UPDATE (11/10/12, noon): Johnson’s return is now official: the Nationals baseball media relations department (@NationalsPR) has tweeted that Davey Johnson will return to the role of field manager for 2013. It will be his last season as manager. In 2014 Johnson will shift to being a consultant to GM Mike Rizzo.

As reported by the Washington Post yesterday, the Nationals and manager Davey Johnson are getting close to closing a contract for the 2013 season. Johnson initially planned on retiring, but cited “unfinished business” from 2012 as his reason for returning.

Nothing has been formally announced yet, however both sides agreed that the 2013 season will be Johnson’s last season managing. In 2014 Johnson will become a special adviser to General Manager Mike Rizzo. Afterwards, Mike Rizzo has said he would like Johnson successor to come from within the Nationals organization.

Johnson became manager in June 2011 after Jim Riggleman resigned. He’ll turn 70 in January, becoming the oldest manager in baseball.

Davey Johnson led the Nationals to their first ever National League East title as well as managing the team’s veterans to rookies in a way that built the successful season. He’s currently a finalist for the NL Manager of the Year by the BWAA.

In other news, first baseman Adam LaRoche declined the Nationals offer of one-year and $13.3 million on Friday per the MLB Players Association and the Washington Post.

LaRoche won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger with the Nationals this season. The team is still able to sign him, however if he doesn’t and signs with another team, the Nationals will receive a compensatory draft pick.

Today also marks one year since Wilson Ramos was held after being kidnapped in Venezuela. The catcher was taken from his family home on November 9, 2011 and became the first Major League Baseball player to be kidnapped. Ramos was held for 51 hours and rescued in a gun fight in the mountains of Venezuela.

Ramos is now rehabbing from his two knee surgeries from his injury on May 12 in which he torn his meniscus and damaged enough to need another surgery to repair another torn ligament. He stayed in Washington over the off season to be able to visit his physical therapist and work out.

Since his kidnapping Ramos has not been back to Venezuela, but he plans to return to spend time with his family once he’s finished with rehab. He says he still loves his country as well. Understandably, Ramos said it’s hard to forget about his ordeal. The promising catcher of the future says even though it will always be a part of his life, he doesn’t want the event to define him.

Coming into the 2012 season, there was something the Nationals were used to having to deal with: expectations.

With big off season moves, the impending debut of Bryce Harper, and the momentum the Nats took into the off season at the end of 2011, everyone was expecting an improvement.  To say anyone expected the Nats being in first place at the All-Star Break (and having been in that position most of the year) would be crazy.

Yet that’s where we stand.  The Nats are not only first in the NL East, but they have the best record in the National League at the halfway point of the season.  Here’s a look at what the top stories of 2012 have been.

Pitching

» Continue reading “Nats At The Half”

After the Rays intentionally walked Adam LaRoche before Danny Espinosa, Espinosa delivered the final blow in the sixth inning, breaking the tie. The Nationals went on to win the rubber game of the series 5-2.

The move to walk LaRoche in front of Espinosa made sense to the Rays. Espinosa hit the decisive double from the left side, where he’d only been hitting .188.

“I definitely take it personal in a sense that, I want to get ’em. I want to make them pay for what they’re doing.”

Gio Gonzalez struggled early, throwing 50 pitches over the first two innings but was able to pitch into the sixth inning and earned his ninth win. After Gonzalez left the game, Craig Stammen entered to pitch the seventh and issued a leadoff walk. After two walks, Johnson brought in reliever Michael Gonzalez.

Not to be outdone by Stammen, Gonzalez also issued a walk, thus loading the bases. Johnson then brought in Ryan Mattheus, who reached a full count before he was able to get the job done, striking out Will Rhymes with two outs to leave the Rays stranded.

» Continue reading “Nationals have last laugh; take 2 of 3 from Rays”

Injury graphic on the Nationals, via Washington Post

“This team is beat up more than any one I’ve ever had.”

Davey Johnson knows the walking wounding when he sees them.

And somehow, the Nats are still in first place.  Granted, it’s just by a half game over the Braves, but don’t knock it. After having their best April ever (they ended the month with a 14-8 record), May is shaping up nicely as well. Oh, and all this is happening with some of their key players out with injuries.

Despite OintmentGate and the miscues in Strasburg’s start on Tuesday (somebody want to catch that pop up? Oh…no?), Gonzalez took control yesterday against the Pirates at home with 10 strikeouts.

He even got some offensive help from Adam LaRoche and his 1000th career hit (which included a home run and bases clearing double) and Xavier Nady(!) who hit his 100th career home run. Henry Rodriguez even decided to exercise his closer abilities and was able to keep the Pirates from causing too much damage.

The Nats went on to beat the Pirates 7-4. (Somewhere Jordan Zimmermann is asking them to save some runs for him.)

So what’s this saying? The Nats are winning. The team is coming together. And that’s with Drew Storen, Chien-Ming Wang, Brad Lidge, Michael Morse, Jayson Werth, Wilson Ramos, Mark DeRosa and Sandy Leon injured. (This isn’t including Ryan Zimmerman, who also made a DL stint earlier this season.) For the most part all the players on the DL were projected key players of the Opening Day roster. Also, the players on the DL aren’t just injured, they’re long term injuries. Expected return dates range from months to a year.

» Continue reading “The Casualties”

What’s the fun in playing with a full roster? That’s what the baseball gods must be saying to the Nationals, who lost ANOTHER key player in Wilson Ramos to an ACL injury.

