The Party No One Came To

Tom Boswell had a fascinating column in this morning’s Washington Post examining whether Bryce Harper will get his $400 million, 10-year contract that has been the talk of baseball punditry for the past few years. The gist of it is that the current parameters of MLB contracts are exerting a downward pressure on salaries. Ask […]

Frank Howard, Bryce Harper, and a Tip of the Hat to That

Frank Howard only played in Washington for seven years after coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1965 trade. Bryce Harper is likely to play only seven seasons as well–the hour glass emptying steadily on what is likely his last in DC. In terms of longevity and in several important statistical categories, there […]

Could Amazon.com Nationals Park Be a “Thing?”

Naming rights are a very boring topic in the vast universe of what falls under the constellation known as “baseball.” Who really cares what you call the stadium as long as baseball is played there, unless you care about the old place names like Fenway Park and player names like Smoky Joe Wood and Dizzy […]

Corrections That Are Moving Towards a Rational Marketplace

You can almost hear the unsigned players grinding their collective teeth. After years of escalating salaries, there may be a principle at work that confounds the dumb-struck baseball player, namely a rational economy. When the average American was getting their economic bell rung in 2008-2010, losing their homes, their jobs and their emotional well-being, baseball […]

Soft Salary Cap or Soft Headed Under the Cap?

There are two weeks until pitchers and catchers report to spring training camps in Florida and Arizona. Yet the most prized pitching prospects, Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta remained unsigned as do Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb. Among position players, J.D. Martinez, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, and Eric Hosmer are the four most notable unsigned […]

All Quiet Along the Potomac??

The Potomac River is laced with ice near Nationals Park, but it is likely that life abounds beneath the serene white exterior that catches the afternoon sun from the south.  Yes, the water is moving despite the ice and things are heating up hot stove wise. There was the brief flurry of rumors that had […]

Winter Meetings/Hot Stove/Gio Gonzalez

A recent article by Pete Kerzel about the possibility of the Washington Nationals trading Gio Gonzalez at the Winter Meetings in Orlando lit my stove. The rumor is an annual one that excites hope that Washington GM Mike Rizzo is a magician, that he can get something of value for Gio and we won’t have […]

Swans and Dolphins

Baseball’s Winter Meetings are an event that dates to the beginnings of the 20th Century and before the advent of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), were one of the prime venues for addressing the state of the game. In their earliest history, the meetings effected momentous rules changes that made major alterations in […]

A Season Skitters Between Matt Wieters’ Wickets

Scroll to the end of the Washington Nationals 2017 season and you will see at the bottom of the final box score this entry: “Fielding E: Wieters 2 (throw, catcher interference). PB Wieters” Therein lies their season. Javier Baez, whom Ron Darling described throughout the series as swinging at the ball as soon as he […]

Bell Jar Baseball

Watching the Washington Nationals in the playoffs is like reading Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar. You root for the protagonist as she descends further into depression, but there is no escape, no uplift that takes you away from the slow descent, only further slipping into a bottomless pit. Washington fans deserve better than classic levels of depression. […]

Cuba Ball 2017

Cuban right-handed pitcher Pedro Luis Lazo holds the record for the most wins in the Cuban National Series. Our Cubaball tour encountered him in his hometown of Pinar Del Rio after the evening’s game against Industriales had been cancelled due to rain. The huge man stood beside a swimming pool and talked about his career, […]

The Sad, Sad Truth and the Dirty Low Down

When the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) convened for its annual convention in Manhattan at the end of June, the New York Times put it front-and-center on the sports page. Sounds like a good thing, but the article featured a photograph of several graying seniors sitting in the first row of a plenary session […]

Can Tropical Wind’s Ever Blow Strong for Cuban Baseball Again?

Cuba is a complicated issue and most American fans don’t have the time. For those that do, there is author Peter Bjarkman, faithfully trying to peal back the layers of intrigue and politics until there is only the love of the game that Cubans and Americans share. Peter Bjarkman’s recently published book, Cuba’s Baseball Defectors, […]

Dusty Watches from the Wings with a Grin

It was another trading deadline where Hollywood and Broadway got all the press. The rest was just community theater. The Dodgers walked away with the biggest prizes and the Yankees did well in a supporting role. But for all of the ink that Yu Darvish and Sonny Gray will generate, Washington Nationals manager, Dusty Baker, […]

The Wisdom of Current MLB Policy Toward Cuba, Central and South America

Recent Henry Chadwick Award-winning baseball writer, Peter Bjarkman, came on the Seamheads Podcasting Network both in 2014 and 2015 during a very different time. President Obama’s easing of travel restrictions with Cuba seemed to herald a new era for Cuban baseball and ideas of innovation and hope sprang anew. Fellow SABR-member Pete Cottrell and I […]

Excuse Me, Is This a Bullpen or an SNL Skit?

