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And so, despite Bryce Harper's best effort to lure an apparently disgruntled Giancarlo Stanton to join the Nats with a Tweet on Tuesday; Stanton has unfortunately declined, reminding Harper that his last name spelled backwards is, in fact, NotNats.
Relive the glory in the pic above. Can't knock Harper for trying...
And so, the Nats were denied the ROY/MOY/Cy trifecta...Gio Gonzalez finishes third in NL Cy Young Award voting.
(Screencap of Gio Gonzalez via MLB Network)
Davey Johnson named NL Manager of the Year
Congrats, Davey. Now, time to finish that unfinished business before riding off into the sunset. Wonder if Davey called Jim Riggleman yet to thank him for quitting back in 2011?
(Screencap of Davey Johnson via MLB Network)
Here's the official release from the Nationals:
Continue reading "Davey Johnson is NL Manager of the Year" »
Bryce Harper is National League Rookie of the Year
Youngest position player to win NL ROY, first National...congrats, kid.
Seems like only yesterday Harper was making his Major League debut in LA and getting mooned by Dodgers fans in the process...
(Headline swiped from @BallWonk. Screencap of Bryce Harper via MLB Network)
Here's the official release from the Nationals:
In other important Washington Nationals Hot Stove news, Stephen Strasburg watched his beloved SDSU Aztecs lose to Syracuse on the USS Midway in San Diego on Sunday. Up above is a a shot of Strasburg taking in the game, courtesy of a Tweet by @MattPark1.
Pic below is the view from Strasburg's seats via at Tweet by @stras37 himself ("Battle at the midway! #goaztecs").
So Mike Rizzo chatted with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio on Sunday, and among other things discussed the possibility of the Nats making another run at Zack Greinke this winter (listen here):
Bowden: Can you imagine a rotation of Strasburg, Gonzalez, Greinke, Jordan Zimmermann, and Detwiler!!?? Talk about chances of winning World Series Championships, we just watched the Giants win two of the last three years with their pitching!! Is there any chance you can afford Greinke!!??
Rizzo: Well, your opening question was 'Can you imagine?'...and yes, I've imagined it. [Bowen, Rizzo, Jim Duquette: HA HA HA HA!] It's a good thing to think about. Thinking about it, dreaming about it, implementing it are different scenarios. We're open minded...I'm not gonna close the door on it yet...we've spent before on the free agent market. We've got an ownership group that's responsive to those types of things. But we have to be smart about it, have to do the right thing for the long haul. But we're certainly gonna keep our options open.
Also worth noting: Rizzo told Bowden his top priority of the winter is Adam LaRoche ("bringing Adam back makes the winter easier for everybody"), and that adding more depth to the starting rotation is second. On that second note: something tells us Mike Rizzo is much more hot and bothered about Anibal Sanchez than he is Greinke. Just sayin'.
(Photoshop of Greinke in a Nats cap via the great @JWerthsBeard)
And so, not surprisingly, Davey Johnson agreed to a one-year deal to to manage the Nats in 2013.
Now, how many days until pitchers and catchers report?
More hardware for the 2012 Nats: Ian Desmond, Adam LaRoche, and Stephen Strasburg won Silver Slugger Awards Thursday night.
And what better way to commemorate the achievement than with a video of a home run hit by each of 'em.
Strasburg's first, complete with sloowwww HR trot (video here):
LaRoche's 33rd, good for his 100th RBI on the season (video here):
Ian Desmond's first of 25, from way back in April (video here):
And so a trio of Nats were named finalists for three of the Baseball Writers Association of America's big prizes Wednesday night: Bryce Harper up for NL Rookie of the Year; Davey Johnson Manager of the Year; Gio Gonzalez up for Cy Young. Winners will be announced next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, in order.
Oh, and despite the "AdaMVP" moniker, Adam LaRoche isn't a finalist for NL MVP. That's gotta help the contract talks, right Mike Rizzo? Gee, wonder how those contract talks are going, anyway?
After a quiet day when the biggest Washington Nationals news was Pat Corrales leaving the organization to join Stan Kasten in LA, let's give thanks for Gio Gonzalez and his Twitter account. Photo above of Gio heading out for a night fishing excursion via @GioGonzalez47 himself.
