Nats acquire DeJesus, release Bernadina

Associated Press

Updated at 7:55 p.m.

By Mark Zuckerman

CHICAGO — David DeJesus was out having lunch with his wife on Monday when the Cubs outfielder realized he has missed a call from team president Theo Epstein. Kim DeJesus told her husband, "You probably got traded."

Two hours later, David DeJesus was standing outside the third base dugout at Wrigley Field, exchanging hugs with his now-former teammates and trudging across the field to the first base dugout to join the Nationals, having indeed been traded just before the two clubs opened a four-game series.

"It's different," he said. "I couldn't even find my way to the locker room. I've never been on this side of the field, so I had to go upstairs. I was like: 'Do I go up the stairs? Or is there another way around?' It was kind of surreal, but I got through it OK."

Seeking yet another upgrade to their unproductive bench, the Nationals acquired DeJesus in a waiver-claim trade for a player to be named later, then released fellow outfielder Roger Bernadina to clear space on their 25-man roster.
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Instant analysis: Dodgers 3, Nats 1 (10)

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Game in a nutshell: If you thought Friday night's game was frustrating, how about the first three innings of this one? The Nationals put six men on base against Zack Greinke and couldn't bring any of them home, leaving many in the sellout crowd of 41,816 to boo the home team. Fortunately, Gio Gonzalez was in top form, dominating over six scoreless innings. And then, the Nats finally got a big hit with a man in scoring position when pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina singled to right to score Chad Tracy in the bottom of the sixth. Unfortunately, Drew Storen immediately gave the run back in the top of the seventh on a pair of two-out hits. The game now tied, the Nationals had more opportunities to plate the go-ahead run and simply couldn't do it, frustrating the crowd even more. By the time the Dodgers scored twice off Craig Stammen in the top of the 10th, those who remained could barely muster the energy to react. The Nationals went down in the bottom of the inning, losing for the seventh time in nine games and falling below the .500 mark for the first time since June 19.

Hitting lowlight: Pick an inning. Any inning will suffice. The Nationals stranded the bases loaded in the first. They stranded two runners in the third. They stranded two in the seventh. They left

Instant Analysis: Nats 5, Twins 4

Photo by the Associated Press

Game in a nutshell: The Nationals went down early thanks to an unfortunate outing by starter Nathan Karns, but rallied to chip away the lead and eventually leave with the series win. It took almost their entire bullpen and even featured a bizarre 12-minute rain delay as the Nats kept the game close before Ian Desmond drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. He followed up an Adam LaRoche double with a two-bagger of his own, putting the Nats up 5-4 and extending his career-best hitting streak to 12 games.

Hitting highlight: Roger Bernadina had easily his best game of the season, providing just what the doctor ordered out of the two hole. He quietly reached base in his first four at-bats with two hits and two walks, coming home to score twice off Jayson Werth singles. He has struggled all season, but stepped up in a game the Nats desperately needed.

Nats supply Karns with offensive firepower

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Adam LaRoche and Tyler Moore combined to hit three homers in the Nats' win.

Adam LaRoche could tell Nathan Karns was a tad nervous to make his big-league debut when he noticed the right-hander's jersey was soaking wet. This was while Karns was still in the dugout, having yet to face his first major-league batter.

"Like he walked through the shower before he even took the mound," LaRoche said. "That was fun. I'm sure his world was spinning real fast."

Knowing their rookie starter — who only 24 hours earlier was preparing to face the Class AA Akron Aeros — was in a bit of a fog, the Nationals came up with the best possible plan to ease a young pitcher through that pressure situation: They went out and scored a ton of runs.

Behind four homers — two by LaRoche, plus back-to-back shots by struggling Tyler Moore and Roger Bernadina — the Nationals pounded the Orioles and rookie Kevin Gausman into submission, cruising to a 9-3 victory before a boisterous crowd of 35,664 that waited out an 81-minute rain delay to see the two promising right-handers go head-to-head.
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Instant analysis: Nats 9, Orioles 3

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Nate Karns allowed three runs over 4 2/3 innings in his big-league debut.

Game in a nutshell: The evening began as a highly touted matchup of young right-handers, Nate Karns and Kevin Gausman, but was more notable by night's end for the Nationals' rare offensive explosion. Karns did what he needed to do, churning out 4 1/3 solid innings before tiring in the fifth. Gausman, though, was roughed up by the Nationals for three runs in the first, then four more in the fourth before he was knocked out. Adam LaRoche crushed two homers, and Tyler Moore and Roger Bernadina went back-to-back in a rare display of firepower from the reserves-turned-starters. Needing 4 2/3 innings out of his bullpen, Davey Johnson got quality work out of Zach Duke (who was credited with the win), Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard and Fernando Abad. So the Battle of Beltways is now even at 1 game apiece, heading into Phase 2 the next two nights at Camden Yards.

