The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

D4 eZ sU the washington post.friday, february 21 , 2020

ASSOCIATED PRESS

retired Boston red Sox slugger
David ortiz said that former
Houston Astros pitcher mike f iers
was “looking like a snitch” for
disclosing the team’s cheating
scandal only after he had left the
team.
“oh, after you make your mon-
ey, after you get your ring, you
decide to talk about it?” ortiz said
after arriving at Boston’s spring
training complex Thursday. “Why
didn’t you talk about it during the
season when it was going on? Why
didn’t you say, ‘I don’t want to be
part of i t?’
“So y ou’re looking l ike a snitch,”
said ortiz, who works for the red
Sox under the title special assis-
tant. “Why do you have to talk
about it after? That’s my problem.
Why did nobody say anything
while it w as g oing on?”
The Astros were found to have
violated baseball rules by using vid-
eo to steal opponents’ signs during
their World Series championship
season of 2017. After fiers blew the
whistle to the Athletic this offsea-
son, Astros general manager Jeff
Luhnow, manager A.J. Hinch and
bench coach Alex Cora — who had
moved on to manage the red Sox —
all lost their jobs in the wake of the
scandal.
ortiz d id defend C ommissioner
rob manfred, who has been criti-
cized for failing to punish any
players for cheating. major
League Baseball is also investigat-
ing reports that the red Sox had a
similar scheme when they won it
all in 2 018.
l YanKees: New York right-
hander Luis Severino was shut
down from throwing for the sec-
ond consecutive spring training,
this time because of right forearm
soreness.
Severino, who turned 26 on
Thursday, was sidelined until the
final weeks of the regular season
last year.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone
said Severino has been feeling on
and o ff d iscomfort s ince october.
Severino is to be examined fri-
day by team physician Christo-
pher Ahmad. General manager
Brian Cashman was not sure Sev-
erino would be available for the
march 26 opener at B altimore.
l PHillies: Philadelphia w on
its a rbitration case against a ll-star
catcher J.T. realmuto, putting
teams ahead of players 7-4 this
year and ensuring clubs will f inish
with a winning record.
realmuto will get a raise from
$6.05 million to $10 million in-
stead of h is $12.4 million r equest.
l inDians: right-hander C ar-
los Carrasco felt discomfort in his
right leg during a workout and is
undergoing imaging tests to find
out the severity of the injury and
how long he will be s idelined.
Carrasco, who made an inspir-
ing comeback last season after
being diagnosed with leukemia,
had a n mrI exam Thursday.
The Indians kept him from
working out, and the team will
update his status friday.
“He was squatting and felt
something in his upper leg area,”
manager Te rry francona said. “I
know it’s a little vague, but that’s
what we know. Instead of telling
you something we don’t know,
we’ll wait for more information
and p ass i t on.”
l MisC.: Alex rodriguez and
matt Vasgersian will be the an-
nouncers for ESPN’s “Sunday
Night Baseball” series, marking
the first time since 2007 that the
network is going with a two-per-
son booth for its signature game.
Jessica mendoza had been part of
the booth since 2015 but has been
moved to more studio work as well
as calling weeknight games.

spring training notes

Retired Ortiz

slams Fiers

for exposing

sign-stealing

BY STEVEN GOFF

CLEARWATER BEACH, FLA. —
Julian Gressel excelled for three
seasons in Atlanta, but when he
and the club reached a contract
impasse this winter, he sought a
new home and new deal.
The first part was completed
about a month ago, when he was
traded to D.C. United for more
than $1 million in financial con-
siderations. The second came
Thursday when Gressel signed a
four-year contract, including one
club-held option.
financial terms were not dis-
closed, but General manager
Dave Kasper said United will use
targeted allocation money, which
means Gressel will earn at least
$650,000 annually.
His previous deal, which was to

expire at the end of this season, would have paid him about $150,000 this year — a hefty raise for a German-born attacker who has recorded 15 goals and 35 as- sists since leaving Providence College. “It’s been a long time,” he said of talks that began with Atlanta early last year. “It was a difficult season mentally at times — very difficult for me last year. Being traded relieved some of that because I knew most likely something was going to happen with the contract here. “It’s been different [this week] not having to think about it and not having to call my agent every day.” Gressel, 26, and Peruvian national team midfielder Edison flores were United’s high-end ac-

quisitions this winter, and with returning standout Paul Arriola sidelined for several months with an ACL injury, Gressel’s impor- tance to the team has grown. The 2017 mLS rookie of the year probably will start at right wing — a position Arriola manned much of the past 21 / 2 years. Had he been healthy, Arriola might have moved to the left side. Both sides in the contract talks wanted to complete negotiations before the feb. 29 opener against the Colorado rapids at Audi field. “It has obviously been on Ju- lian’s mind for quite some time, and moving into his last year [of the contract], we wanted to get something done now,” Kasper said. “We wanted to put it to bed

as soon as we could.” Gressel said he is carefree heading into the season, adding, “Now I want to show the D.C. United fans and the team that I deserve that contract.”

