Federal Baseball: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Around SBN: Ole Miss-Alabama: "Let's Go Eat.Wait. What Happened?"

Sections

More great SB Nation Blogs

Baseball

Football

Basketball

College

Hockey

Soccer

Combat Sports

Golf

General

Washington Nationals News

Washington Nationals Roster

FEDERAL BASEBALL.COM: INTRODUCTION AND PRIMER.


Federal Baseball.com: Late Day Links, Send Mark Zuckerman To Florida.

Wouldn't be nice to have a reporter right there to listen to the advice DC pitching coach Rick Eckstein's offering Adam Dunn? You just might be able to...(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

More photos » Alex Brandon - AP

Wouldn't be nice to have a reporter right there to listen to the advice DC pitching coach Rick Eckstein's offering Adam Dunn? You just might be able to...(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

• If you haven't already read about former Washington Times' writer Mark Zuckerman's attempts to replace the funding the Times used to provide for him to travel to Spring Training, (when they covered the Washington Nationals), with user-generated funding for the expense of doing so...CLICK HERE and check out his Nats Insider site. Mr. Zuckerman's accepting donations and hoping to raise $5,000 dollars which will allow him to travel to Florida and cover Spring Training from start to finish. It's a bold plan, and one I personally support since I've always thought that the more voices and opinions on any subject the better. I'll travel to Spring Training at some point in March, but Mr. Zuckerman will be there the whole time...very NPR, as another DC writer noted...

• Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll published his Team Health Report for the Washington Nationals today, where he writes in the free portion of the article about the days and dollars the Nats lost to injury last season, as well as the real cost of such injuries: 

"That is money that could have been used to bring in Orlando Hudson before he decided to accept the Twins' offer for just a million more guaranteed. The Nationals could have gone the other way with that money on pitching, too, and brought in a John Lackey type instead of spending the $15 million on Jason Marquis to be a "front of the rotation" starter."

Are you one of the DC Faithful who's expecting Elijah Dukes to have a big season in twenty-ten? Mr. Carroll writes that the 25-year-old outfielder, "...is in a state of constant comeback—much of it his own doing—but he also seems to have some terrible timing when it comes to injuries. With a more-or-less new manager and theoretically coming into his prime, Dukes could put everything together... or..."

Continue reading this post »

7 comments  |  0 recs |

First Pitch Strikes

The Washington Nationals have made big changes to their pitching staff this year.  Can this squad throw strikes? How important is it for pitchers to get ahead early in the count?  Does throwing a first pitch strike have any impact on a pitcher's success rate?  How did the Nats current roster do in 2009?  While pitchers and catchers are making their way to spring training, I thought it would be a good time to go looking for answers.

Continue reading this post »

7 comments  |  0 recs |

Tom Reese at Hot Stove.com has put together another collection of opinions on the Nationals' decision to sign free agent infielder Adam Kennedy once they failed to sign Orlando Hudson. Participating this week:

Will Yoder of The Nats Blog
Ed Chigliak of FB
Anthony Emerson of Bleacher Report.

about 7 hours ago V-3_tiny Ed Chigliak 2 comments 0 recs

Washington Nationals: Weekend Rumors, Links And Tweets.

Free agent right-hander John Smoltz's name has been linked to the Washington Nationals several times already this winter, could he actually sign in DC?  (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Paul Sancya - AP

Free agent right-hander John Smoltz's name has been linked to the Washington Nationals several times already this winter, could he actually sign in DC? (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

• DC GM Mike Rizzo spoke to MLB.com's Bill Ladson last week in an article on the Nationals' interest in free agent right-hander Chien-Ming Wang entitled, "Nationals monitoring Wang's progress", in which Mr. Rizzo signaled a shift in Washington's approach to the remaining free agent arms on the market, telling Mr. Ladson that any veteran pitcher who might still sign in the nation's capital would have to do so, "...at the Nationals' price." In the next few days, Mr. Ladson noted on Twitter, that he expected the DC GM to, "...focus on pitching the rest of the offseason," with future Hall of Famer John Smoltz, at least in Mr. Ladson's opinion, "a perfect fit", though, "...his price must come down." 