If you read between the lines on the Nationals 40-man roster, you can find some pretty neat stuff. Look past the names like Strasburg and Scherzer and there you will find guys like Jimmy Cordero. Jimmy had a nice 2015, but having him on the 40-man in 2017 is like having Alec Baldwin running for […]

Feeling the Draft and the Summer Breeze

A new facet of the 2017 season reveals itself in June. There is the College World Series that begins on June 17th and the Super Regionals are set to begin with no small number of surprise teams making the field of 16 teams left standing. Davidson, Missouri State, and Sam Houston are among some of […]

Maturity and More Pugnacious Approach Will Yield a DC Summer Blockbuster

Bryce Harper charged the mound on Monday and for the most part baseball fans across the country applauded. That ovation, however meek or mild it may prove, still marks a sea change in how Harper is perceived by baseball zealots of every ilk. Yes, the boos rain down when he comes to bat at numerous […]

Rick Ankiel, The Phenomenon, A Review

Rick Ankiel was a rocket streaking through the St. Louis Cardinals minor league affiliates as an 18- and 19-year old. His first season, 1998, he climbed to High-A Prince William after launching from Low-A Peoria. He compiled a 2.63 ERA over 161 innings and notched 222 strikeouts against 50 walks that season. His ascent was […]

Sitting in the Catbird Seat

The Washington Nationals find themselves in a National League East Division race suddenly bereft of cloase competition. The Mets’ embarrassing pitching riches have been squandered or become simply embarrassing. Matt Harvey has joined the lovelorn, but is at least healthy. That is something Noah Syndegaard, Jeurys Famila, Steve Matz, Seth Lugo, Lucas Duda, David Wright, […]

Whiplash in DC

Leaving Nationals Park on Saturday afternoon, the chants of “Let’s Go Mets,” still ringing in my ears, I realized I was suffering from “whiplash.” It is a tragic condition that can strike without warning when your team goes from winning nine out of ten games on a daunting road trip to losing two straight at […]

Is THIS the Season the Nationals Finally Get Over the Hump?

No doubt the New York Mets will find it easy to look beyond an early season sweep by the Washington Nationals at Citi Field last weekend. But the games still count and seven wins in a row are seven wins to the good regardless when they come. The early season results suggest that the Nationals […]

Previewing the Washington Nationals and the NL East for 2017

Let’s start from the premise that the Washington Nationals can win 92 games and win the National League East. Hardly and groundbreaking look into the future, nor is the idea that they won’t beat the New York Mets by 8 games again this season. The Mets and their very fine pitching staff will prove more […]

“Leo Durocher, Baseball’s Prodigal Son,” by Paul Dickson–a Review

Paul Dickson’s wonderful book, Bill Veeck, Baseball’s Greatest Maverick, is a personal favorite. So when I sat down to read his newest work, Leo Durocher, Baseball’s Prodigal Son, it was with some trepidation. Like many, I do not remember Leo Durocher fondly, although for the life of me, I could not tell you why. Yet […]

Are the 2017 Nationals a Late Blooming Winner?

It’s been a long strange trip to pitchers and catchers for the Washington Nationals. It has been an off-season like no other and since we really haven’t had that many it is not much of a horse race. Remembering those first few off-seasons is instructive. Going back to the Jim Bowden years and watching he […]

Can the Same 2016 Nationals Realistically Beat the Cubs in 2017?

Yes, there are going to be big changes coming to Washington that spring from a fulcrum point in early November. But not THOSE kind of changes. There is a whole other kind of transition team that–beginning in November, after the last pitch of the 2016 World Series–will look to build a better future for the […]

A Tale of Two Cities

In the 1930’s two adolescent boys worked the score board at old Griffith Stadium: Bowie Kuhn and Ted Lerner.  Both grew up in the Washington, DC suburbs and both came up watching the slow demise of the old Washington Nationals as they went from perennial contender to the goats of baseball for thirty years.  Kuhn […]

Planting the Flag

The Washington Nationals have all but clinched their third National League East title.  Their 1-0 win at Nationals Park last night over the Mets planted a flag square among the throng of New Yorkers there for the game. With a scant 16 games left to play in the 2016 season, the Nats have a 10 […]

Mike Rizzo Gives Nationals Chance to Win it All on Back Nine

The Washington Nationals got their man today when they traded for Mark Melancon of the Pirates. The trade is not yet official, but apparently Washington has dealt Felipe Rivero and Taylor Hearn to Pittsburgh for Melancon. The trade constitutes is a Coup d’etat right here in Washington, DC.  The ruling elite who predicted that Washington […]

What the First Half is Saying About the Second

The first half is in the books. Can it be trusted? It has great legs and whispers sweet words to us, but is it telling us the truth about what will happen in the second half? The Washington Nationals have been down this road before as have we all. Best first half in team history […]

Bullpen Barbie Dolls

The Washington Nationals pitching staff reminds me eerily of my daughters’ doll collections when they were very young.  They were lucky enough to have a collection of American Girl dolls.  Each one had a special place of reverence in their bedroom. Those were the starters. American Girl dolls came with distinctive names and back stories. […]

What Happens with the DC Strangler in Rehab

On Sunday the Washington Nationals were behind to the Phillies 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning. The bases were loaded for Jayson Werth with two out and two strikes when he singled to center field to plate two runs for the walk-off win. Talking to MASN commentator Dan Kolko about what it had […]

Rule 4 Draft and Baseball on Television

One of my favorite MLB, Inc. events is the Rule 4 Amateur Draft and it is getting better all the time. There are no ratings for the 2016 event that I could find, but personally, I watched much more of the proceedings than any year previously–in case anyone is listening. The first round talent seemed […]

Old Dogs and New Tricks in DC

The season flies past like a train gathering speed as it leaves the station. The cold spring days are a memory and the ball is starting to carry in the early summer heat. Mookie Betts and Cory Seager are etching their names into the list of young sluggers to be taken seriously, but in Washington […]

Strasburg’s Emergence Worth the Wait?

There were a half dozen TV trucks outside the Altoona Curve’s stadium, all aiming their signal at the stars. The stands were packed and all the attention was focused on the first of the “Once in a Lifetime” talents the Washington Nationals signed after wandering in the desert for three seasons. Stephen Strasburg was hyped […]

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