On the day he traded Juan Soto, Mike Rizzo acknowledged the raw emotions everyone was feeling at the time but insisted it ultimately would leave the Nationals in a better position to win long-term.

“I think it accelerates the process,” the former general manager said. “I think that you lose a generational talent like that, but you put in five key elements of your future championship roster.”

Not even 3 1/2 years later, the man who replaced Rizzo running baseball operations tried to explain how trading away one of those “key elements of your future championship roster” for five more prospects – long before this franchise has come anywhere close to winning again – will put the Nats in a better position to win long-term, a message that is increasingly difficult for a weary fanbase to accept.

“I hear it, and I empathize with it,” Paul Toboni said Thursday night after trading MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers. “There would be part of me – I think back to my 15-year-old self; I was a Giants fan at the time – bummed to see a player of this caliber leaving, and a leader on the team and that sort of thing.

“But I would paint a much more optimistic picture. I think the excitement that comes with these players we’re getting in return exceeds the disappointment of seeing MacKenzie go. That’s just me talking as the head of baseball operations now. I’m really excited about the package we’ve gotten in return. And I hope fans see it in the same way.”

Ranger Suárez signed with the Red Sox. The Marlins traded Edward Cabrera to the Cubs for three prospects. The Brewers traded Freddy Peralta to the Mets for two prospects. The Nationals traded MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers yesterday for five prospects.

The options for the Orioles’ rotation are dwindling.

So is the competition for the other starters.

Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen remain available in free agency. The trade market isn’t dry, though Peralta and Gore were two of the more appealing candidates. Gore has two more years of team control.

The industry seems braced for the Orioles to make the next big move, but yesterday’s activity was confined to the waiver claim of infielder/outfielder Weston Wilson from the Phillies.

The Washington Nationals acquired shortstop Gavin Fien, right-handed pitcher Alejandro Rosario, shortstop Devin Fitz-Gerald, outfielder Yeremy Cabrera and first baseman Abimelec Ortiz in exchange for left-handed pitcher MacKenzie Gore on Thursday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni made the announcement.

Fien, 18, was the 12^th overall selection by the Rangers in the first round of the 2025 First-Year Player Draft out of Great Oak High School in Temecula, Calif. Texas' No. 2 prospect per Baseball America and No. 3 per MLBPipeline.com, he hit .220 with three doubles, a triple, seven RBI, a stolen base, three walks and four runs scored in 10 games for Single-A Hickory in his first taste of professional baseball in 2025.

Fien (pronounced ‘FEEN’) hit .358 with six doubles, one triple, five home runs, 16 RBI, eight stolen bases, 24 runs scored and more walks (11) than strikeouts (9) in 30 games as a high school senior in 2025. In four varsity seasons, he slashed .378/.451/.633/1.084 with four triples, 29 doubles, and 65 RBI in 91 games

A member of the U18 USA National Team, Fien slashed .400/.429/.680 with 11 RBI during the 2024 World Cup qualifier in Panama and helped the Americans win the gold medal. He was also named the Most Valuable Player of the 2024 MLB High School All-Star Game in San Diego where he shared the field with new teammates Eli Willits, Landon Harmon and Miguel Sime Jr.

Rosario, 23, was Texas’ No. 13 prospect, per Baseball America and No. 6 per MLBPipeline.com. In his only professional season in 2024, he struck out 129 in 88.1 innings, while issuing just 13 walks between Single-A Down East and High-A Hickory. For his efforts, he vaulted himself onto Baseball America's Top 100 prospect list, landing at No. 49 before the 2025 season.  Rosario was selected in the fifth-round pick out of the University of Miami in 2023.

The Nationals have agreed to trade left-hander MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for a package of five prospects, including Texas’ first-round pick from last summer’s draft, in Paul Toboni’s first blockbuster deal since becoming the club’s president of baseball operations.

