Craig Stammen News

The Nationals agreed to terms with free agent right-hander Jason Marquis on Monday, according to two baseball sources.

Thank goodness the Washington Nationals are finally acting like a real Major League Baseball team.

The baseball dominoes are beginning to fall, and it wona TMt be too long before the Washington Nationals know which free agent will bolster their starting rotation.

Who do you think will be the Nationals' Opening Day shortstop? -- Patrick S., Chantilly, Va.

The University of Dayton basketball team has been haunting opponents while coming back from seemingly unassailable deficits this season, but the Flyers finally sampled some of the pain they've been inflicting on others.

When the Winter Meetings began Monday, it was the Nationals getting most of the publicity.

My, how the tide has turned. When reports first broke late last night that the Washington Nationals had signed future Hall-of-Fame catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to a two-year, $6 million contract, comment boxes around the Internet were filled with "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!" responses.

There are plenty in the Natosphere that want Mike Rizzo and the Washington Nationals to make a big splash and sign a bunch of free agents this winter to improve the product on the field.

Thanks to the 73,367,659 fans who attended Major League Baseball games in 2009. Thanks to the ballplayers who keep us coming back for every pitch and every year.

Numbers don't always tell the whole story. If they did, fans of the Nationals might not have much reason to feel optimistic, after their big league team suffered through its second consecutive 100-loss season .

The Nationals are expecting big things from pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whom they are paying $15.1 million after making him the No.

With free agency starting at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday, the Nationals are expected to be players.

The Nationals will soon announce that John McLaren will be Jim Riggleman's bench coach and they have retained Rick Eckstein, Pat Listach and Steve McCatty as the hitting coach, third-base coach and pitching coach, respectively, according to a baseball source.

Eight months ago, Mike Rizzo and Jim Riggleman were midlevel lieutenants -- Rizzo an assistant general manager, Riggleman a bench coach -- for an organization full of mismatched parts and internal intrigue. On Thursday afternoon, they sat together on a stage in the interview room at Nationals Park as the new faces of the Washington Nationals' management, united in the quest to change the direction of the franchise.

Rizzo, the general manager who got the 'interim' tag removed from his own job title in August, performed the same merciful surgery on Riggleman's title, selecting the former interim manager for the full-time managing position at the end of an interview process that smacked of being extraneous -- in that Rizzo, it appears, knew who his choice would be all along.

Craig Stammen pitched pretty well as a rookie in 2009, though he had not looked nearly as crisp over the last month of the season.

The Washington, D.C. chapter of the Internet Baseball Writers Association is an organization comprised of Internet writers, online media outlets and bloggers.

It could be the busiest offseason in Nationals history, and if the Nyjer Morgan/Sean Burnett trade was any indication, look for general manager Mike Rizzo to improve the team in a big way.

Eight years as one of the sport's most consistent and most productive hitters, yet not one of them spent on a winning team.

In this June, 25, 2009 file photo, Washington Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in Washington.

At the beginning of the year, it was the key to whether the Washington Nationals would be improved enough to reach the realm of respectability.