Saturday, December 13, 2008

Nationals Sign 13 Players To Minor League Contracts

No real surprises or unexpected developments, but Our Washington Nationals announced today the signing of 13 Players to Minor League Contracts--12 of whom received invitations to The Major League Spring Training Camp.

Here is the release:

NATIONALS AGREE TO TERMS WITH 13 PLAYERS FOR 2009 SEASON

The Washington Nationals today announced the signing of 13 players who have agreed to minor league contracts. Nationals
Director of Player Development Bobby Williams made the announcement.

The following players have agreed to minor league contracts with invitations to big league camp in spring training: infielders
Freddie Bynum, Brad Eldred, Joel Guzman, Pete Orr and Matt Whitney; outfielders Ryan Langerhans and Jorge Padilla; right-handed pitchers Bobby Brownlie, Preston Larrison, J.D. Martin and Ryan Wagner; left-handed pitcher Justin Jones.

The club also signed outfielder Mike Vento to a minor league contract.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joel Guzman was just recently a highly regarded player.

Anonymous said...

Joel Guzman is a very interesting signing. He was one of the top Dodger prospects back in 2005. At the time, he was a 6 foot six inch shortstop who was in the process of being converted to a left fielder because of his size and power. I saw him play at Space Coast Stadium against the Nats and he hit a homer and a double. I watched him in batting practice and he was a hitting machine. Then he fell on hard times and the Dodgers traded him to Tampa Bay for Julio Lugo. He put up mediocre stats at triple A Durham over the last two seasons, then was released by TB. I have heard he may have a problem with laziness and lack of motivation. However, he is very talented and if he Nats can find a way to motivate him, he might be a real find. He just turned 24, so he is still young. Just remember, Josh Hamilton was in the trash heap just two years ago when Tampa Bay gave him away.

Anonymous said...

I wondered what ever happened to Vento. In 2006, the GM touted him as "this year's Rick Short." Ooops.