The trade, which was officially announced late this afternoon, sends Gore to Texas with two years of club control remaining and makes the 26-year-old burgeoning ace the first player acquired in the Juan Soto megadeal of 2022 to be dealt away.

As was the case in the Soto deal, the Nats receive five prospects in return for Gore, though this package does not include as many highly rated players.

The return from the Rangers features shortstop Gavin Fien (a 2025 first round pick), right-hander Alejandro Rosario (formerly a top-50 prospect who is expected to miss the entire 2026 season following Tommy John surgery), infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald (drafted in 2024 out of high school), outfielder Yeremy Cabrera (20-year-old signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2022) and first baseman Abimelec Ortiz (23-year-old who posted a .953 OPS in 41 games at Triple-A last season).

Those five players’ most recent rankings among the Rangers’ top prospects, per MLB Pipeline: Fien (No. 2), Rosario (No. 6), Fitz-Gerald (No. 12), Cabrera (No. 16) and Ortiz (No. 18). None made Pipeline’s overall Top-100 list, though that organization has yet to update its rankings for 2026.

The Orioles might be ready to toss another player into their competition for a bench role.

Weston Wilson was claimed on waivers earlier today from the Phillies. Left-hander José Suarez was designated for assignment to make room on a full 40-man roster.

The Phillies designated Wilson for assignment a few days ago after re-signing catcher J.T. Realmuto. Wilson, 31, has appeared in 100 games over the past three seasons and slashed .242/.328/.428 with 11 doubles and nine home runs.

Wilson played in 52 games last season and hit .198/.282/.369 with four doubles and five home runs. He has major league experience at second base, third base, first base and both outfield corners. Most of his starts have been in left.

The Orioles saw eight of Wilson’s plate appearances last summer in Philadelphia. He singled twice, homered and walked.

The Orioles have made the following roster move:

• OF Marco Luciano claimed off waivers by the New York Yankees.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Claimed INF/OF Weston Wilson off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies.
• Designated LHP José Suarez for assignment.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

The impending winter storm is forcing the Orioles to make some major adjustments to their Birdland Caravan.

All of the events on Saturday are cancelled due to safety concerns for fans, staff, players and vendors. In addition, the Oriole Bird and Mr. Splash Meet & Greet at Weis Markets Bel Air originally set for Friday afternoon also is cancelled.

The Orioles announced that anyone who secured access to Saturday’s paid ticketed events – breakfast with the O’s and duckpin bowling - will receive an email from the club today with information on a full refund.

“This difficult decision was made in coordination with trusted meteorologists, due to the Governor’s State of Preparedness Order, and out of concern for the safety of our players departing from locations around the country also projected to be impacted by the winter storm,” the Orioles wrote in a statement.

Player attendance for Friday events is adjusted as follows:

Due to the impending forecasted winter weather throughout the south, east, and mid-Atlantic, and for the continued safety of our fans, staff, players, and vendors, all Birdland Caravan events scheduled for Saturday, January 24, are cancelled. Additionally, the Oriole Bird and Mr. Splash Meet & Greet at Weis Markets Bel Air originally scheduled for Friday afternoon is cancelled. Fans who secured access to Saturday’s paid ticketed events (Breakfast with the O’s and Duckpin Bowling), will receive an email from the Orioles today with information on a full refund.

This difficult decision was made in coordination with trusted meteorologists, due to the Governor’s State of Preparedness Order, and out of concern for the safety of our players departing from locations around the country also projected to be impacted by the winter storm.

Additionally, due to weather impacting travel to and from Baltimore, player attendance for Friday events is adjusted as follows:

Arcade Happy Hour at GameOn – ADLEY RUTSCHMAN and TYLER WELLS
Flight Night at Guinness Open Gate Brewery – CRAIG ALBERNAZ, SAMUEL BASALLO, and DYLAN BEAVERS

We are grateful to our fans who travel from far and wide to support their favorite team and want to ensure they also remain safe during the storm. We strongly urge fans to follow the Governor’s guidance for emergency preparedness, as well as their own local policies, and visit weather.gov for regular updates.

