In theory, the difference between playing to win and developing talent should be, um, minor. Getting ahead in the count (or not falling behind) is what you need to learn to get to the majors (and remember to stay there).
In practice, however, it's not always one and the same. Last Saturday night in Woodbridge was a good example of the difference.
Joan Baez is the No. 29 Nationals prospect according to Baseball America, which for better or worse is the bellwether for most prospect followers. He...
It's a strange new world for Nationals fans. For the last five seasons, the Nationals have been a good team and sometimes one of the best teams in baseball, and they've done so on the back of their starting rotation. This current iteration of the Nationals is very different. Pitching is not a strength, and after Tanner Roark, the starting rotation is a weakness. When July 31 rolls around, the Nationals are going to be looking for a starting pitcher and bullpen help. The latter has been the...
There were a lot of bold predictions made about Manny Machado entering the 2017 season. I went big, proclaiming that this year Machado would be crowned the American League's Most Valuable Player. It just seemed like the natural next step for one of the game's premier young talents.
Machado finished fifth in AL MVP voting last season, and finished fourth in 2015. He continues to amaze us all with his seemingly daily highlight-reel defensive plays and has added a bit of pop to his bat over the...
Hey, Orioles fans! Welcome to the season debut of Yard Work.
If you followed along last season, thanks for tuning in. And if you're new to the podcast this year, MASNsports.com Orioles beat writer Steve Melewski will be joined by MASN editor Brian Eller to bring you Orioles news and insights each Wednesday throughout the season.
We're already a week into the season, and for the Birds, it's another successful start. The Orioles sit atop the American League East through six games while hitters...
The Orioles have two players on the current roster who signed long-term deals with the club back in 2014: Right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez inked a four-year, $50 million deal with the Orioles prior to the beginning of the 2014 campaign, and shortstop J.J. Hardy signed a three-year, $40 million extension with the club in the middle of the 2014 American League Championship Series. The contracts for both Jiménez and Hardy expire at the end of this season, unless Hardy's $14 million option for...
As you might have guessed, the release of last week's rosters was almost precisely what fans of the "Baby Nats" were hoping for - not too conservative with the kids, not too aggressive with the top pitcher and top position player.
The folks in Hagerstown have to be happy with the talent that's sent there. Because the Nationals tend to draft collegiate players over high schoolers, it's rare to have one teenager on a full-season roster, never mind four (Carter Kieboom, Juan Soto, Tyler...
There are many old clichés in baseball. There's constantly talk of it being a "long season" and taking things "one game at a time." Those still hold true, as does the idea of trying not to draw too many conclusions from one game. Teams play 162 times over the course of a year, and paying attention to just one of them can be dangerous. But after a week and just five games, or three percent of the season, it is pretty easy to see some common themes with the Orioles.
The power bats are...
Would you like to sit down and have a conversation with Steve Martin about his life in comedy? Just read his book, "Born Standings Up," and that's what you receive.
This book was as fun to read as watching Martin perform. He writes in a casual, succinct, conversational tone that invites you into the book.
Why would someone atop the comedy world just shut it down and turn to his other loves like music and writing? He tells you why here.
Martin takes you from his days as a youth, working at...
A lot can change over a decade. For me personally, I have graduated from college, gotten married, worked three jobs and moved six different times including out of state. It's been a whirlwind full of unexpected twists and turns, as life tends to be. For Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, however, things have stayed relatively the same.
On Monday afternoon, Jones ran down the Orange Carpet at Camden Yards with the rest of his teammates, just as he had done the previous nine seasons....
I have a bit of a dilemma. It isn't a bad dilemma. It is a situation Nationals fans would be agreeable to and one many would call me an overly bright-eyed optimist for predicting, and it is this: I can't decide who to pick for National League MVP, Bryce Harper or Trea Turner. From all indications, Harper is poised to have a season much like 2015 and Turner is ready to pick up where he left off in 2016. That makes it a hard choice. Is it the shortstop who is likely to hit 20 homers and steal...