• Just two weeks back, MLB.com's Bill Ladson reported via his Twitter account that, "The #Nats have talked to John Smoltz's agent recently, but there isn't any progress to report." 

Continue reading this post »

18 comments  |  0 recs |

Run Expectancy Weekend Continues: AL vs NL

Spelling is hard, but math is harder.

More photos » Charles Dharapak - AP

Spelling is hard, but math is harder.

So, once you have all the data to hand, slicing and dicing is the easy part.  Remember how we compared the Nats' 2009 run expectancy to the NL average yesterday?  Well, here's the AL average, just for laughs:

Runners no out 1 out 2 out
--- 0.53 0.29 0.11
1-- 0.91 0.53 0.23
12- 1.54 0.91 0.45
123 2.33 1.60 0.75
1-3 1.88 1.23 0.53
-2- 1.14 0.67 0.33
-23 2.03 1.43 0.56
--3 1.43 0.92 0.34

Right off, we can see that AL teams score an average of 0.53 runs per inning versus the NL average of 0.48--just what you'd expect from the cheater training wheel league!  A review of the NL table and comments after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

3 comments  |  0 recs

Washington Nationals: Syracuse For Ian Desmond? Or A Utility Role?

Washington Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty talks with pitcher John Lannan on the mound after New York Mets' Daniel Murphy drove in a run during the seventh inning of a baseball game at Citi Field in New York, Saturday, Sept.  19, 2009. The Mets won 3-2. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

More photos » Paul J. Bereswill - AP

4 months ago: Washington Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty talks with pitcher John Lannan on the mound after New York Mets' Daniel Murphy drove in a run during the seventh inning of a baseball game at Citi Field in New York, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. The Mets won 3-2. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

Washington Nationals' manager Jim Riggleman has said all winter that he'd be alright with Ian Desmond starting at short in 2010. Saturday night that message changed a little. Following Thursday's signing of free agent second baseman Adam Kennedy, Desmond seemed destined to start the twenty-ten campaign in Triple-A Syracuse, but according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson, Mr. Riggleman believes, as he's quoted stating in a new article entitled, "Desmond may play utility role for Nats," that the 24-year-old '04 Expos' 3rd Round draft pick could become, "...an all-purpose utility man -- playing all three outfield positions, shortstop and second base," if Cristian Guzman is healthy enough following surgery on his right shoulder and persistent issues with his feet to come back and play short alongside Kennedy at second. 

So what's better for Desmond? Playing short every day against Triple-A competition and coming up later in the season to officially replace Cristian Guzman, who I'm guessing won't be back in 2011, or does Desmond stay in DC and share infield duties while filling in in the OF whenever necessary? Desmond, of course, has the right attitude as he tells Mr. Ladson that he'll do, "Anything I can do to help the team win -- if that situation (playing a utility role) comes about -- I will be more than willing to do it." Just like Collin Balester and Craig Stammen both said earlier this winter that they'd be willing to pitch out of the bullpen if necessary, I'm sure any of these players will do anything they're asked if it means remaining in the majors. Is it best for Desmond's development? Mr. Ladson notes that he hasn't played the OF on a "regular basis" since high school...but he did play right field last September against the New York Mets when he was asked to...

I remember that game...

Continue reading this post »

19 comments  |  0 recs |

Washington Nationals: 2010 Preview Review: Lindy's Sports Annual

Adam Dunn, Ryan Zimmerman and Cristian Guzman figure to be back batting second, third and fourth for the Nationals when the 2010 season begins. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

More photos » Alex Brandon - AP

Adam Dunn, Ryan Zimmerman and Cristian Guzman figure to be back batting second, third and fourth for the Nationals when the 2010 season begins. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

• I knew I wouldn't be going out tonight so after a long day of work on a Saturday I stopped by the local newwstand put $7.99 on the debit card and brought home this year's edition of Lindy's Sports 2010 Baseball Preview, with its market-specific cover featuring the Yankees' Mark Teixeira, the Mets' Johan Santana and a glowing Chase Utley hovering about the top of the page. There aren't too many surprises inside for fans of the Nationals, but seeing Washington listed as the third of ten top stories of 2009 in Jim Caple's column, "Roaming the Majors", caught my attention...Of course, the paragraph quickly recounted the history of the franchise, the move from Montreal to Washington with a moment for Jim Bowden's legal troubles and departure and then on to Stephen Strasburg, who's compared to Kelly Leak...Here we go...