As spring training creeps closer – only 19 days until pitchers and catchers report! – we’re starting to see the unveiling of various preseason top prospect rankings from the major outlets who compile such things. And the Nationals’ No. 1 pick from last summer’s draft is all over those rankings.

Eli Willits debuts as the 31st best prospect in the sport, according to Baseball America, which released its 2026 Top 100 list Wednesday. That may sound a bit low for the first player selected in the draft, but keep in mind he just turned 18 and has played only 15 games to date as a professional.

Willits, the dynamic all-around shortstop from Oklahoma, “has a chance for five average or better tools and should be the Nationals’ shortstop of the future,” per Baseball America’s blurb. Consider that a major compliment, touting his lack of weaknesses in all aspects of the game. And if that 15-game debut for Single-A Fredericksburg – a .300 batting average, .397 on-base percentage and .757 OPS – offered a glimpse of things to come, Willits should live up to the billing.

Eleven of the 30 prospects ranked above Willits are also shortstops, which is by far the most loaded position in the minor leagues at the moment. Consider MLB Pipeline’s recent exercise ranking the top 10 shortstop prospects: Willits is eighth on that list, even though he ended the 2025 season as the No. 15 overall prospect in baseball per that outlet.

It’s notable that Willits outranks fellow Oklahoma shortstop and fellow 2025 first rounder Ethan Holliday, who ranks 10th on that MLB Pipeline top shortstops list and 80th overall in the sport on Baseball America’s list.

The Birdland Caravan begins tonight with a Q&A session with manager Craig Albernaz and first baseman Pete Alonso at the historic Senator Theatre.

The event is sold out, as you’d expect.

In fact, all of the ticketed events over the three-day period are sold out.

I’ll be packing bags alongside players Friday afternoon at the warehouse to benefit Blessings in a Backpack. The Orioles are matching the proceeds of the ticket sales.

The mission is to provide food on the weekends for school-aged children across America who might otherwise go hungry. Fans and players will assist with packing bags down the line with two entrée, two breakfast and two snack items.

The Nationals made another under-the-radar roster move Tuesday, claiming utilityman Mickey Gasper off waivers from the Twins. It’s the kind of move that doesn’t garner major headlines, and fan reactions tend to lean more sarcastic than serious.

But it’s the kind of move we should maybe start expecting more regularly from the Nats’ new front office, which seems to be scouring every possible alternative to the traditional free agent market in search of players who can fill out rosters not only at the big league level but the minors as well.

Gasper isn’t close to a high-profile acquisition. He’s 30 years old, he’s taken only 133 MLB plate appearances and he’s produced a measly .445 OPS in the process. He’s a catcher who also plays first base, second base and the outfield. Yeah, he’s not your conventional ballplayer.

What Gasper has done is produce a stout .303/.406/.512 slash line in 490 plate appearances the last three seasons with the Triple-A affiliates of the Yankees, Red Sox and Twins. He appears to own the International League.

And given his ability to play just about anywhere on the field – he’s even pitched three times in the minors – he’s the kind of player who probably won’t have much impact on a major league roster but absolutely could be helpful to a minor league club.

Organizational depth snagged the headlines again yesterday.

Well, it warranted the only social media posts from the Orioles except for the new alternate cap that went on sale at the Team Store at Camden Yards - black with an orange bill and orange script “B,” the same letter logo from the club’s City Connect uniform.

Right-hander Hans Crouse, 27, signed a minor league contract after missing most of the 2025 season with a torn lat muscle.

When Crouse wasn't busy with his side gig as a villain in “Die Hard,” he was posting a 2.84 ERA in 25 relief appearances with the Angels in 2024. He walked 17 batters and struck out 34 in 25 2/3 innings. In 29 games with Triple-A Salt Lake, Crouse registered a 2.27 ERA with 13 walks and 59 strikeouts in 31 2/3.

