The trade deadline’s coming up. Jeimer Candelario is one of the hottest commodities on the market.
But if you Google “Jeimer Candelario trade,” the first article is still an old blurb about the Detroit Tigers acquiring Candelario in 2017.
And even when you find articles discussing Candelario’s potential landing spots this year, have you found a single article that attempts to actually handicap what the Nationals could get in return? As you’re trying to imagine who might join Dylan Crews on the post-trade deadline MLB Pipeline Nats Top 30 update, where are you supposed to turn?
District 9 seeks to fill that void.
I want to provide daily, quality Washington Nationals content. Not just game recaps or news summaries (though maybe we’ll have some of that, too), but all of the analysis, breakdowns, and thoughtful speculation that currently is largely lacking (at least consistently) in the Nationals content sphere.
Especially in a rebuild, it can be hard to be a fan sometimes. Especially as we enter August and some of the team’s most productive players are set to be shipped off, it’s easy to check out until the good times are back again.
But my hope at District 9 is to provide a place that spurs immediate excitement and optimism, in a way that doesn’t sugarcoat struggles or make excuses for players or management when criticism is warranted. Things are seldom as black and white as they’re described on social media, and I want this to be a place free of kneejerk reactions that instead prioritizes insight and nuance.
So who am I to provide all this?
First and foremost, I’m a Nationals fan of 18 years. But I’m also a sports content veteran - I’ve covered the team in the press box and in media gaggles, for outlets ranging from Bleacher Report to FanSided to Monumental Sports Network. In the past, I’ve also created content for outlets like iHeartRadio and Yahoo’s Rivals network, and been syndicated by outlets like Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports.
More recently, those of you in the Nationals Twitter Community (shoutout to Kev @onepursuittakes for creating such a great space for Nats fans) have probably seen me posting excessively in the community (I’m @MichaelNatelli) about trades, prospects, and who to blame for the Nats’ faillure to build a better player development department.
I’ve created this newsletter in part to give those thoughts and musings a more permanent (and long-form) home.
So that’s me. Now back to the newsletter.
Here’s how it works:
Each day, I’ll have at least one new piece of content here. On weeks like MLB Draft Week, the days leading up to the Trade Deadline, etc., there very well might be multiple posts in a given day to cover what’s going on. But every day will have at least something new.
Each week, one post will be totally free, and this first week I’m making all content free for you to check it out! For access to daily content after the first week, I’ve created a $2/month subscription.
I want to build this together. Here’s what I mean: If District 9 can become a viable source of even some income for me, that means much more time I can spend creating Nationals content for you. In time, if we can hit that goal, my hope would be to make more/all of the written content free and allocate the additional time to other types of unique premium content that make paid options even more exciting.
If that’s not something you’re interested in, no worries! There’s going to be a free article every week that I hope you enjoy! And for those who want to help build this, I can’t thank you enough.
Go Nats!