Can Young add enough offense to elite glove to stick long-term?
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
PLAYER REVIEW: JACOB YOUNG Age on Opening Day 2025: 25 How acquired: Seventh-round pick, 2021 Draft MLB service time: 1 year, 37 days 2024 salary: $740,000 Contract status: Under club control, arbitration-eligible in 2027, free agent in 2030 2024 stats: 150 G, 521 PA, 468 AB, 75 R, 120 H, 24 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 36 RBI, 33 SB, 10 CS, 30 BB, 102 SO, .256
Three pending decisions for Orioles impacting roster and payroll
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
The Orioles began tackling their offseason workload much earlier than desired. The meetings are starting in the warehouse. Areas are pinpointed that must be addressed in free agency or the trade market. They have at least 15 players eligible for arbitration, the total dependent on whether they exercise reliever Cionel Pérez’s $2.2 million option fo
One area where '24 O's offense could not compare to '23
Steve Melewski
Orioles
The narrative for some is how bad the Orioles are on offense. We saw them score one run in two playoff games. Yes, it still hurts and probably will be that way for a while. The challenge for the organization in how to improve the offense is that over the long sample of the last two full seasons, it’s been among the highest-scoring in the sport. Com
Wood's patience and power were already on display as rookie
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
PLAYER REVIEW: JAMES WOOD Age on Opening Day 2025: 22 How acquired: Traded with CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022 MLB service time: 91 days 2024 salary: $740,000 Contract status: Under club control, arbitration-eligible in 2028, free agent in 2031 2024 sta
This, that and the other (updated)
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
The sunny disposition that Colton Cowser carries into games, the clubhouse and pretty much every step in life was put to the test Wednesday night. The Orioles lost Game 2 of the Wild Card to again get swept out of the playoffs. Cowser wasn’t on the 2023 Division Series roster, went 1-for-7 against the Royals and dealt with the additional pain of a
Revisiting our Opening Day predictions
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
We've been doing these Opening Day media predictions for 15 years now, and I'm always grateful to my colleagues on the Nationals beat for their willingness to participate and subject themselves to the inevitable ridicule that follows. And there's definitely some ridicule to be doled out as we look back at our 2024 predictions. (Hey, I'm just as gui
A deep dive into the O's offensive approach and why they should stay the course
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Here is the thing about baseball: It can indeed break your heart. And in a sport that takes six months to play 162 games and can seem never-ending, the actual playoff ending can take about 24 to 48 hours. All those games, all those ups and downs, all those emotions, then it's over in a blink. And a whimper for the Orioles scoring just one run. Mike
Pitching in on leftovers for breakfast
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
When the Orioles swapped out pitchers late in the regular season to cover innings and allow manager Brandon Hyde to set up his bullpen for the postseason, they selected left-hander Tucker Davidson’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk, designated him for assignment a day later and recalled Colin Selby. When they set their Wild Card roster, they kept Sel
Nats define 2024 season with "experience"
Bobby Blanco
Nationals
Despite a 16-win improvement in 2023, the Nationals were careful not to call last year a success. Even though they jumped from 55 to 71 victories, they still lost 91 games for their fourth straight losing season. “I don't think that it's a successful season, but it's a very encouraging season,” said general manager Mike Rizzo on Sept. 13, 2023. “No
More on the O's offense and the late-season falloff
Steve Melewski
Orioles
When it comes to the Orioles offense, some of the judgements of it show recency bias, and that is understandable. As the team struggled late in the year the offensive performance and production dropped. Fewer runs led to fewer wins, pretty easy to understand. In scoring just one run in two games in the playoffs, the offense that came up short often