The Nats Thread (old thread link inside, too many load issues)

[Forehead]

I say a 5-10 game improvement from last season. The addition of Haren to the rotation and Soriano(hopefully he doesn't blow a lot of saves that Clip did) should help. Of course the hitting will be there. And the starting is coming back healthy to start spring training as well. That's a plus.

Well, the Strasburg shutdown aside, we managed to go the entire season without any of our SP's missing a start. That is incredible, (and probably unsustainable) luck, though I suppose you could counter argue that we'll have a full season of Bryce, a full season of Werth, etc.

[PleaseBlitz]

Well, the Strasburg shutdown aside, we managed to go the entire season without any of our SP's missing a start. That is incredible, (and probably unsustainable) luck, though I suppose you could counter argue that we'll have a full season of Bryce, a full season of Werth, etc.

Yea, the counter argument would be the amount of games missed by our regular starters on offense. Zimmerman had the shoulder issue, Desi missed 30 games. Morse missed a ton of time (obviously he is gone now, but still, he was a major contributor last year who missed significant time), Bryce didnt get called up until 6 weeks into the season, As you said Werth missed a ton of time and Stras got shut down. Ramos missed pretty much the whole season. In general, the team had way more injuries than is typical and hopefully this coming season will be better on the major injury front.

And of course, if Harper turns into Mike Trout with more power and hits 3rd, that would be nice too.

I really think the key here is #1, Haren and #2, the pen adjusting to roles they don't necessarily want.

[skinswillwin06]

I was at that game (NLDS game 5). It was the single biggest emotional swing I've ever experienced in a sporting event. Ever. The Nats jumped to a big lead so it was an 8 1/2 inning victory party followed by a nightmare roundhouse kick to the stomach. I literally ached leaving the ball park that night.

At one point I was able to step back from the moment and laugh. I had abandoned baseball over the years. The Nats had brought me back, full bore. And I experienced the exquisite misery that giving yourself completely over to a home team can bring. I chuckled to myself as I thought "This ache in my gut means I'm all in."

I honestly felt awful after that game for 3 days after. The first 8.5 innings were by far the best sporting event I've ever attended. The walk out of the stadium and the metro ride back was ridiculous seeing all the stunned faces.

Anyways, I hope to be back at Nats Park for an NLCS or (gasp) World Series clincher and be on the right side of things this year.

[STBonecrusher21]

Theyre replaying a matchup of the Mets-Nats game with the pass ball win for the Nats right now on masn.

If you need a baseball fix this morning.

[Riggo#44]

Crap:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/88...ndbacks-source

This is not good for us...

[Forehead]

It's unfortunate...Prado is solid but not a spectacular loss for them. I guess Delgado has some promise. I don't know much about the minor leaguers.

[skinsfan_1215]

I still like our outfield better... Harper/Span/Werth > Upton/Upton/Heyward

[Tulane Skins Fan]

I still like our outfield better... Harper/Span/Werth > Upton/Upton/Heyward

I like our team better, and I like our outfield a lot, but.... man the Braves have one sick outfield now. I can't say ours is better than theirs.

[skinsfan_1215]

I like our team better, and I like our outfield a lot, but.... man the Braves have one sick outfield now. I can't say ours is better than theirs.

Uptons are overrated- especially BJ... lets look head to head. Harper is better than Heyward. Span is about even with Justin Upton, just giving up a little power. Werth is better than the BJ Upton of any year other than 2007-2008.

One thing is for sure... it's quite the NL East arms race at this point. They're matching us blow for blow.

[Warhead36]

NL East is gonna be a hell of a race. I still like our team better though. Prado was a Nat killer so I'm glad he's out of the division.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

Uptons are overrated- especially BJ... lets look head to head. Harper is better than Heyward. Span is about even with Justin Upton, just giving up a little power. Werth is better than the BJ Upton of any year other than 2007-2008.

One thing is for sure... it's quite the NL East arms race at this point. They're matching us blow for blow.

We'll see. Personally, I don't think Span is even with Justin Upton, or that Werth is better than BJ Upton. We'll see. Justin Upton and Jason Heyward are both probable MVP candidates. Heyward is a great player already, and he's only like 23.

Again, we'll see.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Span is about even with Justin Upton, just giving up a little power..

Giving up a little power?

I think you should see this.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...ptonju01.shtml


http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...spande01.shtml

[Fight4RGIII]

What are y'all worried about. You guys are damn near perfect on paper. No excuse to not win the division again.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

What are y'all worried about. You guys are damn near perfect on paper. No excuse to not win the division again.

Worried isn't the right word... but the Nats and Braves are probably the two best teams in the NL on paper, and with the one game wild card format.... winning division is important.

[Warhead36]

Braves have the edge in the OF and Bullpen. We have the edge in the INF and Starting Pitching.