The Rangers drafted Crouse in the second round in 2017 out of Dana Hills (Cal.) High School. He was included with Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy in a 2021 deadline trade to the Phillies, made two starts and allowed four runs with seven walks and two strikeouts in seven innings.

This was always going to be a strange Hall of Fame election. After three players (Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner) were elected one year ago, the 2026 ballot wasn’t going to include any slam-dunk first-time candidates. And the returning candidates, several of them compelling cases in their own rights, all had some kinds of red flags hurting their cause, whether on the field or off it.

In my case, I knew from the outset I would either need to vote for a first-time nominee or change my past vote on a returning candidate to risk submitting a blank ballot to the Hall of Fame. For the record, voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America absolutely are allowed to submit a blank ballot if they don’t believe any candidates are worthy of induction. But that’s not a path I particularly wanted to go down for the first time. (The maximum number of names permitted is 10, a number I have reached multiple times before.)

So, as I mentioned in last year’s column, I had to think long and hard about lowering some of my longstanding criteria for Hall of Fame worthiness. I’ve always believed a player needs to check off three boxes to earn my vote: 1) Excellence, 2) Longevity and 3) No on-field actions that fail to meet the character, integrity and sportsmanship standards the Hall instructs us to consider in addition to actual playing performance.

In the end, I felt it was appropriate to lower the standard for one of those criteria: Longevity. I’ve always believed players needed not only to dominate the sport, but to maintain that dominance over a significant period of time. There’s no magic number of seasons that qualifies, but it probably needed to reach double digits to be safe.

Thing is, it’s probably too much to ask today’s players to live up to that standard. Especially pitchers, whose careers just don’t last as long as they did decades ago because of the max effort most are asked to give and the inevitable injuries and deterioration that’s likely to come once they reach their 30s.

The Washington Nationals claimed utility player Mickey Gasper off waivers from the Minnesota Twins and designated right-handed pitcher Andry Lara for assignment on Tuesday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni made the announcement.

Gasper, 30, hit .285 with 14 doubles, 10 home runs, 26 RBI, 25 walks, two stolen bases and 32 runs scored in 47 games for Triple-A St. Paul in 2025. He recorded a .531 slugging percentage and a .916 OPS last year, his first season in the Twins system. He appeared at catcher (17 G), designated hitter (13 G), second base (8 G), first base (6 G) and in left field (3 G). Gasper has hit .276 with a .391 on-base percentage and a .459 slugging percentage in 454 games across seven professional seasons.

Gasper made his first career Opening Day roster and enjoyed four Major League stints with the Twins in 2025. He appeared in 45 games, hitting .158 with a double, two home runs, 11 RBI, 10 walks, two stolen bases and 15 runs scored. He made his Major League debut with the Boston Red Sox in 2024, appearing in 13 games.

A 27^th-round pick by the New York Yankees in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft, Gasper was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the Minor League phase of the 2023 Rule 5 Draft and was acquired by Minnesota via trade on Dec. 24, 2024.

Washington’s 40-man roster is now at 40 players.

The Orioles have made the following roster move:

• Agreed to terms on a 2026 minor league contract with RHP Hans Crouse.

It’s a big day in the baseball world, because it’s Hall of Fame election day. Or, to be more precise, Hall of Fame election results announcement day.

The actual election took place earlier this winter, with BBWAA voters receiving ballots in late-November and required to mail them back no later than Dec. 31. Three weeks later, those ballots will be tallied and the results announced at 6 p.m. EST on MLB Network.

Each year’s ballot is distinctive, with its own individual quirks. This year’s is no different, with 12 first-time nominees (but none of them obvious slam dunks to be elected) and 15 returning nominees (several of them seemingly on the cusp of enshrinement).

