"It kind of makes me laugh when teams talk about they have too many starting pitchers," D.C. GM Mike Rizzo said during the last episode of 106.7 the FAN's The Mike Rizzo Show this past October, "That's always the statement in Spring Training, it's never the statement in September." These comments were made by Washington's general manager before the Nationals re-signed Chien-Ming Wang, and before the trade that brought Gio Gonzalez to the nation's capital.

"In our situation, we believe that we've got a good deep farm system, which is a good thing," Rizzo continued at the time, "but it takes eight or nine starting pitchers, really, to get through a major league season if we're going to perform at the highest level. We feel that we have that type of depth, finally, in the system, and Davey Johnson is a master at it and he's done it many, many times before and we'll expect him to do it again in 2012."

Even after the acquisition of Gonzalez, which cost the Nats four prospects, two of whom were expected to play a role at the major league level this season, Rizzo told reporters this week that the Nationals, "... feel good about ourselves. We feel confident that we're going to be a competitive club in a real tough division. We like all six of our rotation guys. We love the top three guys. We feel comfortable that we have depth in the rotation. We like our four and five guys and there's going to be good competition at several spots and we feel comfortable with our bullpen. We're not done with our bullpen. We're trying to improve ourselves in the rotation and in the bullpen and any other way we can."

Continue reading this post »

• ICYMI: For the second year in a row, Washington Nationals' 2010 no.1 overall pick Bryce Harper was denied the no.1 overall spot (ed. note - "He finished third last year and came in second this time, that's pretty good.") on MLB.com's list of the game's Top 100 Prospects, though he did overtake Mike Trout as the highest-rated outfield prospect in baseball. 2011's list had a then-18-year-old Harper listed third overall behind the Angels' Trout, (a 20-year-old '09 1st Rounder) and Tampa Bay's 24-year-old right-hander Jeremy Hellickson. On this year's list, Harper finished second, behind another Rays' starter, 22-year-old left-hander Matt Moore, an '07 8th Round pick who debuted in the majors last September.

Harper's habit of starting slow and adjusting is noted in the write-up on the 6'3'', 225 lb, left-handed hitting slugger whose, "plus power is legit" according to the quick scouting report included with the list. "Every bit the superstar people thought he might be, a five-tool threat in the middle of a lineup," is the MLB.com writers' projection after Harper's first pro season. The Las Vegas, Nevada-born, power bat finished his first year in the Nationals' organization with a combined .297/.392/.501 line, 24 doubles, two triples, 17 HR's, 58 RBI's and 26 stolen bases in 109 games and 452 plate appearances. A hamstring injury ended the season early in August, but Harper recovered and returned for a second stint in the Arizona Fall League, where he had a .333/.400/.634 slash with six doubles, two triples, six home runs, 26 RBI's and four stolen bases in 25 games and 93 AFL at bats.

Continue reading this post »

At the risk of turning this past Wednesday's Gio Gonzalez Day in the nation's capital into a Prince Fielder-esque please-stop-writing-about-this affair, and in the spirit of getting to know the Washington Nationals' new left-hander better, here are a few of the quotes collected from the 26-year-old former Oakland A's starter that didn't make it into the articles written here about his introductory ceremony, some about the trade to D.C., some about his extension, some about the influence a pitcher with a tattoo of Rollie Fingers riding a dolphin over a rainbow (ed. note - "Please tell me that's fake/removable?") has had on his career and some about, well, about Gio Gonzalez's hair...

• Things Gio Gonzalez Said About His Hair On MLB Network Radio: In a December 23rd appearance on the MLB Network Show "Inside Pitch" with Jim Bowden and Casey Stern, Gio Gonzalez was asked to tell the hosts how often he gets his hair cut? Gio Gonzalez: "I cut my hair twice a week."

Q: When did it hit you that you were a National?: Gio: "Yesterday, it hit me that I was home, when I was at the Capitals' game I got all the love in the world from all the fans. I think it sets the tone that we're ready. We're going to come out here swinging for the fence and we're definitely going to go out there and try to shut teams down. "

Continue reading this post »

"We're really excited in the Washington Nationals' family to introduce our newest family member, Gio Gonzalez."

D.C. GM Mike Rizzo helped the 6'0'', 205 lb pitcher into his new Washington Nationals home white jersey, no. 47, handed him his first red curly-W cap and stood with the 26-year-old left-hander as he posed for photographers during Wednesday afternoon's introductory press conference. "He comes with a very long and successful resume as we all know," the Nats' general manager said as he introduced the pitcher acquired in a December 23rd trade with the Oakland A's. "[Gonzalez is] another building block for the Washington Nationals," Rizzo said, "A good young, talented player, All-Star at a young age, but also a player with high character, great make-up, great community spirit and a guy that's going to fit perfectly into our clubhouse and into our rotation."

