#stephen-strasburg

#stephen-strasburg

Joey Meneses got the first triple of his major league career Sunday, but the Nationals didn't do much else at the plate in a loss to the Phillies.(Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images)The Washington Nationals' matchup with the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park came with heightened stakes - relatively speaking because it's early June.

After a short rough patch, Julio Urias is back to being his dominant self.The ace picked up win number 5 on the season and lowered his season ERA to 3.61 after a solid 7 inning showing against the Padres.If the left-hander keeps it up, he's en route to not only his first All-Star berth (after being snubbed in each of the last two seasons) but also a healthy payday in the offseason.

The news that was expected on Cade Cavalli's elbow was realized this morning when Nationals' general manager, Mike Rizzo, announced that the right-hand pitcher Cade Cavalli will undergo Tommy John Surgery.The prospect suffered a grade 3 UCL sprain during his last Grapefruit outing.In the press release, Rizzo announced that Cavalli would miss the entire 2023 season as expected with a Grade 3 strain which is a total tear of the UCL.

We had to do a quick edit as we learned of the passing of Ted Lerner at the age of 97.Lerner was the first owner of the Washington Nationals in mid-2006, taking over the franchise from MLB as the team relocated from Montreal.Lerner led the Nats into a constant contender in the last decade, and his son Mark took the helm in 2018 as the principal owner.

Wednesday was the widely celebrated baseball season milestone of pitchers and catchers reporting, which signifies the beginning of spring training.With that being said, this was overshadowed by the news of the day, which was that Diamond Sports missed it's debt payment, entering a 30-day grace period, after which the league can void it's broadcasting deals with the company.

Braves Franchise History
2021 - The Braves win Game 3 of the World Series, 2-0, to take a 2-1 lead over the Astros.Ian Anderson throws five hitless innings before being removed with a 1-0 lead, and the Astros don't get their first hit until pinch-hitter Aledmys Diaz leads off the eighth with a single off Tyler Matzek, the Braves' fourth pitcher.

During Washington Nationals ' general manager Mike Rizzo's first official presser of 2023, he doubled-down on what he said last month at his annual event in regards to his current farm system."I'm optimistic.I'm excited about this time in our developmental curve with the organization," Rizzo said yesterday.

Joan Adon was among Washington's first spring training cuts.(Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - On Tuesday, Joan Adon was included in the first round of Washington Nationals' cuts from major league camp.He was the lone member of the 40-man roster who was assigned to Class AAA Rochester.

The strength of the future team for the Washington Nationals appears to be in their outfield.But certainly some could argue an infield of Brady House, CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia, and T.J. White could be very good too with Armando Cruz in the mix.Today, MLB Pipeline published their list of the Top-10 outfield prospects in all of baseball with some honorable mentions, and the Nats were all over the rankings.

Victor Robles and the Nationals could go to an arbitration hearing.(Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) In August, after Victor Robles wore a clown nose to clap back at the Arizona Diamondbacks' Madison Bumgarner from the visitors' dugout at Chase Field, then ordered a bundle of Robles clown nose T-shirts for the clubhouse, the Washington Nationals' coaching staff asked him to walk back to his locker - from his pregame stretches on the third base line - to change out of the shirt and into what everyone else was wearing.

On the morning of July 1, 2021, the Washington Nationals were surging on the hot bat of Kyle Schwarber and just 2 ½ games from first place in the NL East.Then Schwarber blew out his hamstring the next day, and the Nats fell into a tail spin.It was 28 days later, that the Nats went into a sell-off mode that would take a year to complete.

NJ Advance Media | Mike Rosenstein: Michael A. Taylor, who won the Gold Glove award in 2021, just hit the trade market according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.Taylor, 31, doesn't offer much with the bat.He hit .254with nine home runs in 2022.Per Rosenstein, "the Yankees are set in center with Gold Glover Harrison Bader, but putting Taylor in left, with Judge, a former Gold Glove nominee, in right, would give New York plenty of protection in the outfield."

