A short article on fangraphs describes two new stats to describe reliever effectiveness, Shutdowns and Meltdowns. They count up whether a reliever appearance increased his team's chance of winning (shutdown) or reduced it (meltdown) by more than a certain amount. Of note, Tyler Clippard led the league in Meltdowns last season, although he also had a lot of Shutdowns (he has 2 so far this season). Gaudin earned a Meltdown last night (his second), while Burnett and Storen each got one the night before (Drew's 2nd).

Soriano's gone deep. Could the Cubs win? Break up the AngelO's. They're up 4-1 on the striped felines. His name is DAN UGGLA!!! Or offensive firepower. Or that guy who makes me sick. Anyways comment on this experimental OT thread if you're interested.

OT: Want to work on your baseball jones outside of Natstown? Post here. Doc's Patients are feeling sick.

Cutter is 22 21, son of Lenny and drafted out of HS. He hit 312/416/411 in A-ball last year, although it looks like it came from an inflated BABIP.

Please let me know your playing time forecasts for the Nationals.

According to Yahoo!Sports' writer Tim Brown on Twitter (@TBrownYahoo): "Oliver Perez to Nats. Minor-league deal."

According to the Washington Nationals on Twitter (@NationalsPR), the ESPN crew is in Viera, Florida today to talk to the Nats. @NationalsPR: "The ESPN Baseball Tonight bus (Tim K/John K) is spending the day at Nationals camp." @NationalsPR: "Catch Jayson Werth and Stephen Strasburg, as ESPN features the Nats at 3:30pm (ET) today."

After Bryce Harper was hit by a pitch in his one at bat this afternoon, the Washington Nationals finally announced the inevitable. The 18-year-old phenom had been optioned to Class-A Hagerstown where he'll begin working his way up through the Nats' system at whatever pace his success dictates. Along with that announcement, the Nats reported that LHP Atahualpa Severino was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse and pitcher RHP Ryan Mattheus and Tim Wood were reassigned to minor league camp.

The Washington Nationals, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson (@washingnats), have sent three pitchers to their minor league camp: "#Nats pitchers Adam Carr, Josh Wilkie and Garrett Mock have been sent to Minor League camp." The Nationals also announced earlier this morning that Michael Aubrey, Kevin Barker, Jeff Frazier, Carlos Maldonado, Jhonatan Solano and Jonathan Van Every to Minor League camp.