At this point, the Nats should just buy their own rehabilitation center in bus form at the rate everyone is getting injured.  It could be so many things (luck, training) but I prefer to think of it as sabotage at the hands of the Phillies and their sidekick Orioles (let’s kick up these rivalries!).

The Nats are now missing Jayson Werth, Michael Morse, and Ramos, all keys at the plate.  Pitchers Drew Storen, Brad Lidge, and Chien-Ming Wang are also injured.  Have you all heard of this fun thing called stretching? Geez!

The kind of good news is that the Nats are still doing well.  Despite the injuries and the losses, the team continues to exceed expectations in the early months of the season.  The pitching has remained strong, playing a huge role in not missing a medical beat.

» Continue reading “Another Nat Bites The Dust”

They couldn’t make it easy, but the Nats pulled a 4-3 win in the 11th inning against the Phillies last night in the first game of the series this season.  The hero tonight? Wilson Ramos.  Anyone besides me more surprised that the Nats had the ability to score 4 runs? Anyway, here’s what’s up.

-From us, Harper has been a hero since coming up, living up to the hype.

-Ramos was the LAST person available from the bench in the 11th.  Good thing he put that ball away. [CSN Washington]

-And the flying celly. [Nats Enquirer]

-I kid you not, Davey Johnson on “Natitude.” [Federal Baseball]

-The Nats called up top prospect Tyler Moore, so why aren’t they playing him in the Show? [Nats Journal]

-Zimmerman is set to hopefully return on Tuesday. The order could really use him back. [CSN Washington]

In reality, most of the baseball world probably forgets that D.C. has a baseball team unless Stephen Strasburg is starting or Bryce Harper blows someone a kiss.  Seven years has apparently not been enough to get the Nats recognition, and not without reason: they spent a lot of that time in the basement.

But his year is different.  The Nats are first in the NL East, leading both the Phillies and the Braves, two teams many expected to be formidable.  Not only are the Nats leading their division, but they also hold the second best record in Major League Baseball at 12-4.

Many have cast this early success aside.  Some are categorizing it as a small sample size, inflated numbers that will regress back to the mean in a month.  They look at the opponents the Nats have faced so far and have yet to see a challenging opposition.

The Nats have taken all 5 of their series so far in 2012.  Sure, they may have been against the Cubs, Reds, Mets, Marlins, and Astros, (only the Mets are above .500) but there are characteristics in the play of the Nats that implies that this isn’t just a fluke.

First of all, there is the pitching.  The Nats and the Cardinals are the only two teams with 3 pitchers in the top 10 in the MLB in OPS.  Jordan Zimmerman comes in at 5th, Strasburg at 7th, and Gio Gonzalez at 8th.  Ross Detwiler comes in at 20th, and Edwin Jackson comes in at 33rd.

» Continue reading “Nats In 1st, Not Just A Fluke”

We’ve known for a while that this day was coming soon, but it has finally arrived: Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez is retiring.

The sure-fire Hall of Fame catcher spent the last two years of his playing days with the Nationals, after they signed him to a 2-year contract in December 2009.  The idea behind signing Pudge was to get someone to fill in until the young catchers in the organization (Jesus Flores and Wilson Ramos) and help develop them in the process.

The Nats got everything they could’ve hoped for and more from the veteran.

Pudge came into a young Nats team for the 2010 season, a team that had spent the last two years dwelling in the basement of the league enough to get back-to-back 1st overall picks in the draft.  He came in just in time to usher in young arm Stephen Strasburg.

Rodriguez pushed Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann to use their pitches and expand their skill set.  His calming presence undoubtedly helped them transition to MLB play.

There was rarely, if ever, a better attitude in the dugout than Pudge.  The camera constantly caught him smiling, cheering on his teammates, and offering advice.  He truly used his experience to help the team (and it’s young players) grow.

» Continue reading “Looking Back At Pudge’s Time With The Nats”

The Nats were able to feed off their 12-0 win the other day to take down the Astros yesterday 7-4.  Roger Bernadina may be playing his way back onto the Nats (which we’ll look at later this afternoon) but for now, here’s what you need to know:

-First, from us: consistency remains the Nats worst enemy; Lannan named 5th starter, but will he capitalize before Wang returns?

-Cool story–Wilson Ramos’ new walk-up song was composed by his uncle. Must mean a lot to have his family close after everything that happened this winter. [Nats Enquirer]

-LaRoche is closing in on a return, but we’ve heard that before. [CSN Washington]

-There was some actual investigative reporting into how far Werth’s HR (that has since been confirmed hit his car) went. No worries, the Post is on it. [Nats Journal]

-Speaking of Werth, he’s been discretely having a pretty good spring. Perhaps 2011 troubles are behind him? [Nats Blog]

It’s like Christmas Morning in Nats Town.  The news everyone has been waiting for came through: Ryan Zimmerman has agreed to a 6 year contract extension with the Nationals, confirmed by CSN Washington’s Mark Zuckerman.

Zimmerman was their first draft pick in D.C.  He’s a well-spoken Virginia native, and he has been a great player to build the franchise around.  There will be more players like that in the coming years, but no one can take the place of a veteran who has been there from the beginning.

The star’s current contract reaches through the 2013 season, and this $100 million extension picks up after that, locking up Zimmerman through 2019.  The team also has a 2020 option for $24 million.  The new deal includes a no-trade clause, a key point of disagreement during the negotiations.

Keeping Zimmerman around will be key both on and off the field.  Not only is Zimmerman still very talented, but in the coming years the team will be getting younger and younger.  Having a steadying, veteran presence will work wonders, especially for what will be a particularly young infield.

» Continue reading “Zimmerman Extended By Nats”