An Unofficial Washington Nationals Support Group.
New Nationals skipper Blake Butera, as noted by many, does not have much professional playing experience, spending just 2 seasons in the minor leagues for the Rays before calling it quits, peaking at the Low A level. Before that, he spent 4 years playing collegiate ball at Boston College, where he was a spark-plug up […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
The Washington Nationals are truly starting over. Today, they hired 33 year old Blake Butera to replace Davey Martinez as the club’s manager. However, things were a lot different six years ago. On this day in 2019, the Nationals reached the top of the baseball mountain. They won their first ever World Series in a […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
The Washington Nationals have a new manager! According to multiple reports, the team has decided to hire Blake Butera, a former minor league manager and player development guru with the Tampa Bay Rays. My first reaction was ‘who is that guy’ and I am sure I am not alone. We will dive into who Blake […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
The Washington Nationals have hired their next manager, but it is not somebody whose name has been out there. Paul Toboni has decided to hire 33 year old Blake Butera to be the next manager of the Washington Nationals. He will be the youngest big league manager in over 50 years. This is a very […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
It was expected, but Paul Toboni has shaken up the Nationals coaching staff. Along with that, Andrew Golden of the Washington Post revealed that Miguel Cairo is out of the running for the Nationals managerial job. None of this is surprising news given the team’s front office overhaul and 66-96 record in 2025. A lot […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
As a fan of a struggling team you get to learn a lot about the MLB Draft every year. It is what provides fans of rebuilding teams hope. While you can’t get the instant impact from draft picks like NBA or NFL teams do, you can still strike gold. However, the new draft system is […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
Building strong bullpens was never a strong suit of Nationals’ former GM Mike Rizzo, and that fact was on clear display this season, as the Nats’ relief unit was as bad as bullpens come, finishing last in baseball with a 5.59 ERA and second to last with a 4.86 FIP. While some additions to the […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
After last night’s epic World Series game, I wanted to talk about a World Series legend in Stephen Strasburg. Yesterday, Strasburg’s alma mater, San Diego State announced that the former World Series MVP would be joining their coaching staff. After being out of the public eye since his forced retirement, Strasburg is starting the next […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
The Washington Nationals season was sunk by many things, but a poor pitching staff was the biggest culprit. They posted a 5.35 ERA as a team, the highest in franchise history. It will take a lot to fix that, including help from outside the organization. However, there is help on the way from a couple […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
So the Craig Albernaz dreams died pretty quickly for the Washington Nationals. Just a day after it was reported that he interviewed for the job, Jeff Passan reported that he was taking the Baltimore Orioles job instead. I wrote that Albernaz was my favorite candidate, so seeing him go to a rival is tough. Albernaz […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
We have talked a bit about some of the names on the free agent market. Players like Dylan Cease, Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman would be dream targets for the Nats. However, there is another side of free agency we have not touched on. Every year, we see new Japanese stars come over to the […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
So we are finally starting to get some updates on the Washington Nationals managerial search. For a while, there was radio silence as Paul Toboni was settling into his role as Nats President of Baseball Operations. However, three candidates for the job have become public. They are former interim boss Miguel Cairo, former Orioles manager […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
It has been well established that the Washington Nationals pitching staff was a disaster in 2025. They posted a 5.35 ERA as a team, which was the worst in team history. Unsurprisingly, there were not a ton of bright spots on this staff. However, Andrew Alvarez was the rare exception, as he was lights out […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
When Paul Toboni was hired as the Washington Nationals President of Baseball Operations, a lot of people assumed he would hire a GM underneath him. That structure has become very popular in the modern game. The POBO is the big boss, who makes all of the biggest decisions, while the GM is more involved with […]
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
Back in late September, I wrote an article, which can be found here, that brokedown 4 potential candidates for the Nationals vacant General Manager position. They quickly kept one of those candidates, Mike DeBartolo, in the organization as an assistant general manager, a win as he did a fine job in his short term as […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Just like the big league level, the performances in the Nationals farm system were largely disappointing. There were some stand out performers, but there was more bad than good. That is due to a combination of injuries and underperformance from players in the 2024 draft class. However, there are three players in the system that […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
It is no secret that the Washington Nationals pitching staff was really bad in 2025. They posted a 5.35 team ERA, which is the highest in Nationals history. However, heading into the season, the starting rotation was seen as a strength. That was due in part to Mitchell Parker. Parker had a strong rookie season […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Remember all of those MacKenzie Gore trade rumors at the deadline, well they are back as we approach the offseason. In the last 24 hours, we have gotten even more smoke about the Nationals trading their 26 year old ace. The Nats were close to trading Gore at the deadline, but did not pull the […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
To put it simply, the catching position was a disaster for the Washington Nationals in 2025. As a positional group, Nats catchers finished last in wRC+ with 65 and 28th in Defensive WAR, resulting in a league-worst -1.4 fWAR, worse in the league and one of only 2 teams to be in the negatives, with […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
After Jacob Young was nominated for a Gold Glove a week and a half ago, another Nationals player is being nominated for some hardware. It was announced that James Wood is being nominated for an NL Silver Slugger in the outfield. He is one of six NL outfielders nominated. The three winners will be announced […]
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
While the Nationals bullpen was disastrous in 2025, Clayton Beeter was a bright spot for the unit down the stretch. After arriving in a deadline deal that sent Amed Rosario to the Bronx, Beeter quickly went from a prospect to a trusted bullpen arm. He brought swing and miss stuff to a bullpen that desperately […]
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
So there has been some news regarding the Washington Nationals and a managerial hire. However, it was not the team making a hire. It is a former National becoming a manager elsewhere. Multiple reports have now indicated that former Nat Kurt Suzuki will become the manager of the Los Angeles Angels. That is not only […]
about 2 months ago | 5 reads
So the World Series matchup is finally set. The mighty Los Angeles Dodgers will be facing off against the pride of Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays. We expected the Dodgers to be here, but that was not the case for the Jays. The Jays won 74 games last year and had longer odds to win […]
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
Of all their young players over the last half decade or so, the Washington Nationals have only extended one of them. That would be catcher Keibert Ruiz, who the Nationals gave an 8-year $50 million deal to before the 2023 season. However, just three years in, that deal looks like an anchor rather than an […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Just when we thought we figured out who Nasim Nunez was, he threw us a curveball. The light hitting shortstop was a heavy hitter in September, slugging four home runs in what was a massive month for him. Was that a fluke, or will we see more power from the slick 5’8 shortstop? That is […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read