

He's like 30-1 right?