Gold Glove forst baseman Adam LaRoche and dependable reliver Sean Burnett have declined their mutual club options, making both eligible to hit the free agency market.  Both moves by the players were expected. 

Washington is apparently negotiating with LaRoche.  Reportedly, both sides have discussed contract parameters and both sides are interested in consummating a deal.  LaRoche stated last week that 'progress' was made in talks on a new deal. 

We shall see.  As for Burnett, Washington could look to re-ink Burnett.  Burnett is looking for a multi-year deal after signing a two year extension with the Nats in 2010, after being acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

The Washington Nationals have 8 prospects playing in the prospect driven Arizona Fall League.  They have 4 fielders and 4 pitchers assigned to the Salt River Rafters.  The Rafters sit atop their division at 11-7, a .5 games lead over Scottsdale.  So how are the Nats prospects faring?

3B Matthew Skole:  Skole is tearing up the AFL, collecting 13 hits in 38 plate appearances for a healthy .342 batting average.  Of his 13 hits, Skole has 3 doubles and 2 home runs.  He has driven in 7 runs and scored 6.  Skole has a .579 slugging percentage and a .468 on base percentage.  Skole, a 5th round pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, had a fantastic season at Low A Hagerstown.  In 101 games, Skole batted .286 with 27 home runs and 92 RBI.  He was promoted to Potomac late in the season.  He played in 18 games and batted .314.  Overall on the season, Skole batted .291 with 27 homers and 102 RBI.  He finished with a combined .559 slugging percentage and a .439 on base percentage. 

OF Brian Goodwin.  The Nats drafted Goodwin in the second round of the 2011 MLB Draft.  Drafted to be a future center fielder, a position of need for the Nationals, Goodwin could be on the fast track to Washington.  In 12 games at the AFL, Goodwin is batting .313 and has 15 hits in 48 at bats.  9 of his 14 hits are for extra bases, collecting 4 doubles, 3 triples, and 3 home runs.    Goodwin has score 11 runs, driven in 4 runs, and has a whopping .667 slugging percentage with a .400 on base percentage.  Goodwin started the 2012 season off injured.  He was assigned to Hagerstown and in 58 games, he batted .324 with 18 doubles, a triple, and 9 home runs.  Goodwin posted a .438 on base percentage and a .542 slugging percentage.  He was promoted to AA Harrisburg and batted .223 in 166 at bats.  He added 8 doubles, a triple, and 5 homers.  Combined for the season, Goodwin batted .280 with 26 doubles, 2 triples, and 14 home runs. 

3B Anthony Rendon.  Rendon was the Nationals 2011 MLB Draft top pick.  He spent much of the 2012 season injured.  In the AFL, Rendon has appeared in 13 games and is 13 for 38 with a batting average of .271.  Rendon has added 5 doubles.  He has scored 8 runs and driven in 6. 

IF Jason Martinson:  Martinson has got off to a cold start in the AFL collecting just 2 hits in 22 plate appearances.  Martinson was one of the most explosive players in the Nationals system last season.  Splitting the season between Hagerstown and Potomac, Martinson batted .245, but added 22 homes runs, 106 RBI and scored a whopping 123 runs. 

The Pitchers:

Ryan Perry:  Perry has made 4 starts in the AFL and is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA.  In 14 innings, he has allowed 7 runs on 9 hits, 4 walks, and 12 strikeouts.  He has a WHIP of 0.93. 

Paul Demny:  Demny has appeared in 6 bullpen appearances and has allowed 3 runs over 8.2 innings for a 3.12 ERA.  He has allowed 9 hits, 8 walks and has fanned 5 batters.  Demny appeared in 28 games and made 23 starts for AA Harrisburg.  He finished 6-8 with a 5.46 ERA.  In 123.2 innings, he allowed 61 walks while striking out 97.  

Aaron Barrett:  Barrett has appeared in 6 games and allowed 2 runs in 7 innings for a 2.57 ERA.  He has allowed 11 hits, only 1 walk, while fanning 6.  Barrett posted a nice season Between Hagerstown and Potomac.  In 42 appearances, Barrett posted a 3-2 record with 17 saves.  Combined for the season, Barrett had an ERA of 2.09.  In 51.2 innings, Barrett only permitted 14 walks while striking out 73. 

Cole Kimball:  Kimball was a promising prospect to make the Nats roster last season before undergoing shoulder surgery.  He only appeared in 5.2 innings last season.  In the AFL, Kimball has appeared in 6 games and has a 3.18 ERA, allowing 2 runs over 5.2 innings. 

