Now that the Nationals have constructed the best rotation in baseball by adding Max Scherzer, the next set of questions surround Jordan Zimmermann. Zimmermann, 28, is eligible for free agency after the season. He and the Nationals have been negotiating, but there's no deal. Zimmermann is willing to stay in D.C., but wants fair market value. So, what is fair? Jon Lester signed for six years and $155 million with the Chicago Cubs. Zimmermann, who has won 57 games with a 3.24 ERA and a...

While I'm sure those on the Nationals roster are excited about the addition of Max Scherzer, with the right-hander joining an already-loaded rotation, Scherzer's reported seven-year, $210 million deal has a major impact on one National in 2015. That player is Tanner Roark. Roark won't publicly come out and complain about how his role will change if the Nats decide not to trade one of their starters after Scherzer's addition, but you have to imagine he isn't thrilled. Roark worked his way...

Pitching and defense are pretty important to most teams and very important to the one here in Baltimore. The Orioles used very solid starting pitching, excellent defense and the longball to win 96 games last year - doing so during a season when some of their key players got hurt and missed a lot of games. Their 2014 offense was decent, but unspectacular and certainly not very balanced. It featured much more pop, as they led the majors in homers, than it did speed or on-base capability. It...

With a month remaining before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, there's still plenty of time for new storylines to develop and for me to rank them according to importance or interest. Kevin Gausman will be on my list, no matter how it's framed. Specifically, I wonder whether Gausman will make the rotation, be moved to a crowded bullpen or again pay the price for having a minor league option. Executive vice president Dan Duquette seemed to indicate at the Winter Meetings that...

Five years ago, pitcher Max Scherzer was a blue-chip prospect with an unpredictable delivery and even more unpredictable results. He's on his way to Washington after agreeing to a seven-year contract reportedly worth in excess of $180 million, giving the Nationals an unbelievable rotation that includes Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Doug Fister, Tanner Roark and Jordan Zimmermann. Media reports speculate that Zimmermann or Fister could be traded for prospects as general manager Mike Rizzo...

Good morning, Nationals fans. Your team just made the biggest move of the offseason. Max Scherzer is coming aboard, according to multiple reports, on a seven-year contract that will pay him upwards of $180 million. This is without a doubt the biggest move of the baseball offseason, a signing that would have brought a 100-loss team into the national conversation. The difference here is that it takes a team that won the most games in the National League last year and only ups its standing as we...

So much for another quiet offseason for the Nationals. Last week, the Nationals acquired shortstop Yunel Escobar to shore up their infield. They sent fan favorite and eighth-inning eraser Tyler Clippard to Oakland to complete the deal. Now there are reports that the Nationals have agreed to a seven-year deal with 2013 Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, who went 39-8 the past two seasons with 492 strikeouts for the Tigers. NJ.com, which covers the Mets, believes this makes it even more...

We've started a new week and the Orioles are dealing with the same old issues. They want a left-handed hitting outfielder. No, seriously, it's in all the blogs and papers. And the club is trying to conduct business while the Blue Jays pursue Dan Duquette like it's last call at a bar and Major League Baseball is serving as wing man. The Jays are ignoring the ring on Duquette's finger and the Orioles don't like it. This is tampering, right? They reached out to him without permission from the...

In early November, I took a shot at predicting the Orioles' payroll for the 2015 season and came up with a figure of $121 million. We can take another shot now that we have more information. We now know that the three key free agents - Nick Markakis, Andrew Miller and Nelson Cruz - are gone, and we now have more concrete salary arbitration figures. We know which players settled at which salaries and also the exchange of figures for those who might go to arbitration. For this exercise, I...

The Nationals are closing in on a deal with right-hander Max Scherzer, the top free agent available this offseason, according to multiple reports. Update: Reports have the Nats signing Scherzer to a seven-year contract, and FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says the deal is worth more than $180 million. A first-round pick of the Diamondbacks in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft when Nats general manager Mike Rizzo was Arizona's scouting director, Scherzer has emerged as one of the top right-handed...