Scherzer headed to Mets, likely to debut versus Nats

Scherzer headed to Mets, likely to debut versus Nats
Max Scherzer is going to be a Met for at least the next two years, possibly three. He's going to make more money each of those years than anyone who has ever played baseball has made. And he's almost certainly going to make his New York debut against the Nationals franchise he helped lead to their first championship. Happy Monday, everybody! What was percolating late Sunday night was finalized early this afternoon: Scherzer is signing with the Mets, a massive three-year, $130 million contract...

Desperate teams trying to make big moves before lockout

Desperate teams trying to make big moves before lockout
As Dec. 1 creeps ever closer, we're finally seeing some movement around the baseball world. With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire in two days and an owners' lockout of players looming, a group of prominent free agents is now motivated to get deals down as soon as possible and avoid falling victim to what could be a two-month stretch with zero transactions completed. And there may be no player more motivated to know where he's going to be playing in 2022 right now than Max...

Can pitchers improve velocity and do O's support such efforts?

Can pitchers improve velocity and do O's support such efforts?
In the winter after the 2018 season, one where left-hander John Means pitched to a combined 3.72 ERA between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk, Means felt he needed to make improvements to both make the major leagues and stay there. Means went to P3 Premier Pitching Performance facility in St. Louis that offseason. For this interview in 2020 spring training, before the pandemic shut down baseball for months, Means did not mince words in terms of how that facility helped him starting in...

Almost time for Orioles to tender contracts

Almost time for Orioles to tender contracts
The last gasp from the Orioles front office before the air is potentially squeezed out of the offseason comes on Tuesday with the deadline for tendering contracts to players eligible for arbitration. The date was moved up a couple of days with the threat of a shutdown due to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. The Orioles had eight eligible players before outrighting catcher Pedro Severino and infielder Pat Valaika, sending them into free agency. Severino, projected by...

What would a big win-loss improvement in 2022 mean for Birdland?

What would a big win-loss improvement in 2022 mean for Birdland?
In their last three full seasons, the Orioles have lost 115, 108 and 110 games. That is a lot of losses and no one has to tell a single O's fan that. But the hope is now that executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and his staff have been here since before the 2019 season, and now that the organization has been ranked with one of the best farm systems in the game, that better days are not only ahead, but ahead sooner rather than later. The Detroit Tigers lost 114 games in the...

Four Nats qualify for early arbitration as Super Two players

Four Nats qualify for early arbitration as Super Two players
Four Nationals players will qualify for salary arbitration this winter despite having yet to accrue three full years of major league service time because each has crossed the lower threshold used to designate each year's so-called Super Two players. MLBTradeRumors.com reported Saturday the cutoff for Super Two qualification this winter is 2 years, 116 days of service time. That means Ryne Harper (2 years, 135 days), Austin Voth (2 years, 127 days), Tanner Rainey (2 years, 127 days) and Andrew...

More on Orioles trade speculation and minor league manuevering

More on Orioles trade speculation and minor league manuevering
The amount of trade and free agent activity is making heads spin. A dizzying pace that can be explained only by the upcoming deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement. The current one expires on Wednesday, which also explains why the deadline for tendering contracts to arbitration-eligible players has been moved up to Tuesday. The Mets seem intent on conducting all of their offseason business by the end of the weekend. Except, of course, for the hiring of a manager. No sense rushing...

Looking at some lesser-known players on the 40-man roster

Looking at some lesser-known players on the 40-man roster
We've mentioned players who were added or subtracted from the Nationals' 40-man roster on several occasions so far this offseason, but it's probably worth mentioning everyone who currently resides on that roster, because some names tend to slip through the cracks and don't garner much attention. The 40-man roster, for those who don't know, serves multiple purposes. First and foremost, it represents the pool of players a club can call up to the major leagues at any point in time. In order...

Trying to answer a few more Orioles questions

Trying to answer a few more Orioles questions
The Thanksgiving leftovers are beginning to run out, due to my generosity in sending family home with plastic containers bursting at the lid and my stunning ability to fill a plate every hour as if opening the refrigerator door somehow adds a year to my life. Cold stuffing isn't just for dinner anymore. Meanwhile, I can't seem to reach the bottom of my mailbag. I also can't reach down and touch my toes, but these are unrelated issues. Perhaps responding to a few more questions this morning...

Are O's just doing due diligence on Means?

Are O's just doing due diligence on Means?
It was a tweet that no doubt was well seen and read throughout Birdland. That the Orioles were "dangling" John Means in trade talks. Not completely sure what that means, no pun intended, but dangling is defined as "hanging or swinging loosely." That last part could apply. No one can know for sure what the team is thinking on this, but a guess here is that Means is certainly not being shopped. I would see him as much more likely to be on the team than dealt between now and opening day 2022....

What's on your Black Friday wish list for the Nats?