While we never expected the Washington Nationals would be "in" on the top free agents, we did expect, rather hoped, that the Nats would make some acquisitions to get the team to a FanGraphs projected WAR of 32.0 which would push the Nats above the bottom-5 teams.FanGraphs projects the Nats today at a team WAR of just 28.3 for third worst in baseball.

When that ping pong ball spun to the top, revealing the Washington Nationals would get the second pick in the 2023 draft, the future of the Washington Nationals might have changed on that.The Draft Lottery system only guaranteed the Nats a top-7 pick.This upcoming draft could have two of the most dynamic players we have seen in recent years.

The Nationals landed the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft in MLB's first draft lottery.(John McDonnell/The Washington Post) SAN DIEGO - If it were any other year before this one, the Washington Nationals would have entered the offseason knowing they held the top pick in next year's MLB draft.But for the first time - unluckily for the Nationals - MLB instituted a lottery, under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, in an attempt to reduce the incentive for teams to tank.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of 2022 changed so many aspects on the future of baseball, and it ended nearly six decades of having the team with the worst record from receiving a guarantee to pick first in the MLB draft.The old draft format began in 1965, and the Washington Senators chose third and picked pitcher Joe Coleman in that draft.

With MLB going into the Winter Meetings officially tomorrow afternoon in San Diego, California at the Grand Hyatt hotel, there should be a lot more to talk about in the baseball world.Unfortunately, the Washington Nationals are not one of the teams at the top of the Hot Stove list as they will be mostly window shopping.

On Friday, the Washington Nationals and the rest of Major League Baseball were forced to make roster decisions by either tendering their Arbitration-Eligible players a contract for the 2023 season, or Non-Tendering them and making them a Free Agent this Winter.The Nationals do not have much set in stone in regards to everyday players or foundational players, so it was always going to be curious to see what direction they chose come roster day.

"What has changed is the uncertainty of what's the final payroll going to look like - and what's the ownership group going to look like down the road?"Mike Rizzo said."As far as coming here and coming to the winter meetings, we're going as we always have with the Lerners as ownership, trying to just do what we can do to move this process along."

LAS VEGAS, NV - We are in the brief "quiet period" in Major League Baseball during  this respite when most free agents are not allowed to negotiate with other teams until Thursday at 5 pm.This is the three-days used for the General Managers meetings that are in full swing.The GMs along with front office personnel, and agents are all under one roof at Resorts World on 3000 South Las Vegas Boulevard in Sin City.

White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease earned his status as one of the five finalists for the American League Cy Young award announced Monday.But the name most likely to be called when the winner is announced Nov. 16 is Justin Verlander of the Astros.Also named as an AL finalist was the Blue Jays' Alek Manoah.

White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease earned his status as one of the five finalists for the American League Cy Young award announced Monday.But the name most likely to be called when the winner is announced Nov. 16 is Justin Verlander of the Astros.Also named as an AL finalist was the Blue Jays' Alek Manoah.

There was one starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals who was kind of forgotten about.His name is Jackson Tetreault.Who? Right, he was only up for four starts with the Nats as he replaced Stephen Strasburg on June 14 after Stras was scratched from his start and went on the 15-day IL with a stress reaction in his ribs.

The calendar has shifted to November.The World Series will wrap up very soon, and the General Manager's meeting is next week.The Winter Meetings begin in 33 days."It all starts with starting pitching," Nats' manager Dave Martinez said last month."Our starting pitching needs to get better, that's for sure."

Nationals pitching coach Jim Hickey (48) talks to Josiah Gray during the sixth inning of Friday night's loss to the Marlins.After he plunked Bryan De La Cruz in the sixth inning Friday, throwing a misplaced fastball that cost a run, Gray's body convulsed and he yelled at himself.And once he escaped the inning, after the Miami Marlins scored three times, Gray covered his mouth with his glove and screamed again.By inning, Gray threw three four-seamers in the first, four in the second, two in the third, four in the fourth and then all but totally shelved it.