Yesterday we looked at FanGraphs' Steamer projections for everyone in the Nationals lineup to begin the 2018 season. Today we'll look at the projections for the prominent members of the Nationals' pitching staff ... MAX SCHERZER Actual 2017 stats: 16-6, 2.51 ERA, 200.2 IP, 268 SO, 0.90 WHIP, 6.0 WAR Steamer 2018 projection: 15-9, 3.38 ERA, 207 IP, 257 SO, 1.09 WHIP, 5.0 WAR Comment: While these numbers are still very good, if they came to fruition Scherzer would end up with his worst ERA...

As the Orioles look to build a rotation for the 2018 season, right now we only know for certain that right-handers Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman will be two of the five starters. The good news is both are young and under team control for a combined seven more seasons. Gausman cannot be a free agent until after the 2020 season and Bundy after 2021. And while both posted very good numbers at times last season, their final season stats included an ERA of 4.24 for Bundy and 4.68 for Gausman. But in...

Spring training wouldn't feel right unless the media had camp competitions to chronicle on a daily basis. Fifth starter, last bullpen and bench spots, backup catcher. It allows us to obsess over guys like Chad Moeller, Luis Exposito, Zack Phillips, Ryan Drese, Alex Gonzalez, Jimmy Paredes, Travis Ishikawa, Jason Pridie, Russ Canzler, Jai Miller and Trayvon Robinson. It makes us feel foolish later when so many of them disappear and are never heard from again. Oh heck, let's keep going. Hayden...

Shortstop Alan Trammell and pitcher Jack Morris have been voted into the Hall of Fame by the Modern Era Committee. So now that the approximately 430 ballots from the Baseball Writers' Association are in, here are answers to the most-frequently asked questions about who will be inducted into Cooperstown on a steamy day in July. The BBWAA will announce vote totals Jan. 24. Question: Should Barry Bonds, the all-time home run champion, and Roger Clemens, the best right-handed pitcher of all...

Left-hander Ben Braymer made the move from short-season Single-A Auburn to low Single-A Hagerstown in 2017 and got to work a simulated game against Nationals hitters prior to the National League Division Series versus the Cubs at Nationals Park The Auburn product went 5-2 with 3.99 ERA in 65 1/3 innings over 13 games. Braymer, 23, struck out 76 batters and walked only 21 on the season. He surrendered only four homers. I spoke with his teammate, right-hander Gabe Klobosits, about the experience,...

The 2018 Nationals are going to look a lot like the 2017 Nationals. With only a handful of exceptions, the same group of players that won 97 games last season is going to be back and making another run at it this season. So while many other clubs' fortunes will be predicated in large part on how much they improved their roster during the offseason, the Nats' fortunes probably boil down more to this question: How much better (or worse) will their returning players be? We won't know the...

He is the only player on the Orioles roster signed beyond the 2019 season. His contract runs through 2022. When first baseman Chris Davis signed a seven-year deal worth $161 million in January 2016, a lot changed for him. He had incredible financial security for his family's future, but also the expectations for him would now be higher than ever. Davis produced 47 homers and a .923 OPS in 2015 that helped get him that contract. But in 2016, he hit 38 homers with an OPS of .792, and last year...

While the extended forecast calls for snow possible later this week and temperatures so low that they can turn your thoughts to ice, the highs in Sarasota are stuck in the 50s until Sunday. Until the Orioles begin trickling into the Ed Smith Stadium complex for their annual three-day minicamp. Temperatures are supposed to climb back into the 70s by Monday's first workout with only a 10 percent chance of rain before everyone returns home. The guys living up north may leave kicking and...

With one homegrown star possibly leaving the team in the next year via a trade or free agency, can the Orioles keep another? If third baseman Manny Machado leaves the Orioles via free agency after the 2018 season, second baseman Jonathan Schoop could do the same at the end of 2019. With Machado likely to command a contract the team is not prepared and/or willing to match, Schoop should be a different story. He has two years of team control left and his next deal will come well under the...

The new year has arrived. But does that mean all those free agents who are still out there will start picking their employers for 2018? It's been a really slow hot stove league so far. Aside from the usual excitement right before, during and right after the Winter Meetings, there has been precious little action across baseball. And that was especially true over the holiday break, which saw Wade Davis sign with the Rockies, a couple of third-tier relievers sign deals and nothing else. It's not...