Planning arriola’s recovery Arriola, who damaged his right knee in a friendly this past week- end, returned to Washington on Thursday and will see a team doctor friday to determine a plan for surgery and recovery. It remains unclear whether he will miss the entire season and the start of the U.S. national team’s World Cup qualifying schedule late in the summer.... Jonathan Campbell, a center back who started 53 times in four seasons with Chicago and Seattle, began a tryout Thursday and

might receive playing time in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Philadelphia Union. Campbell, 26, did not have his option exercised by the Sounders after last season. Aaron maund, a free agent center back with nine years of pro experience, was cut Thursday after he joined United at t he start of preseason. right back-midfielder Carter manley also was released. Both might receive offers to play for second-division Loudoun United. The organization continues to pursue defensive help overseas, Kasper said. With Donovan Pines sidelined several weeks with an ankle injury, United has only two natural center backs under contract: frédéric Brillant and Ste- ven Birnbaum....

Kasper said the team could sign two defenders before the may 5 transfer window closes.... United played expansion Nashville SC to a 1-1 draw Wednesday. Estonian forward Erik Sorga scored in the eighth minute, and Nashville drew even with a penalty kick four minutes later. United Coach Ben olsen started secondary players, then insert- ed many of his opening-day starters with about 30 minutes left. for precautionary reasons, at- tackers Edison flores and Yamil Asad did not play. Both probably will start Saturday.... mLS confirmed United will host a to-be-determined mexican club in the Leagues Cup round of 16 on July 21 or 22. [email protected]

G ressel relieved after United gives him a four-year deal

it but, in time, w ill outlive that good f ortune a nd drift back i nto the p ack. The Nats d isagree and b elieve that winning a title the year after subtracting Harper, while a bit odd, is n o shock b ecause they s ee themselves as contenders a lmost every year. And l ast season j ust happened to be t he one when the tumblers f ell in place in october to crack t he title vault. That Natitude, while i t lasts, reduces “repeat” p ressure because t hey plan on sticking a round the top. “Your culture is your culture. ours is t o be c onstantly competitive,” rizzo said. “our character comes out at t ough times. When things a re at t heir worst, we h ave to be at o ur b est.

... That’s h ow it was l ast year.”
Please e xcuse t he Nats if, with
their spring training schedule
starting S aturday against t he
(ahem) A stros, they s till feel
almost annoyingly wonderful.
“I’m s till like, ‘Wow,’ I can’t
totally b elieve it,” Doolittle s aid.
“I’ve p layed i n the b ig l eagues f or
eight y ears, and the World S eries
was t his abstract thing. ‘ How the
heck do y ou get one of those
[rings]?’
“We did c atch s ome breaks. But
so many guys stepped u p. That
feeling is r eally motivating. You
just want more of i t.”
That’s t he c heery view from
mLB’s p recarious mountaintop,
where f ew s tay for long. L ike the
tightrope walkers say: o ne s tep at
a time and don’t l ook down.
[email protected]

For more by thomas Boswell, visit washingtonpost.com/boswell.

The shock f or fans of c hamps is how often they m iss t he p layoffs the n ext year: 10 times. many have a powerful bounce-back the following year. But that doesn’t soften the thud o f going from a parade to “off” i n october. Cheerful as the Nats are this spring, with talk of h ow much their improved bullpen m ight compensate for t he loss o f rendon, i t would be wise f or their fans t o take a slightly longer view. With its top seven starting pitchers and s ix of its top s even relievers in 2 020 all under team control for 2021, the w indow for this team (which hates the w ord “window”) looks quite o pen t his year and n ext. many t his spring ask whether Carter Kieboom will be able to take over at t hird base immediately or whether center fielder Victor robles can bat at No. 1 or 2, allowing Trea Turner to hit t hird, or whether robles himself c ould handle No. 3. Also, can Wander Suero or Ta nner rainey become back-end relievers? C an t he t rio of ross, Austin Voth or Erick fedde produce one m id-rotation starter? We w ould do better to tweak such questions. C an those things happen i n 2020 or 2021 b ecause, after t his season, only Sean Doolittle and Kurt Suzuki probably w ill be free a gents, while there may be payroll flexibility t o add a n impact f ree agent in 2021. The Nats a re still seen b y some as a team t hat stumbled i nto Stephen Strasburg a nd Bryce Harper with the No. 1 overall picks in c onsecutive y ears, fed off

