1st January 1889
The fans of the Nationals were looking towards change in the off season after another tough year but they were not expecting the amount of upheaval that actually came along. The Owner Mr John Silver of the club announced that he had sold the controlling rights over to a Mr Arturo Gonzales after saying he could no longer give the team his full dedication. The new owner Mr Gonzales has been busy very quickly to get the front office he wants for the team. He allowed the retirement of GM Dan Morgan to go ahead as he looked to bring in his own man but stuck with the rest of the front office to keep some continuity for next season. The replacement GM is Rookie Tony Burton. Burton will have to work under the financial constraints Mr Gonzales will place on him but will have a fairly free hand to make the deals he thinks are required.
The AL dinner was fairly quiet for the Washington Nationals with only 1 Golden Glove for Germany Smith and 1 Platinum Stick for Billy Hamilton.
The team saw a number of big names leave this year due to retirement.
The first to go was likeable Third Baseman Bill Boyd. Boyd had a strong career as he played 17 years of professional baseball. Of those 12 were spent in the major leagues with 3 teams. These 12 years gave him 1 Golden Glove and 6 All Star Appearances. He played in a total of 404 games with 350 starts. He hit for 433 times and scored 254 runs with 185 RBI's to collect an average of .284 (Real life stats 147 games, 192 hits, 93 runs, 93 RBI's for an average of .290)
The next 2 players to retire were U Quinn and Herm Doscher. These 2 players spent quite a few years in the major leagues but never managed to crack a starting line up. Short Stop Quinn played 153 games with 99 hits, 48 runs, 45 RBI's and an average of .263 and an MLB Championship Medal from the 1879 Chicago White Stockings. (Real life stats 2 games, 1 hit, 2 runs, .125 average.) Third Baseman Herm Doscher played 87 games over 16 years and picked up 20 hits, 12 runs, 13 RBI's and an average of .194 with an 1877 MLB Championship Medal from the Boston Beaneaters (Real life stats 109 games, 98 hits, 36 runs, 40 RBI's and an average of .224)
The final 2 retirements were for players that only made minor marks on the MLB. Second Baseman Billy West managed only 36 games 5 hits, 2 runs and an average of .357 in his 14 year career but still leaves with 3 MLB Championship Medals from 2 different teams. (Real life stats 10 games, 8 hits, 4 runs, 2 RBI's for an average of .205) First Baseman U Boland managed only 7 games. (Real life stats 1 game)
The first chance the new GM got to show himself was in the First Year Player Draft. The team had 6 selections this year and used their first round pick to select Pitcher Lee Viau. The full draft log is given below.
The team managed to sign all the draftees by the deadline.