Span getting swing of things

USA Today Sports Images

By Ben Standig
CSNwashington.com

Jayson Werth returned to the Nationals lineup, then Bryce Harper and soon Wilson Ramos. The run-scoring component of the offensive attack also made a splashy appearance over the previous two games with a combined 23 runs. Nobody is expecting the team to score 11 or so a night, but at least now, Davey Johnson's has a deeper set of batting options from which he can keep tweaking those daily lineups.

Not that Johnson went that route for Tuesday's meeting against the Brewers after his side plated 10 in the series opener. However, one pregame question for the manager centered on whether now there was an opportunity to sit center fielder Denard Span in certain situations. By certain situations, we mean against left-handed pitchers. The unsightly number speak loudly.

On the season, the lefty-swinging Span is batting .263 with a .318 on-base percentage in 334 plate appearances. In 91

The state of the farm system

Associated Press

Anthony Rendon should be rated the Nationals' top prospect entering 2013.

[UPDATE AT 11:30 A.M. -- Baseball America's 2013 top prospects list is now out. The Nats' top 10: Anthony Rendon, Lucas Giolito, Brian Goodwin, Matt Skole, Nathan Karns, Christian Garcia, Eury Perez, Sammy Solis, Matt Purke, Zach Walters. Here's a link to their full story, though you'll need to be a subscriber to access the full scouting reports on each player.]

It was roughly one year ago when Baseball America deemed the Nationals' farm system as the sport's preeminent assemblage of talent. For Mike Rizzo and his team of scouts and instructors, who for years had worked to rebuild a tattered system, it was the highest praise possible.

Later today, Baseball America will unveil its top 10 list of Nationals prospects for 2013, a list that won't be nearly as deep in talent as last year's was, certainly nowhere close to retaining the crown as the best farm system in baseball.

The Nationals aren't to blame for this drop-off. There are two perfectly good reasons for it: 1) Bryce Harper, Steve Lombardozzi and Tyler Moore are now established big leaguers and no longer considered prospects, and 2) a host of top prospects has since been traded away to acquire more established big leaguers who are

Tommy John surgery possible for Giolito

US Presswire photo

Lucas Giolito was shut down after one start in the Gulf Coast League last week.

Updated at 6:45 p.m.

Top Nationals draft pick Lucas Giolito has been shut down after making only one start as a professional and could need Tommy John surgery to repair a torn elbow ligament.

Giolito, the 16th overall pick in the June draft, reported "soreness" in his right elbow after a two-inning appearance Tuesday at the rookie Gulf Coast League in Viera, Fla., general manager Mike Rizzo said. The 18-year-old hurler was examined by team doctor Wiemi Douoguih and now will head home to Los Angeles to get a second opinion from orthopedist Lewis Yocum.

"We're in the process of scheduling that," Rizzo said. "And once we get a diagnosis from him, then we'll proceed with whatever we have to do."

Though a final course of action won't be decided until Giolito is examined, ligament replacement surgery is a distinct possibility. Yocum has performed that procedure on Stephen Strasburg, Jordan
Read more

Giolito relieved to start career with Nats

When Lucas Giolito took his seat in the dugout for his first in-person media availability since signing a contract with the Washington Nationals, he opened the session with a genuine, “wow.” He had never been faced with so many cameras and microphones before and at times didn’t know where the questions were coming from.

But the attention that comes with being a big league player and the lifestyle they live is something that sold the 18-year-old flamethrower on signing the deal and becoming the newest high-ceiling young arm in the Washington organization. He envies the way they go about their day-to-day business and how they interact as members of a team.

Giolito visited both the Nationals and the campus of UCLA in the time between the June 4 MLB Draft and July 13, the deadline to sign draft picks. He said he pitched in front of Bruins’ head coach John Savage and enjoyed the experience, but a June trip to Washington, D.C. helped seal the deal.

Giolito signs for $2.925 million

Updated at 6:35 p.m.

MIAMI -- No stranger to down-to-the-wire negotiations with draft picks, the Nationals agreed to contract terms with first rounder Lucas Giolito less than one minute before today's 5 p.m. deadline, giving the young right-hander $2.925 million and thus subjecting themselves to a tax for exceeding Major League Baseball's new draft pool cap.

How close to the deadline did the Nationals get before finalizing the deal?

"Dangerously close," general manager Mike Rizzo said prior to tonight's second-half opener at Marlins Park.

Giolito, who turns 18 on Saturday, told the Los Angeles Times he agreed to the deal with only 30 seconds to spare.

As is typically the case, the drawn-out negotiations were over dollar figures. The Nationals felt all along Giolito wanted to sign with them but wanted to receive more than the approximately $2.8 million the club had remaining from its pool of $4.4 million for its top 10 draft choices.
Read more

Deadline day for Giolito

Photo by Eric Dearborn

Lucas Giolito has until 5 p.m. EDT to sign with the Nationals.

It's been 40 days since the Nationals selected right-hander Lucas Giolito with the 16th overall pick in this year's draft, and not much about the relationship between the two has changed since then.

As is so often the case with baseball's draft, serious contract negotiations between player and club rarely takes place until the final hours before the league's imposed deadline. That deadline used to fall around Aug. 15, but the sport's latest collective bargaining agreement pushed that day up to mid-July, which has finally arrived.

Thus, by 5 p.m. EDT today, Giolito and the Nationals must come to terms on a contract and submit it to MLB headquarters or else sever their relationship. Giolito would accept his scholarship to UCLA and pitch next spring for the Bruins. The Nats would receive next summer's 17th overall draft pick as compensation.

That's an outcome neither side wants to reach, and the odds favor a