you d own m entally, mess with your confidence and get i n the way of d oing w hat you know y ou should: go and attack. “I’ve a lways had t he s tuff. I don’t t hink I ’ve ever had the stuff and t he command that I did last year,” he added. “How many guys have finished off a World Series 1 -2-3 w ith a couple o f K’s? And saved the w ild-card game, t oo?” from others, t his might sound cocky. from Hudson, it’s, “Keep thinking that way.” Because the Nats lost star f ree agent A nthony rendon t o the Los Angeles A ngels, m any assume they will be u nder extreme psychological p ressure t his season to compensate. And they will, no matter h ow often they chant “Go 1-0.” However, the franchise seems realistic. T he b est chance for a fine year i s, s tatistically s peaking, within the two s easons a fter you win a Series. But i f you just obsess about the next year, you’re begging for p ain. “It’s so hard t o win the World Series because t here are so many [postseason] levels to go t hrough. That i s the largest point” a bout repeating, General manager mike rizzo said. “You do have to take history into account.” mean o ld history says that since 1995, when major League Baseball w ent to three-tiered pl ayoffs, t he d efending c hampion has r epeated j ust twice — and never in the 21st c entury. However, nine of those 24 c hamps got as f ar as the next league championship s eries; most teams w ould grab those odds of making baseball’s final f our.

delayed e xhaustion f rom an extra month of h igh-pressure playoff series in october w ould not be h is biggest p roblem and p erhaps not even an issue at a ll. The Title Trap would be a lack of day-to-day focus because t he t eam’s g igantic big-picture victory — and a desire to experience it again — would undermine the very traits that got the Nationals t heir rings. Because martinez’s style is “Think small, work hard and have fun,” t hat meal with legends j ust convinced him that he didn’t have to change his a pproach o r himself. “I got here five days before pitchers and c atchers had t o report,” martinez said. “We already h ad 20-some guys in camp. When y ou become a champion of something, there is a carry-over. They h ave the t aste in their mouths. It’s f resh. “But let’s just focus on o ne day at a time,” he said. “Let’s have fun. Let’s have that d ance party a gain.” Perhaps ace max Scherzer epitomizes how energizing a title can be. “All w e want to do is d o it again,” he said after r unning i n the o utfield for an hour a fter a day’s work that included a 56- pitch bullpen s ession. Joe ross, who has a n inside track t o be t he fifth starter, ran with him for 35 minutes. max ran the rest alone. Some Nats have gained self- confidence thanks to l ast season. reliever Daniel Hudson, sometimes t hought to be too modest for his own 9 7-mph good, now s ays, “ This g ame c an beat

boswell from D1

thomas Boswell

For Martinez, repeating means a day-to-day process

excerpted from washingtonpost.com/nationals

Scherzer is delighted that shoulder is sore

max Scherzer smiled through the p ain. Then those smiles grew while he d iscussed it. “Can f eel the shoulder i s a little tired, right w here you want it,” Scherzer said Wednesday i n West Palm B each, fla. “So I t hrew just enough pitches, just right, to be able to get back out here in a couple days when the g ames start up. r ight on target.” The 35-year-old had j ust tossed 42 pitches across two simulated innings. That h e felt a few pangs in his shoulder — and not anywhere else — was viewed as a little victory. S cherzer is coming off a very odd year for the Washington Nationals. He had been perpetually healthy and averaging 32 starts a season before his body acted up. His July included t hree diagnoses in 16 days — a mid-back strain, bursitis below the s capula in his right shoulder b lade, t hen a mild rhomboid strain — before he had neck spasms i n the World Series. Scherzer finished w ith 27 regular s eason appearances and p itched until oct. 3 0. It w as fair, heading i nto the winter, to consider h is h ealth a question mark. But Scherzer felt n ormal by December, when his t hrowing program picked up, and was encouraged by Wednesday’s l ive batting practice. The shoulder soreness w as welcomed and normal. It w as exciting because there was no s oreness anywhere else. “In spring training, you have to put y ourself t hrough s ome fatigue. That’s good for you,” s aid Scherzer, who is expected t o make his spring training debut against the Houston A stros on Saturday. “That’s when you k now you’re pushing the limit i n how you’re building up. T his is h onestly the most dangerous time of t he y ear for p itchers. This is when you s ee a good amount of To mmy Johns across the league and e verything. I’m always scared of that.” The ace faced Trea Turner, Adam Eaton, S tarlin Castro, Wilmer D ifo, Brandon Snyder and mac Williamson. He w ill soon face s ome version of Houston’s l ineup. T he Nationals again have hitched their i dentity to starting p itching, with a returning rotation o f Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin a nd A níbal S ánchez. Their fifth starter w ill be o ne of Joe ross, Erick fedde or Austin Voth, with depth options in Kyle mcGowin and Ben Braymer. That l eaves limited experience behind the t op four arms. And that is why the health o f Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin and S ánchez will be essential to success. Washington starters finished second in the m ajors with 9382 / 3 innings l ast season. They finished first with 21.4 wins above replacement. Both figures were important because of h ow bad the b ullpen w as. B ut even with a retooled relief corps, this t eam will go a s its rotation does. That begins with Scherzer and is why each small step of his spring should b e monitored. “for me, when I say f atigue, that’s a good thing,” S cherzer said. “Because i f you’re not ready for s ome of this throwing, i t’s not fatigue. You get hurt. or e ven worse, you get injured. “So f or me, y ou’ve got to know that line of where you’re at: ‘Hey, got some fatigue. right where I wanted to be.’ I know my a rm will be tired after the next start and I’ll be back o ut there again pretty soon. Understanding t hat process of spring training over the years, I know exactly where I need t o be.” A pause then brought what the Nationals n eed to keep hearing. “A nd I’m exactly w here I need to be.” — Jesse Dougherty

