Washington Nationals Featured Media Clips – 2016
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Washington Nationals Featured Media Clips – 2016 Table of Contents • Article #1 – As pitchers and catchers begin work, Dusty Baker is in his element again – Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – 2/20/16 • Article #2 – Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg readies for unknowns of free agency year – Todd Dybas (Washington Times) – 2/20/16 • Article #3 – Ben Revere joins his former National League East foes – Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – 2/21/16 • Article #4 – Late-signing Belisle, Badenhop expect real chance to make bullpen – Mark Zuckerman (MASNSports.com) – 2/21/16 • Article #5 – Daniel Murphy joins Nationals’ spring training for the first time after signing with the team – Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – 2/21/16 • Article #6 – Nationals ace Max Scherzer is never really finished for the day – Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) 2/24/16 • Article #7 – Robinson not taking anything for granted after breakthrough 2015 – Mark Zuckerman (MASNSports.com) – 2/24/16 • Article #8 – For Trea Turner , baseball is the easy part – Mark Zuckerman (MASNSports.com) – 3/1/16 • Article #9 – Nationals’ Trevor Gott always threw hard; then he learned to pitch – Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – 3/1/16 • Article #10 – Clint Robinson misses the bus – and that’s a good thing – Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – 3/2/16 • Article #11 – Yusmeiro Petit has controlled his career by controlling his pitches – James Wagner (Washington Post) – 3/5/16 • Article #12 – Felipe Rivero, thrust into a reliever role, now sees himself as a future closer. – James Wagner (Washington Post) – 3/6/16 • Article #13 – There’s more to Michael A. Taylor than you might expect – Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – 3/9/16 • Article #14 – Nationals’ Stephen Drew makes the most of his post-injury opportunity – Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – 3/14/16 • Article #15 – Nats’ Lucas Giolito could change National League East. – Jayson Stark (ESPN.com) – 3/15/16 • Article #16 – Burnett making serious case for inclusion in Nats bullpen – Mark Zuckerman (MASNSports.com) – 3/18/16 • Article #17 – Davey Lopes is changing the Nationals’ minds about base running – James Wagner (Washington Post) – 3/18/16 • Article #18 – Nationals reliever Oliver Perez is back with the team that helped save his career – James Wagner (Washington Post) – 3/21/16 • Article #19 – Coming off of his MVP season, Bryce Harper has the chance to become even more of a baseball phenom – Neil Greenberg (Washington Post) – 3/29/16 • Article #20 – For Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos , wisdom ¬— and a new house — comes with age – James Wagner (Washington Post) – 3/30/16 • Article #21 – Matt Belisle made the most of his spring training invite, being named to the 25-man roster – James Wagner (Washington Post) – 3/31/16 • Article #22 – Nationals’ Daniel Murphy is ‘the epitome of a tough out’– Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – 4/1/16 • Article #23 – Dusty Baker has open-door, open-heart policy with Nationals – James Wagner (Washington Post) – 4/1/16 Article #1 As pitchers and catchers begin work, Dusty Baker is in his element again By Chelsea Janes – Washington Post (2/20/16) VIERA, Fla. — This is Dusty Baker, leaning on the bat he never puts down, one foot tucked behind the other, gnawing on a toothpick. This, a spring training complex full of optimism, an organization in need of rejuvenation — a baseball field — is Dusty Baker’s element. “I kind of belong here,” Baker said Friday. “I was trying not to miss it. You can make yourself not miss something. Now that I’m back, I really did truly indeed miss it.” As Nationals pitchers and catchers maneuvered through their first workout of spring training Saturday, Baker oversaw his first day of baseball since 2013, his last season with the Reds. People have told him he looks happier than he did in the interim. Coaches who have coached with Baker, players who have played for him, and those who know him well say he is comfortable in any situation. Here, with his trademark toothpick back where it was in San Francisco and Chicago and Cincinnati, wearing batting gloves and baseball pants, Baker emanated ease. He admitted he doesn’t know everyone yet, so he carries a laminated roster card. “Sometimes I gotta let ’em walk past me,” said Baker, pretending to look after an invisible player. “Then I can say, ‘Hey, Mike, what’s going on!’ ” He will get to know them all in time, he says, some with in-office conversations, some over dinner. He may take others fishing, he said, or out for beers, if they’re old enough. “Is Bryce old enough?” he asked. (At 23, Harper is.) Baker’s first day in uniform began with a meeting. He said he doesn’t plan his addresses, “just prays on it,” says what comes to mind and “reads the crowd.” Saturday, he relayed messages like “work hard” and “be honest” and inspired a few laughs, too. Players said Baker told them he loves his pitchers, that they set the tone, that as they go, so does his team. “When you hear that, any one of the pitchers, you feel good when you have that kind of support,” left- hander Gio Gonzalez said. “I love the way he came about it, nice and loose, relaxed, have fun, know when to turn it on. That kind of mentality is the way baseball should be.” On Friday, Baker joked that the long trek from Space Coast Stadium to the fields down the road would either make him “real skinny” or make him “ride a lot.” On Saturday, he chose a golf cart and found time to chat with seemingly every executive he encountered on his way. When he reached the 40 or so players working out, he paced the stretching lines, tapping Yusmeiro Petit on the rear with his bat, pointing to something on Stephen Strasburg’s shoe that eventually made the ace chuckle. He engaged in what looked like a jovially heated discussion with Max Scherzer and Jonathan Papelbon that included a lot of pointing and ended with Baker wagging his finger at his smiling stars. “He’s going to be closer to a player than any manager you’ve probably played for,” said Bronson Arroyo, who played for Baker during his Cincinnati tenure. “He walks and talks and treats himself still as if he’s in uniform.” Baker wandered the 10-pack, the high-volume bullpen where Scherzer, Joe Ross and others impressed him during their 10-minute sessions. Fans sought autographs as Baker walked from field to field. Unsurprised and unperturbed, he signed for all of them, offering unsolicited fist bumps to eager young fans. “He doesn’t really look to a lot of people to make his decisions for him,” Arroyo said. “He’s going to do what his gut tells him to do.” On one field, where promising youngsters such as Felipe Rivero, Trevor Gott and others were working on throwing to bases, Baker headed out to the mound to talk them through it. “He’s just giving little things, like ‘Greg Maddux did it this way when he did this drill,’ ” Gott said. “You just soak it in.” Baker stayed on the field until the catchers, whose double duties mean they are usually the last to be done for the day, wrapped up their workouts. He headed to the clubhouse, passed up the buffet, and instead sliced his own mango, peach and plum for a fruit salad he nibbled while chatting with catcher Wilson Ramos, then the media. For most of that session, Baker leaned back in his rolling chair in front of a red Nationals backdrop, next to a bookcase full of baseball books and a desk full of cards from other organizations offering congratulations on his new job. He slid right back into his media duties, too, running down a brief injury report, reciting résumés of new acquisitions and earning a few laughs. Both of Baker’s inaugural media sessions have been delayed a few minutes while he finished conversations with players and coaches — the only time his office door has been closed. Players and coaches file in and out, visiting with their manager, who seems right at home. Article #2 Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg readies for unknowns of free agency year By Todd Dybas – Washington Times (2/20/16) VIERA, Fla. — Toiling at his locker with Jonathan Papelbon's country music blaring at him from a nearby stereo, Stephen Strasburg picked up a bat. He began to pass the time before the Washington Nationals' first workout of the spring with a couple wrist flicks. It could well be his final first day with the Nationals. He's 27 years old now, the hype of his debut a marker of lunacy six years in the past. Strasburg's age influenced him in two ways this offseason. First, he altered his winter workouts a bit, increasing the intensity when he worked, but also providing an extra day of recovery time. "I'm not 21 anymore," he said. Second, it means his one-year, $10.4 million contract will conclude at the end of the season. Strasburg's agent, Scott Boras, does not do early long-term contracts or discounts, which means Strasburg will hit the open market for the first time in his professional life when the 2016 is over. Even he is curious how he'll handle it. "I really don't know," Strasburg said. "It's not like I've been in a contract year before. I know what I know, and I know that I go out there, and I bust my butt every single day. If I give it everything have to help this team win some games, all that other stuff is going to take care of itself.