Greetings from the "New Kid on the Block" at MASNsports.com! Well, except I'm not new, I'm not a kid, and my wife is the one from South Boston.
What I am is a minor celebrity in the "Natmosphere," as I've been covering the Nationals' farm system for eight seasons at NationalsProspects.com, with the help of some volunteers and some gratuitous use of bulldogs.
Tomorrow is opening day for Washington's four full-season affiliates - low Single-A Hagerstown, high Single-A Potomac, Double-A...
As many fans have already noticed, the Orioles have gone with an odd roster to start the 2017 season. In most years, the Birds roll with five starting pitchers, seven relief pitchers and 13 hitters. This year, the roster was announced, and it wasn't a familiar look: three starting pitchers, eight relievers and 14 hitters. The club was able to do this because they don't need to add the other two starting pitchers until April 9 and April 15, respectively. Manager Buck Showalter and executive...
At the urging of editor Pete Kerzel and videographer Olivia Witherite of MASNsports.com, who for reasons only they can explain wished to be part of another season of this column, here we meet again.
As in past seasons, a reminder that this is not a book review space. The concept is a column on books I have read and enjoyed, most while traversing the skies of baseball, with the hope you might enjoy them, as well.
Reading matters for one's growth and for the growth of mankind. As Charles Johnson...
There's something different in the air as the Orioles start a new baseball season. It's not the smell of fresh cut grass or Boog's BBQ; those are the mainstays in Birdland. It's not even all that obvious to many. It's something that has happened over time, slowly but surely. There's an atmosphere that's been created by the current Orioles regime of expectation, and it's one that fans are hanging on to entering 2017.
Being a writer for EutawStreetReport.com, I'm familiar with the pulse...
Washington sports fans are a demanding lot.
We're not satisfied with merely winning. We are disappointed if our teams don't improve.
We're not entitled like New Yorkers, who expect to contend for a championship every year. But neither do we feel cursed, like Cubs fans before their team broke its 107-year record of futility last October.
This is city where few living souls can remember its only World Series title, and folks have seen six presidential inaugurations since its last championship...
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Text ORIOLES to 29292 for Orioles alerts and chances to win exclusive O's prizes and Meet & Greets with your favorite players! Or, text NATIONALS to 29292 for Nationals alerts and chances to win exclusive Nats prizes and Meet & Greets with your favorite players! You can also sign up by using the form below! Text HELP for...
Baseball is back, back, back... and so is the chance to win big with the Home Run Riches scratch-off from the Maryland Lottery!
This year's Home Run Riches scratch-off has a different look than last year's ticket, but still offers great instant prizes up to $50,000. New this year, there's an extra game on the back, so make sure you flip over your ticket! Just like past years, you can enter your non-winning tickets for a chance to win cash as the Maryland Lottery Contestant of the Game,...
After it successful first year, Nashville's Music Row Comes to the Ballpark returned to Ed Smith Stadium this past March. Call it an encore performance or a curtain call. For the second straight year, the event brought together Orioles players, coaches alongside some of Nashville's top singers and songwriters for a night of charity, fun, auctions and, of course, fantastic music.
This year's lineup included Liz Rose, GRAMMY Award and American Country Music Award-winning songwriter; Laura...
SARASOTA, Fla. - With spring training kicking off, Orioles executive vice president and MASN president John P. Angelos took some time to sit down with WBAL Radio's Brett Hollander and preview the 2017 season.
While the O's full squad has reported to Sarasota, they'll fly north in less than two months for opening day, looking for their sixth straight season of at least .500 ball.
Although the players and coaches will head back to Baltimore after spring, make no mistake: the Orioles have a...
Camden Yards once again welcomed millions of fans during the 2016 season. Those legions of Birdland-obsessed, orange-and-black-clad supporters who made the annual summer pilgrimage to the ballpark each night the O's took the field made up a part of the more than 68 million visitors - and counting - who have urged their baseball heroes on the diamond to victory each night over the past 25 seasons.
It was another season to remember at the ballpark that changed baseball, with the Birds notching...