What's on your Black Friday wish list for the Nats?
It's Black Friday, and that can only mean one thing: It's time to start crossing items off your holiday shopping list. Far be it from us to try to tell you what you should be buying your significant other, your child or your other loved ones this year. But around here, we do like to put together wish lists for roster needs. So let's think about what's on the Nationals' wish list this year. It's not the same kind of list they've put together in recent years. They don't have one or two...

I wonder where Wander will spend all that money?

I wonder where Wander will spend all that money?
He was the player ranked as the best prospect in baseball for quite a while. When he finally graduated and moved off the prospects lists, O's prospect Adley Rutschman moved up from No. 2 to No. 1. But Wander Franco was there first. And Franco got to the majors first, and this week comes another first. The longest and richest contract ever awarded a player with less than one year of big league service time. The Tampa Bay Rays, per several reports, have come to terms with their 20-year-old...

Finding reasons to be thankful in spite of a difficult season

Finding reasons to be thankful in spite of a difficult season
Are we really going to try to find something to be thankful about the 2021 Nationals? Yes, yes we are. That's what this day is all about. It may seem like a daunting task, looking for silver linings in a 97-loss season that included injuries, agonizing losses and emotional departures of some beloved players. But if you dig a little deeper, think a little more critically, you can indeed find reasons to be thankful. For starters, we all got to attend baseball games in person again this year. We...

Orioles claim Cionel Pérez off waivers

Orioles claim Cionel Pérez off waivers
With the Orioles still unsure about the status of the Winter Meetings in early December, including the Rule 5 draft that closes out the annual event, they occupied the final spot in their 40-man roster today by claiming left-hander Cionel Pérez off waivers from the Reds. Pérez was a highly touted pitcher out of Cuba who signed with the Astros as an international free agent on Dec. 9, 2016. Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias served as Houston's scouting...

What Franco's deal with Rays says about Soto and Nats

What Franco's deal with Rays says about Soto and Nats
It's been a quiet start to the offseason, not only for the Nationals but for the entire sport, which unfortunately appears to be reluctant to sign too many free agents before the collective bargaining agreement expires one week from today, at which point the league may lock out the players. There have been a handful of intriguing signings, though, and there certainly was one Tuesday, when the Rays agreed to a reported 11-year extension with phenom shortstop Wander Franco worth a guaranteed...

Chris Holt with insights on two new 40-man roster pitchers

Chris Holt with insights on two new 40-man roster pitchers
When the Orioles made their 40-man roster additions last week, ahead of the scheduled Rule 5 draft next month, they added two hard-throwing relievers. Both flew under the radar during the 2021 season, but the team was clearly watching. And the team was seeing the potential in right-handers Félix Bautista, 26, and Logan Gillaspie, 24. Both may not yet be well-known to Orioles fans, but that could change over the next few seasons. Both could play roles in future O's bullpens. During an...

Hays on Mancini's comeback and new hitting coaches

Hays on Mancini's comeback and new hitting coaches
In those sporadic moments when I envision Trey Mancini helping to prepare Thanksgiving dinner, which I'm only assuming is an actual thing, I imagine him reaching inside the turkey for the giblets and pulling out another Comeback Player of the Year Award. There's always room for fourths. The Sporting News, Major League Baseball Players Association and beat writers at MLB.com chose Mancini in separate balloting, and it couldn't have been close. It shouldn't have been close. "I know he had my...

A day for giving thanks

A day for giving thanks
The date on the calendar, the 15-pound thawed turkey in the refrigerator and the forced viewing of a Lions game indicate that it's time again to give thanks, something that should be done on a daily basis, but tends to slip through life's cracks. There's the most obvious starting point - canned cranberry sauce. OK, seriously, it's family. Including my new wife and 14-month-old granddaughter who makes it impossible to remember what life was like before her arrival. She's such a blessing. I...

Hays details core injury sustained in May

Hays details core injury sustained in May
The swings that show how Orioles outfielder Austin Hays is making a successful recovery from core surgery also can be done with a hammer. Hays apologized yesterday for being late for a phone interview because he was busy working on the construction of a batting cage at his home in Orange City, Fla., which sits in the middle between Orlando and Daytona Beach. "I have a warehouse at my house that I bought last offseason," Hays said, "and we put a net up in here and I got the turf put in two...

Hall of Fame ballot loaded with big names and controversy

Hall of Fame ballot loaded with big names and controversy
If you glanced at the 2022 Hall of Fame ballot that was released Monday hoping to find some prominent Nationals representation, you were sorely disappointed. Sure, Jonathan Papelbon made the list, but you probably aren't going to find too many Nats fans excited to relive those regrettable 12 months in club history. You'll just have to wait another year, because among the players eligible to make the 2023 ballot is none other than Jayson Werth. We'll have some fun with that one when the time...