Latest Nationals Stories
Posted: Nov 19th 2009 9:00 AM ET by Andrew Johnson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Nationals, NL East
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The
Nationals bottomed out in 2009. Their season began with the ouster of general manager Jim Bowden in the beginning of March after he was implicated in a bonus-skimming scandal in the Dominican Republic that drew the attention of the FBI. And it ended with 103 losses, giving them 205 losses in the last two seasons.
In between, they fired manager Manny Acta and watched attendance fall by more than 6,000 fans a night in the second year of Nationals Park.
So no, it's not all sunshine and roses on the banks of the Anacostia River, but, then, it's not all doom and gloom either. After all, the Nats managed to lock up phenom
Stephen Strasburg in August, and with a stable front office and a permanent manager now in place, they can get to the task of building around him.
Posted: Nov 12th 2009 8:00 AM ET by Jeff Fletcher (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Blue Jays, Dodgers, Nationals, MLB Biz, MLB Inside Scoop

CHICAGO -- On a day this week when the stock market had one of the encouraging spikes investors have enjoyed more frequently over the past few months,
Kenny Williams let out a sarcastic cheer for what it meant to baseball.
"Let's go, let's party," he said. "We've got cash again."
Then, the
White Sox general manager quickly returned to reality, at least the version of reality that he and his colleagues have been describing this week at the GM Meetings.
"I don't think it works that way," he said. "We might need to see six months of recovery before we buy into that. We need an advertiser or a sponsor or two to come back to us."
Posted: Nov 11th 2009 10:00 PM ET by Matt Snyder (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Nationals, NL East

After an abysmal 26-61 start, the
Nationals fired manager Manny Acta in the middle of 2009. Bench coach Jim Riggleman was promoted to interim manager for the club and served in that post for the remainder of the season. It appears the much-improved 33-42 record under his watch was enough to impress team officials, because
reports are surfacing that Riggleman will officially have the word "interim" dropped from his job title.
After Don Mattingly pulled himself from the job hunt, it appeared Riggleman's main competition was former
Mets skipper and current ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine. What set Riggleman apart was what he had already shown general manager Mike Rizzo on the job.
Posted: Nov 10th 2009 9:48 PM ET by Ed Price (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Angels, Blue Jays, Giants, Nationals, Red Sox, Reds, Tigers, Yankees, MLB Inside Scoop
Editor's Note: FanHouse's Jeff Fletcher contributed to this report CHICAGO -- The
Reds' need to slash payroll, according to a major league source, could lead them to explore trading second baseman
Brandon Phillips as well as right-handers
Bronson Arroyo and
Aaron Harang.
Cincinnati's 2009 payroll was about $71 million. General manager Walt Jocketty said during a break Tuesday at the GM Meetings that he "might" have to move some high-salaried players to meet the 2010 goal.
"We're going to probably have less to spend this year than we have in the past," Jocketty told FanHouse. "It just depends on how [ticket] sales go this offseason."
Posted: Oct 4th 2009 8:00 AM ET by Ed Price (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Angels, Cardinals, Nationals, Phillies, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Tigers, Twins, MLB Awards, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Ron Gardenhire was asked how teams try to pitch
Joe Mauer.
"I can't give you all that information," Gardenhire, the
Twins manager, said of his No. 3 hitter. "You'll write it and then other people might figure it out."
So you know, Ron, how to get him out?
"Hell, no, I don't! That's why I don't want to say anything.
Posted: Sep 27th 2009 10:00 AM ET by Ed Price (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Angels, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Nationals, Padres, Rangers, Red Sox, Tigers, Twins, Yankees, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
MINNEAPOLIS --
Johan Santana had never seen the Metrodome before the
Twins took him from Single-A in the Rule 5 draft.
"When I first got there," Santana told
FanHouse, "my first impression was, 'How can you play baseball in a place like this?'
"I came from Single-A and from Venezuela, and we don't have any of that stuff. ... I couldn't figure it out. How could this thing [the roof] be up in the air? And then it feels like you're in a bubble. And then you play baseball."
Posted: Sep 27th 2009 6:00 AM ET by Jeff Fletcher (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Athletics, Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, Nationals, Red Sox, Yankees, Starting Five
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That
Jim Thome picked a good time to finally make his first significant contribution since the Dodgers got him to be their star pinch-hitter. Thome's two-run pinch-hit single keyed a four-run inning in a come-from-behind 8-4 victory over the Pirates that locked up a playoff spot for Los Angeles.
Thome had been 2-for-11 pinch-hitting for the Dodgers, with no RBI. He came up just after the Dodgers had taken a 5-4 lead and delivered a two-run single. Just a day earlier, Thome had an injection in a sore foot that has hampered him for a couple weeks.
After the Dodgers won, they had a subdued champagne toast -- no dumping or spraying -- to celebrate the team's third postseason appearance in the past four years. They are holding off on the big party until they close out the Rockies. Their magic number to win the NL West is two. They could do it as soon as Sunday.
Posted: Sep 25th 2009 6:00 AM ET by Ed Price (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Braves, Indians, Mariners, Nationals, Orioles, Pirates, Red Sox, Rockies, Royals, MLB Injuries, Starting Five
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead. You Oughta Know ... One team has 100 defeats, two more could follow -- and there could even be a record-tying four 100-loss teams.
The
Nationals on Thursday fell to 52-100 with their 7-6
loss to the
Dodgers. And the
Pirates are 56-95 after a 4-1
defeat at the hands of the
Reds.
Anyone want to bet Pittsburgh -- 3-23 since Aug. 28 -- goes better than 6-5 in its final three series against Los Angeles, Chicago and Cincinnati?
Posted: Sep 17th 2009 11:30 PM ET by B. Thompson Stroud (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Dodgers, Indians, Nationals, NL West, The Dugout

The "youth movement" continues in Los Angeles, as
Jim Thome and
Manny Ramirez continue their countrywide trip to reunite the championship hopeful 1997 Cleveland Indians on the championship hopeful 2009 Dodgers. If you've missed where they've been so far, check out the numbered links below. If you haven't, and you are still somehow entertained by caps lock and typos, continue after the jump to read part seven of our epic special event.
Previously on It's Tribe Time Now
1 2 3 4 5 6 Posted: Sep 13th 2009 10:00 AM ET by Ed Price (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Angels, Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Rays, Royals, Tigers, Twins, Yankees, MLB Awards, MLB Biz, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Cody Ross blames his mom.
"My dad was a really good athlete (Kenny Ross, who played safety at New Mexico in the late 1960s)," said Ross, the
Marlins' right fielder. "My dad was all right[-handed]. My mom's a lefty, so maybe I got that gene from her."
Ross and St. Louis'
Ryan Ludwick are the only two active position players who throw left and bat right. Just 14 such players in
baseball history have gotten as many as 1,000 at-bats -- and that list now includes a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson.
"He kind of put us on the map," Ross said.