The Washington Nationals lost to the Detroit Tigers, 5-1, on Monday, but the two teams’ third face-off of Spring Training wasn’t without its highlights.

The Good

Jordan Zimmerman was lights-out against Tigers hitters. He allowed a leadoff hit in the top of the first inning, but retired all 18 of the following batters he faced. He cruised through six innings, throwing only 67 pitches, often getting all three outs before the Tigers’ pitcher, Max Scherzer, even had time to get comfortable in the dugout.

The offensive highlight of the game was Adam LaRoche, who was responsible for the Nats’ sole run of the game. LaRoche hit an opposite field home run in the fourth inning, despite the wind gusting over the outfield.

The Bad

Rafael Soriano relieved Zimmermann in the seventh inning, and quickly took the shine off his gem of an outing. Soriano allowed four runs on five hits and a walk, and managed to get only two outs before Fernando Abad came in to close out the inning. Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post tweeted that it appeared Soriano was still working on building arm strength, as his average pitch velocity stayed between 88 and 91 mph.

The Encouraging

Wilson Ramos caught seven innings, the most he has caught since his ACL/meniscus injury on May 12 of last season, as he continues his progression to full health. In addition to his progress behind the plate, Ramos also did well in the batter’s box, going 3-for-3 and accounting for nearly a third of the Nationals hits on the day.

For the first time, probably ever, I can say that this year’s Spring Training for the Washington Nationals is painfully, unquestionably, absolutely, boring. 

The team’s opening day roster is all but set. There are no serious injuries, no silly over-performing or underperforming overreactions, not even a last chancer or two sprinkled around camp. The starters are not being rushed, they’re getting ready in their own time to prepare for Opening Day, April 1. The pitchers are tinkering with pitches but there is no doubt who will be where in the rotation once the team heads north. 

Quite simply, this looks like a polished, ready to ship, get them on the truck pennant contender. This is what happens when a team returns from being the best in baseball the year before, with an even stronger and healthier roster than they brought to the postseason. This is what it looks like to have a front office that has dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s. This is what it looks like to have a manager who has instilled so much trust in his players, that they are not focusing on any lineup competition, merely their own readiness. 

This spring, the Nationals look like they are primed to be the best team in baseball, and its both amazing and maddening at the same time. Do not get me wrong, I’d much rather have the team that will compete in October than a team of wash ups competing for a spot in March. But I’m nostalgic. Spring Training, as a Washington Nationals fan, has always meant needing to bring your Who’s Who in Baseball to the stadium to figure out half of the lineup by the fifth inning. It meant having no idea who would make up three fifths of a rotation until about a week before the season, and watching 36-year-olds from all across baseball mosey over to Washington for one last chance. 

In years past, Spring Training gave you an opportunity to see and completely overrate the team’s young prospects. Last season you wondered if Bryce Harper would make the team out of camp. The year before that, you wondered what Stephen Strasburg would look like in a full season. Hell, I remember going to camp wishing I could catch a glimpse of Smiley Gonzalez, or even Michael Burgess. 

I’m just so unused to viewing Spring Training as what it actually is, a chance for teams to warm up for the regular season. For Nationals fans, it has been one of the main shows since 2005. This is where we were able to see change happen in real time. Decisions were made on small sample sizes, and we got to witness every moment of it. 

Now, the Nationals are showing us something different. This is how a top-level team prepares for the season, and its certainly going to be an interesting one here in Washington.

In perhaps the least surprising announcement of spring training, Davey Johnson has officially named Stephen Strasburg as the Nationals Opening Day starter. Even before the official announcement, it was a foregone conclusion that he would start the game on April 1 against Ricky Nolasco and the Miami Marlins at home. Marlins manager Mike Redmond already named Nolasco their Opening Day starter about a week ago in the middle of a pitching change. It will be the first time Strasburg starts an Opening Day game at home since last year’s season opener was at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Strasburg has always had plenty of confidence in his ability, and he showed the guys on ESPN’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning” yesterday just how confident he is. When asked who he’d like to face least with a runner at third and a one run lead, Strasburg came back, “That’s tough. I’m not really scared of anybody.” Well, then. He did give some kudos to an opponent he’ll be facing on Opening Day, though. He continued, "But I think a guy who would say he’s had pretty good success early on is probably Giancarlo Stanton. He’s got a lot of power, but, you know what? I throw it pretty hard too, so let’s see how far he could hit it.”

