Werth among first-timers on 2023 Hall of Fame ballot
Mark Zuckerman
Nationals
The Nationals have existed for 18 seasons now, but to date there’s only one Hall of Famer who played for them: Ivan Rodriguez. And though 13 former Nats players have appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot, the vast majority of them were never really thought of as Nationals: Rick Ankiel, Brad Lidge, Matt Stairs, Aaron Boone, Paul Lo Duca, Alfonso Soria
Orioles working to convince another catcher to come to Baltimore
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
The Orioles are keeping two openings on their 40-man roster as they get closer to the Thanksgiving holiday shutdown. This isn’t a mandated quiet period. It just typically works out that way. Thanksgiving 2005 was an insane exception. The Marlins traded Carlos Delgado to the Mets and Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett and Guillermo Mota to the Red Sox for Ha
Minor league notes on Kjerstad, Florida campers and more
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Once he finally got on the field this past season in June, O’s outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad was tearing it up at Single-A Delmarva, batting .463 in 22 games. He didn’t produce similar numbers when he moved up to High-A Aberdeen – yes, that would have been hard to do – but had another great run in the Arizona Fall League. Kjerstad won the Joe B
A preliminary look at the free agent pitching market
Mark Zuckerman
Nationals
Though there’s been a bit of movement on the free agent market elsewhere, we’re still in the preliminary stages of the offseason around here. The Nationals have yet to add anybody to the fold, focusing instead on which players to add to their 40-man roster and which players to remove from the equation. But now that they’ve completed those tasks, it
Revisiting news of tendered Orioles contracts
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
An immediate takeaway from Friday night’s announcement that the Orioles tendered contracts to their six arbitration-eligible players: No one in the group was non-tendered, and there were some questions surrounding pitcher Austin Voth based on projected salary and uncertain role. MLBTradeRumors.com has Voth’s contract rising from $875,000 to $2 mill
With change occurring elsewhere, Nats remain stable for now
Mark Zuckerman
Nationals
Stability in baseball is a rare thing. It’s rare in the clubhouse. It’s rare in the manager’s office. And it’s certainly rare in the front office, where heads of baseball operations routinely find themselves under pressure to create success and then sustain it. When Mike Rizzo took over as general manager in 2009, the Nationals had no stability. Th
A few notes on Rutschman, Rodriguez and free agent pitchers
Steve Melewski
Orioles
Today taking another look today at a few stories we discussed in this space recently. Such as this one about catcher Adley Rutschman. The last Oriole to win the American League Rookie of the Year award was Gregg Olson in 1989. Earlier this week Rutschman was a finalist for the AL ROY, but Seattle's Julio Rodríguez took home the hardware. The rookie
Denoyer on making the 40-man roster and enjoying the journey
Roch Kubatko
Orioles
The Orioles had four prospects they intended to place on the 40-man roster by Tuesday’s deadline, and an undrafted pitcher trending upward who couldn’t be denied. Wasn’t worth the risk of losing him. Noah Denoyer probably felt like the fifth of five players protected in the Rule 5 draft behind pitchers Grayson Rodriguez, Drew Rom and Seth Johnson,
After 40-man add, Drew Rom is searching for additional velocity
Steve Melewski
Orioles
If it feels like he’s been in the Orioles organization for a while, he has. But lefty Drew Rom, added to the 40-man roster this week, for now is still just 22. He turns 23 Dec. 15 and will head to spring training next February in Sarasota, knowing it’s the season when he might make his major league debut. During a Zoom call this week he told report
Could Nationals add two big bats to lineup now?
Mark Zuckerman
Nationals
On a certain level, the Nationals’ decision Friday night not to tender a contract to Luke Voit made sense. They never coveted the 31-year-old in the first place. He was simply a player added to last summer’s haul of prospects in the Juan Soto-Josh Bell deal with the Padres because the Nats needed one actual big leaguer who could finish out the seas