Hitting highlight: The Nationals have been begging, pleading for their bench players to produce with several starters injured. On this night, Moore and Bernadina finally delivered. Back-to-back. Moore,

Bench struggles hurting Nats

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Chad Tracy is 8-for-44 as a pinch-hitter over the last calendar year.

The critical decision in yesterday's demoralizing loss to the Cubs — Davey Johnson pinch-hitting for Gio Gonzalez in the bottom of the seventh with his team ahead 1-0 — was a produce of the manager seeking an insurance run and trying to give his bullpen some breathing room.

In principle, that notion makes some sense. But it requires some consistent production from those bench players who would be asked to pinch-hit in that situation. And right now, the Nationals aren't getting much production at all from their reserves.

When Chad Tracy struck out to lead off the bottom of the seventh yesterday, Nationals pinch-hitters fell to 7-for-48 on the season, a .146 batting average. Even more alarming, Nats pinch-hitter have yet to drive in a single run so far in 2013.

That comes in stark contrast to the numbers the Nationals produced off the bench last season. Pinch-hitters batted a collective .288 with four homers and 26 RBI in 2012, one of the most-productive units

Davey sticking with Espinosa through slump

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Through his first 16 games this season, Danny Espinosa has played crisp defense at second base and cut down his strikeouts to about half the rate he whiffed last season. But a late 2012 slump has seemed to carry over into the new year as Espinosa remains a hole in the Nationals’ lineup with an ugly .167 batting average and just three hits in his last eight games. 

The Nationals falling to .500 (10-10) on Tuesday night prompted manager Davey Johnson to make some lineup changes, but Espinosa remained at second base. The Nats skipper thinks if he keeps Espinosa in there, at some point he will pull through.

“Danny had a great spring. He’s a deep thinker, too. Sometimes he gets in his own way,” Johnson said.

“I see signs where it looks like he’s really getting focused and then I see times where he gets thinking too much. He’s not alone. Desi does the same thing. Tries to do too much and have conversations with him. Mostly, you gotta just stay positive.”

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Bernadina returning from WBC

Associated Press

Roger Bernadina went 3-for-22 with three RBI for the Netherlands in the WBC.

VIERA, Fla. -- When last seen around these parts, Roger Bernadina was preparing to embark on an 8,000-mile trip from Florida to Taiwan, the first of many stops on the outfielder's World Baseball Classic journey with his Dutch teammates.

Nearly four weeks later, Bernadina is finally set to rejoin the Nationals, his long and winding WBC trek having taken him to Taiwan, Tokyo, Phoenix, San Francisco and now back to Viera at long last after the Netherlands was eliminated in the tournament's semifinal game last night.

Bernadina was right in the thick of the action for the surprise Netherlands team, which advanced out of pool play in Taiwan, then eliminated Cuba in the second round before finally falling to the powerhouse Dominican Republic team last night at AT&T park. Batting third and starting in center field for six of the Dutch's eight WBC games, Bernadina hit only .136 (3-for-22) but drove in three runs and played defensively to help his club advance as far as it

The challenge of keeping the bench fresh

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Tyler Moore and others could have a tough time getting at-bats this year.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- There's a good side and a bad side to fielding a talent-laden lineup with regulars who all deserve to play every day. The good side: That deep lineup is capable of putting up big numbers on a daily basis. The bad side: It leaves precious few opportunities for reserves to get enough at-bats to stay fresh.

For a veteran like Chad Tracy, who has modeled himself into one of the game's best pinch-hitting specialists, it's not that big of a deal. But for young bench players like Tyler Moore and Steve Lombardozzi, it can be more complicated.

So, is it going to be tough to keep all those guys fresh when there aren't obvious opportunities to work them into the lineup?

"Yes. If everybody's doing the things I know they're capable of doing, yes," manager Davey Johnson admitted. "But it's what they pay me to do: Try to keep them all sharp."
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Bernadina leaving Saturday for WBC

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Roger Bernadina will leave camp Saturday to play in the WBC in Taiwan.

VIERA, Fla. -- Roger Bernadina opened a shoebox this morning inside the clubhouse and pulled out a brand-new pair of orange cleats.

Orange? Isn't that going to clash with the Nationals' uniform?

Well, yes. Thankfully, Bernadina has no plans to match them up with his standard red, white and blue garb. These are for his other team, the Netherlands national club which is competing in next month's World Baseball Classic.

Bernadina, in fact, has to leave camp on Saturday so he can join the rest of the Dutch squad on a 20-hour flight to Taiwan, where they'll all open first-round play against South Korea on March 2.