This is what we’d call “brimming with confidence,” wouldn’t you?

As most MLB players are caught up in spring training, some are representing their countries in the World Baseball Classic. There’s already been lots of excitement around this year’s WBC as the competition continues to grow, but Nationals star Bryce Harper is done missing out on the opportunity to represent his country. He said he won’t stay out of the next competition four years from now. In fact, he can’t wait for the opportunity, according to Ken Rosenthal from FoxSports.com.

Harper isn’t skipping this year’s WBC because he’s concerned about getting hurt as people often assume, Rosenthal wrote. He wants to spend his first full spring as a major leaguer with his team to make himself better and get to know his new outfield partner, Denard Span. Seeing his teammates, Ross Detwiler and Gio Gonzalez, represent the United States in the tournament couldn’t have made Harper’s abstention any easier to take.

In four years, when Harper promises he’ll play for Team USA, just think about where he’ll be in his career. He’ll likely be one of the best players in baseball if he continues on his current trajectory, perhaps with an MVP award under his belt. To have a player of that caliber excited about playing in the WBC would be huge for the future success of the tournament in the United States.

Inevitably, people are concerned about players getting injured in what some consider an exhibition prior to the MLB season. I only refer you to Jayson Stark’s great article on injuries sustained in previous WBCs. Stark himself admits it’s not a perfect study, but whether a player gets injured during the WBC or during spring training, what does it really matter?

Team USA has some great talent this year with David Wright, Ryan Braun, Joe Mauer, and Giancarlo Stanton, but none of those players are stars that far outreach their team or market. Wright is a great, but sometimes underrated player on the national stage. Braun has been bogged down in scandal for more than a season now. Mauer is extremely great, but hasn’t reached his peak since his MVP season. Stanton plays in Miami, so he’ll never get the type of appreciation he deserves. Bryce Harper is a national media sensation who could truly generate interest for the Classic in four years. Nationals fans, WBC fans, and baseball fans in general should be excited about the opportunity to see him play on the world stage.

Anthony Rendon has said he wants this Spring Training to be one the Washington Nationals management will remember. 

It's working.

In today's Spring Training game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Rendon hit his third home run of the spring to the opposite field. In 20 at-bats, Rendon is hitting .400, with eight hits, three homers, three doubles and eight RBIs. Make what you will of Spring Training stats, but the only other two hitters with a comparable number of at-bats who are hitting better than he is  are Ian Desmond (.412) and Bryce Harper (.474). Like Harper, Rendon continues to impress in the batters box, and when the way you're playing earns you comparison with Bryce Harper, you better believe you are going to be remembered. 

Davey Johnson has said there is no way Rendon makes the big league club out of Spring Training, but after seeing his level of performance up close, there are many Nationals fans who would not complain one bit if Rendon was a September call-up.

The other standout in today's game, as usual, was Stephen Strasburg. The Nats' ace threw 67 pitches in 3.2 innings, allowed two runs and struck out six. Strasburg was strong to start, with a 1-2-3 first inning, and according to a tweet by MASN's Dan Kolko, four of his six strikeouts were on unhittable change ups to lefties. As Strasburg progresses  through Spring Training, we can look for his game face to become stonier, and for him to settle in to his Opening Day rhythm. 

The Phillies-Nationals rivalry also took a step toward its regular season strength, when Roy Halladay threw behind Tyler Moore in retaliation for Strasburg first hitting Chase Utley in the foot. Based on Halladay's reaction in post-game interviews, Nationals beat writers seemed to believe that Halladay may have thrown at Moore on purpose, while Strasburg was not impressed with the incident. 

To the Washington Post, Strasburg said, "I don’t understand why they’d think I was throwing at them. Obviously you can tell the conditions weren’t great and I yanked it in there. It’s spring training. If you’re going to throw at somebody or give a message in spring training, go ahead.”