nationals notes

the high 80s, to give him a low-90s fastball, high-80s breaking ball (the slider), mid- 80s change-up and a low-80s breaking ball with his curve. “If I can n ail down t hat mix, I’d be in really good shape,” Voth said. “It’s not necessarily like I see this as a last shot. But I’m 27, out of options, and at this point it’s really time to show the front office and coaches what you can do for them.” That word — options — could be what ultimately decides this three-pitcher race. It could make it less a competition and more an assignment of roles. The most logical result, given the h ints and recent past, is ross becomes the fifth starter, Voth a long reliever and fedde t he next man u p. But a lot could happen between now and opening Day. [email protected]

vision Series and NL Champion- ship Series in october. He was eventually shut down before the World Series when his shoulder tendinitis flared up. He finished the year with a 3.30 ErA in nine regular season appearances, eight of them starts. His fastball reached 95 to 96 mph in early innings, m aking him an attractive possibility for the bullpen. His curveball made up a fifth of his pitches, and it was his go-to pitch in put-away counts. When he sat down to review 2019, Voth was unhappy with the inconsistency of his slider velocity. He went headfirst into analytics, clicking through a bunch of websites, and noticed his slider traveled anywhere between 82 and 88 mph and that he could fix that with refined mechanics. He w ants it to rest in

and eighth innings. That led him back to the m inors, where he was stretched back out, and he was a starter again by late summer. He then found a rhythm while filling in for an injured Scherzer, and he posted a 2.75 ErA over his final eight starts of the season. And that included the New Yo rk mets tagging him for seven earned runs Sept. 2. “A s we all know, the injury slowed him d own,” martinez said of ross last week. “But I always felt like those guys that had To mmy John, this spring was the spring I thought he’ll be back to the Joe ross we saw early in his career. And so far, he looks like that guy. The ball’s coming out really well.” Voth is still a bit of a wild card, even after he earned a roster spot for the National League wild-card game, NL Di-

the waiver process. Last february, the Nationals signed veteran Jeremy Hellick- son to fill out the starting staff, even after pledging to give ross and fedde a fair shot. This february, they are giving that shot to ross, fedde and Voth, and they have just over a month to decide. “It doesn’t really feel too different,” Voth said. “If you think about it too much, maybe you can get in your own head. But every guy in here comes to s pring looking to earn a spot, prove himself, whatever. So this is just another opportunity.” fedde’s option works against him in some ways because the Nationals c an shuttle him up and down without consequence. That’s why a handful of people in the organization believe ross and Voth will take the final spots on the 26-man roster, leaving fedde in the minors — probably with the Class AA Harrisburg Senators — to begin the season. He would then be the first pitcher called upon if there is an injury or a need for a spot starter. fedde is all too familiar with the role. But manager Dave martinez is still calling it an open competition, giving fedde an outside chance. fedde strung together a few solid starts last spring and two more in August, but other- wise he struggled to push three times through opposing orders. He battled command issues, as he has for years now, and couldn’t quite figure out his breaking ball. It was great one day, bad the next, and he spent this offseason refining his grip and arm slot for that pitch. ross is coming off an odd season, too, having bounced between the rotation and bullpen. The Nationals used him as an emergency reliever in April, when they were begging for anyone to get outs in the seventh

nationals from D1

Nats have three familiar pitchers vying for two spots

John McDonnell/the Washington Post Joe Ross appears to have fully healed after tommy John surgery, Manager Dave Martinez said.

UPLOADED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws

The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

Get our desktop app

Company

Features

Documentation

Resources