Washington Nationals release reliever Jeremy Jeffress
Jesse Dougherty, The Washington Post
March 7, 2021
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Jeremy Jeffress.Washington Post photo by Toni L. Sandys
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Washington Nationals have released reliever Jeremy Jeffress, the team announced Sunday. The veteran right-hander was signed to a minor league deal in February and expected to compete for a spot in the Opening Day bullpen. Instead the Nationals cut him after 13 days, raising questions about why this decision was made with three weeks left in spring training.
When asked to explain the move Sunday morning, General Manager Mike Rizzo said in a statement: He was released for personnel reasons. A team spokeswoman said the Nationals could not expand on that. When reached by text message Sunday afternoon, Jeffress did not divulge how the team explained its decision to him. He did say the reason the team gave him was not true - without clarifying what that reason was - and ex
Max Scherzer feels healthy and under control in first spring appearance
Jesse Dougherty, The Washington Post
March 5, 2021
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Max Scherzer threw 38 pitches in Friday night s spring debut against the Cardinals. I was trying to be really under control tonight, Scherzer said. Get my pitches in, and then really start to focus on dialing up the intensity in the starts after this. Washington Post photo by Toni L. Sandys
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Is it really spring here before Max Scherzer climbs the mound, rocks into his windup and, after unleashing a pitch, grunts into a quiet Florida evening? And is it spring for Scherzer until, upon doing so, he has to face questions about how some body part feels?
Starting pitchers are facing a frightful task. The results might determine the NL East.
Thomas Boswell, The Washington Post
March 4, 2021
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Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer warms at the team s facility at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm. Beach, Fla., on Feb. 23, 2021.Washington Post photo by Toni L. Sandys.
This spring, almost everybody who analyzes baseball has identified but is also mystified by one central question: How will starting pitchers cope with full 162-game workloads the year after a dinky 60-game season?
No division illustrates every problem better than the talented, tightly matched National League East. Each team illustrates a different aspect of the same matter.
Brian Dozier learned Spanish to be a better teammate. There s a lesson for MLB.
Barry Svrluga, The Washington Post
March 4, 2021
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Brian Dozier, who has lost his shirt, celebrates Washington s NLCS win with Howie Kendrick and Aníbal Sánchez.Washington Post photo by Toni L. Sandys
Brian Dozier had 4,900 major league plate appearances, and only 482 of them came with the Washington Nationals. When he retired from baseball last month, he did so as a Minnesota Twin, the team that drafted him, developed him, brought him to the big leagues and made him an all-star.
And yet in Washington, where no fan has witnessed an in-person major league game since - why, since the 2019 World Series - Dozier is best remembered as the shirtless dude from Mississippi, holding some sort of Anheuser-Busch product that wasn t long for this world, crooning reggaeton lyrics in . . . Spanish? Which brought no small measure of delight to his Spanish-speaking teammates.
Josh Harrison is the right blend of versatility and offense for Nationals
Jesse Dougherty, The Washington Post
March 4, 2021
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The Nationals Josh Harrison claps at home plate after homering in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday in sprint training.Washington Post photo by Toni L. Sandys
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Washington Nationals didn t have many highlights in 2020. And even if they had, if the bar for a highlight were totally lowered, this still wasn t one of them.
It started late on the night of Sept. 11, when Atlanta Braves catcher Travis d Arnaud poked a grounder to the right side. The bases were loaded with two outs in the 11th inning. An empty Nationals Park, hollowed out by the coronavirus pandemic, was quiet aside from fake crowd noise and the crack of the bat. So once d Arnaud made contact, Josh Harrison took one look at the grounder, chopped his feet toward first base and set up for a throw from Luis García.