"Long day of flying," the outfielder said, "but it's worth it."

What's on tap for Day 1

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Gio Gonzalez is scheduled to report today and answer questions about Biogenesis.

VIERA, Fla. -- Though plenty of players are already in camp -- I spotted at least a dozen yesterday, and many more were around before I pulled into town around noon -- today is the official reporting date for Nationals pitchers and catchers. And one pitcher's arrival will be especially notable.

Gio Gonzalez is scheduled to report to Space Coast Stadium and is expected to meet with reporters and answer questions about his alleged ties to the Miami clinic under investigation for distributing performance enhancing drugs.

We don't know what exactly Gonzalez is going to say, or how much he's going to say -- he already denied ever taking any PEDs or even knowing Biogenesis chief Anthony Bosch -- but the left-hander plans to address this subject upon his arrival in Viera and then move on to strictly baseball matters.

As I wrote after the initial Miami New Times report, this story has the potential to become a significant distraction for Gonzalez and

Five unsung heroes

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Ryan Mattheus should be a key contributor out of the bullpen again this year.

There will be no shortage of star power inside the clubhouse or on the field at Space Coast Stadium once spring training commences for the Nationals next week. Stephen Strasburg. Bryce Harper. Ryan Zimmerman. Jayson Werth. Gio Gonzalez. Ian Desmond. Adam LaRoche. Dan Haren. This team certainly isn't lacking in notoriety.

Davey Johnson, though, takes every opportunity he gets to point out the importance of all 25 men on his roster contributing to a winning ballclub. And as we saw last season, there were all sorts of key role players without whom the Nats would not have won their first NL East title.

With that in mind, let's focus today on five guys who won't draw nearly as much attention as their big-name teammates this spring yet all could play significant roles on a club with realistic World Series visions...

ROGER BERNADINA
The longest-tenured player in the organization -- he was signed out of Curacao way back in 2001, when the franchise still called

6 of 7 arbitration-eligible players sign

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Ross Detwiler agreed to a one-year, $2.3375 million contract.

Updated at 4:03 p.m.

It's deadline day for all arbitration-eligible players to either come to terms on 2013 contracts with their clubs or else submit competing offers to Major League Baseball in advance of hearings next month.

Which isn't to say this is a hard-and-fast deadline, because the two sides are still allowed to negotiate with each other before those hearings ever take place. But there will some significant motivation to get deals done today and avoid the whole, messy arbitration process altogether.

The Nationals have seven arbitration-eligible players this season: Drew Storen (who signed a $2.5 million contract with incentives last night), Ross Detwiler, Jordan Zimmermann, Ian Desmond, Tyler Clippard, Craig Stammen and Roger Bernadina.

Detwiler became the first member of the group to sign today, agreeing to a one-year, $2.3375 million contract that also includes incentives, according to his agency (CAA, which also represents

Is the bench already set in stone?

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Tyler Moore likely will be the top right-handed bat off the Nationals' bench.

It's one thing for a ballclub's lineup or rotation to be set one month before pitchers and catchers even report for spring training. It's quite another for a ballclub's bench to be all but locked up in mid-January.

But a quick glance at the Nationals' roster confirms it: Davey Johnson almost certainly already knows who will be part of his five-man bench come Opening Day.

Injuries, of course, can always throw the best-laid plans out of whack. But let's assume for the sake of argument the Nationals' stable of position players emerges healthy from spring training. Under that assumption -- plus the assumption Michael Morse is traded at some point -- it's clear which five players will come off the bench:

-- Chad Tracy
-- Steve Lombardozzi
-- Roger Bernadina

WBC could be loaded with Nats

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The third installment of the World Baseball Classic will be held in March.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A handful of prominent Nationals (Alfonso Soriano and Chad Cordero in 2006, Adam Dunn and Joel Hanrahan in 2009) participated in the first two installments of the World Baseball Classic, but the upcoming third installment of the international tournament could be loaded with players off Washington's roster.

So far, only outfielder Roger Bernadina (Netherlands) has committed to playing in the Classic, which will be held March 2-19. Plenty more could follow as rosters are assembled and announced in the coming month.

Team USA will unveil its roster on January 16, with no shortage of potential Nationals in the mix for spots.

Bryce Harper seems a logical choice for manager Joe Torre. So does Ian Desmond, whose chances will be boosted by the fact Derek Jeter is recovering from a broken ankle. Ryan Zimmerman could

Position analysis: Outfield

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Bryce Harper enjoyed one of the best big-league seasons ever by a teenager.

