Wire Taps: Trea Turner begins rehab; What should the Nationals change?; MASN dispute proceeds...

Well, the Nats don’t seem to be interested in winning these days, so maybe they’d do well to pull a Padres-esque stunt: buy tickets to six games that are renewable until the team wins a game you attend. At least profit off the inadvertent tanking if things go downhill this fast, right?

Here’s the news from Nationals Park:

The Nationals are facing tough calls. The trick is knowing which ones not to make. (WaPo)
For the first time since 2010, the Nats have a legit reason to blow it all up: to trade the prospects, fire the managers, coaches, and front office management. Sometimes you pull the trigger too soon; oftentimes too late. There's no real formula, but they can either fix things up—find another setup man, hope the offense gets it together—or move on from Davey Martinez, who, if previous record suggests anything, probably won't go on to great things elsewhere despite giving semi-decent hitting advice. But firing Mike Rizzo won't accomplish much, especially given that the team doesn't really know who else they'll bring in.

Trea Turner rehabs at Potomac, Ryan Zimmerman takes grounders (MASN)
“He’s one of those premier players, and one that makes our lineup go,” Martinez said of Turner. “Unfortunately, he got hurt early in the season, and our lineup misses him. His defense. Everything. Baserunning. He’s electric. Hopefully, we get him back here fairly soon, we plop him right back in the lineup and gets us going.”

Nats’ offensive struggles continue, and defense isn’t much better in loss to Mets (WaPo)
“We do extra drills. We take ground balls every day,” Martinez said. “Sometimes, when a team’s struggling, you try to do a lot more. Just play the game. Really, all you’ve got to do is play the game. You’ve done it a million times. That’s a double play ball, 10 out of 10 times. Just play the game. Don’t make it hard on yourself. Just do the little things.”

Nationals shortstop Trea Turner to begin rehab assignment in Potomac on Tuesday (WaPo)
It's been exactly six weeks since Turner went down with a broken finger and a six-to-eight week timetable, but at this point, it's anyone's best guess as to when he'll return.

Nationals drop series opener to rival Mets (MLB.com)
The Nats began a stretch during which they'll play the Mets seven times over ten games on Tuesday. They dropped another game, aided by anemic offense and slipshod defense.

Nats send Turner to begin rehab assignment (MLB.com)
Turner can now throw without discomfort, but he doesn't seem to have a timeline for the rehab itself now that it's started. In the meantime, Ryan Zimmerman has begun baseball activities again after landing on the IL more than two weeks ago.

MLB panel cuts value of Nats' TV rights in dispute with O's (USA Today)
The Nats are going to receive about $1.3 million fewer, but quick, be outraged so Peter Angelos can feel like he won a battle! (Also, it doesn't seem like the Nats are actually going to get paid.)

First-inning mistakes doom Nats in loss to Mets (MASN)
To win, the Nationals need circumstance on both offense and defense, stellar starting pitching, and for nothing else to go wrong. Those three things haven't happened all that often this year, and they sure didn't happen last night against the Mets, when Wilmer Difo botched a double play that let Wilson Ramos get to the plate to demolish a grand slam off Jeremy Hellickson.

The Bryce of fame (Bronx to Bushville)
"While Bryce Harper is toiling to a .222/.367/.438 slash line six weeks into his 2019 campaign, and for the moment leads the National league in walks and all Major League Baseball in strikeouts, the writer is left with little choice but to ask an admittedly-provocative question: Is Bryce Harper Adam Dunn with better hair?"

Nats manager: It’s a great job, if you can keep it (WaPo)
The next person to replace Davey Martinez, whether they walk in the door in five days, weeks, months, or years, will be the seventh in team history since 2005. Since that year, every team has employed a manager for longer than three years. The Nationals have not done so. That level of turnover is even more unprecedented when one considers the same scenario in the NBA, NFL, and NHL, where the same three-year qualification gets blown by with ease by every team.