BREAK UP THE F-ING NATIONALS

I will MISS Morse.  What a class act, as evident in the piece below.  Great fucking guy.  I think he should leave Take On Me to Werth in his Nats will.  God I wish we could have kept him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2013/01/16/michael-morse-on-his-trade-to-the-mariners-and-his-time-with-the-nationals/

chaz wrote:
I will MISS Morse.  What a class act, as evident in the piece below.  Great fucking guy.  I think he should leave Take On Me to Werth in his Nats will.  God I wish we could have kept him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2013/01/16/michael-morse-on-his-trade-to-the-mariners-and-his-time-with-the-nationals/

that is class…

bummer there is no mariners interleague games this year, would be fun to see him come through town.

stevewizzle wrote:
bummer there is no mariners interleague games this year, would be fun to see him come through town.

Camden Yards isn't that far away. 

i was thinking more along the lines of morse comes up, and they play take on me and the crowd goes wild. also in this fantasy world i'm creating, he doesn't ever bring it out with seattle.

Keith Law thinks the Nats did alright:

—————-

The Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners pulled off a three-team deal Wednesday evening, which featured Michael Morse heading to Seattle, John Jaso going to Oakland, and pitching prospects A.J. Cole, Blake Treinen and a player to be named moving to Washington.

The Nats came out way ahead, the A's made a modest gain, and the M's leave me scratching my head at why they'd ask for change for a five-dollar bill and be happy with three singles.

The Nationals move a player for whom they had no use, and to whom they would have paid $6.75 million just to sit on the bench. The acquisition of Denard Span earlier this winter plus the re-signing of Adam LaRoche put the oft-injured, twice-suspended-for-PEDs Morse on the outside looking in, with one year left until he was due to hit free agency.

For one year of Morse's services, they reacquired right-handers Cole and Treinen, as well as a player to be named. Cole started the year in the high Class A California League and was so bad that the A's demoted him to the low Class A Midwest League, which he dominated for the second year in a row; he struggled with his arm slot earlier in the year, dropping down and losing some velocity as a result, but was better in the second half.

Treinen has a live arm but has some history of injuries dating back to his days at South Dakota State, and probably projects better in the bullpen given the lack of life on his fastball. He did finish in relief in high-A after scuffling as a starter earlier in 2012, throwing more than enough strikes but giving up too much hard contact. The Nats' farm system was nearly wiped out after a series of trades, a couple of promotions, and a 2012 draft that put most of the team's eggs in one (very good) basket, so this is a nice depth-building move for a player who didn't fit their roster any longer.

(Incidentally, readers asked for my thoughts on their deal with Rafael Soriano; he's a very good short reliever, but $14 million for a reliever who's never been worth more than 2 WAR and probably can't hold up for 70 innings a year is way too steep. I also wouldn't give up the 31st overall pick, as the Nats did, to sign a reliever, especially since their pen was already a strength. But Soriano is pretty low-risk as relievers go, at least in terms of performance on the field.)

————-

The rest of the article says the A's did alright and that the Mariners made a horrible deal (gave up three years of Jaso for one season of Morse).

Spring Training tickets on sale. When do single game tickets go on sale! Gah!

espinosa's having quite an offseason

gaaaaaaaaah wrote:
espinosa's having quite an offseason

Smokin.

vansmack wrote:

gaaaaaaaaah wrote:
espinosa's having quite an offseason

Smokin.

Indeed.  That's one fine beard.

THAT is some of the best offseason news I've…. seen. Wow. I hope to see that thing at Nats Fest tomorrow!

Shemp wrote:
Indeed.  That's one fine beard.

Hand placement is key.

I always knew he had it in him, looked like he could work up a 5 o'clock shadow a few minutes after shaving.

'Nearly 5,000 fans gathered for the team's NatsFest.'  Pretty weak crowd for a really good team. 

GO BRAVES

Shemp wrote:
'Nearly 5,000 fans gathered for the team's NatsFest.'  Pretty weak crowd for a really good team. 

There had to be way more than that.  The place was jam-packed full of people.  You could barely move at times.  I saw other estimates of 7,000+.  There was a great turnout.

Bombay wrote:

Shemp wrote:
'Nearly 5,000 fans gathered for the team's NatsFest.'  Pretty weak crowd for a really good team. 

There had to be way more than that.  The place was jam-packed full of people.  You could barely move at times.  I saw other estimates of 7,000+.   There was a great turnout.

There was a SHIT load of people early on, we got there right around 12:15 or so and the line was super long to get in then all 3 floors were packed, it did die down around 3ish and it was a lot easier to move around. I got this amazing picture of Espi:

http://instagram.com/p/U9vIbcuGgw/

Gio's on the list, though he denies it.  His father was supposedly there for weight loss…

There's also the curious case of Gio Gonzalez, the 27-year-old, Hialeah-native, left-handed hurler who won 21 games last year for the Washington Nationals. Gonzalez's name appears five times in Bosch's notebooks, including a specific note in the 2012 book reading, "Order 1.c.1 with Zinc/MIC/… and Aminorip. For Gio and charge $1,000." (Aminorip is a muscle-building protein.)

Gonzalez's father, Max, also appears on Bosch's client lists and is often listed in conjunction with the pitcher. But reached by phone, the Hialeah resident insists his son has had no contact with Bosch.

"My son works very, very hard, and he's as clean as apple pie," the elder Gonzalez says. "I went to Tony because I needed to lose weight. A friend recommended him, and he did great work for me. But that's it. He never met my son. Never. And if I knew he was doing these things with steroids, do you think I'd be dumb enough to go there?"

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2013-01-31/news/a-rod-and-doping-a-miami-clinic-supplies-drugs-to-sports-biggest-names/full/

Hearing possible 50 game suspensions for A-Rod, nothing for Gio as of yet… Both have released statements denying it… Oof.

seems like both of the substances gio is listed with aren't even banned, unless ive read a bunch of wrong articles

i just hope his no contact with bosch statement doesnt come around to bite him in the ass. if he did have something to do with bosch, even if it was legal stuff, lying about it wont look good

edit: 50 game suspension could theoretically end a-rod's career, if he has to serve it after he comes back from the DL this year