The Washington Nationals Thread: The Future is Near!

[Riggo#44]

From the Brighter Future department, Nats tied to top International Prospect:

[bearrock]

12 hours ago, ixcuincle said:

Shut out for a whole series. That's pretty pathetic. 

 

Yeah, not ideal.  But this season was always going to be a struggle and Gray and Gore have proved to be bright spots early on.  If they stay the course, future of the rotation looks really good.

[@DCGoldPants]

Here's my new batting order

 

1. RF - Thomas
2. CF - Robles
3. DH - Garrett
4. 3B - Candelario
5. C - Ruiz
6. SS - Abrams
7. 2B - Ruiz
8. 1B - Smith
9.  LF - Call

[Ball Security]

15 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

Yeah, not ideal.  But this season was always going to be a struggle and Gray and Gore have proved to be bright spots early on.  If they stay the course, future of the rotation looks really good.

Yeah, it’s a shame that Cavalli got injured.  Though Williams has pitched pretty well, I only look forward to Gray and Gore’s starts. 

[Riggo#44]

24 minutes ago, @DCGoldPants said:

Here's my new batting order

 

1. RF - Thomas
2. CF - Robles
3. DH - Garrett
4. 3B - Candelario
5. C - Ruiz
6. SS - Abrams
7. 2B - Ruiz
8. 1B - Smith
9.  LF - Call

I love Keibert Ruiz as much as the next guy, but I don't think he can play two positions. And no on Robles in the 2-hole. Mid April sample sizes are fools gold.

[@DCGoldPants]

2 minutes ago, Riggo#44 said:

I love Keibert Ruiz as much as the next guy, but I don't think he can play two positions. And no on Robles in the 2-hole. Mid April sample sizes are fools gold.

Damn, I meant Garcia at 2B.

 

Nice catch. 

 

1. RF - Thomas
2. CF - Robles
3. DH - Garrett
4. 3B - Candelario
5. C - Ruiz
6. SS - Abrams
7. 2B - Garcia
8. 1B - Smith
9.  LF - Call

[Riggo#44]

31 minutes ago, @DCGoldPants said:

Damn, I meant Garcia at 2B.

 

Nice catch. 

 

1. RF - Thomas
2. CF - Robles
3. DH - Garrett
4. 3B - Candelario
5. C - Ruiz
6. SS - Abrams
7. 2B - Garcia
8. 1B - Smith
9.  LF - Call

 

I'd rather Garcia at 2. Makes better contact, more power.

[@DCGoldPants]

13 minutes ago, Riggo#44 said:

 

I'd rather Garcia at 2. Makes better contact, more power.

fine, Garcia at 2, and bump everyone else down a spot.

[Ball Security]

Talking about the lineup, one thing that has been disappointing is that this team actually outhit both Baltimore and Cleveland, but have been very poor capitalizing on opportunities. I’d love to see statistics on scoring conversions when there is a guy on third with less than two outs or a guy on second with no outs.  Have to imagine we have been pretty poor at that. We know this team has no pop, so I thought they’d be more aggressive on the base paths, but they only have nine steals which is at the bottom third of the league.

[Riggo#44]

We were 0-fer-6.05 Billion (see what I did there?) with RISP this series. The GIDP Abrams hit yesterday (who had a terrible game BTW), was almost 96 MPH off the bat. Rights at the 2nd baseman. I think they're pressing and chasing bad pitches.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

[Ball Security]

Just got back from Fredericksburg. What a blast! Got to see a lot of guys: Susana, House, Green, Cruz, Hassell.  Also Jackson Holliday.

 

Susana is an actual pitcher, not just a hard thrower.  I was very impressed with him. Sammy Infante is a guy who has fallen out of the top 30, but he sure can hit.

House will be back in the top 100.  Easily.

 

Didn’t get to see Lile or Cox, but can’t really complain.

[Barry.Randolphe]

8 hours ago, BRAVEONAWARPATH said:

 

 

[Riggo#44]

Metrics on House's homerun last night:

 

[Ball Security]

1 hour ago, Riggo#44 said:

Metrics on House's homerun last night:

 

He made a diving stop on a Jackson Holliday single. He got up and made a throw, but went back down.  There was a collective holding of breath while the trainer went out.  Appears that he just had the wind knocked out.

[CRobi21]

 

[Metalhead]

Finnegan sucks, he was itching to blow another save. Thank goodness for the great defense.

[Ball Security]

Just now, Metalhead said:

Finnegan sucks, he was itching to blow another save. Thank goodness for the great defense.

I’m ready to drop him to low leverage situations and make Harvey the closer.

 

Nice win tonight.

