Josh Land

Zach Wilt: Why Hyun Soo Kim should be an everyday player

Zach Wilt: Why Hyun Soo Kim should be an everyday player
One of my favorite moves of the offseason was the Orioles' addition of Hyun Soo Kim. It just seemed like the perfect Dan Duquette acquisition. Over the years, the O's executive vice president of baseball operations has shown a unique ability to find major league talent in some unconventional places. Remember Nate McLouth in 2012, who was designated for assignment by the Pirates earlier in the season? How about Steve Pearce in 2014? He was released by the O's on April 27 and re-signed two...
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Josh Land

Dillon Atkinson: Machado at shortstop is a different, enjoyable look

Dillon Atkinson: Machado at shortstop is a different, enjoyable look
As you all know, Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy fouled a ball off his left foot on May 1 and was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a hairline fracture, with the expected return being six to eight weeks. The veteran shortstop was off to a solid start to the season, especially with the glove. His trip to the disabled list created questions among Orioles fans, analysts, reporters and the ballclub. A few hours prior to the start of the team's next game, the O's lineup card featured Ryan...
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Josh Land

Charlie Fliegel: He's not the good, old Gio Gonzalez, but he is good

Charlie Fliegel: He's not the good, old Gio Gonzalez, but he is good
With an ERA that ranks in the top 10 in the National League and an FIP that is top 20, Gio Gonzalez has looked really good this season. But he's not the good, old Gonzalez of 2013, who placed third in Cy Young voting and led the league in strikeouts/nine innings. He is pitching to contact more this season, striking out and walking fewer batters. He's on pace for a K/9 rate of 7.5 and walks/nine innings rate of 2.6, both career lows, well below career rates of 8.8 and 2.6, respectively. His...
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Josh Land

Steve Mears: Jayson Werth's transition to left field and his family's baseball history

Steve Mears: Jayson Werth's transition to left field and his family's baseball history
There is this player in Nationals Park who has a cheering section out there in the unheralded part that is tucked in between the foul pole and the visitors bullpen in Section 105. That's right, it's left field where the man they call "The Beard," "The Werewolf" or some just refer to as "J-Dub" - as Bryce Harper likes to call him - plays his position. Jayson Werth started his career as a catcher, tried some first base and then got moved into the outfield. When the Nationals signed Werth...
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Josh Land

Ryan Romano: Looking at Chris Davis' two big adjustments

Ryan Romano: Looking at Chris Davis' two big adjustments
As players get older, they have to tweak their game to remain elite. For pitchers, this often entails working on a new off-speed pitch or refining command -- to paraphrase a famous expression, they change from throwers into pitchers. Hitters don't always evolve dramatically, but they often shake things up once the years start coming. In the first season of at least seven more with the Orioles, and at age 30, Chris Davis has done exactly that. This offseason, Davis looked like a bit of a risky...
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Josh Land

Marty Niland: Remembering Tom Cheney, who deserved better

Marty Niland: Remembering Tom Cheney, who deserved better
Max Scherzer's 20-strikeout performance against the Tigers was certainly one for the ages, the highlight of one of the most remarkable weeks in the history of the Nationals. But Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, whose contract extension was a key part of that week, owe a debt of gratitude to a man who might have given an even more impressive performance more than 53 years earlier. As Scherzer piled up the strikeouts, matching the most ever in a nine-inning game, Nats fans posting in the...
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Josh Land

Andrew Stetka: O's pitchers limiting home runs, helping team win

Andrew Stetka: O's pitchers limiting home runs, helping team win
The Orioles are already doing things this season they haven't done in this millennium. Win streaks? Not something the Birds are quite accustomed to. They now have two of them over that stretch at least seven games after having just two between 2000-2015. Over the last few seasons, the Orioles have mostly gone about their winning ways by taking two out of three. Sweeps are rare, but losing streaks are rare, as well. It's a simple enough method if you can follow it over the course of a long...
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Josh Land

Matthew Taylor: O's boasting more power than ever

Matthew Taylor: O's boasting more power than ever
We are currently witnessing the most powerful era in Orioles history. It is not only that this year's team is sending baseballs flying out of the ballpark in bunches before the temperature even heats up. Baltimore's power surge has run for five seasons now after a relative drought of home runs in the early 2000s. It is a period that rivals any stretch in team history. The Orioles have had at least one player with 30 home runs in every decade of their post-St. Louis Browns existence. It has...
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Josh Land

Patrick Reddington: Decision to shut down Strasburg in 2012 played key factor in extension

Patrick Reddington: Decision to shut down Strasburg in 2012 played key factor in extension
Think what you will about the decision the Washington Nationals made back in 2012, when they shut down a then-24-year-old Stephen Strasburg late in the season, as planned from the start that year, but the decision GM Mike Rizzo and the front office made played a part in the 27-year-old signing a seven-year extension with the team that drafted him with the No.1 overall pick of the 2009 Draft. They also came within a strike of the 2012 NLCS without him, of course. But the Nats' choice to shut...
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Josh Land

David Huzzard: Pitching is nice, but Nats need more offensive firepower

David Huzzard: Pitching is nice, but Nats need more offensive firepower
Last night, Max Scherzer threw a 20-strikeout game. Earlier in the week, Stephen Strasburg agreed to a $175 extension. They are two fifths of the reason why the Washington Nationals are in the race for the NL East title. Every day I question how a team with so many hitters below league average can be winning as many games as they do. I question it even more when they have multiple comebacks in one game. If you judge a team on their gumption the Nats played their two best games of the season in...
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Josh Land

