The New York Mets are set to defend their National League pennant with the pitching staff that had the fourth-best ERA (3.44) in the league.
The Nationals have a new look to their rotation. The Marlins are hoping for health and a chance to show they were better than last season. The Braves and Phillies are dealing with rebuilding projects.
As the mid-Atlantic moves snow and baseball fans look forward to spring training, here's how pitching stacks up in the National League East:
ATLANTA...
The Rays rotation is deep and returning to health. The Yankees have a trumped-up bullpen, a candidate to be the best in baseball. The Red Sox signed David Price to anchor their rotation and Craig Kimbrel to be their closer. The Blue Jays have Drew Storen, the former Nationals closer. The Orioles have a strong bullpen, but rotation questions.
Here's how the American League East pitching shapes up as the mid-Atlantic shovels snow and dreams of watching live batting practice:
BALTIMORE...
It's question-and-answer time:
Q: The Orioles and Nationals each need a starting pitcher. Did they miss a deal when Ian Kennedy signed for $70 million with the World Series champion Royals?
A: Kennedy, 31, was the best of the starters on the low-risk, high-reward free agent list, but it was shocking that the Royals, of all teams, gave him that kind of money. Kennedy is coming off a down year with the Padres after expectations were high that he'd be a key to keeping them in contention in 2015....
As spring training nears and big-name free agents such as Justin Upton and Yoenis Cespedes look for contracts, free agent shortstop Ian Desmond is lost in the shuffle.
Desmond, 30, who was the last link to the Nationals' history in Montreal, is facing a looking for a tight for shortstops. Desmond turned down a long-term contract worth at least $100 million from the Nationals. Then, he turned down their qualifying offer, meaning that the team that signs him has to give up a draft pick to the...
The Miami Marlins have signed pitcher Wei-Yin Chen and the Colorado Rockies have added outfielder Gerardo Parra, so that puts the Orioles in the middle of trade speculation and free agent signings with pitchers.
The news focus is left-handed batting outfielders, whether it is the Nationals or the Orioles.
Parra, who played for the Orioles last season, gets three years and $27 million. He gives the Rockies four left-handed hitting outfielders along with Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon and...
The two biggest stories coming out of Wednesday's Hall of Fame election were Ken Griffey Jr. missing a unanimous selection by three votes and the ramifications of Mike Piazza opening the door for Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, two players that have been tied to performance-enhancing drugs.
The hunt is on for the three voters who didn't select Griffey. It is within the voters' rights to use a ballot for political statements. Maybe the voters were protesting the Steroids Era. Maybe they...
The Nationals have spent the offseason rebuilding their bullpen, adding Trevor Gott, Shawn Kelley, Oliver Perez and Yusmeiro Petit.
With Drew Storen and Jonathan Papelbon, it would appear the Nationals' bullpen is set. But, given that Storen asked for a trade and Papelbon attempted to choke Bryce Harper at the end of last season, there are questions:
Will Storen and Papelbon stay in D.C. and can their issues not be a distraction? If the Nationals can't trade Papelbon, do they release him at...
Hall of Fame ballots for the Baseball Writers' Association of America are in, and so the burning question between now and Jan. 6, when the results will be announced, is whether outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. will be the first player to be elected unanimously.
Griffey, who played primarily for Seattle and Cincinnati, is in his first year of eligibility. There is no legitimate argument for not voting for Griffey. He's one of the best centerfielders of all-time. He was born in Denora, Pa., same...
The Pete Rose story is tragic, and I feel for Pete Rose.
His whole life has been given to baseball. He defines the Cincinnati Reds much like Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Sparky Anderson. He is the all-time hits leader with 4,256, played in six World Series, a ton of All-Star games and won three National League batting titles. Seven times he led the NL in hits.
He made teams better. His enthusiasm for the game was contagious. His persistence and determination to win was a lesson for all...
With David Price and Zack Greinke signing contracts worth more than $200 million, do you think the price of starting pitching is skyrocketing this season?
Check out the cost of bullpen help.
The Orioles and Darren O'Day held a press conference Tuesday at Camden Yards after O'Day, 33, signed a four-year, $31 million contract to stay in Baltimore.
Others teams, such as Washington, San Francisco and Atlanta, wanted to sign O'Day, who stabilizes the Orioles bullpen's setup role with Brian...
