It’s generally well known that the Washington Nationals blow. The main team down there is sadly the Baltimore Orioles and people just tend not to care about the Natties. But, could that be changing? They already went out and got Gio Gonzalez and they have young guns like Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg on the way. Could people actually start to care about this team?

Well, for one thing it seems that they aren’t done this offseason. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Nationals are actively shopping left-hander John Lannan, who will certainly command a huge haul after a 10-13 season. The biggest problem with that is where you’ll play all the great players that you get in return.

Actually, it seems like they are clearing up some money (his arbitration got him $5 million this season) to make room for Edwin Jackson, who Rosenthal says they are making a pitch for. Landing Jackson (or maybe Oswalt, but I doubt he’d go there) would actually make for a decent rotation with Strasburg and Gonzalez. It wouldn’t make them the Phillies, but they also wouldn’t be an easy sweep every time either.

Regardless, it’s clear that the NL East is getting better and better (except for the Mets) and the Phillies will not remotely be able to walk away with the division like they did last year.

UPDATE: The Nationals have agreed to sign Jackson, so it doesn’t seem like moving Lannan had to come first.

Remember when we told you about 20 minutes ago that the Boston Red Sox were trying to trade for Oakland A’s pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Andrew Bailey? Well…we ummm…see it wasn’t our report, we were just running with someone else’s crap.

Anyway, my point is that you can ignore that talk. There was too much of it anyway. According to Keith Law on Twitter, the A’s have sent Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals in exchange for four prospects. He’ll also be asked to help with the federal deficit, and to urge Republicans to extend the Payroll tax cuts.

“Gio to Nats for Cole, Norris, Peacock, and Milone. Love this for Oakland,” he tweets.

So, Gio is now a National (our condolences to him and his family) and A.J. Cole, Brad Peacock, Derek Norris and Tommy Milone are headed to Oakland.

Here is a breakdown on the new A’s from Rotoworld.com:

Cole, a 19-year-old right-hander, posted a 108/24 K/BB ratio in 89 innings this past season at the Single-A level. Peacock, a 23-year-old righty, had a 2.39 ERA and 177/47 K/BB ratio in 146 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2011. Norris, a 22-year-old catcher, has an .861 career OPS in the minors, and Milone registered a 155/16 K/BB ratio in 148 1/3 innings this past season at Triple-A.

It looks like Billy Beane has done it again. Maybe it’s time for another movie.

Stunning news Wednesday night in the baseball world. Usually at this time of year we hear about free agency and contracts being negotiated. However, we found out yesterday that Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped at gunpoint in Venezuela.

And according to Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com, the vehicle they used in the kidnapping has been found.

“VZ minister of interior and justice tells @globovision they have found car used to abduct Wilson Ramos. Kidnappers haven’t been in contact,” Zuckerman tweets.

The car was found in Bejuma, which is about an hour away from his home in Valencia, where he was initially taken.

Stay tuned on this one.

In 2008, J.C. Romero was an integral part of a deadly Philadelphia Phillies bullpen that helped them win a World Series. Then a funny thing happened when he got busted for PED’s….he stunk.

So the Phillies finally cut him this season and he was picked up by the Washington Nationals. Once they saw him play baseball enough times and realized that he wasn’t good at it, they released him.

The New York Yankees have apparently never seen him play baseball, because they signed him today, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.

“The Yankees have signed J.C. Romero to a minor league deal, and could pitch tonight for Class AAA Scranton,” he tweets.

Think of all those lucky people in Scranton who had tickets to tonight’s game but had no clue that they could possibly see utter craptitude on the mound. There really is a Santa and he shows up in Scranton in July.

This isn’t good. Ryan Zimmerman, one of the few good players the Washington Nationals actually have, is reportedly experiencing tenderness in his abdomen. He tried to talk his way into the lineup on Monday, but he’s a no-go.

“Zimmerman out of #Nats lineup after complaining of “tenderness” in abdominal area. Where he was operated on,” Marc Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com tweets with appropriate use of hashtags.

