For the first time in a long time, the bullpen was the Nationals’ biggest strength this season. After so many years (in which they did win, I might add) of trusting unproven closers and acquiring top relief pitchers through trade deadline deals, general manager Mike Rizzo constructed a bullpen mostly through waiver claims and minor league deals tha

Armchair general managers stayed busy in the early days of the offseason. Imagine how hectic it’s become with the free agent and trade markets wide open and the Winter Meetings approaching. Your mistakes can’t cost you a job that you don’t actually have, which makes it a sweet gig. I already posed five questions: whether you’d re-sign first baseman

When we look at the 2023 Orioles infield, they return a top prospect talent in Gunnar Henderson, along with a Gold Glove winner in Ramón Urías and a Fielding Bible Award winner in Jorge Mateo. Those three could man second, short and third. But where does that leave Jordan Westburg, who is not currently on the 40-man roster? Or Joey Ortiz, who is? N

There weren’t a lot of prominent Nationals prospects who participated in this year’s Arizona Fall League, and the most prominent of the lot appeared in only two games due to injury. So you’re forgiven if you didn’t pay much attention to the month-long showcase of top minor leaguers that wrapped up Nov. 12. That’s what we’re here for: To provide a r

The fatigue that I keep blaming on tryptophan, which makes no sense because I use the excuse year-round, limits how much heavy lifting I can do in one day. The mailbag isn’t a priority compared to daily workouts, but I decided to empty it this morning while it’s still relatively light. While I don’t need relatives to assist me. This is the holiday

They are going to be a great 1-2 punch in the Orioles lineup next season and quite possibly for many seasons to come. A case could be made that the Orioles' two best hitters going into next season are catcher Adley Rutschman and infielder Gunnar Henderson. And while that talented young duo combined for 602 plate appearances last year, they might ge

The Nationals made a flurry of roster moves last week to begin the offseason, thanks to two deadlines. Earlier in the week, they had to remove players from the 40-man roster and add eligible prospects they wanted to protect from the Rule 5 draft. Then a week ago today, they needed to tender or non-tender contracts to their 10 arbitration-eligible p

Baseball’s regular season ended on Oct. 5. The World Series finished exactly a month later. The Arizona Fall League wrapped up two weeks ago. There’s still the annual game of seeing how far the Thanksgiving leftovers can be stretched. And its spinoffs. Does this smell right? Didn’t that used to be gravy? If that's a mushroom, why is it moving? The

Finding something to be thankful about the Washington Nationals this year? Seriously? Yes, seriously. Maybe it wasn’t the best year in Nationals history. OK, actually it was officially the worst season in Nationals history, with not only a club record 107 losses but the trade of Juan Soto, the continued injury woes of Stephen Strasburg and the pend

I hope all the readers of this blog have a great time this Thanksgiving with family and friends and get to spend time relaxing and enjoying the company of loved ones.  I have a lot to be thankful for myself, with family and friends topping the list. Early during last season I got to see that firsthand and was overwhelmed to see so many rush to help