[PleaseBlitz]

CJ Abrams on the board with his first homer as a Nat. 

[Mr. Sinister]

Michael A just demolished a baseball off Corbin

[ixcuincle]

Seems like the only winning the Nats do are in the courtroom these days... 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-new-york-court-rules-orioles-masn-nationals-20230425-s2cr676j2jazdgxwswiuntyhwu-story.html

[Riggo#44]

 

An arbitration committee of Major League Baseball executives was unbiased when it made a decision in a financial dispute between the Orioles and Washington Nationals, New York’s highest court ruled Tuesday.

In the decision — a win for the Nationals — the New York Court of Appeals rejected the Orioles’ appeal and their argument that MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred were biased against them.

The Orioles could, in theory, appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it’s unlikely the court would accept the case. The decision Tuesday could pave the way for the Nationals to receive roughly $100 million that the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network placed in escrow in 2019.

The teams have disagreed for years as to how much revenue from MASN each team should receive. MASN is co-owned by the clubs, with the Orioles controlling a majority stake.

“By affirming the confirmation of the second arbitration award and directing that the money judgment be vacated, we hold the highly sophisticated parties to the terms of their agreement,” the New York court’s decision stated. The court ruled 6-0.

MASN was created in 2005 as a byproduct of the Montreal Expos moving to Washington. The network has shown both Orioles and Nationals games since then, with the Baltimore club receiving a majority of the profits as compensation for the Nationals moving into their territory.

n 2011, the teams could not agree on how much each should receive for a five-year window from 2012 to 2016. MASN paid the Nationals $198 million for those five years, but the Washington club argued it should have been $475 million.

An arbitration committee of three MLB executives, a forum the clubs had previously agreed to, heard the arguments and decided in 2014 that the Nationals should have received $298 million, which is $100 million more than the network paid the team. The Orioles appealed and that arbitration decision was thrown out by a New York judge based on “evident partiality” in the committee.

A second panel, composed of three different MLB executives, decided upon a similar number, $297 million, in 2019. The Orioles appealed that decision and in March, attorneys for the Orioles and Nationals argued in Albany, New York.

Carter Phillips, an attorney representing MASN and the Orioles, told the court that MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred have publicly supported the Nationals. He argued that the arbitration panel, which Orioles’ attorneys characterized as “hand-picked” by Manfred was, thus, biased.

“[Manfred’s] view was the Orioles should lose, and he has said that over and over and over again, so that partiality continues on to this day,” Phillips said in March.

Nationals’ attorney Derek Shaffer argued that MLB’s arbitration committee was impartial and that the forum was “exactly what Baltimore signed up for when they did this agreement.”

[@DCGoldPants]

MASN has that money in escrow? Is that why they don't spend on much in their broadcasts, pre/postgames, and other programming? 

[CRobi21]

Now this is the part where the Angelos' file for an appeal, drag this out and they do it all over again in 2 years...

Edited April 25, 2023 by CRobi21

[bearrock]

1 hour ago, @DCGoldPants said:

MASN has that money in escrow? Is that why they don't spend on much in their broadcasts, pre/postgames, and other programming? 

 

It's partly the diminishing role of regional sports network for non-mega markets and partly garbage management.  MASN deal as a whole has a peculiar structure in that both teams are mandated to be paid the same amount, adjusting every five years on then market value.  In the long run, this presents two poison pills for MASN and its majority owner Orioles.  When teams sign up for decade or sometimes decades long local tv deals, the money represents a handsome return in the immediate, but over time, the value diminishes to market avg and then below market towards the end of the contract.  Because MASN refreshes every 5 years on terms decided by outside parties, MASN will never get the bargain years (it doesn't pay the initial year premium as much either, so it's not all bad).  Second, because both teams are required to be paid the same, Nats can suck and still get paid premium dollars if the O's are good.  Basically, Nats get either their own tv value or the O's tv value, whichever is higher.  This, in the long run, is always going to create a headache for MASN and presents a significant financial pressure.  Cyclically, it's hard for both teams to be at the same level of ineptitude, meaning that MASN will likely overpay (sometimes drastically) one of the two teams.  Add the downhill trend of regional sports networks and terrible management, you have the current state of MASN (I think O's are more focused on making sure that losses are minimized rather than working to grow revenue).

 

MASN is a terrible deal for all involved in that Nats TV revenue is always capped somewhat because mandated rights fee is unlikely to reach as high as what they could negotiate on the open market (add in the payment shenanigans by the O's).  O's on the other hand have to back stop financial losses for a station that will be hard pressed to make money unless both teams play well.  Here's hoping that pressure on RSN leads to MASN bankruptcy or O's throwing in the towel and selling MASN.