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Insider Says Market For 1 Reliever ‘Has Picked Up Significantly’
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/insider-says-market-for-1-reliever-has-picked-up-significantly/
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The Washington Nationals have had a rough few years after winning the World Series in 2019.
After missing the postseason for a fifth straight season and finishing with a record of 71-91, the Nationals came into the offseason with hopes of improvement.
While they have made a few acquisitions including Nathaniel Lowe, Michael Soroka and Josh Bell, closer Kyle Finnegan may not return to the team in 2025.
Finnegan is a free agent, and with the relief pitching market picking up, he reportedly is seeing a lot of interest.
Finnegan has played all five seasons of his MLB career with the Nationals.
In 2024, he appeared in 65 games and was 3-8 with a 3.68 ERA, 38 saves and 60 strikeouts in 63.2 innings pitched.
It was arguably Finnegan’s best season, and his performance appears to be paying off as multiple teams are interested in him this offseason.
The reliever market was quiet for most of the offseason until recently, with relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
While the Nationals are trying to rebuild and get back to a competitive level, Finnegan was surprisingly non-tendered by the team.
It will be interesting to see what kind of contract Finnegan ends up getting.
The post Insider Says Market For 1 Reliever ‘Has Picked Up Significantly’ appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/insider-says-market-for-1-reliever-has-picked-up-significantly/
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Analyst Says 1 MLB Team Has A ‘Lot Of Young Talent’
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/analyst-says-1-mlb-team-has-a-lot-of-young-talent/
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Washington Nationals missed the postseason in 2024 after finishing with a record of 71-91 and coming in fourth place in the National League East.
After winning the World Series in 2019, the Nationals have missed the playoffs every year since, and they have not had a winning record in any of those seasons.
The Nationals are making some moves this offseason as they try to get their club back to a competitive level in 2025.
Some of the moves they made include trading for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe from the Texas Rangers, signing right-handed pitcher Michael Soroka, and signing first baseman Josh Bell.
MLB Analyst Chris Young gave some recognition to the Nationals team and their players.
Young gave some praise to the young talent on the Nationals lineup, and while he says they likely won’t win a division title in 2025, they are taking steps in the right direction.
Along with the young talent they already have, the Nationals signed veteran first baseman Bell from the Arizona Diamondbacks to provide some power to their lineup next season.
Bell came into the league in 2016 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and has played nine MLB seasons in his career for six different teams.
In 2024 between the Miami Marlins and the Diamondbacks, Bell played 145 games where he batted .249 with 19 home runs, 71 RBIs, and a .725 OPS.
Although the Nationals won the World Series in 2019, they haven’t won an NL East title since 2017, but they will try to change that in the 2025 season.
The post Analyst Says 1 MLB Team Has A ‘Lot Of Young Talent’ appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/analyst-says-1-mlb-team-has-a-lot-of-young-talent/
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Nationals Re-Sign Veteran Pitcher
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/nationals-re-sign-veteran-pitcher/
The Washington Nationals missed the postseason for the fifth straight season after finishing with a record of 71-91 and in fourth place in the National League East. After winning the World Series in 2019, the Nationals have failed to make it back to the playoffs and have had a losing season every season since. The offseason has seen the Nationals add a couple of players including first baseman Nathaniel Lowe in a trade with the Texas Rangers and first baseman Josh Bell via free agency. W ...
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/nationals-re-sign-veteran-pitcher/
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Analyst Links Anthony Santander To 1 NL Team
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/analyst-links-anthony-santander-to-1-nl-team/
(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
With the 2024 MLB season officially over after the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series title against the New York Yankees, all eyes are turning to free agency.
The free agent market this offseason appears to be loaded with talent at multiple positions.
Plenty of big names, including Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell, will test the waters.
One analyst believes free agent power hitter Anthony Santander would be a great fit for one NL team.
“There’s a lot of excitement now with the Washington Nationals, and if they’re able to get a veteran bat like Santander, their path back to the postseason becomes a lot shorter,” Jon Morosi said, via MLB Network.
The Nationals haven’t been to the postseason since 2019, when they won the World Series with Soto on their roster.
Santander showed plenty of power in 2024 with the Baltimore Orioles as he batted .235 with 44 home runs, 102 RBIs and an .814 OPS.
Morosi appears to believe that Santander would be a good fit with the young Nationals team and provide a veteran presence in the clubhouse.
Santander came into the league in 2017 with the Orioles and has played all eight seasons of his MLB career with the organization.
The Nationals haven’t won the NL East since 2017, and they finished last in the division in the four seasons prior to 2024, when they finished fourth.
Although the Nationals have struggled recently, their young roster shows potential, and the presence of Santander could help them earn a postseason berth.
The post Analyst Links Anthony Santander To 1 NL Team appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/analyst-links-anthony-santander-to-1-nl-team/
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Former Astros Manager’s Son Getting Called Up By Nationals
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/former-astros-managers-son-getting-called-up-by-nationals/
(Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
MLB fans are starting to see plenty of kin of past baseball legends surface in the majors and make names for themselves in recent years, with Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. surfacing as young superstars and others like Jackson Holliday and Jack Leiter soon to join them.