As always, I’ll publish my own official ballot and explainer column later this evening after the results are announced. So please be sure to check back and read one of my favorite articles of the year. Until then, here are some of the biggest things to keep an eye on leading up to tonight’s revelation …

IS THIS THE YEAR FOR BELTRAN AND JONES?
The top two returning candidates are the two candidates with the best chance of being elected tonight: Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones. Beltran got awfully close last year, named on 70.3 percent of ballots. Jones was a bit farther back at 66.2 percent. It would not be surprising if both reached the magical 75 percent threshold for induction this time around. Beltran has always had a rock-solid baseball case; he’s mostly been held back by those who believe his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017 disqualifies him based on the Hall’s longstanding instructions that voters consider character, integrity and sportsmanship in addition to playing performance. Jones has perhaps been held back somewhat by the fact he pled guilty in 2013 to domestic violence charges against his wife, probably held back more so because his on-field performance took a nosedive after age 30. But there seems to be growing support for both, and if anyone is going to get voted in this year, these are the two most likely candidates.

The Orioles didn’t cut ties with Jorge Mateo in order to sew them together later.

Mateo had his $5.5 million club option declined back in November, which sent him into free agency and further away from Baltimore. He was hurt again, didn’t hit again, and wasn’t going to earn that kind of salary from any team.

The possibility lingered that the Orioles might try to negotiate a cheaper deal because they were unsettled at utility infielder, if they decided to actually carry one, but the Braves signed Mateo yesterday to a one-year, $1 million contract.

Mateo won a Fielding Bible Award in 2022 as the top defensive shortstop in the majors. The Braves need a player at the position after Ha-Seong Kim underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right middle finger after slipping on ice in South Korea and is expected to miss four-to-five months.

Staying on the field and getting on base have been challenges for Mateo. He underwent surgery in August 2024 after suffering a left elbow subluxation in a collision with Gunnar Henderson and returned to the injured list in June 2025 with inflammation in the elbow. A hamstring strain while on his rehab assignment became the latest setback and limited Mateo to 42 games in 2025 and only 110 over the past two seasons.

The Nationals ultimately did settle with Cade Cavalli to avoid arbitration, in the process agreeing to an unconventional deal that establishes a significant raise for the right-hander in 2027 if he pitches well in 2026.

Cavalli and the Nats agreed Sunday to a contract that will pay him $862,500 this season, with a $4 million club option for next season that could be bought out for a mere $7,000, a source familiar with the terms confirmed.

The 2026 salary figure falls right at the midpoint between the numbers each side formally submitted for arbitration 11 days ago. Cavalli had sought $900,000; the team had offered $825,000. In reality, he’s guaranteed to make at least $869,500 because of the inclusion of the buyout.

It’s a small win for Cavalli, but the bigger win would come if he puts together an impressive first full major league season, convincing the Nationals he’s worth the $4 million option in 2027. (He would still be under club control if the option isn't picked up and would just need to go through the arbitration process again.)

How well would he need to pitch for the club to pick up the option? For comparison’s sake, Jake Irvin will earn $2.8 million this season as a first-time arbitration-eligible player who is coming off a difficult season in which he went 9-13 with a 5.70 ERA and 1.428 WHIP while allowing a league leading 38 homers in 180 innings.

The enthusiasm that first baseman Pete Alonso showed for the Orioles and the city of Baltimore at his news conference after signing his five-year, $155 million deal hasn’t waned over the past month.

It actually seems to be more intense.

Alonso gushed again on Thursday over a roster that’s still in the construction phase while president of baseball operations/general manager Mike Elias searches for another starter and a few more pieces prior to the Orioles gathering in Sarasota for spring training.

“It’s looking really complete,” Alonso said on the “Orioles Hot Stove Show” on WBAL Radio. “You go from, whether that be the position player group, starting pitchers, to the bullpen, there’s a lot of phenomenal pieces. And Mike’s not done. It’s going to be really exciting to see who else we add.”

He wasn’t done.