Nationals announce 2014 mini-plans

Nationals announce 2014 mini-plans
Beginning today at 10 a.m., Washington Nationals fans will have the opportunity to choose between four exciting mini ticket plans to catch some of the hottest games of the 2014 season. As an added value, each plan will also include one free game. This year's mini plans include: * Manager's Pick 'Em Plan (15 games for the price of 14): Welcome new Manager Matt Williams to the Nationals by creating your own 15 game lineup. With this unique offer, fans may select seven prime games as well as...

Yard Work: Is snow helpful or harmful to the field at Camden Yards?

Yard Work: Is snow helpful or harmful to the field at Camden Yards?
Camden Yards is a gem, a rare baseball cathedral that blends classic, retro style with today's version of the national pastime. But its lush outfield grass and manicured infield don't happen by accident. They're the result of a year-round effort by head groundskeeper Nicole McFadyen and her talented grounds crew. Each month during this offseason, Orioles Buzz will check in with McFadyen to see what's happening on the field at Camden Yards as the grounds crew prepares for the 2014...

The Orioles and the 1976 incident that got scoreboard replays banned

The Orioles and the 1976 incident that got scoreboard replays banned
Tucked in at the end of the press release announcing Major League Baseball's new instant replay system - MASNsports.com's Steve Melewski has the full rundown here - is a paragraph announcing the return of one creative use of technology that has been absent from big league ballparks for 38 years. "Clubs will now have the right to show replays of all close plays on its ballpark scoreboard, regardless of whether the play is reviewed," reads the passage. Though it makes little sense,...

Orioles name Marco Gentile vice president of corporate partnerships

Orioles name Marco Gentile vice president of corporate partnerships
The Orioles today announced that Marco Gentile has been named Vice President, Corporate Partnerships. In his new role Gentile will oversee the corporate partnerships department, which includes new sponsorship advertising sales and partnership marketing. He and his staff will develop strategic, targeted and customized marketing solutions for new and returning corporate partners to enhance the relationship between the business community and the ballclub. Gentile rejoins the Orioles after...

When fans flocked to welcome 1954 Orioles to their new nest on 33rd Street

When fans flocked to welcome 1954 Orioles to their new nest on 33rd Street
Pitchers and catchers don't report for more than three weeks to Sarasota, but fans are already eager for the 2014 Orioles season. FanFest at the Baltimore Convention Center on Feb. 1 will unofficially kick off the new campaign, and before you know it, the sounds of bat meeting ball and ball popping into mitt will be emanating from the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota. Battery mates will show up first, then the whole team, then there will be exhibition games to follow as the Birdland...

Orioles to hold tryouts for ballgirls and ballboys on Saturday, March 1

Orioles to hold tryouts for ballgirls and ballboys on Saturday, March 1
The Orioles have announced they will conduct an open tryout to find ballgirls and ballboys for the 2014 season - the team's 60th anniversary season - at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Saturday, March 1. The judges will include members of the Orioles' front office, former players and local media personalities. Outgoing and athletic men and women ages 18 and older who are interested in serving as ballboys and ballgirls for the Orioles during the upcoming 2014 season are invited to try out for...

Orioles add Chris Correnti to major league athletic training staff

Orioles add Chris Correnti to major league athletic training staff
The Orioles today announced that they have added Chris Correnti to their major league Athletic Training staff as Assistant Athletic Trainer. Correnti has served as a performance consultant to the Orioles organization since the start of the 2012 season, working from club's Sarasota, Fla., complex. Correnti began his career in professional baseball in 1990 with the Houston Astros organization before joining the Boston Red Sox organization in 1994, where he remained in various roles through the...

Scouting report on catcher Johnny Monell from his winter league GM

Scouting report on catcher Johnny Monell from his winter league GM
CAGUAS, Puerto Rico - One of the Orioles not in mini-camp in Sarasota this week is catcher Johnny Monell, who was acquired in a trade with the San Francisco Giants on Nov. 30 in exchange for cash considerations. Monell, who got his first taste of the majors in 2013, is expected to compete for the role of Matt Wieters' backup in spring training. Monell is currently playing in the Puerto Rican Winter League - officially Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente - with los Criollos de Caguas,...

Former National Alex Cora thriving in role as winter league GM

Former National Alex Cora thriving in role as winter league GM
CAGUAS, Puerto Rico - Thirty minutes before first pitch at Estadio Yldefonso Sola Morales, Alex Cora is working the rail at the home dugout on the third base side like it's a receiving line at a wedding reception. He stops and greets every player on Los Criollos de Caguas, shaking hands, slapping palms and offering encouragement. If not for the fact that he's in a short-sleeved plaid shirt with a backpack slung over his shoulder, you'd think the smiling 38-year-old was one of the...

Beisbol and ex-Bird watching, island style

Beisbol and ex-Bird watching, island style
CAROLINA, Puerto Rico - While you're pondering whether the thermometer will register below-zero readings in the coming days, I'm doing a little former Bird watching in an island paradise, where the local baseball league has reached in its round-robin playoffs. Four teams are vying for the opportunity to represent Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series, and while catching my first Puerto Rican Winter League game - officially La Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente - between the Indios de...