One former manager’s son already made his MLB debut in a much different capacity during the 2002 World Series, but he will soon be making his official on-field debut when rosters expand in September.
Washington Nationals prospect Darren Baker will be called up to the big leagues when rosters expand on Sunday, and baseball fans were introduced to him as former Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker’s son who almost got trampled at home plate when he was the batboy in the 2002 World Series for his father’s San Francisco Giants.
BREAKING: #Nats will call Darren Baker when rosters expand tomorrow.
— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) August 31, 2024
Baker is 25 years old and has been in Triple-A Rochester all season where he has hit .285 with 20 doubles, 49 RBIs, and 38 stolen bases.
Baker hasn’t homered this season and has just six in his minor league career, but he will add even more speed to a Nats team that already leads the league with 187 stolen bases.
In the 2002 World Series, 3-year-old Darren ran out to grab the bat during a game and nearly got trampled by David Bell who was rounding third and headed for home, but first baseman J.T. Snow crossed home plate first and scooped Baker up on the way to save him from the traffic in one of the most iconic World Series moments in recent memory.
In Game 5 of the 2002 World Series, J.T. Snow pulled Dusty Baker's son and Giants bat boy, Darren Baker, out of the way during a play at the plate.
22 years later, the Nationals are calling Darren up to the big leagues.pic.twitter.com/0pOQd3scdY
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 31, 2024
Hopefully, Baker has learned from that mistake and can play with a bit more awareness this time around.
The post Former Astros Manager’s Son Getting Called Up By Nationals appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/former-astros-managers-son-getting-called-up-by-nationals/
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All-Star Pitcher Set To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/all-star-pitcher-set-to-undergo-season-ending-surgery/
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Washington Nationals revealed devastating news on Friday when the team revealed that All-Star right-hander Josiah Gray is set for season-ending surgery.
Gray suffered a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, though the extent of the damage will not be fully known until he goes under the knife on Wednesday.
He could receive an internal brace, which would speed his recovery time to reenter the lineup in the nation’s capital.
The alternative is Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery, which would keep Gray off the mound well into the 2025 campaign.
Nationals insider Bobby Blanco revealed the news of Gray’s loss for the season on Friday.
The 26-year-old was the Opening Day starter for Washington but was only able to make two starts due to soreness in his pitching arm.
Since his early setback, he and the team focused on rehabbing the sore right arm through minor league work, but that proved unsuccessful.
The MRI that revealed the partial tear was performed over the All-Star Break.
Gray was acquired in the blockbuster deal that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 as the Nats entered a rebuilding phase shortly after winning the World Series in 2019.
The right hander has a career mark of 17-27 and an ERA of 4.80.
Gray was a National League All-Star last year, though he finished 8-13.
The Nationals enjoyed some solid stretches in the season’s first half, but a slump heading into the All-Star Break has the team mired in fourth place in the NL East at 44-53.
The post All-Star Pitcher Set To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/all-star-pitcher-set-to-undergo-season-ending-surgery/
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Nationals Promote Top Prospect To The Majors
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/nationals-promote-top-prospect-to-the-majors/
(Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
The Washington Nationals have been surprisingly competitive this year.
They are actually close to being a .500 team, with a 38-42 record.
The organization has had a rough time since winning the 2019 World Series, entering a rebuilding process and trading away some of their best chips.
Now, however, they are actually on the brink of contention.
With the move they just made, they made a statement: they said they are willing to promote their top prospects and start their clock to compete this year.
Yes, that’s right: the Nationals are promoting outfielder James Wood to the majors.
“The Nationals are calling up MLB’s No. 3 prospect James Wood,” Talkin’ Baseball tweeted.
Not only Wood is the Nats’ best prospect: he is a top-three prospect in MLB.
He has it all: size, athleticism, contact, power, and most importantly, the ability to learn, improve, and make adjustments.
Last year, he posted a .248/.334/.492 line in 87 games in Double-A (124 wRC+).
Thanks in large part to a sudden decrease in his strikeout rate (it went from 33.7 percent last year in Double-A to 18.2 percent in Triple-A in 2024), Wood has improved to a .346/.458/.578 (168 wRC+) line in 51 games, with 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases.
He should be deployed as the Nationals’ starting left fielder from now on, and has what it takes to dominate at the highest level.
He will provide some thump to an otherwise underwhelming unit, and has the upside to enter the top-five in the NL Rookie of the Year race even while playing half of the season.
It remains to be seen how he behaves against top-notch velocity and elite command, but Wood has all the raw tools to become a star.
