Washington

Washington Nationals news & notes: Pitchers and catchers report; offseason work…

Published

2 years ago

February 14, 2024

Washington Nationals news & notes: Pitchers and catchers report; offseason work…

Davey Martinez sent Luis García home with an agenda this offseason, and Washington’s manager delivered a message in their exit interview at the end of the Nationals’ 2023 campaign.

“I told him he’s got to get agile,” Martinez told reporters at the Winter Meetings in early December.

“He’s another guy, we got to get him more to swing less. I don’t want to take his aggressiveness away, but he’s got to learn how to hit the ball in the strike zone.”

García, 23, was coming off a 2023 campaign which saw him optioned to Triple-A at one point before he returned to the big leagues, finishing up his fourth season in the majors with a .266/.304/.385 with 18 doubles, four triples, and nine home runs in 122 games and 482 PAs overall.

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He was in an 0 for 12 stretch over four games, and coming off of a rough .217/.250/.301 month of July in which he’d hit just two doubles and one home run when he was optioned to the Nats’ top minor league affiliate (with a .259/.293/.362 line on the year in the majors), and he put up a .268/.315/.381 line, eight doubles, and a home run in 25 games and 108 PAs before he was called back up and put up a .304/.360/.507 line, five doubles, and three home runs in 22 games and 75 PAs down the stretch.

His manager told him to put in the work this winter and come to Spring Training ready to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster for 2024.

“Yeah, look, my message to him was/is no guarantees in Spring Training,” Martinez said.

“‘You got to come and fight for a job.’ I think I sent the message to him when we sent him down. And it hurt me because I love the kid. But he’s got to get better. He’s going on his [fifth] year now with us, and I know what the upside is with Luis, but we got to get it out of him. He’s got to be consistent.”

The manager said he believed his second baseman would come to camp ready to go.

“I believe after what happened last year with Luis that he’s going to come back in Spring Training ready. But only time will tell.”

MLB: Washington Nationals at Pittsburgh Pirates

Josiah Gray, 26, lowered his ERA to 3.91 on the season in 2023 with six strong against the Baltimore Orioles in his final outing (down from the 5.02 ERA he posted in 2022), finishing the year with a 4.94 FIP (down from 5.86), 143 strikeouts (8.09 K/9; down from 9.32), 80 walks (4.53 BB/9, up from 4.00), 22 home runs allowed (1.25 HR/9, down from 2.30 – when he allowed a league-leading 38 HRs allowed in 148 ²⁄₃ IP), and a .251/.345/.412 line against in his 30 starts and 159 IP (after he finished the season with a .239/.324/.489 line against in the ‘22 season).

Though he wanted to work on some things — like improving his changeup so he can use it more often in 2023 — Gray said in an MLB Network Radio interview in late January, he was taking pretty much the same approach to his offseason work this winter as he does every year.

“It’s been about pretty much the same offseason,” the pitcher explained, “… tinkering with the sinker a little bit more to get some more run on it, but everything else has been status quo I guess you could say.

“Obviously, still trying to refine everything in the mix, whether it’s the breaking ball, it’s the cutter, or the four-seam fastball, throwing the changeup a little bit more now too to see if we can get that front/back play. But yeah, it’s been a lot of things I’ve done in the past while trying to tinker with things and not make too many big adjustments but just trying to refine a little bit more.”

Joey Gallo, 30, signed a 1-year/$5M deal in D.C. this winter, and talked in a Zoom call with reporters about wanting to get back to hitting the ball to all fields after he, by his own admission, got a bit pull-happy in 2023, in a season which saw him put up a .177/.301/.440 line, nine doubles, 21 homers, 48 walks, and 142 Ks in 111 games and a total of 332 PAs, over which he was worth 0.7 fWAR for the Minnesota Twins.