Zach Wilt: Machado's talent is something to cherish

Zach Wilt: Machado's talent is something to cherish
With every Orioles game that's played this season, I'm personally doing my best to appreciate what I'm able to witness every night. I hope you're doing the same. Watching Manny Machado, in every aspect of the game, is an absolute thrill. I don't want to take it for granted. This could be the year that we point to as the beginning of a superstar career. When we reflect on his playing days in years down the road, I want to be able to recall moments from this season. It's truly special what...
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Josh Land

Dillon Atkinson: Wilson or Wright? Gallardo's return leads to crowded rotation

Dillon Atkinson: Wilson or Wright? Gallardo's return leads to crowded rotation
Orioles right-hander Yovani Gallardo - who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on April 23 with right shoulder/bicep tendinitis - will be cleared to start throwing again this Saturday at Camden Yards. There's still no timetable set for when we should expect him to be activated from the disabled list, but the veteran starter getting ready to pick up a ball and start throwing is the first step to his upcoming return. When he does make his return, who gets removed from the rotation? There are...
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Josh Land

Charlie Fliegel: Did Strasburg signing mean a shift in thinking for Nats?

Charlie Fliegel: Did Strasburg signing mean a shift in thinking for Nats?
With a move that seemed to surprise everyone, the Nationals signed one of the best pitchers in baseball to a long-term contract. And he happens to be one that is already on the team; Stephen Strasburg. He really is one of the best in today's game. Since returning from Tommy John surgery in 2012, he is 13th in MLB in fWAR, 4th in K/9, 13th in ERA+, 9th in FIP, 7th in OPS+ against... and these numbers are somewhat dragged down by the beginning of 2015 when he was pitching when he shouldn't have...
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Josh Land

Steve Mears: Nationals finding success with pinch-hitters

Steve Mears: Nationals finding success with pinch-hitters
The 2016 Nationals bench is winning games singlehandedly by singular swings of the bat. The most memorable singular swing by a bench player is always the one freshest in your mind, which has to be last night's walk-off pinch-hit home run from Clint Robinson. Then you start to think about some of the others, like Chris Heisey in extra innings with the 16th-inning walk-off HR on April 24 which was the first walk-off in Heisey's career. Now rewind back further to the second game of the season...
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Josh Land

Ryan Romano: The Orioles' incredible home run avoidance

Ryan Romano: The Orioles' incredible home run avoidance
Heading into the 2016 season, most projection systems didn't think very highly of the Orioles' pitching staff. Baseball Prospectus predicted they would allow 4.76 runs per game, which would rank last in the major leagues. FanGraphs had them at 4.71 runs allowed per game, better than only the Colorado Rockies. Many pundits echoed that pessimism: Sports Illustrated's Jay Jaffe wrote that "even in a division that's decidedly short on top-shelf starting pitching, the Orioles' rotation scares...
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Josh Land

Andrew Stetka: O's rotation exceeding expectations thus far

Andrew Stetka: O's rotation exceeding expectations thus far
Entering this season, there was little debate over what the biggest concern surrounding the Orioles would be. While there were questions about the corner outfield spots and the offense's reliance on the home run, the starting rotation was always the most glaring question mark. There are still major doubts over what the rotation will become as 2016 plays out, but the unit deserves a little credit for the way it has performed in recent days. Specifically, Chris Tillman, Ubaldo Jimenez and...
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Josh Land

Marty Niland: Nats aren't as far behind Cubs as they seem

Marty Niland: Nats aren't as far behind Cubs as they seem
The old adage goes that good baseball teams play .500 on the road and have a winning record at home. Still, Nationals fans can't help but have a bad taste in their mouths after dropping the last four games of a 5-5 road trip to the Cubs. It seems the Cubs have been edging out the Nats since the offseason, when they won bidding wars for free agents Ben Zobrist (5-for-13, three homers, nine RBIs in the series) and Jason Heyward (2-for-5 Sunday with a diving catch to rob Ryan Zimmerman of a...
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Josh Land

Patrick Reddington: Rizzo flourishing in role of building Nationals into contenders

Patrick Reddington: Rizzo flourishing in role of building Nationals into contenders
Before Mike Rizzo was hired as Washington's full-time general manager on Thursday, August 20, 2009, after serving on an interim basis for the Nationals throughout the '09 season, there was a bit of drama in the nation's capital. For a time, at least according to published reports, it appeared as if someone else might get the job. Once he was officially announced the full-time GM, Rizzo was asked about the week he went through leading up to the final decision and the published reports which...
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Josh Land

Matthew Taylor: O's will need unlikely contributions if they're going to win big

Matthew Taylor: O's will need unlikely contributions if they're going to win big
Here's to the unlikely. The Orioles have cornered the market on defying expectations in recent years, outlasting meager predictions on their way to two playoff appearances and a division title. If the O's are going to contend for the AL East in 2016, they'll need plenty of unanticipated happenings again this season. In other words, they'll need more nights like Thursday night. The O's won their first matchup of the season with the New York Yankees in dramatic fashion, using eight shutout...
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Josh Land

Zach Wilt: Adam Jones' struggles aren't a cause for concern

Zach Wilt: Adam Jones' struggles aren't a cause for concern
Just over a month into the 2016 season, the Orioles offense is on pace to be one of the game's best. They've hit 36 homers, ranking third in the major leagues in that category (there's a four-way tie for first) and have baseball's third-best batting average with runners in scoring position (.295). We knew this club would score some runs this season, so I suppose these early rankings aren't much of a surprise. What is a surprise though, is that they've been able to put up these numbers...
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