As the Cardinals and Giants do battle in San Francisco, let's take a minute away from the action to catch up on the latest news and headlines from around the National League…
- After enjoying a successful regular season with a 98-64 record, Nats Insider's Mark Zuckerman wonders if Washington can repeat a similar campaign next year. Zuckerman says that the team is positioned to be a strong club in 2013, but suggests that there are no guarantees of repeat playoff appearances in baseball even with a talented roster like that of the Nationals.
- The Rockies' timeline toward once again becoming a competitive franchise remains unclear given the poor performance of the team's management and ownership, writes The Denver Post's Woody Paige. The veteran columnist points to questionable decisions by the team including installing a four-man rotation, 75-pitch counts and moving the co-general manager's office into a conference room just off the home clubhouse.
- Chris Carpenter's rise to veteran leader of the Cardinals clubhouse can be explained by his experience learning from the pitchers who made their mark before him in both Toronto and St. Louis, says Matthew Leach of MLB.com. "My presence has changed, because I'm the only one left," Chris Carpenter said. "So it's definitely changed. I feel like I'm a St. Louis Cardinal. I feel like I always will be in the organization and the clubhouse, the team, I love it all and I enjoy being in there, and I think my presence has changed a lot just because I've been here that long."
i fail to see how moving the co-GM’s office has any relevance. Not sure what Woody was getting at there.
because it basically means they are gonna micro manage the team even on game day. the big wigs are ruining the rockies.
Touche. Up vote.
Frankly speaking, if the Nationals didn’t improve on their record next year I’d be disappointed.
Ramos, Suzuki, Espinosa, Desmond, Zimmerman, Harper, Morse, Werth, Moore, Bernadina, Strasburg, Zimm, Gio, Detwiler, Storen, Clippard, Mattheus, Stammen, Garcia is the best core in the N.L. East, the Nationals have a solid farm with a few impact prospects having the potential to make a debut at some point over the summer, and the Nationals have one of the richest owners in baseballs whose shown a willingness to spend some money in the free agent market.. Interesting to see how Rizzo approaches this off-season.
Let’s Go Nationals
disagree with impact prospects part but otherwise agree that we are in good shape for foreseeable future once ALR is signed to a multi-year deal.
Rendon, Meyer, Goodwin, and I’d even potentially throw in Skole as being guys who could make an impact with the team this year depending on how they handle AA.
Like you said, they are in AA. At least an year or two away from majors if they make it that far. Yeah talent-wise, these players are supposed to be very good but we have not seen whole lot of them yet. Your point was ‘over the summer’, which I don’t is a reasonable expectation of these players.
Fair point, and I’ll give you Meyer, Goodwin, and Skole.. But I’ve seen multiple scouting reports that said if Rendon can stay healthy he could have a ‘Zimmerman-like’ rise to the majors in terms of time in the minors.. which is why I think he could join the team at some point this year
Unless he shows power (in which case Davey would want him on his bench), I don’t see him in big leagues before September because no starting role for him available.
I would expect to see a slight dip in the Nats win total. 98 wins is a lot to expect. Also: 1. The starting rotation stayed completely healthy all year. That’s probably not going to be the case. LaRoche had a career year and we need to see if Desmond can repeat his year. I think they will still be in the hunt for the division crown once more but the win total will probably take a hit. I still expect Rizzo to go hard after Bourn and a 5 starter
Why is Zuckerman wondering? The other teams in the division arent exactly looking to be any better than this year. Phillies are ageing and the others are rebuilding. Atlanta are ok.
But Washington looks to be the best roster in the mlb. What’s zuckerman on about. I just don’t get it. what is he ‘wondering’?