Washington Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche has wins the National League Gold Glove at first base.  The accolades began to roll in Tuesday night for the Nationals tremendous 2012 season. It is LaRoche's first gold glove of his nine year career.  LaRoche finished with a .995 fielding percentage having committed just seven errors in over 1,320 innings.

At the plate, LaRoche batted .270 and led the Nationals with 33 home runs and 100 RBI, one year after missing 2010 with a shoulder injury.  LaRoche's glove and bat was instrumental in helping the Nationals to the franchise's first playoff berth and NL East Division crown. 

A short-handed Washington Wizards team escaped the D.C. area hours ahead of Hurricane Sandy to play their season opener in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, but the team didn't really show up until the fourth quarter. The Wizards fell behind by 16 points in the third quarter, trailed by 12 after three and finally lost by 10, 94-84. 

In between the 12-point deficit and the 10-point loss the Wizards finally showed some life and stormed back to take a two point lead after scoring the first 14 points of the fourth quarter. However, the Wizards couldn't hold the lead and when they went cold, they went very cold, missing 14 of their last 15 shots from the field and allowing a shaken Cavs team to take control of the game once more. The Wizards took one big shot at winning tonight, but playing without their best three players -- John Wall, Nene and Kevin Seraphin -- one shot is all they had in them and it wasn't enough. 

The Wizards scored the first five points of the game on a Trevor Ariza 3-pointer and a layup by center Emeka Okafor, but the Cavs came back immediately and soon seized the lead a few minutes into the first quarter. They never looked back until their early fourth quarter collapse. Most of the Cavaliers team looked mediocre or worse, but point guard Kyrie Irving, center Anderson Varejao and rookie shooting guard Dion Waiters carried their team to victory tonight. 

Varejao nearly scored a triple double, racking up 23 rebounds [career-high], 9 points and 9 assists. Kyrie Irving, last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, was spectacular, scoring 29 points on 20 shots and grabbing six rebounds. Dion Waiters added 17 points and while he didn't shoot the lights out, he was aggressive and looked for his shot and the rim. 

Unlike Waiters, Wizards rookie guard Bradley Beal, who got the start, looked hesitant tonight. He didn't drive to the basket and he hit only two of his eight shots. Both of those made shots were 3-pointers and Beal finished with 8 points in 22 minutes. He sat for long stretches of the game and never looked comfortable in his first NBA game. Beal's -16 court ratio was a pretty good indication of his contribution tonight. 

Beal was hardly the only problem the Wizards had in their season opener. The leading scorer was Jordan Crawford who came off the bench and needed 13 shots [0-6 on 3-pointers] to score 11 points. Center Emeka Okafor scored 10 points on 10 shots and grabbed 7 rebounds and blocked four shots in 25 minutes. However, he was completely dominated by Varejao and was actually outplayed by his backup, Earl Barron, who was claimed off waivers and barely made the team. 

Barron led Washington's comeback in the fourth quarter and stayed in the game, finishing with 8 points and 8 rebounds in 16 minutes. Just about the only other Wiz player who had anything that could be described as a decent game was forward Martell Webster, who scored 9 points on 4 of 6 shooting in 23 minutes. Otherwise, the Wizards were pretty awful and A.J. Price, starting in place of Wall, didn't help by missing 11 of his 13 shots, including two big three-pointer bricks that helped crush any chance of a Wiz come back in the final minutes. Price did notch 6 dimes against only one turnovers, but his good passing was more than overcome by his abysmal shooting. Backup Jannero Pargo was just as bad, missing 4 of 6 shots and playing matador defense againt anyone lucky enough to be facing him. 

The Wizards continue to be a horrible shooting team, making only 35.6 percent of their shots tonight, including 25 percent on three-pointers. Just as ugly, the Wizards hit only 60 percent of their free throws. At one point in the game it seemed Anderson Varejao might out-rebound the entire Wizards team, but while that did not happen, the Wiz were still dominated on the boards to the tune of 54-39.

About the only good thing one can say about Washington's first game of the season was the ball-handling and distribution. The Wizards had 26 assists on 32 made baskets and while part of that might be because there is no one on the team who can create his own shot without John Wall on the floor, the Wiz definitely moved the ball around crisply and made the extra pass when necessary. [The problem was that no one could hit a shot after the extra pass was made.] In addition, the Wiz committed only 12 turnovers to Cleveland's 20. A 26-12 assists-to-turnover ratio is pretty damn good, but it demonstrates how awful the Wiz were in every other area that they still lost by 10 points to a pretty mediocre Cavs team.

