BREAK UP THE F-ING NATIONALS

[vansmack]

coudl a team give the 20 million potsting fee and send a player as compensation

you gotta feel for the japanese team that would have stood to get 20-30 million more if they only hadn't changed the rules .. they should have said "we are changing the rules effective 2014" or something

to make a change and have it affect players this offseason..seems unprofessional

No,  the CBA prohibits trading players outside of MLB.

And the strange thing to me about this is how it's supposed to be fair to small markets by limiting the payment to $20m, but who in their right mind is going to see $20m from a large market team and a small market team and then decide the Yankees and Dodgers are great,  but I really want to be a Royal because KC is a wonderful place to live...

As for the timing,  they've been working on it for a while,  but apparently some Japanese teams agree with you and are pitching in money to make Tanana's team whole (they might also want him out of the league as he's been so dominant).

[gaaaaaaaaah]

are the nats considered in on tanaka at all? i remember a report a while back about them scouting him, but nothing since

i have to think theyd be a long shot to land him (and probably for the best contract-wise) but itd be a hell of a #5 pitcher

which brings me to detwiler. i like the guy a lot and i dont think he should be written off as a starter just yet, but im starting to get the feeling he should become a bullpen guy. when hes on hes an outs machine, but he seems to always lose it way sooner than id like a starter to lose it. right now theres really no viable alternative to him in the rotation (im not buying rizzo's talk of guys like jordan or roark being legitimate options there), but if they could somehow get one i think detwiler could be pretty damn good as a lefty reliever.

[vansmack]

Every team is going to post the $20m fee because you have nothing to lose.  Only the team that actually signs him has to pay it.

But no, I don't see the Nats with the payroll flexibility to sign Tanaka to a long term deal given the future arbs/extensions they'll have to deal with.  They will be outbid by the richer/more needy for sure.

[vansmack]

It's like Rizzo and Beane are on vacation together, and whomever catches the biggest fish has to give the other something:

A's Acquire Corey Brown from Nats

[gaaaaaaaaah]

not sure why but i kinda have a feeling thats gonna end up looking like a classic billy beane steal. brown certainly didnt have a chance at making the big leagues for real here, but i was pretty impressed with what little i saw of him

[vansmack]

Boswell nails this.

The Nats really shouldn't think about Stras and Harper, and go about their business now.

[hutch]

zim the pitcher should be signed up right away no matter what it costs.. he is very reliable and solid

[gaaaaaaaaah]

great article. the details about when the current big deals come off the books and how it lines up with strasburg/harper free agency never cease to amaze me.

i hope they do lock jordan up before the season, but the signs dont look too good imo. they seem far apart still, and he seems eager to test free agency.

personally, if it comes down to one or the other, sign desmond long term. zimmermann is a great pitcher, and while he wont be easy to replace by any means, hed be easier than desmond. shortstops like that dont come along very often.

[gaaaaaaaaah]

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/17/nationals-jordan-zimmermann-avoid-arbitration-with-two-year-deal/

interesting. not how i expected this to go. not sure what it means longterm, but interesting

edit: and accoridng to zuckerman desmond got a similar, but slightly cheaper, two year deal.

so theyre both still free agents after 2015 but no more arbitration to worry about

[vansmack]

interesting. not how i expected this to go. not sure what it means longterm, but interesting

edit: and accoridng to zuckerman desmond got a similar, but slightly cheaper, two year deal.

so theyre both still free agents after 2015 but no more arbitration to worry about

Hmmm...that's not an extension, so I wouldn't get too excited.   

[gaaaaaaaaah]

the more i think about it the more i can see it as both a positive sign towards a longterm deal and a negative, so im just gonna call it a wash and wait till next offseason

theyve apparently avoided arbitration with blevins and ramos now too

i think fister will be another interesting case.

[DeathFromAbove1979]

Boswell nails this.

The Nats really shouldn't think about Stras and Harper, and go about their business now.

Sports bum me out. Desi is probably my favorite Nat since the team moved here. I'd be so bummed to see him go play for another team. With his 2 year deal, that doesn't mean they'll extend him though, right? If he just keeps building on his past few seasons he'll probably be a hot free agent by then. But, who knows. Bam Bam to the Yanks in 5 years? Yeesh!

[vansmack]

not sure why but i kinda have a feeling thats gonna end up looking like a classic billy beane steal. brown certainly didnt have a chance at making the big leagues for real here, but i was pretty impressed with what little i saw of him

We'll,  he probably won't make the A's this year either.  He was just designated for assignment by the A's to make room for the new left handed reliever the A's signed : O'Flaherty.

Beane is putting together quite the bullpen...

[vansmack]

new bobblehead schedule

FINALLY i will complete my racing president set with Taft


giddy


http://www.csnwashington.com/baseball-washington-nationals/talk/nats-announce-2014-bobblehead-giveaways?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo

I think you meant this thread...though I did enjoy reading the conversation Venerable adn I were having 7 years ago.

[DeathFromAbove1979]

Not sure how many people make it down to the PNats games [Potomac Nationals] but they also announced a Bam Bam bobblehead day along with a Jayson "Werewolf" Werth.... There isn't a picture, but there is a sort of preliminary mock up... I'll be there for this bad boy lol.

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140128&content_id=67213610&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t436&sid=t436