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
Some Wild Card leftovers and lingering thoughts as playoffs proceed without Orioles
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
More baseball is being played while the Orioles regroup and think about 2025. They'll move past the crushing Wild Card loss to Kansas City but also use it to avoid feeling this way next fall. Since we're looking back ... * The Orioles worked backward over the last few seasons and it’s skewed perceptions that lead to some skewering of the organizati
Nats farm system finally producing homegrown big leaguers
Mark Zuckerman
Masn
Go back and peruse some random Nationals lineups from 2022, and you’re likely to find a lot of names who aren’t here anymore, many of them veterans in the waning days of their careers. Move ahead to 2023, and you’ll find a few more promising young players, the so-called first wave of prospects who either were acquired via trade or drafted and devel
A few notes on the Elias and Hyde press conferences
Steve Melewski
Orioles
During the first day of the Orioles offseason, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde took numerous questions from reporters trying to assess what went wrong again for the Orioles with a quick out in the playoffs. Elias spoke for over 30 minutes. After a 91-71 regular season, and 192 wins, the second-most i