This is not a good sign. Especially since returning from the DL he’s been throwing poorly and has been next to worthless at the plate.

More importantly for the Nats, they need to find out if this is a big deal or not. They aren’t going to contend for jack squat this year, so they might as well make sure he’s in good shape for the long term.

This probably isn’t a very big deal, but when you are the Washington Nationals, you’d prefer to get some good news once in awhile. Their top prospect (and the top prospect in all of baseball), Bryce Harper, left today’s game in Single-A ball after he got popped with a pitch.

It was Harper’s first plate appearance for Hagerstown as they took on the hated Greensboro Grasshoppers. The pitch appeared to hit him in the lower leg and he collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.

He left the game and didn’t return.

The good news is that the Washington Post saw him walking later in the day to the clubhouse without a noticeable limp. He’s hitting .338 with 12 bombs this year and the last thing the Nats need is for him to suffer any kind of serious injury.

We’ll know more on his injury a little later, but that doesn’t mean we’ll type it up so that you can read it. Do a damn Google search for once and get off our backs.

The Washington Nationals need all the good news they can get. And while this little item might not do anything to salvage their 2011 season, it could be a major deal for 2012.

Their stud young phenom fire hurler, Stephen Strasburg, threw off a mound today for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery in September. Strasburg broke the news on Twitter.

“First bullpen in the books. Felt great! Hopefully time will speed up now!,” he tweeted.

Photo Caption: Strasburg’s next step is to try throwing an actual ball off a mound.

The recovery period on this surgery is usually 12-18 months. So, in theory, Strasburg could make a few starts this season. But we say…”why?” What good will that do? Let him rest it and start some winter league games or something. No reason to rush.

The Washington Nationals don’t have a ton to be excited about. They are a game under .500 and 5.5 back of the division-leading Philadelphia Phillies. Their ace Stephen Strasburg probably won’t pitch this year, and there are already huge concerns with a guy who throws in the 100′s consistently having arm troubles so early. No. 1-overall pick Bryce Harper is doing well, but he’s not going to help any time soon.

One of the bright spots this year has been Jordan Zimmerman. He’s not lighting it up, but he has a respectable 4.13 ERA and K’ed 11 in his last outing.

However, he’s still young (he’ll be 25 on May 23rd) and the Natties would like to limit his reps. And with the recent rain out, that’s just what they are going to do.

“#Nats RHP Jordan Zimmermann will skip his next start. He will not pitch until Sunday against the Orioles,” William Ladsen tweets.

It’s a good idea. It doesn’t do them any good to hurt one of the few promising pitchers that they have on the roster. Give him a rest, you aren’t making the playoffs anyway.

In case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the attendance you have, the Washington Nationals are a bad baseball team. Jayson Werth isn’t a cure-all and who knows when Stephen Strasburg will pitch this year? In other words, they can’t afford to be missing any top talent for any prolonged period of time.

That’s why the news that the team has placed Ryan Zimmerman on the DL with an ab strain isn’t very good. Then again, you could argue that the worst that could happen is that they would lose games. They are already good at that even with their hot-hitting third baseman.

The ab strain first occurred in spring training, but he aggravated it the other day sliding into second base.

Zimmerman was hitting .357 with one HR and four RBI’s. He’s scheduled to come off the 15-day DL pretty much right on schedule, which is good news for the Nats.

The Washington Nationals have drafted a pair of phenoms in the last few years. They got a hold of flame-throwing, fireballing heat chucker Stephen Strasburg a couple years ago, and then last year nabbed six-tooler Bryce Harper.

The 18-year old outfielder is in spring training with the Nats and it looks like he’ll stay there for now. He just survived the first round of cuts this week.

This doesn’t mean that he’s going to be on the opening day roster. Far from it. OTR can’t imagine a scenario where he actually stays on board. This is most likely the team wanting him to get more reps with better competition.

He’s almost certainly going to open the season in Single-A.

