Elias on Stowers: "This guy still has his whole career ahead of him"
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
The major league side of Kyle Stowers’ 2023 season can’t be spun positively. Breaks camp with the team, is optioned after appearing in only three games and getting one start, is brought back April 30 and optioned again May 15, and doesn’t return. Receives only 33 plate appearances total over 14 games and goes 2-for-30 with 12 strikeouts. Can’t shin
Shohei Ohtani got crazy dollars, but won't be coming to the AL East at least
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Hey, O’s fans look at it this way – the O’s Opening Day opponent just became a weaker team. The O’s host the Los Angeles Angels on March 28 to start a new season. And look at it this way – Shohei Ohtani is not coming to the American League East. Juan Soto is headed our way, but Ohtani is not after agreeing to a staggering deal with the Los Angeles
Senzel can be more successful by sticking to one spot
Bobby Blanco
Nationals
The Nationals almost left the Winter Meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville without a major league signing. On Wednesday, the last official day of the meetings, they added infielder Nasim Nuñez through the Rule 5 Draft and signed first baseman/outfielder Juan Yepez to a minor league deal. But in the wee hours of
Because You Asked - Disenchanted
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
The first post-Winter Meetings mailbag is here. It got lost at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. We sent out a search party and found it. Employees had wrapped it in lights and covered it with poinsettias. Families were posing with it for their holiday cards. One intoxicated baseball fan tried to buy it a drink. Another took it f
The O's run of No. 1-ranked prospects is both amazing and unprecedented
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Analysts have used words like "astounding" and "amazing" while noting that the Orioles have had three straight players move to the No. 1 spot on the national top-100 prospects lists. Adley Rutschman went to No. 1, and then so did Gunnar Henderson. And during the 2023 season, Jackson Holliday ended the year at No. 1. Rutschman, Henderson and Hollida
Nuñez brings rare combination to Nats as Rule 5 draftee
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
Spend a few minutes listening to Nasim Nuñez talk over the phone, and you quickly realize the Nationals’ Rule 5 Draft pick doesn’t fit nicely into a traditional ballplayer persona. He’s 23 years old, born in the Bronx but raised outside Atlanta, touted as an elite defensive shortstop and baserunner who hasn’t shown a consistent ability to hit as a
Could Orioles pivot away from trying for a No. 1 starter and lower expectations?
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
The Orioles have a stated goal of placing a starter at or near the top of their rotation, but they also are prepared to deliver a counter punch. They’re a team that could bob and weave, backpedal and head in the other direction. A last resort might be to insert a pitcher toward the back end and hope that returnees Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez
The O's turned the AL East upside down in '23 and the big boys were not pleased
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Hey 2023 Baltimore Orioles, this is all your fault. We could be thinking that when the Orioles turned the American League East upside down by going from 110 losses in 2021 to 101 wins and the division championship in 2023. The Orioles finished in first place for the first time since 2014. To the delight of Birdland, the Boston Red Sox finished last
Senzel signing seems to fit within Nats' stated plan for 2024
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
The Nationals’ first major league free agent signing feels a lot like one of their major league free agent signings from a year ago. Nick Senzel might as well be Dominic Smith. Not necessarily in his playing profile, but certainly in his career situation. Smith was a 27-year-old first baseman who was once a Mets first-round pick but was non-tendere
Looking back at Winter Meetings questions and how they're answered
Roch Kubatko
Masn
Four days in Nashville for baseball’s Winter Meetings allowed media to gather and sometimes break news, like the app downloaded on phones to provide assistance in getting around the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center without taking a wrong turn every 30 seconds, slipping into panic mode and remembering that airport security confiscated