The Morning Briefing: Washington Nationals’ Kurt Suzuki is too old for drama with Houston Astros and Carlos Correa
Washington Nationals' Kurt Suzuki is too old for drama with Houston Astros and Carlos Correa.
Monday, February 17, 2020
Good morning and we're back. We have been enjoying Walt Disney World before the season starts.
There are only 38 days until MLB Opening Day 2020 and 45 days to the Washington Nationals Home Opener at Nationals Park! There are 148 more days until the 2020 MLB All-Star Game in LA
Some of the news that we are covering today includes:
- Washington Nationals' Kurt Suzuki is too old for drama with Houston Astros and Carlos Correa.
- MLB Network ranks five Nats in their Top 100 including 3 in the Top 20!
- Everyone notices when Victor Robles arrives at spring training
- Exclusive: MLB raises salaries for minor leaguers in 2021MLB
- commissioner Rob Manfred says Astros apology was 'not successful'
- Here are today's latest Washington Nationals & MLB Headlines.
Washington Nationals Headlines
Everyone Notices When Victor Robles Arrives At Spring Training
The double doors from the field into the Nationals clubhouse pushed open Saturday morning, and in strode Victor Robles.
He was dressed mostly in black, his preferred thin hoodie up over his head, big gold watch on his wrist, and general mojo bursting about. Robles made announcements in Spanish and English. He provided hugs for most. Not long after walking in, he ended up in one of his common reclining positions, this one inside a mobile laundry basket, folded like an overgrown kid in a shopping cart. Robles laying on the floor with his legs on a folding chair while burning through his phone will come later.
Read the full article via NBC Sports Washington
MLB Network Ranks Five Nats In Their Top 100 Including 3 In The Top 20!
As we know, the Washington Nationals are loaded with superstar players and emerging stars. Juan Soto has moved up to No. 11 on MLB Network’s annual Top 100 Players Right Now! program that aired last night, while teammate Max Scherzer was ranked 14th and Stephen Strasburg was ranked 20th on the same list, Patrick Corbin ranked 48th, and Trea Turner was ranked 76th. These are the top rankings in all of Major League Baseball.
Read the full article via Talk Nats
Dave Martinez Has A New Spring Training Catchphrase: Run Prevention
This time last year, before the Washington Nationals started slow, slipped toward last place, then surged to win a World Series, Manager Dave Martinez liked talking about the little things. He liked yelling about the little things. He liked those little things so much, you may have mistaken him for their official spokesman, spreading the gospel of tiny details whenever he spoke.
And it was hard to blame him. The Nationals were coming off an 82-80 season in 2018. They had not been fundamentally sound. It showed in the way they ran the bases, the way they hit with runners in scoring position and the way their pitchers approached batters with two strikes. It showed on film, in clip after frustrating clip, and Martinez told his coaches to harp — and harp and harp — on the little things. Then he told them to harp some more.
Read the full article via the Washington Post
Kurt Suzuki Finds Himself In Surprising Spot Of Headline Maker
Kurt Suzuki will turn 37 years old while in a major-league uniform if the Nationals play October baseball again this season. This is year 14 and the second stop with one of four teams he’s played for. Suzuki spent time in the American League, then the National League, then back to the AL before a return to the NL. He’s well-traveled.
Which makes the headlines cooking with his name all the stranger to him. Following comments to The Washington Post that the Houston Astros were using a whistling system to steal signs in the 2019 World Series, Suzuki’s name was hurled to the front of the cross-player sniping currently pervasive in Major League Baseball. Houston’s Carlos Correa transitioned to specifically talk about Suzuki on Saturday when he rumbled through a session with Astros writers. Sunday, Suzuki conducted his own group session, something he was partly in disbelief about, and something he doesn’t want to keep occurring.
Read the full article via NBC Sports Washington
Perspective: When The Nationals Need Relief From Missing Anthony Rendon, They Should Look To Their Bullpen
The players who must replace Anthony Rendon's production this year for the Washington Nationals all sit shoulder to shoulder in the team's spring training clubhouse. To show the magnitude of the problem, there are eight of them. And none of them even plays third base.