Washington [0-1] plays next on November 3 when they host the Boston Celtics in D.C.

The Wizards battled back from a double digit second half deficit but came up short, losing to the Cavaliers in Cleveland 94-84. Playing without John Wall and Nene, Washington actually led in the fourth quarter before running out of gas.

Jordan Crawford led the Wizards with eleven points, with Emeka Okafor added ten points, seven rebounds and blocked four shots. Washington shot only 36% from the floor and 60% from the line.

Last season's rookie of the year Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 29 points, while center Anderson Varejao added nine points, nine assists and pulled down 23 rebounds.

The Wizards are off until Saturday night when they host the Boston Celtics in their home opener at the Verizon Center.

A weekly feature in which we update the performances of the locked-out Caps players.

(Due to technical difficulties, there was no update last week)

Nicklas Bäckström: After what was surely an incredible amount of persuasion, Nicklas Bäckström has joined teammate Alex Ovechkin with the KHL’s Dynamo Moscow. In his first three games in Russia, the Swedish center has one goal and one assist and is -1.

Joey Crabb: Back in his home state with the Alaska Aces, Crabb has been one of the Caps’ most productive players while locked out, and after posting two goals and one assist in his first two games, Crabb has one goal and three assists in his last four games. Through six, Crabb has three goals, four assists, and is minus-1.

Brooks Laich: Laich has been sensational since joining the Swiss National League A’s Kloten Flyers. Despite recording the game from hell, Laich has scored five goals and seven assists in 11 games, and has a plus-9 rating.

Michal Neuvirth: Czech netminder Michal Neuvirth is very much on the opposite end of the performance scale to Laich. Playing on a struggling team, Neuvy has won just one of 10 games, having posted a .906 save percentage and 3.52 goals against average. Not much more needs to be said.

Alex Ovechkin: Though he is currently out with bronchitis, Ovechkin has been immense in his time with Dynamo Moscow. In the KHL, a league where a point-per-game pace is hard to come by, Ovechkin has six goals and eight assists for 14 points through 14 games, and while that doesn’t equal the efforts of fellow NHL Russians Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeny Malkin, the numbers are encouraging for a player looking to bounce back from a pair of bad seasons.

Wojtek Wolski: Wolski returned to his native Poland to play for KH Sanok of the Polska Liga Hokejowa, but has been underwhelming since joining, with just one assist and plus-1 through four games. That said, once he adjusts to the bigger ice rinks and less physical game, he should be disgustingly productive.

Stanislav Galiev, Braden Holtby, Tomas Kundratek, Dmitry Orlov, and Mattias Sjögren will play for the AHL’s Hershey Bears.

Karl Alzner, Jay Beagle, Troy Brouwer, John Carlson, Jason Chimera, John Erskine, Mike Green, Roman Hamrlik, Matt Hendricks, Jack Hillen, Marcus Johansson, Mathieu Perreault, Mike Ribeiro, Jeff Schultz, and Joel Ward have yet to sign.

Tom Poti is injured.

When Robert Griffin III went outside for a pass reception on a pitch to WR Josh Morgan, how many of you held your breath?  Were you surprised that the Redskins opened RGIII up to possible hard hits?  If you remember, the pass was incomplete as RGIII was called for pass interference.  Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan addressed that play.

"After looking at that play you feel like a complete dumbshit."  HC Mike Shanahan 

The Washington Redskins are more than aware they put themselves in a bind and how important the game against Carolina is for the rest of the season. 

"Everybody knows it's a must-win hgame when you're 3-5 at the bye week."  HC Mike Shanahan

According to Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan, although he would like Pierre Garcon to return next week, he does not conceivably see him back until after the Bye Week.  Washington faces the Carolina Panthers this upcoming week and then enter their needed bye week.

Bad news for the Redskins.  

Redskins desperately need a play maker who can catch the ball make plays.  That was evident with ten pass drops yesterday.  With Gracon and TE Fred Davis lost, the Redskins passing game exceptionally tanked this past week against Pittsburgh.  Barely any blame can be given to QB Robert Griffin III.  Time and time again, Griffin delivered the football where NFL caliber receivers should have made the catches.  

Hopefully, Washington can reestablish the run game against Carolina and limp into the bye week with a win.  That would give Garcon an extra week to heal his ailing foot injury.  The Redskins offense is in desperate need of Pierre Garcon.    

We keep all injuries updated in one thread. 

Bill Simmons and Joe House of Grantland eviscerate the 2012-13 Washington Wizards. Enjoy the metaphors and similes.

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