Washington Nationals

The hot stove is starting to cool as we ready for spring training. I know we are still six weeks away, but I can dream. So let’s stoke that fire a bit with more prospect talk. This series on prospects will cover a wide range of players as well as positions. We’ll cover sleepers as well as some of the more obvious stars of the future.

A year ago, there was a great void at catcher for the Washington Nationals. It was like a black hole, a huge expanse of nothingness with nary a star in sight.

Brian Schneider seemed to be the answer when the team moved from Montreal but did little in his three seasons with Washington.

In 2009, Josh Bard and Wil Nieves got most of the at-bats but combined to hit just .240/.305/.330.

Bryce Harper seems like a dream player out of a video game.  His numbers are unbelievable and he doesn't look to be stopping anytime soon.  After being drafted number one by the Nationals in 2010, Harper has a lot of expectations to live up to as he begins his path to the big leagues.  Harper hopes to make the Nationals roster and make his major league debut as soon as he can, and here's ten reasons why he will in 2011. 

Can someone please tell the Washington Nationals they need starting pitching? Do they not realize that their No. 1 starter is Livan Hernandez?

BaseballAmerica.com recently released its top 10 prospect list for the Washington Nationals, and coming in at No. 3, is second baseman Danny Espinosa.

Aaron Fitt of Baseball America recently told masn.com’s Byron Kerr that, "Long Beach State is a shortstop factory with Troy Tulowitzki, Bobby Crosby and Evan Longoria played shortstop for a year when he was there. Espinosa is the next guy in that progression."

As we all wait for the Washington Nationals to announce the signing of first baseman Adam LaRoche to a two-year contract—what is taking so long, anyway? I thought it might be fun to take a peek into the team’s future to a time when LaRoche will have already come and gone.

It’s time to do a little Washington Nationals housecleaning today and cover a few things that I haven’t had time to cover in any great detail.

Well, that’s not true of course. I’ve covered all of this in great detail. But let’s cover it some more, shall we?

Back in 2007, the Washington Nationals had a center fielder who had no power, couldn’t bunt and tried to hit left-handed pitching from both sides of the plate, neither with any success. For most of the season, his on-base percent was below .300 and yet then-manager Manny Acta publicly supported him and guaranteed that he would remain the team’s everyday center fielder.

I have a feeling that no matter what Adam LaRoche does as a Washington National—assuming the obvious happens and he signs with the team—there is going to be a fairly loud minority saying, “Yeah, but he’s no Adam Dunn.”

And they’ll be right, of course. Their same first name aside, they are two very different players. And yes, one of them will help his new team more than the other. And that player is Adam LaRoche.

Surprise!

The Washington Nationals figure they are one big bat and one top-of-the-rotation pitcher away from reaching respectability, perhaps even contending. Many believe, though, that were it not for former General Manager Jim Bowden, there would be no hole in the rotation to fill.