The men in the spotlight are the relievers in the Nats’ bullpen. Last year, Nationals relievers had an ERA of 5.66, and the team won the World Series. Those two facts should be mutually exclusive. In fact, the Nats had the third-worst bullpen in 50 years, and the worst of any team ever to make the postseason.
Read the full article via The Washington Post
Got To Be A Tough Spot': Ex-Astros Pitcher Will Harris Finds Himself In Strange Situation With Nationals
Imagine showing up to a new school and wondering if everyone already hates you.
Such is life this month for veteran reliever Will Harris.
Here he is trying to get acclimated and familiarize himself with new teammates in the Washington Nationals clubhouse.
And here is, watching those new teammates ripping his best friends and former Houston Astros teammates, who happen to share the same spring training complex.
“Oh, man,’’ Harris said Sunday morning. “They’re obviously my friends, and guys that I consider family, guys I will have a relationship with the rest of my life, hopefully.
“And now watching them go through this...’’
Harris’ voice trails off, and he stares in the distance.
Read the full article via USA Today
Pssst. Don't Ask World Series MVP Strasburg How He's Feeling
Stephen Strasburg has no interest in engaging in the typical spring training chatter between a pitcher and his manager or coaching staff or GM.
How did it go out there today? How's the arm after that bullpen session? How do you feel?
''I kind of don't really like people asking me how I'm feeling. Because it doesn't matter, you know?'' the Washington Nationals right-hander explained. ''It doesn't matter in October, so you kind of have to get used to learning to listen to your body, but know when to push, when to scale back, and just try and ride the wave of the season.''
So, naturally, listen to how Nationals skipper Dave Martinez described his regular patter with his guys.
''I've asked them, probably 12 times a day, 'How you feeling? How you feeling? How you feeling? How you feeling?' And they're all like, 'Good, ready to go,''' Martinez said.
Read the full article via Yahoo Sports
How Will Nationals' Pitching Staff Deal With World Series Workload In 2020?
For 17 games stretched over 30 unforgettable days, a half-dozen Washington Nationals pitchers embraced the unsustainable, steered into the uncomfortable, and tapped into reserves they did not know they possessed, to deliver by any means necessary a World Series championship.
And then what?
“When we won, we were all ecstatic,” recalls left-hander Patrick Corbin, who pitched in eight of the Nationals’ playoff games, including three near-perfect relief innings against the Houston Astros to earn a win in Game 7 of the World Series. “But I think we were also relieved to say, ‘We’re done with this.’
“Our bodies, we were reaching our limits, going full bore for that whole month. Those are high-stress games and I think guys were like, ‘Hey, we’re done with this. We can relax and be done with this.’”
In claiming baseball’s ultimate prize, the Nationals will reap the rewards for a lifetime. Corbin says only half-kiddingly that the October adrenaline still hasn’t worn off, and that “You have a thought, every day, about what we did, and just how awesome that was.”
Read the full article via Tell My Sport
Around The Horn: News From Around The League
AP Exclusive: MLB Raises Salaries For Minor Leaguers In 2021
Major League Baseball is raising the minimum salary for minor league players in 2021, according to a memo sent Friday from the commissioner’s office to all 30 teams and obtained by The Associated Press.
Two years after successfully lobbying Congress to exempt minor leaguers from federal minimum wage laws, MLB opted to give those players a wage increase between 38% and 72%. The bump was discussed at last week’s owners meetings and confirmed in the memo from Morgan Sword, executive vice president of baseball economics and operations.
Players at rookie and short-season levels will see their minimum weekly pay raised from $290 to $400, and players at Class A will go from $290 to $500. Double-A will jump from $350 to $600, and Triple-A from $502 to $700.
Read the full article via AP News
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Says Astros Apology Was 'Not Successful'
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred called the Astros attempted apology for their sign-stealing scandal “not successful,” implying that players’ remorse was far more accepted than owner Jim Crane’s.
In an interview with ESPN that aired Sunday morning, Manfred defended the immunity he granted Astros players who were involved in the scheme and lauded some for their contrition.