MLB: Washington Nationals at Minnesota Twins

“I think a lot of my best years, I was really working the whole field more and I was using the middle of the field more,” Gallo said. “And it seemed like last year I started off that way, and maybe fell into some bad habits or whatnot and I started to pull the ball a little more and got pull-happy. That’s never a good thing when you’re locked into one side of the field. So it’s about just getting my direction back, narrow up a little bit, kind of hit how I used to maybe a few years ago.”

“I would say the biggest priority is probably getting better against right-handed pitching,” Nick Senzel said in his own Zoom call with reporters after he signed a 1-year/$2M deal with the Nats.

Senzel, 28, put up a .236/.297/.399 line and career-high 13 home runs in 104 games and 330 plate appearances last year in what ended up a -0.4 fWAR season with Cincinnati’s Reds.

In 126 plate appearances against left-handed pitching last year, he put up a .348/.389/.619 line with nine of his 13 home runs off of lefties, and the right-handed hitter finished up with a .164/.240/.257 line vs right-handed pitchers, leaving him at .287/.334/.460 in 409 career PAs vs lefties, versus a .219/.288/.330 line vs righties (957 PAs), so the focus there makes sense if he’s going to play third every day as he said the Nationals told him he would. So he put in the work this winter.

MLB: Washington Nationals at Cincinnati Reds

“I went over to Stillwater, Oklahoma to hit with Matt Holliday and his sons for about a week,” Senzel shared.

“I’m going to head back there in January just to get some work in there.

“If you were picking one specific thing I would say just working on kind of right-handed pitching and the swing in general.”

Dylan Floro, 33, signed a 1 year/$2.25M deal with the Nationals coming off a down year with the Miami Marlins and Twins which saw him post a 4.76 ERA, a 2.96 FIP, and .308/.363/.410 line against in 62 games and 56 2⁄3IP.

Floro said he was trying to fine tune a few things this winter, and looking to bounce back with the Nationals.

MLB: Washington Nationals at Miami Marlins

“I think it’s a little bit of everything,” he said of his offseason work. “There’s a little bit of mechanical adjustment I’ve got to do there. Just executing pitches, when it’s time to expand a little bit more expand a little more, instead of giving up that hit in the gap, expand a little bit more, and just kind of trying to figure out what a hitter is thinking and throwing a better pitch in the right situation.”

His approach this winter?

“I’ve been working on some different things,” Floro said. “Executing pitches a little bit better with two strikes. There’s little things that I can change to hopefully go into next year and it’ll help me out.”

Will the offseason work pay off? Will the Nats get the bounce-back season they hope for from all of the players mentioned above?

Spring Training starts today with pitchers and catchers reporting, and we’ll start to get some of those answers soon…

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Game Preview: 04.12.26 at Washington Capitals | Pittsburgh Penguins

Published

3 hours ago

April 12, 2026

Press Room

Game Preview: 04.12.26 at Washington Capitals | Pittsburgh Penguins

Game Notes

Quick Hits

1) Evgeni Malkin has 82 points (27G-55A) in 67 career games against the Capitals. It’s the third-most points he’s scored against any one team.

2) Defenseman Sam Girard has five points (5A) and is plus-7 in his last seven games. Only three players have a better plus/minus than him (+7) since Mar. 30.

3) Since March 22, no player in the league has more goals than Rickard Rakell (10).

4) Elmer Soderblom has seven points (3G-4A) over his last eight games. He has nine points (4G-5A) in 18 games with Pittsburgh after recording three points (2G-1A) over 39 games with Detroit this year.

5) Egor Chinakhov has 21 points (8G-14A) over his last 19 games and has picked up 36 points (18G-18A) in 42 games since joining the Penguins. Since his Penguins debut on Jan. 1, only Rickard Rakell (20) has more goals than him on the team.

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DOJ asks judge to allow search of Washington Post reporter’s phone, laptops

Published

2 days ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

DOJ asks judge to allow search of Washington Post reporter’s phone, laptops

The Justice Department (DOJ) is asking a federal judge in Virginia to allow it to conduct its own search of a Washington Post reporter’s seized electronic devices, rather than have the court do the review.