If you say that you are more familiar with Elijah Dukes because of his play on a baseball diamond and not because of his jagoff behavior, you are lying. The former Washington National and Tampa Bay Ray is a serial knucklehead, and the latest headlines didn’t disappoint.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Dukes was arrested on Wednesday night for slapping his pregnant ex-girlfriend in the face. In Dukes’ defense however, it was during an argument.

The two had been staying in hotels for the past few days and were at the East Lake Inn in Tampa (we checked…it does not have a pool). He was arrested there without incident.

But, true to his style, Dukes double dipped a bit. He was also arrested on charges of contempt of court and driving with a suspended license.

The girl, Mountrail Mounshay Mack, was not seriously harmed, but the battery charge on Dukes is a felony because she is five months pregnant.

This certainly came out of left (or right) field. With all the speculation about where Jayson Werth would sign, we hadn’t heard about the Washington Nationals.

The last we heard, the talk was about him maybe accepting arbitration from the Phillies. We also heard about the potential interest of the Boston Red Sox. But…the Nationals?

Yep, according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, Werth is close to signing with Washington. Sources tell him that it’s a multi-year deal, and one would have to think that it’d be worth quite a bit. The Nats just lost Adam Dunn and they have a decent amount of money to spend.

So, now it will be on the Phillies to find a right-handed bat.

The Chicago White Sox added some power to their lineup (and strikeouts) by agreeing with Adam Dunn today to a four-year, $56 million contract. Jayson Werth cannot be pleased.

We don’t know just now if the Sox are planning on using him at first base or as a DH. But, who really cares? They got a good deal on a guy that hit .260 with 38 HR’s in 2010 for the Washington Nationals.

Dunn of course has to pass a physical on Friday, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Is there a reason the Nationals couldn’t have given him this same deal?

We don’t understand why people wait to make decisions like this. The Washington Nationals stopped having a chance to make the playoffs some time in early March. So, why would you even try to shoehorn Ryan Zimmerman into the lineup when he has a strained intercostal (ribs)?

Maybe the team is finally realizing that there is no upside to him playing in the final week of the season, because he’s out of the lineup Monday. And, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com, Zimmerman is likely done for the season, which is a good thing. Just shut him down already, he’s one of your few good players.

Zimmerman was marvelous in 2010 despite hitting in a lineup that offers little protection. He hit .307 with 25 HR’s and 85 RBI’s. If he doesn’t get on a decent team soon, his career will be wasted.

We mentioned last night that Washington Nationals centerfielder Nyjer Morgan won OTR’s Gentleman of the Week for September based on him throwing a baseball at a fan and starting a fight with the Florida Marlins.

Well, we found the video of this fight on Deadspin and it really paints Morgan in a positive light. Especially the way he WWF’s it on his way off the field.

We like how Volstad stands his ground. He knows he’s bigger than Morgan and we’d have to think that if there wasn’t a huge dog pile, that Volstad would have stomped him like a narc at a biker rally.

Anyway, here is the video of it.

This is a new award for us, but we created it mainly with Washington Nationals centerfielder Nyjer Morgan in mind. Already appealing a seven-game suspension for throwing a ball at a fan in the stands, Morgan started a benches-clearing brawl today against the Florida Marlins.

And for that, Morgan wins OTR’s Gentleman of the Week for the month of September!

Marlins starter Chris Volstad hit Morgan with a retaliatory pitch in the early innings of a blowout. So, Morgan stole second and third just to piss them off. It worked.

In the sixth inning, Volstad threw behind Morgan and then it was on. Morgan charged the mound and threw a punch at Volstad. Then Volstad got tackled by Nationals coach.

Job well done, Nyjer! We have a feeling that more than one person has some suspension time coming. Good thing both teams can afford to lose some guys. This is the most excitement either of these teams has seen in a while.

But, let’s not let this distract Morgan from his big day. He’s won September’s OTR Gentleman of the Week!

Well, this isn’t good. But it’s not entirely surprising since the kid throws 100 mph. According to Washington Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, their ace Stephen Strasburg likely needs Tommy John surgery. Strasburg has a “significant” tear in his UCL.