Defensively speaking, where do Nats rank in NL East?

Defensively speaking, where do Nats rank in NL East?
Defense is the Rodney Dangerfield of baseball statistics, never garnering the respect it deserves. Chicks dig the longball, people oooh and ahhh over Web Gems on ESPN, but what about the workaholic day-to-day types who turn hard-hit ground balls and fly balls to the gaps into outs, the first baseman whose steady glovework saves his infielders from errors and the catcher whose ability to block pitches in the dirt prevents runners from advancing or scoring? The little things, unfortunately,...

Spring training will change under Williams (Rhymes re-signs)

Spring training will change under Williams (Rhymes re-signs)
Usually, sometime after the first of a new year, two things used to happen: The Nationals announce a list of players signed to minor league contracts who are getting invitations to spring training, and the postal carrier shoves a couple of tax forms in among the bills and junk mail. Well, looks like the Nats' list of non-roster invitees will go the way of the tax form booklets, which have all but disappeared now that most of the country files online. Oh, the Nats will still have some...

Zimmerman may move from third to first, but when?

Zimmerman may move from third to first, but when?
With first baseman Adam LaRoche's two-year deal set to expire after the 2014 season - pending the unlikely scenario where he has a monster year and both he and the Nationals agree to exercise a $15 million option for 2015 - there will soon be a new round of chatter about third baseman Ryan Zimmerman switching positions. It seems like an inevitability that Zimmerman will eventually move across the diamond to first base. He's locked into a six-year, $100 million deal that begins this season...

A few words about anniversaries, history and old timers

A few words about anniversaries, history and old timers
The media workroom at the Winter Meetings is an odd place. Put 200 writers, broadcasters, multimedia specialists, camera operators and TV reporters in one place for long stretches of time, and things are bound to get a little strange. There's a lot of quiet work, spiced with some idle chatter to pass long stretches of time. One evening, a couple of writers were discussing franchise longevity when one of my Chicago-based brethren asked me when the Nationals were going to start having an old...

Statement from Orioles managing partner Peter Angelos regarding passing of Paul Blair

Statement from Orioles managing partner Peter Angelos regarding passing of Paul Blair
"It is with great sadness that we learned of Paul Blair's passing last evening. Paul was a key member of many of the Orioles' most memorable and successful teams, as his contributions at the plate and his Gold Glove defense in center field helped the club to two World Series and four AL pennants. After his on-field career, Paul made the Baltimore area his home and stayed involved with the organization through his appearances in the community and at the ballpark. On behalf of the Orioles I...

In O's glory years, Blair made the impossible grabs seem routine

In O's glory years, Blair made the impossible grabs seem routine
News tonight that former Orioles center fielder Paul Blair has died at 69 hits hard. It's another of the players from the team's glory years gone too soon, another piece of Baltimore baseball history we'll no longer be able to reminisce with. I'll remember how he glided across the outfield green on 33rd Street, making the impossible seem routine. And the smile perpetually on his face. Blair was quite simply the best center fielder I ever saw, and growing up in Baltimore during the 1960s...

Any Nats action on Tanaka would be a stealth move

Any Nats action on Tanaka would be a stealth move
Since this is a gift-giving time of year, let's stop for a moment to ponder the fate of Masahiro Tanaka, the Japanese pitcher who, as of Dec. 24, will be posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles and is in line for a huge payday. Think the kind of haul you'd get when Mega Millions doesn't have a winner for two or three months of drawings. Now the 25-year-old right-hander isn't going to be a millionaire immediately; he'll have to wait until major league teams go through the newly designed...

What's the best move Mike Rizzo didn't make?

What's the best move Mike Rizzo didn't make?
Here's hoping you and yours enjoyed the best Christmas possible yesterday. I've taken two naps during the family festivities at the home of my stepbrother in Newark, Del. - one before dinner, one after - and am so stuffed with homemade goodness that I may not have to eat for several days. The downside of the post-turkey, tryptophan-induced food coma is that I'm wide awake as Dec. 26 dawns. You can only spend so much time counting the gift cards - and I've amassed a plethora of free dining...

Surprised at scout's take on Lucas Giolito

Surprised at scout's take on Lucas Giolito
Some baseball writers detest the Winter Meetings. There's too much time spent on too little happening, they say, and prowling a hotel lobby for hours on end in search of the tiniest shreds of information pertaining to the team you cover can be a tedious ordeal. For me, being around the game's movers and shakers for four days is nothing short of baseball geek nirvana. And because there are scouts among the executives hanging out for late-night happy hour or at the morning breakfast buffet,...

Orioles claim right-hander Liam Hendriks off waivers from Cubs

Orioles claim right-hander Liam Hendriks off waivers from Cubs
The Orioles today announced that they have claimed right-hander Liam Hendriks off waivers from the Cubs. Hendriks, 24, was claimed off waivers by the Cubs from Minnesota on December 13. He appeared in 10 games (eight starts) for the Twins in 2013, going 1-3 with a 6.85 ERA (47.1IP, 36ER). He also made 16 starts for Triple-A Rochester. Originally signed by Minnesota as an international free agent in 2007, Hendriks will be the third Australian-born Oriole in club history when he makes his...