Continue reading this post »

The Washington Nationals announced this morning that they'd signed 35-year-old veteran reliever Brad Lidge to what is reportedly a one-year/$1M dollar deal. The 10-year MLB veteran reliever has 223 career saves, 11.95 K/9, 4.18 BB/9, a 3.44 ERA and 3.23 FIP in 592 games and 594.0 career IP over the course of his career with the Houston Astros who drafted him in the 1st Round of the 1998 Draft and the Philadelphia Phillies who acquired the right-hander in a November 2007 trade. Lidge's 2011 season started late as he recovered from rotator cuff issues, but as D.C. GM Mike Rizzo explained this afternoon in an appearance on ESPN 980's The Sports Fix with Thom Loverro and Kevin Sheehan, the one-time closer, who'll work with Tyler Clippard and closer Drew Storen at the back of the Nats' bullpen, should be 100% healthy heading into Spring Training:

Mike Rizzo: "First of all, [Brad Lidge is] a character guy. An 80 make-up man. Has been standing at the mound after the last out of a World Series and has been through all the trials and tribulations of a successful closer. This is a guy that brings us a vast amount of knowledge about how to pitch back-ends of the game. He'll rub off on Storen and Clippard and H-Rod, Henry Rodriguez, and [Ryan] Mattheus. He'll be a wealth of information for those guys. He still has swing and miss stuff. His slider is still a big-time swing and miss pitch. His velocity is down from his formidable years, but he's still a big ground ball guy. I think last year he was 54% [ed. note - "57.4%"] ground ball pitcher, and a strikeout guy. I think that with knocking the rust off and being in Spring Training and being healthy, which he is, he just passed a physical yesterday, that he'll walk less guys and still have strikeout ability and ground ball ability.

So, I see him fitting in somewhere in the bullpen. Drew Storen is our closer, Clip is our set-up guy, they're both All-Star caliber pitchers, Brad is an All-Star caliber pitcher, and a veteran presence, so he's going to help us. And you know Davey [Johnson], Davey uses a bullpen, he's got his A, B bullpen and they're will be plenty of games for Brad to pitch in at the end of it and he knows his role and he's really going to grab this thing and be a mentor to our staff."

• You can listen to the entire ESPN 980 interview with Mike Rizzo HERE.

• Update 11:37 pm EST: CSNPhilly's Jim Salisbury, who first reported on Brad Lidge's deal with the Nats, followed up on that report with more contract details: (@JSalisburyCSN): "Nats announce one-year deal with Lidge. According to source, he gets $1 mill and incentives. Best of luck to a real competitor/gentleman."

D.C. GM Mike Rizzo told reporters yesterday that between now and Spring Training the team's goal was to simply, "... tweak the roster," a little bit. "Like I said," Rizzo continued, referring to the comments he had made in the previous fifteen minutes or so of a conversation with the nation's capital's baseball press, "We feel good about where we're at, never satisfied, need more arms, improve the bullpen, improve the bench and all those factors, but with that said, [we're] comfortable going into Spring Training with what we've got. But we can never rest on our laurels because when we rest the Phillies and the Marlins and the Braves and the Mets aren't resting, so, this is a competition and we've got to give Davey [Johnson] the best pieces to manage and try to win with."

The Nationals addressed the need for an additional arm and a veteran bullpen presence this morning by signing 35-year-old veteran right-hander Brad Lidge to a one-year deal. The Nationals announced the move via Twitter in the last few minutes. @NationalsPR: "#Nationals agree to terms with RHP Brad Lidge on a one-year contract. #Nationals’ 40-man roster currently stands at 37." A strained right posterior rotator cuff delayed the start of Lidge's 10th MLB season til July last summer and limited Lidge to just 25 appearances and 19.1 IP in his fourth year in Philadelphia. The right-hander had a 1.40 ERA, 2.82 FIP, 13 walks (6.05 BB/9) and 23 K's (10.71 K/9) on the season.

How close were the Washington Nationals to a deal for Prince Fielder? "All along, we were satisfied and happy with the position of first base with what we've got," D.C. GM Mike Rizzo said Wednesday afternoon after he introduced the newest Nats' starter Gio Gonzalez to the nation's capital. "Does Prince Fielder improve any ballclub he's with?" Rizzo asked rhetorically, "There's no question about it. Were we interested in him? There's no question about it. We were in the negotiations until it didn't make sense for us to be in the negotiations any longer and so we had to back out. Prince is a terrific player, got payed like the superstar that he is, and congratulations to the Detroit Tigers, they just got a lot better."

Continue reading this post »