He’ll probably need 12 to 18 months of recovery time and won’t return until late in 2011. Considering how valuable the 22-year old is to the organization, this is a crushing blow. He might not really be himself until the start of the 2012 season.

“We’re going to take this news and we’re going to persevere,” Rizzo said. “We’re going to move and we’re going to get our rotation intact. And when Stephen Strasburg returns, along with Jordan Zimmermann and the rest of our good young rotation, we’ll be prepared to take on the 2011 season and beyond.”

Strasburg is going to get a second opinion before a final decision is made on surgery, but it doesn’t look good.

“We’re not going to drag this out,” Rizzo said. “If the second opinion is surgery, we’ll certainly have surgery, as soon as maybe the next day.”

The Nationals actually think that the injury occurred on Strasburg’s final pitch against the Phillies and wasn’t the result of wear and tear.

“I asked the question myself [to doctors],” Rizzo said. “They think it was an acute injury from a particular pitch. You can’t rule out that there was something there, but our doctors looking at the type of tear that Stephen has, it probably was from a one-pitch incident that tore the ligament.”

This incident received very little attention and this suspension kinda sorta came out of nowhere. MLB has suspended Washington Nationals outfielder Nyjer Morgan for throwing a ball into the stands intentionally during a recent game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

During the middle of the ninth, Morgan fired a ball into the crowd and struck a fan. He then caught the final out of the game from Jayson Werth and faked like he was going to do it again.

We don’t think this should be a huge deal because we’ve seen Morgan throw a baseball and we doubt he could hurt someone.

“This is brand-new news to me,” Morgan said of his suspension.

Manager Jim Riggleman hadn’t heard much about it either.

“Today’s the first day I heard about it,” Riggleman said. “Actually, right before game time it was brought to my attention that there was an issue there. … Something took place there. Nyjer had an issue with a fan or something. MLB’s going to take care of it with Nyjer.”

With Morgan missing seven games, it will difficult for the Nationals to make the playoffs.

Washington Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg left last night’s start against the Phillies with what has been diagnosed as a strain of the flexor tendon in his right forearm. And sources have told injury expert Will Carroll that Strasburg will need to see a specialist or two. This isn’t good, but contrary to some reports, Strasburg has not officially been shut down for the season (even if it’s easy to infer that it’s a likely conclusion).

“RT @washingnats: #Strasburg has not been shut down for the season, according to GM Mike Rizzo. #Nats,” Carroll retweets.

Carroll modified his earlier tweet that Strasburg will need to see the dreaded Dr. James Andrews.

“To clarify, sources told me that Nats would consult with specialists after MRI. Assumed Andrews, forgot Stras is SoCal; could be Yocum,” Carroll tweets.

Regardless of whether he is done for the season or not, this is a bit of a concern. When you throw high 90′s consistently and you start to break down, that’s a problem. We hope that he doesn’t continue to have arm issues throughout his career, but it is the Nationals we are talking about.

The Washington Nationals and first-overall pick Bryce Harper have agreed to terms. The 17-year old signed a five-year deal worth $9.9 million, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown.

“Final on Harper: $9.9 million over five years, $6.25 million as bonus. Plus $500,000 roster bonuses in ’14 and ’15,” Brown tweets.

Rotoworld has the breakdown as $6.25 million in signing bonus, with salaries of $500,000 in 2011 and 2012, $750,000 in 2013, $900,000 in 2014 and $1 million in 2015. If he is still with the club in 2014 and 2015, he can earn additional bonuses.

Supposedly this kid has six tools, and with the Nationals he might need seven or eight. If Stephen Strasburg continues on his pace and this kid Harper can actually play, don’t look now but the Nationals could be building something.

We guess that’s what happens when you pick so damn high every year.

The Washington Nationals have activated pitcher Stephen Strasburg from the disabled list today. He missed the last two weeks with shoulder soreness, which has to be scary when you throw 200 mph.