If it's only Spring Training and the claws are already coming out between these two teams, their faceoffs this season are bound to be interesting.

It's another spring training edition of the podcast, so we talk about quite a bit. If you're interested in the most impressive guys of spring, then you've come to the right place. We also discuss the World Baseball Classic, PEDs, and some more exploration of the NL East.

Mike Trout and his agent aren’t thrilled about the current state of his contract, according to this post from Yahoo’s Big League Stew. Trout is scheduled to make just over league minimum the year after he was the runner up for AL MVP, while guys like Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Vernon Wells are making unbelievable gobs of money for the same team. The Angels seem to be committed to paying players for past performance, not for future output, especially considering the size of those big deals.

Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals have decided to treat their young, future stars right on the young side of their contracts. Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, and Anthony Rendon were all signed to MLB contracts. Strasburg signed an historic $15.1 million deal, Harper signed a $9.9 million deal, and Rendon signed a $7.2 million deal. It’s a philosophy in which Nats GM Mike Rizzo clearly believes strongly: pay players for future potential, not necessarily for past performance.

While Trout barely makes make more than league minimum as one of the league’s brightest young stars, Strasburg, Harper, and even Rendon, who hasn’t appeared in a big league game in his career, all have nice guaranteed contracts with sizeable signing bonuses between $6 million and $7.5 million. Mike Trout’s signing bonus was a small fraction of that at $1.215 million.

Teams around the league haven’t looked kindly upon the Nationals for setting this precedent, either. Most GMs don’t like the idea of giving young guys huge amounts of guaranteed money before they’ve done anything at the MLB level. In fact, the Nationals huge deals to recent first round picks was part of the reason the new Collective Bargaining Agreement adopted a firm slotting system in the draft so teams can’t do what the Nats did by giving Strasburg, Harper, and Rendon huge signing bonuses without paying huge penalties.

Another factor worth noting in this situation is the agents who represent these players. Strasburg, Harper, and Rendon are all represented, or advised, by superagent Scott Boras, but Mike Trout is not. Boras is known for getting his players paid, and this may just be another example of his prowess.

Rizzo has a philosophy that treats a star player well when negotiating his first contract, which hopefully earns some good will during the next negotiation. The Angels’ philosophy pays veterans big money while young stars are pinched until free agency. Trout did agree to this contract, so it’s hard for me to say he’s getting swindled, but you better believe he’ll remember this when he’s eligible for free agency or is offered an extension. When you have true young stars, I’ll take Rizzo’s approach to contracts any day of the week.

Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projection engine has predicted the Washington Nationals to repeat as National League East Division Champions. Here is their overall projection of the division:

Overall, Baseball Prospectus projects that the Nationals will have the third best record in the National League in 2013 and the sixth best record in baseball. That projection would make them the worst division winner in the game, but they would still finish with a better record than any Wild Card winner.  

It appears that BP’s computer seems to believe that Washington may have trouble scoring runs this season. They projected Washington to score 707 times in 2013, which would rank them 18th in the league. In 2012 they actually finished 10th. It looks like this is the biggest dig against them as it has them ranking pretty highly with 642 runs allowed. 

Part of this projected offensive decline is likely a belief that Adam LaRoche and Ian Desmond will return to their norm, as well as the loss of Mike Morse’s power. It probably doesn’t accurately account for Bryce Harper’s likely improvement, or a healthy Ryan Zimmerman, and Jayson Werth, however. It’s important to remember that Projections usually trend toward the conservative side, so young teams like Washington tend to get projected relatively lower than they actually finish. 

To me what’s really interesting here is how closely they rank the Atlanta Braves, the New York Mets, and the Philadelphia Phillies. Personally I think the Phillies are due for a bit of a comeback this season, and I have no reason to believe the Braves will suddenly lose 12 games less than they did last year. 

Personally, if I were to project this season by just eyeballing it, it would likely have the Nationals winning the division with 90+ wins, with the Braves and Phillies battling for the Wild Card with 85+ wins.