NASHVILLE - When was the last time you heard or read this sentence?
The Detroit Tigers have a strong bullpen.
As the Winter Meetings end, the Tigers are the American League team with the most dramatic makeover at this point in the offseason. And the Boston Red Sox are right there in the argument.
When the Tigers dominated the AL Central with four titles from 2011 to 2014, the problem for manager Jim Leyland was always a thin bullpen.
Who knows what the Tigers would have accomplished in those...
NASHVILLE - And the winner of the most improved team in the National League is - drum roll, please - the Arizona Diamondbacks.
As the Winter Meetings conclude, the Diamondbacks, who had 79 wins last season for a 15-win improvement from the previous year, have added balance to the NL West. No longer is the division a two-team race between the Giants and the Dodgers.
"They have so many good young players," Giants manager Bruce Bochy says. "They play solid defense. They score runs and now they...
NASHVILLE - The news of the third day of the winter meetings involves second basemen, one that's going home and another that's leaving home.
Ben Zobrist signed a four-year, $56 million contract with the Chicago Cubs, partly because he wanted to be close to home and family in Eureka, Ill.
Neil Walker has no choice but to leave his family roots in Pittsburgh after the Pirates traded him to the New York Mets.
Zobrist has played in the south with Tampa Bay and on the West Coast with Oakland. He...
NASHVILLE - Joe Torre, the chief baseball officer of Major League Baseball, likes how instant replay has become part of the game and he doesn't see any major changes coming for 2016.
"We're going to probably make adjustments or tweaks to it as the technology gets better," Torre said Tuesday on the second day of the Winter Meetings. "The Super Slow Mo gives us a better picture and we can see more things. The fact that we overturned 50 percent means that managers are getting more comfortable...
NASHVILLE - After the first day of the Winter Meetings, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the team that made a big deal and created the biggest set of questions.
The Dodgers lost starter Zack Greinke to Arizona and had arranged a trade for Cincinnati's lefty closer, Aroldis Chapman - until domestic abuse allegations surfaced Monday night, putting the deal in jeopardy. The Dodgers have gone from having the best one-two punch in the rotation - Clayton Kershaw and Greinke - to having the potentially...
NASHVILLE - Baseball's Winter Meetings return to Nashville, the place where Kevin Brown made contract history in December 1998, signing a seven-year, $105 million contract to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The news of Brown's contract, which beat the previous record of the Mets' seven-year deal worth $91 million for Mike Piazza a few months earlier, stunned the meetings and the general thought was that the industry was going broke. Brown also got 12 airline trips a year for his family to...
Does Zack Greinke's signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks mean that we've seen the biggest shocker move of the offseason? Does it mean that the Winter Meetings next week in Nashville are going to be without drama?
Hardly.
The Diamondbacks have been hinting all offseason that they were going to make a push for pitching and subsequently a push to challenge the Dodgers and Giants in the National League West.
And while the general consensus is that Greinke was choosing to sign with the Dodgers or...
As the Winter Meetings approach, here are some questions and answers to ponder:
Q: Are the Red Sox crazy for signing lefty David Price for $217 million, which averages $31 million a year and basically $1 million a start, complete game or not?
A: They aren't crazy, but they are tired of losing. They won the World Series in 2013, but they have finished last in the American League East in three of the last four seasons. The fan base is restless, and given they have a huge local TV market,...
As expected, Jordan Zimmermann is gone from the Nationals.
He's agreed to a five-year, $110 million contract with the Detroit Tigers, his first chance to pitch in the American League.
But what kind of team are the Tigers going to be next season? They could either be an aging team in need of a rebuild, much like the Philadelphia Phillies, or a team planning to return to first place in the AL Central with the addition of Zimmermann.
Zimmermann, who turns 30 in May, will slot No. 2 in the Tigers...
The holidays are arriving, as well as the bargain-hunting shopping season. Who doesn't like a good deal? Baseball teams are no different, especially when it comes to pitchers.
The only ways to upgrade a pitching staff is to sign a free agent, trade prospects or go for the lightning-in-a-bottle route, hoping that a pitcher can get healthy or shake off a bad season, much like the Orioles did with Miguel Gonzalez, the Pirates with Francisco Liriano or the Twins with Phil Hughes.
The Orioles need...
