Kurt Suzuki And His Painted (Stickered) Fingernails

Here is new Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki and his pretty new nail-polish (not really nail-polish, read below).  His fingers are marked in order to help with the signs, or so FP Santangelo says.  I just think Kurt likes to be fashionable.

The yellow on Suzuki's fingers is not actually nail-polish.  It is a bunch of removable stickers without the mess of nail polish.  The product is called "Game Signs". From an article about the creators of the product"

Last September, they introduced a new product called Game Signs, colorful stickers catchers could painlessly apply to their nails and discard instantly after the game.

Whatever works for you Kurt!

More on Kurt Suzuki:

• A heartwarming story about Kurt Suzuki & his father with cancer
• Welcome a catcher who can throw runners out!
• Kurt Suzuki jumping out of a pool

Welcome New Starting Catcher Kurt Suzuki

The Washington Nationals have traded for Oakland catcher Kurt Suzuki.  Suzuki has been struggling this year at the plate but should be an improvement over Jesus Flores, especially throwing out runners.

The Nats moved from the 2nd worst catcher in baseball to a guy in the top 10

The key for this trade was that Suzuki this season has caught 38% of runners stealing while Jesus Flores is at 10%.  Flores' numbers are awful in that category and teams have been stealing bases uncontested for the past several weeks.  Catcher play like that would not be good in clutch games where a runner moving from first to second can be the difference between a win and a loss.

Suzuki's 2.18 batting average is only a few points below Jesus Flores 2.25

As you can see, Suzuki is struggling on offense.  He has been a much better hitter in the past and has the potential to get his average up.  However keeping the bases clean and having a solid catcher in the field could be more important than having a catcher who can hit at this time.

Jesus will most likely backup and possibly pinch hit late in games.

And he is on Twitter

According to Mark Zuckerman, Suzuki was Traded For David Freitas, Class A Minor League and will be under contract for the rest of this year, and for next year.  Next year's contract is almost $6.5 million

The contract situation means that next season if Wison Ramos returns as the #1 guy, then you have a lot of money tied up in backup catcher.  But that can be dealt with later, the key was fixing up the position for a World Series run.

Stat of the Trade: (from Baseball Reference)

• Suzuki is top 10 in the MLB in Caught Stealing % (Must play 20 games)
• Jesus Flores is 2nd to last in the MLB in Caught Stealing % (Must play 20 games)

More on Kurt Suzuki:

• Suzuki & His Father, a heartwarming story
• Suzuki jumps out of a pool (hard)
• Kurt Suzuki's Painted Fingernails

Nats Injury Update

The injuries keep piling up...let's take a look at what is going on at Nats Hospital...

At The Exits

Michael Morse: (Rehab) Lat - Morse is starting his rehab assignment today in Potomac.  He hit 2 homers in his previous rehab game in "extended spring training".  Back Soon


Mark DeRosa:  (15 Day DL) Oblique - Recently took batting practice - Back This Week


Jesus Flores:  See Below

Mid-Term

Ryan Mattheus:  (15 Day DL) Foot - A few weeks in a boot - Back- Mid-Late June


Drew Storen:  (15 Day DL) Elbow - Back Mid-July


Brad Lidge:  (15 Day DL) Hernia - Recently threw some bullpen sessions - Back Mid-July


Chad Tracy:  (15 Day DL) Groin - Reports had him out for the year, FP Santangelo said Tracy texted him and said 6 weeks - Out For 6 Weeks...or the year...


In The Distance

Jayson Werth:  (60 Day DL) Wrist - Surgery from broken wrist, now just waiting to heal.  Just transferred to 60-day.  Back Early August


Chris Marrero:  (60 Day DL) Shoulder - Having problems in rehab.  Back Late Season

Catchers Ward

Wilson Ramos:  (Doneski) Torn ACL - Starting catcher out for the season.  Never Coming Back

Jesus Flores:  (Day to Day) Hammy - With Ramos out, Maldanado a poor hitter, a new catcher coming up, Flores needs to play through tight hamstrings.  While he does let's hope they don't get worse.  Could Play This Week

Sandy Leon:  (60 Day DL) Ankle - One Game, One At Bat, One Strikeout, Done.  Back Mid-July At Earliest


Carlos Maldanado isn't injured, but he is a poor hitter, so Nats brought up the next guy Jhonatan Solano just in case.

Next Up, Carlos Maldanado

On Monday night there was a lot of joking around in a half serious way about playing Bryce Harper in the catcher position.  The reason that it was half-serious is because for the second time in 3 days, the Nationals lost a catcher to injury.

On Saturday night the Nats lost starting catcher Wilson Ramos for the season with a torn ACL and just 2 games later AA-call-up Sandy Leon found himself laying on the ground in agony as well.  Leon's injury was a sprained ankle caused by a collision at the plate.  Four innings of a Major League career, 1 strikeout looking, and down to the DL, his Major League chance possibly washed away.

While Bryce Harper could put on the catcher's gear, that is the last thing the Nationals want.  In their mind Harper never played catcher and never will again.  Especially after watching all these violent collisions around the league, and within the organization where catchers careers are ruined, you'd have to be insane to put Bryce there.

So the organization has made the decision to bring up Carlos Maldonado.  He is the AAA catcher that was overlooked on Saturday night for the likes of AA Sandy Leon.  Maldonado played a few games in 2006 & 2007 for the Pirates (21) and a handful for the Nats in 2010 (4), but has been a career minor leaguer since 1997.

At 33 years old Maldonado is being brought up just to fill in.  Not as exciting as Leon, who at 23 years old is 10 years younger and was somewhat of a "prospect".

So for the Nationals not much changes.  Jesus Flores is the everyday catcher and Maldonado will be around to back him up...here's hoping these guys can stay healthy and can we ELIMINATE the home plate collision from the game already?

By the way, I've heard Pudge Rodriguez's name mentioned by fans...