Continue reading this post »

4 comments  |  0 recs |

Snow Day Nats Stats: 2009 Run Expectancies

While we wait for pitchers and catchers to report, here are some long-overdue stats to wrap up last season.  That's right, more run expectancy matrices! Yay!  What are run expectancy matrices?  Despite the intimidating name, it's basically a table that that tells you how many runs you score in various combinations of outs and men on base.  Here's the 2009 run expectancy for the NL:

Runners no out 1 out 2 out
--- 0.48 0.26 0.09
1-- 0.83 0.51 0.21
12- 1.39 0.88 0.41
123 2.12 1.45 0.66
1-3 1.64 1.13 0.48
-2- 1.09 0.65 0.28
-23 1.95 1.35 0.52
--3 1.19 0.95 0.37

 

What does this mean?  Well, every time an NL team had no outs and no one on base, they scored an average of 0.48 runs before the end of the inning.  Similarly, when an NL team came to bat with 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd, they scored 1.13 runs on average--and so on, for all the other combos of runners and outs.  The interesting part is to pull out the data for the Nats and see how they compared!  I'll give you a hint: "The Nats leave 'em loaded! (With a twist.)" The numbers don't lie (after the jump).

Continue reading this post »

27 comments  |  0 recs |

More Posts from Federal Baseball

Explore Full Archive Next Page


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation's blog about the Washington Nationals. Federalbaseball.com Trying To Make Every Fan A Nationals' Fan.
Start posting about the Nationals »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

39135485-59af19dbb26654095f910f34176af094_4ae8a81e-scaled_small
Predictions Group
Small
Another Kennedy Heads to Washington
Background_small
Nationals Draft Preview
Img00031_1__small
Bryce Harper Article at AOL Fanhouse
Brian3_small
The Hammer vs Bay
Small
Buster Olney says...
Small
French Foreign Legion Comes to D.C. Baseball
N24101744_31014742_9296_small
After a look at Marrero's comparables, there's still room for hope
Small
2010 Here We Go Again! - 62 Years Later...
45859-188-008f_small
Manny and Kearns reunite in Cleveland

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

Featured Poll

Poll
Who will be the Nationals' Opening Day Second Baseman?
Cristian Guzman?
18 votes
Orlando Hudson?
64 votes
Adam Kennedy?
9 votes
Ian Desmond???
5 votes
Orlando Cabrera???
3 votes

99 votes | Poll has closed

FanShots

Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.

Recent FanShots

Bowden on FaceBook
Cabrera signs with the Reds for $4M, What's it mean for O-Dawg?
Sheets to the A's
Who are the most efficient teams in baseball?
Kearns follows Acta to Cleveland
Dan Snyder Almost Owned the Nats
Washington Nationals Justin Maxwell Game Winning Grandslam
Ronnie Belliards at bat song
Nationals ditching interim GM Rizzo - Sports Rumors - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
MLBThanks to @JonathanMayoB3 of MLB.com for confirming that @strasburg37...

+ New FanShot All FanShots >

Federalbaseball.com Twitter Feed...

NL East Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
Philadelphia 93 69 .574 0 Lost 1
Florida 87 75 .537 6 Lost 1
Atlanta 86 76 .530 7 Lost 6
New York 70 92 .432 23 Won 3
Washington 59 103 .364 34 Won 7

(updated 2.9.2010 at 12:36 AM EST)

59 - 103

34

Won 7

0


Ministry of Peace

V-3_small Ed Chigliak

Ministry of Truth: Records Department (Editor)

Ws1_small Winston Smith

Ministry of Plenty

Teddy_small Doghouse

Daveslogo5_small Dave at Nats News Network

Youppi_040618_mon_a_small bluelineswinger

Ice-cube_small John Quinn

Natsscoreboard_small natsstats