Federal prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in a March 31 court filing to overturn a lower court ruling that prohibited the DOJ from using a “filter team” to search reporter Hannah Natanson’s phone and laptop as part of an FBI investigation into a government contractor accused of leaking classified material.

Magistrate Judge William Porter ordered in February that the government could not “open, access, review, or otherwise examine” any of Natanson’s “seized data,” instead authorizing an independent judicial review.

“Given the documented reporting on government leak investigations and the government’s well-chronicled efforts to stop them, allowing the government’s filter team to search a reporter’s work product—most of which consists of unrelated information from confidential sources—is the equivalent of leaving the government’s fox in charge of the Washington Post’s henhouse,” Porter wrote.

Federal prosecutors have pushed back, arguing that Porter’s order infringes on the separation of powers by shifting an executive branch function into a judicial one.

They also asserted that it could compromise the neutrality courts are meant to maintain in overseeing search warrants and related proceedings.

“That principle is even more important here because the search authorized by this warrant involves the identification and seizure of classified national defense information, a responsibility the law entrusts to the Executive’s expertise,” federal prosecutors wrote.

The case stems from an FBI search of Natanson’s home in January, in which agents took two laptops, a cellphone and a Garmin watch belonging to the journalist, who had been reporting on the Trump administration’s effort to trim government spending and cuts to the federal workforce.

The search was conducted in connection with a government system administrator in Maryland, who is now behind bars, according to the DOJ.

Attorneys for the Post have contended that the warrant and subsequent search were an example of federal overreach and violated First Amendment press protections.

“The government should not receive permission to rummage through a reporter’s professional universe,” Simon Latcovich said during a Thursday hearing, according to The Post.

The newspaper reported that Trenga, appointed by former President George W. Bush, said he would “get a decision shortly” but seemed skeptical that Porter’s ruling would hamper the DOJ’s ability to build its case against the contractor.

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Obama musical tickets; when to go, what to know about ‘44’ in DC

Published

2 days ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Obama musical tickets; when to go, what to know about ‘44’ in DC

A critically acclaimed musical about Barack Obama is coming to Washington DC for the first time, with tickets still available for its limited run.

After making its world premiere in Los Angeles in 2024, “44: The Musical” had stops in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City.

Now it’s coming to DC for a 25-show run at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre just a few blocks away from Obama’s former home at the White House.

Here’s what to know about the musical and how you can get tickets.

What is ’44: The Musical’ about?

Told through the “hazy recollection” of Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, the musical features original songs that capture key moments of Barack Obama’s presidency with satire, humor and a dose of political nostalgia.

“’44: The Musical’ is the story of Obama you won’t read about in history books… because history books are now banned in most states,” Shakespeare Theatre says on its website. “But also because ’44’ is the story of Obama as Joe Biden kinda sorta remembers it.”

The musical features 24 songs through a wide range of genres, including R&B, gospel and pop, along with “a live-band driven score (that captures) the music, momentum and communal spirit that defined a generation.”

Characters in “44: The Musical” include Obama and Biden, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz.

Runtime for the musical, written and directed by former Obama campaign staffer Eli Bauman, is two hours and 15 minutes.

When is ’44: The Musical’ coming to Washington DC?

“44: The Musical” begins its limited run at The Shakespeare Theatre on April 18.

There will be 25 shows, with the last two coming on May 10.

How can you get tickets to the Obama musical in DC?

You can purchase tickets for “44: The Musical” at ShakespeareTheatre.org.

As of April 10, all 25 shows had seating availability.

“The people of D.C. deserve an infusion of joy right now,” Bauman said in a press release. “With all the heaviness going on in our country, ’44’ is here to provide a fun night out — where a room full of strangers can laugh and reminisce about a time when the country felt full of hope, and when the biggest presidential scandal was wearing a tan suit.”

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