LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Angels agreed to one-year contracts

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Angels agreed to one-year contracts with right-handers JC Ramirez and Nicholas Tropeano that avoided salary arbitration.Ramirez agreed at $1 http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-justin-morneau-jersey ,901,000 on Thursday, a raise of $1,000. Tropeano’s deal is for $1,075,000, up from $552,500 in his first year of arbitration eligibility.After breaking through as a big-league starter in 2017, Ramirez made two starts last season and had Tommy John surgery. He could be ready to return late this season.Tropeano was 5-6 with a 4.74 ERA in 14 starts. The 28-year-old right-hander returned from Tommy John surgery but had shoulder problems. He has 12 big-league wins in four major league seasons that began with Houston in 2014.Six Los Angeles players remain eligible to exchange proposed arbitration salaries Friday: right-handers Cam Bedrosian Kirby Puckett Jersey , Luis Garcia and Hansel Robles; left-handers Andrew Heaney and Tyler Skaggs; and second baseman Tommy La Stella. Dylan Buell/Getty ImagesWashington Nationals general manager and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo sees manager Davey Martinez as part of the team in 2019 despite what has been a massively disappointing 2018 campaign."I haven't considered any other scenario," Rizzo said Wednesday when asked whether Martinez would return for next season, per MASN's Mark Zuckerman.Rizzo added he doesn't plan on executing a full-scale rebuild in the offseason."The core is in place to have a championship club," he said, perZuckerman.Granted, some of Rizzo's belief may hinge on whether the Nationals re-sign Bryce Harper, who's a free agent in the winter. Although he's Washington's only big star headed for free agency, he'd leave a big hole in the lineup if he were to sign elsewhere.Regarding Martinez, there's only so much blame to place on a manager for a team that has encountered as much bad luck as the Nationals have.According toBaseball Prospectus http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-byron-buxton-jersey , Washington has a .549 third-order winning percentage, which would put the team at 76 wins and right in the National League playoff hunt. Nationals relievers are also 26th in FIP (4.48), perFanGraphs. Yadier Molina's two-out, two-strike grand slam in the top of the ninth in Tuesday night's 11-8 Washington loss to the St. Louis Cardinals sums up the bullpen's fortunes this year.Joe Sheehan joe_sheehanAt the end of the day, I believed in the #Nationals鈥?chances more than anyone employed by the team did. An 0-2, two-out grand slam. Uncle.Martinez may have a hand in the team's failure to close out games, though."Martinez's ability to handle a pitching staff emerged as the primary concern in the Nationals clubhouse in the first part of this season, according to on- and off-the-record conversations with players and those familiar with this team鈥檚 inner workings," theWashington Post'sChelsea Janesreported in July.Specifically Ervin Santana Jersey , Nationals players were worried Martinez was pushing the relievers too hard.TheWashington Post'sBarrySvrlugaalso questioned whether Martinez was capably handling the team in the clubhouse, highlighting the trade ofBrandon Kintzler as an example of the team going out of its way to show support for the manager and send a message. According toSvrluga, the team dealt Kintzler because "he had been too critical of the club鈥檚 inner workings and clubhouse culture."With the season still going on, Rizzo has little reason to undermine Martinez's position by allowing for the possibility he could be out of a job in the offseason.Firing Martinez after just one year would be a surprising move, but it wouldn't be too hard in seeing the Nationals' justification for doing so with how much things have unraveled so quickly.