As we transition into offseason mode, we'll start by breaking down the Nationals' roster by position (infield, outfield, catcher, rotation and bullpen) this week and examine where things stand at season's end and where things might stand moving forward. Today's position: Outfield...

OF JAYSON WERTH
Stats: 81 G, 344 PA, 5 HR, 31 RBI, .300 AVG, .387 OBP, .440 SLG
1 E, -12.6 UZR, 1.0 WAR
2012 salary: $13 million
Contract status: $16 million in 2013, $20 million in 2014, $21 million in 2015, $21 million in 2016, $21 million in 2017, free agent in 2018
Where he fits in: After a frustrating debut season and after missing three months this season with a broken wrist, Werth finally got to enjoy playing in D.C. (and D.C. finally got to enjoy watching Werth play). The biggest key to his success: Embracing the leadoff role and becoming a potent force atop the lineup. The question now is whether he'll be back in that role next year or whether the Nationals want to add a more traditional No. 1 hitter. Given his skill-set and the makeup of the rest of the projected lineup, it probably makes sense for Werth to stay right where he is in 2013.

OF BRYCE HARPER
Stats: 139 G, 597 PA, 22 HR, 59 RBI, .270 AVG, .340 OBP, .477 SLG
7 E, 9.9 UZR, 4.9 WAR
2012 salary: $1.75 million

Bernadina has stiff neck after catch

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Roger Bernadina was banged up making this catch during last night's game.

ATLANTA -- Roger Bernadina is dealing with a stiff neck one day after slamming into the left field wall to make a catch during the Nationals' 2-1 loss to the Braves and is not in manager Davey Johnson's starting lineup for the second game of this series.

"He's got a little stiff neck," Johnson said. "But he could play."

Bernadina initially appeared to hurt his right shoulder or collarbone after he robbed Jason Heyward of extra bases in the fifth inning. Johnson and a trainer went out to check on him, but Bernadina stayed in the game and played the rest of the way without appearing to suffer any lingering effects.

Afterward, Bernadina insisted he could play.

"In that moment, I didn't think about it," he said. "It should be fine."

X-rays on Morse's hand negative

Associated Press photo

Michael Morse left tonight's game after getting hit in the right hand.

Updated at 11:26 p.m.

PHILADELPHIA -- The Nationals were breathing a sigh of relief following tonight's series finale against the Phillies after X-rays taken of Michael Morse's right hand came back negative, and the cleanup hitter was diagnosed with only a bad bruise after getting hit by a pitch in the first inning.

Morse was in serious pain after taking Kyle Kendrick's changeup off the outside of his right hand, dropping to a knee and grimacing as trainer Mike McGowan took off his batting glove and examined him.

"Any time you get hit in the hands, it's kind of nerve-wracking," he said. "But, you know, X-rays came out negative and stuff, so I should be all right."

Though they were relieved to know their No. 4 hitter isn't seriously injured, the Nationals don't expect Morse back in the lineup for at least a day or two. He hadn't tried to grip a bat yet shortly after the game

Potent lineup deserves praise

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The Nationals scored 14 runs and celebrated their ninth win in 10 days.

The phrase "one of the best" has been used to describe various aspects of the Nationals all season. They've got one of the best rotations in baseball. They've got one of the best bullpens. They've got one of the best farm systems in the sport, helping them overcome a slew of injuries.

And, of course, they've got the best record in the majors at the moment.

Maybe it's time to start using that designation on another aspect of this organization: The Nationals have one of the best lineups in baseball.

That notion would have sounded ludicrous a few months ago, back when four runs was considered an offensive explosion and everyone accepted the idea this team would win on the strength of its pitching staff and only its pitching staff.

Not anymore. Just look at what the Nationals lineup has done lately, not only during last night's 14-2 shellacking of the Giants but over a

Encouraging/discouraging

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Bryce Harper, slumping since the All-Star break, sat out last night's win.

PHOENIX -- It's been a while since we compiled one of these things, looking alternatively at some of the more encouraging and discouraging developments involving the Nationals.

So as the Nats head west following a four-game sweep of the Astros and prepare for a weekend series with the Diamondbacks in advance of a big, three-game showdown with the Giants, let's take a look where certain players on this roster currently stand.

ENCOURAGING: Jordan Zimmermann continues to develop not only into a front-line pitcher for the Nationals but into one of the best pitchers in the National League. With last night's demolition of Houston's lineup -- six scoreless innings, 11 strikeouts -- Zimmermann improved to 9-6 with a 2.35 ERA (second-best in the NL). Most impressively, he's getting better as the season progresses. Yes, there was a little hiccup last weekend against the Marlins. But even with that one included, Zimmermann is now 6-0 with a 1.47 ERA over his last nine starts. During that span, he's walked only eight batters while