Read the full article via The Houston Chronicle
Manfred Discusses '17 Astros' Illegal Sign-Stealing
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke Sunday afternoon at Grapefruit League media day and answered a variety of questions regarding the baseball world’s reaction to the punishments the Astros received for illegal sign-stealing in 2017 and 2018.
“When we began the investigation after we became aware of the Houston situation, we started with an important and fundamental goal and that goal was to make sure that we found the facts, completed the investigation, figured out what was going on and put ourselves in a position to be as transparent with our fans and the other clubs as possible,” Manfred said. “Our desire to find the facts, to figure out what really went on, drove a lot of the decisions we made in the investigation process.
“I think the worst possible outcome from this institution would’ve been if we had conducted an investigation and we came back and said, 'You know, we just couldn’t figure out what was going on.' People had a right to know what happened, and we did achieve that goal.”
Bryce Harper: Phillies ‘Have To Start Out Quick’ To Make Statement In NL East"
First, Bryce Harper had to watch his former team celebrate a wild-card berth from the visiting dugout at Nationals Park late last September. Five weeks later, the Phillies’ right fielder tuned in from his Las Vegas home as the Washington Nationals won their first World Series title.
Had he been handed that script immediately after signing with the Phillies for 13 years and $330 million a year ago in spring training, he likely would have crumbled it up and tossed it in the nearest garbage can inside the Spectrum Field clubhouse. Bryce Harper watched World Series, ‘very happy’ for former Nationals teammates
Harper, however, refused to be anything but happy for his former team and teammates despite being the target of massive and sometimes mean-spirited Internet trolling after the Nationals beat the Houston Astros in Game 7 of last year’s World Series.
“Not at all [upset],” Harper said. “Those are guys I dealt with every single day. That’s a great organization. They have great players. They had the best pitching staff in all of baseball, I thought, last year. I was very happy for them as a team and, of course, as individuals. I let that be known through text messages and other things like that.
Read the full article via the Philadelphia Inquirer
MLB 'Has A Plan' For Teams Facing Elimination, Future Of Appy League Still In Doubt
While Major League Baseball says it “has developed a plan” to keep Appalachian League baseball alive, the league’s future is still in doubt — and there’s little Minor League Baseball can do about it.
Read the full article via Johnson City Press
Yankees Fans Give Cole Standing O For Live BP
The waves of applause cascaded from the grandstands as Gerrit Cole made the hard left turn from the George M. Steinbrenner Field bullpens, making a long walk across the grass for a live batting practice session. In years past, generating adrenaline for that ho-hum task might have required some effort, but the fans provided all the necessary juice that the new Yankees ace needed. “It's the first time I got a standing ovation for my first live BP, I can tell you that,” Cole said on Sunday. “I walked out and I told [manager Aaron] Boone, 'It's probably going to come out a little bit hotter than anticipated.’ It was good. I'm not certainly complaining about a nice atmosphere.”
Is Wall Street More Accountable Than Major League Baseball?
It’s too early to predict the fallout from the Houston Astros cheating scandal. But one thing is already clear: The players who participated and drove the signal-stealing scheme will not be fined or suspended. Following an internal investigation, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred concluded that with the wide scope of players involved, and the reality that many have now moved to other teams, taking disciplinary action against players would be “difficult and impractical.”
Meanwhile, Citigroup, a global banking behemoth, just suspended the head of its lucrative High Yield Bond division in London for repeatedly skipping out on his lunch bill.
Read the full article via The Hill Newspaper
Blue Jays Mourn Passing Of Tony Fernandez
The Toronto Blue Jays lost a legend this weekend. Tony Fernandez, the All-Star shortstop and 1993 World Series champion known for his defensive brilliance and one-of-a-kind throws across the diamond, has died at 57 after suffering a stroke while battling kidney issues.
“The Toronto Blue Jays are deeply saddened by the passing of Tony Fernandez today, one of our club’s most celebrated and respected players," the Blue Jays said in a statement issued on Sunday. "Enshrined forever in Blue Jays history on the Level of Excellence, Tony left an equally indelible mark in the hearts of a generation of Blue Jays fans during his 12 unforgettable seasons with the team. His impact on the baseball community in Toronto and across Canada is immeasurable. Our deepest condolences are with the Fernandez family during this time.”