The post Nationals Promote Top Prospect To The Majors appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/nationals-promote-top-prospect-to-the-majors/
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MLB Team Won On Saturday After Pitch Clock Violation
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/mlb-team-won-on-saturday-after-pitch-clock-violation/
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Baseball forever holds the top spot for being the weirdest sport, as even though the game is over 150 years old and each of the 30 MLB teams plays 162 games a year, you can still tune in to a random contest and see something you have never seen before.
That’s exactly what happened at the end of last night’s Colorado Rockies vs. Washington Nationals game, as a spirited 8-7 Rockies win ended in a unique fashion.
Kyle Finnegan came in for the save with a 7-6 lead for the Nationals and had a complete meltdown, and he quickly found himself in a tie game with the bases loaded and nobody out with a 3-2 count to Ryan McMahon.
The game ended when Finnegan committed a pitch clock violation that allowed McMahon to walk and force in the winning run.
Finnegan got the pitch off just after the umpire called for the violation, and the pitch wound up being high and inside anyway, so this likely would have been a walk-off free pass even without the violation, but it’s still an insane way to lose a game.
This was the first time this had ever happened, and Finnegan now has the unfortunate distinction of leading the league with nine pitch clock violations this year, an astounding number considering he is a closer and has pitched just 31.1 innings.
Finnegan blew his third save of the season and raised his ERA to 2.30 in the process, and the violation was the icing on the cake for a truly horrific outing that saw him give up four hits, a walk, and two runs while failing to record an out.
The post MLB Team Won On Saturday After Pitch Clock Violation appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/mlb-team-won-on-saturday-after-pitch-clock-violation/
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Nationals Reveal Latest Unfortunate Joey Gallo Update
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/nationals-reveal-latest-unfortunate-joey-gallo-update/
(Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
The Washington Nationals haven’t been able to enjoy the best of Joey Gallo to this point.
A man of impressive power but many flaws as a player and, particularly, as a hitter, Gallo is hitting .164/.285/.321 with five home runs and a .606 OPS with the Nats this season.
However, the player suffered an injury in Tuesday’s game and has been placed on the injured list.
It means he will be out for at least a few days.
“Trey Lipscomb officially recalled from Triple-A Rochester as Joey Gallo goes on the 10-day IL with a left hamstring strain,” Nationals insider Mark Zuckerman tweeted.
Gallo was hurt after running out a ground ball in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s contest.
Despite calling up Lipscomb, the expectation is that Joey Meneses receives the most playing time while Gallo is gone.
Gallo, universally regarded as a top guy in every clubhouse he has been, has unfortunately failed to live up to expectations in recent years.
Not that batting average is the best stat to measure offensive prowess, but Gallo hasn’t even surpassed .200 points of batting average since 2019.
His strikeouts have become a real problem, as he has fanned 71 times this season, in just 41 games.
He was actually playing quite well as of late, so the injury’s timing is awful: he was slashing .262/.333/.429 since May 25, with two home runs in 48 plate appearances.
The Nats hope his absence doesn’t extend much longer than the minimum 10 days and he can return to offering the kind of numbers he had been getting of late.
The post Nationals Reveal Latest Unfortunate Joey Gallo Update appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/nationals-reveal-latest-unfortunate-joey-gallo-update/
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Analyst Shares Troubling Joey Gallo Comparison
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/analyst-shares-troubling-joey-gallo-comparison/
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Washington Nationals slugger Joey Gallo has never been one to have a high batting average.
In fact, his career mark in the category is .194.
Usually, or at least earlier in his career, he used to make up for the lack of contact with power and the ability to get walks.
He posted consecutive 40-homer, .800+ OPS seasons in 2017 and 2018, and his OPS reached .986 in 2019.
But lately, playing Gallo has been counterproductive as his strikeout issues have gotten worse with age and time.
He is slowly becoming unplayable, as a noted analyst points out.
“#Nationals Joey Gallo is batting .160/.287/.396 over his last 162 games. He has 227 strikeouts to just 70 hits in 516 plate appearances. That is a 44.0 strikeouts percentage. For reference: Josh Hader is the all-time leader in strikeout percentage… at 42.1 percent. Not sure you can keep giving him ABs at this point,” Ryan Spaeder tweeted.
It’s hard to justify a .160 batting average and, especially, a sub-.300 OBP and a sub-.400 slugging percentage.
A player can have the most impressive raw power ever seen, but the ratios are everything in MLB.
Gallo does a lot of things well on a baseball field, but a 44-percent strikeout rate won’t cut it.
He is hitting a meager .126 for the year, and even though he has lost time with an injury, he could be out of a job soon if he doesn’t pick it up.
For reference, Gallo has 12 hits this season, in 29 games and 114 plate appearances.
Luis Arraez of the San Diego Padres has 12 hits in his last four games.
It might be unfair to compare Gallo to one of the contact kings in MLB, but it’s just for fans to get an idea of how hard hits are coming by for the slugger.
The situation is getting out of hand.
The post Analyst Shares Troubling Joey Gallo Comparison appeared first on The Cold Wire.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/analyst-shares-troubling-joey-gallo-comparison/