When they take the field Thursday night for the first time in 2020, the Nationals will do so as defending World Series champions, having just raised a flag and pennant minutes earlier. They'll be sending their potential future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer to the mound. The opponents, the Yankees, are merely baseball's most-storied franchise, one sending its new ace, Gerrit Cole, to the mound in its first step toward competing for its 28th World Series title. This would be a blockbuster event...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The second day of baseball's Winter Meetings were light on moves, but, as usual, heavy on speculation. The biggest move on Tuesday involved the Yankees, who traded third baseman Chase Headley to the Padres, leaving them without a proven third baseman, as well as an established second baseman. The Yankees traded second baseman Starlin Castro to the Marlins in the deal that brought Giancarlo Stanton to the Bronx. So what will the Yankees do? For now, the Yankees have...

Not long after the Yankees named Aaron Boone their new manager, we heard from some Orioles fans here that Buck Showalter would "school" the rookie skipper next year. No doubt hiring Boone was a risk. He has never managed in the pro ranks - in the minors or majors. He has never coached in the majors. His most recent experience in the game came in the ESPN broadcast booth. He could certainly make mistakes due to a lack of experience. But before we assume the Orioles will take advantage of...

The Nationals took some grief earlier this fall for firing an experienced manager like Dusty Baker and handing over a 97-win team challenged to win a World Series right now to a first-time skipper like Dave Martinez. Who knew they'd actually end up hiring one of the most experienced guys of the six who filled major league managerial openings this fall? The Yankees' surprise hire of Aaron Boone over the weekend was the final piece to the puzzle, yet another inexperienced managerial hire for a...

In building a winning baseball team, you need to have plenty of talented players. That part is obvious and a given. But how do aspects like team chemistry and character of the individual players factor in? Are they important, even if you can't put a stat on those intangibles like you can a batting average or ERA? When the Orioles acquired Nelson Cruz, who was coming off a suspension, and Delmon Young last year, some fans wondered how the pair would impact clubhouse chemistry. Now some wonder...

Looking back at the last few days, there were 19 blogs written in this space, covering the Orioles at the Winter Meetings from Monday to Thursday before we headed back to the East Coast. Here is another look at some of the quotes from those we interviewed and what they had to say. MLB Network's Harold Reynolds on what O's should do: "If (the Orioles) make a trade, of all the names that have been mentioned, I think Justin Upton is the best move for them. He's 26, 27. If you can lock him up...

SAN DIEGO - Among the many former big league players here at the Winter Meetings that is now a broadcaster is Aaron Boone. He is part of a three-generation major league family and he hit a famous playoff home run in 2003. Now Boone is an analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Baseball with frequent appearances on Baseball Tonight and other studio programming. He joined ESPN in 2010 after a 12-year big league career. Boone knows something about clubhouse chemistry and he feels it is important when...

There's not a lot of Nationals love on the 2015 Hall of Fame ballot announced this morning. Only one former Nat - infielder Aaron Boone - is listed among the 17 new additions to the ballot, which feature three pitchers (Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz) who combined to win nine Cy Young Awards and two hitters (Gary Sheffield and Nomar Garciaparra) who claimed batting titles in their careers. Boone played one season for the Nationals, hitting .241 with six homers and 28 RBIs in 104...