Nationals

Christian Garcia told reporters Friday that he still hasn’t heard what his role will be with the Nationals in 2013.

The Nationals have talked about converting Garcia into a starter, but haven’t ruled out keeping him on the Opening Day roster as a reliever. “I have no idea. Wherever they want to put me I am okay with it,” Garcia said. “I am going to go in there and compete for a job, and do the best I can.” A former third-round pick of the Yankees, Garcia posted a 2.13 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 15/2 K/BB ratio in 13 late-season appearances with the Nationals in 2012.

Source: natsinsider.com

Gio Gonzalez (Nationals)

1/30/13 7:36 pm

MLB officials plan on interviewing all the players linked to performance-enhancing drugs by the story published in the Miami New Times Tuesday.

Gio Gonzalez, Alex Rodriguez and Nelson Cruz, among others, were all named in the story as having a link to the Biogenesis clinic. League officials will first travel to Florida to meet with editors of the Miami paper in hopes of acquiring documents linking the players to performance-enhancing drugs. No suspensions have been handed out in connection with the report as of yet.

Source: yahoo.com

Gio Gonzalez (Nationals)

1/29/13 12:55 pm

Gio Gonzalez released a statement via his Twitter account on Tuesday to deny a report which connected him to an anti-aging clinic in Miami which distributed performance-enhancing drugs.

“I?ve never used performance-enhancing drugs of any kind, and I never will,” said Gonzalez. “I?ve never met or spoken with Tony Bosch or used any substances provided by him. Anything said to the contrary is a lie.” Per a Miami New Times report, Gonzalez’s name appears five times in the notebooks of the clinic’s director, Anthony Bosch. Gonzalez’s dad, Max, also appears on the client lists and was interviewed as part of the story, but he denied that his son had ever been in contact with Bosch.

Source: twitter.com

Jordan Zimmermann said contract talks with the Nationals are “kind of hung up right now.”

Zimmermann requested $5.8 million and was offered $4.6 million by the Nationals when arbitration figures were exchanged earlier this month, and it sounds like the two sides are having trouble closing the gap. The Nats and Zimmermann have expressed interest in a long-term extension, but that doesn’t appear terribly likely at the moment.

Source: natsinsider.com

Danny Espinosa (Nationals)

1/26/13 9:58 pm

Rather than opting for surgery that could cost him to miss the first two months of the season, Danny Espinosa has decided to play through a torn left rotator cuff.

Espinosa believes that he sustained the injury diving for a ball in September. He struggled offensively over the last few weeks of the season due to the injury, but insists that he feels good now and that his swing is better than it was last year. Still, keep in mind his potential risk when calling his name on draft day.

Jerad Head (Nationals)

1/26/13 7:18 pm

Nationals signed OF Jerad Head to a minor league contract.

The 30-year-old outfielder hit .268/.353/.451 with 12 homers and 38 RBI in 85 games for the Tigers Triple-A affiliate in 2012. He’ll serve as organizational depth at the minor league level for the Nationals.

Drew Storen (Nationals)

1/26/13 7:03 pm

Drew Storen admitted on Saturday that he was “caught off guard” when he heard that the Nationals had signed closer Rafael Soriano.

Storen, the Nats incumbent closer, found out the information on twitter and immediately called bullpen-mate Tyler Clippard to discuss the situation. In the end though, Storen agrees that Soriano makes the team much better as a whole and will cause him to work that much harder. Even in a setup role, Storen remains one of the best young relievers in the National League and should be rostered in most deep fantasy formats.

Jayson Werth (Nationals)

1/26/13 6:07 pm

According to Amanda Comak of The Washington Times, Jayson Werth’s wrist still isn’t at full strength.

Werth says that he feels good, but that the wrist isn’t quite as strong as he’d like it to be. The total recovery time to regain full strength was estimated at 18 months after his surgery in May. It’s likely a factor in Werth’s power outage in 2012, where he smacked just eight homers in 300 at-bats. Look for more balls to fly out of the yard as the 2013 season progresses.

Source: twitter.com

Bryce Harper (Nationals)

1/26/13 4:27 pm

Bryce Harper was asked to play for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, but politely declined saying that the at-bats would be too serious that early in spring training.

With a projected starting outfield of Giancarlo Stanton, Adam Jones and Ryan Braun, Harper may not have gotten the workload required for a young player to prepare himself for the season. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year will look to build upon an impressive .270/.340/.477 line as he enters his age-20 season, and his massive potential has led to him being a top-30 selection overall in early fantasy drafts.

Source: twitter.com

Anthony Rendon (Nationals)

1/26/13 4:10 pm

Amanda Comak of the Washington Times reports that Nationals prospect Anthony Rendon has fully recovered from his ankle injury, and is looking forward to a healthy spring training.

The sixth overall selection from the 2011 draft, Rendon batted just .233/.363/.489 with six homers and 12 RBI over 43 games between four minor league levels in his first professional season. Now fully recovered from a severe broken ankle, he’ll be on the fast-track to the big leagues, and could see time with the Nationals at some point in the 2013 campaign.

Source: twitter.com