Right now, he is scheduled to start Tuesday night against a struggling Florida Marlins team. Hell, with the way the Marlins play defense, Strasburg could pick up a couple of cheap hits tonight to help himself out.

The rookie phenom has been mowing down the majors with a 2.32 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 75 strikeouts in nine starts this year.

However, we’d keep an eye on that arm. When you throw that hard, any sign of arm issues is a scary thing.

The Washington Nationals have placed rookie phenom Stephen Straburg on the disabled list. It is retroactive to July 22nd with stiffness in his right shoulder.

This isn’t terribly surprising as he’s never gone through the rigors of an MLB season before. Oh, and he throws 156 mph which is bound to put stress on the throwing arm.

There was some back and forth on this, but when manager Jim Riggleman mentioned shutting him down for 10 days, then why not just put him on the 15-day DL and get the roster spot? He’s a young fireballer and your team isn’t doing anything this year. Better off being careful with the kid.

It looks like recently activated Scott Olsen will take his place in the rotation.

A major-league source tells Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times that the White Sox are going hard after Washington Nationals first baseman Adam Dunn. The source says that in the past few days GM Ken Williams has offered up “anyone and anything he has in the minor leagues in a package.” Supposedly, no one is untouchable, and that includes Dayan Viciedo and Daniel Hudson.

“The problem Kenny is finding out is that [Nats GM Mike] Rizzo is acting like Dunn is Ryan Howard,” the source said.

According to Cowley, that means that Rizzo really wants Carlos Quentin or Gordon Beckham, two guys on the White Sox MLB roster that Williams won’t move. And while Williams has sounded recently like the talks are dead, the source says it’s just that the ball is in Rizzo’s court.

“Real quickly, what it is, is a limited market for us,” Williams said. “What we view as potential help is really, there’s only a small group of players. And even with that, we all still have to have the conversation amongst ourselves and we kind of do it on a daily basis this time of year amongst ourselves what we’re looking at the right fit. The right fit, both skill-set wise, fit in the lineup or fit, whether it be a bullpen piece, a starter piece. Is it the right fit? Are you going to gain exponentially by making that move in lieu of staying with what you have? And I’m very mindful of how this team has banded together and overcome a mountain of hurdles to get to where they want to get right now, so I think you have to be very cognizant of doing something that isn’t, like I said, exponentially better and making sure it’s not disruptive at the same time.”

We’ll see if Rizzo ends up prying one of those two guys from Williams, or if he caves in. Then again, neither could go down and a trade wouldn’t happen.

We’ve waited a long time to see what this phenom could do. Stephen Strasburg, the No. 1-overall pick in the 2009 draft, finally stepped up the majors with the Washington Nationals and made his debut Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The result? Seven innings pitched while giving up just two earned runs.

Oh, and did we mention he fanned friggin’ 14 batters? Holy hell. 14? That’s a lot.

He gave up only four hits during his outing and one home run. And of course he picked up the win as well.

Sure, it’s the Pirates, but you can only play against the team in front of you. And 14 K’s isn’t a mistake. The Washington Nationals, who took Bryce Harper No 1-overall this week in the 2010 MLB draft, look like they might finally be putting a team together.

What do you think is harder for a magician to do, make an elephant disappear in a parking lot or make Nationals fans appear at Nationals Park?  If you said the latter, you better think again.

Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt told the Washington Post that he might be open to waiving his no-trade clause with the Astros and pitching for the Nationals if the two teams can agree to a deal.  For the record, he also stated he would be willing to be traded “anywhere” he could contend.  But lets keep the focus on Washington for the sake of getting their fan base excited.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Most people would suffer groin tears from doing this.

“They’ve been playing well,” Oswalt said of the Nationals. “They’ve got a good offensive club. I saw where they have Strasburg coming up. He should make an immediate impact, especially, because no one’s seen him in the league, early. There’s always a little adjustment period there.”

The Strasburg that Oswalt speaks of is Stephen Strasburg, the number one pick in the 2009 MLB Draft who is scheduled to make his debut on June 8th.  If Strasburg is as dominant as the baseball world thinks he can be, and Oswalt is pitching in the same rotation, that could be a very nice one-two punch.

Despite being 3-7 for the season, Oswalt has a 2.78 ERA and has struck out 72 baseball players.  For his career, the 32-year old is 140-77 with 18 complete games, six of them being shutouts.  Very sexy numbers, for a very sexy pitcher.

A great man in a movie once said, “If you build it, they will come.”  Well, the Nationals built their new park in 2005 and now it seems they’re coming.

All last week we heard numerous rumors that Stephen Strasburg would make his first MLB appearance early June, late June, mid-June, late-to-mid-June, when the Junipers bloom, after Junebug plays on HBO, etc.  Well, we finally have confirmation.

PHOTO CAPTION: Fans in section 101 watch Strasburg pitch

The number one overall pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft by the Washington Nationals is scheduled to debut his right-handed stuff on June 8th against the ever-so dangerous Pittsburgh Pirates, according to GM Mike Rizzo.

Strasburg has dominated Double-A and Triple-A with a combined 50 1/3 innings, 60 strikeouts and a 1.43 ERA.  Fortunately, the Pirates are very similar to a Double-A or Triple-A squad, so Strasburg should feel right at home.

We mentioned previously that Washinton Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg was likely to make his MLB debut on June 4th. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the thinking at this point.

Ben Goessling of MASNSports.com is reporting that he’s hearing that Strasburg probably won’t make it up until mid-June or so.

“From what I heard today, Strasburg is likely to pitch for Triple-A Syracuse on June 3 or June 4, putting his arrival at Nationals Park during the Pirates series the next week, at the very earliest,” Goessling writes. “MLB.com’s Bill Ladson wrote that earlier today, and it jives with what I’m hearing.”

Strasburg is absolutely lighting up the minors and has a 0.39 ERA in Triple A.

Curt Schilling said recently that as soon as he gets to the Bigs, he’ll instantly be the best pitcher in baseball. That is such a raft of crap we can’t believe we are even including that in this post.

According to Adam Kilgore (who?), Washington Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg will make another Triple-A start on Saturday Friday before getting ready for his MLB debut. As of now, he’s on schedule for June 4th.

“The #Nats announced Stephen #Strasburg’s next start will be Saturday against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre,” Kilgore tweets.

Strasburg is absolutely ripping up the Minors. He’s got a 0.39 ERA in four starts for Triple-A Syracuse. Gee….ya think it’s time for him to come up? You can be sure that this guy will be attracting sell-out crowds, something the Nationals could use.

The State of Colorado got some good news today, Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth will be visiting for three days.  Happy hour will be extended, autograph sessions will be scheduled at The Brown Palace Hotel & Spa, and his bat will be displayed at the Denver Art Museum from 1 to 4 pm on Tuesday the 11th.

PHOTO CAPTION: Troy Tulowitzki completely misses the tag

In other news, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s MRI came back clean and he will avoid being placed on the Mark Prior list, aka disabled list, for those of you who don’t regularly follow OTR.

He is still unlikely to play against the Phillies, but Rockies fans should expect him back when they host the Washington Nationals in a four-game series this upcoming weekend.

Well that didn’t take long. Washington Nationals hard-throwing phenom Stephen Strasburg is going to head to Triple-A after his next start against Altoona, a source tells Bill Ladson of MLB.com. This of course is assuming that he goes out and dominates again.

The move would make perfect sense since he’s already shown that he can mop up Double-A talent. For Harrisburg, he’s 3-0 with an ERA of 0.52 and a WHIP of 0.58. Holy hell.

Strasburg was the No. 1-overall selection in 2009 and he’s making the Nationals look smart so far.

“As he progresses, he is going to go to Syracuse and is going to pitch there until we deem he is ready to go to the next level,” GM Mike Rizzo said. “It’s reasonable to assume he is going to be in Syracuse sometime soon. He is doing everything we thought he would do and more. He seems to get better and better and stronger and stronger each start.”