Another lost weekend for Orioles during baseball's shutdown

Another lost weekend for Orioles during baseball's shutdown
The Orioles are supposed to be hosting a weekend series against the Astros, but the 2020 season remains on hold. Fans were supposed to be gathering at Camden Yards to make trash can jokes and boo one of baseball's cheaters. Or have we already forgotten the scandal that dominated spring training conversations until the shutdown? Until the coronavirus pandemic shoved it into darkness. Major League Baseball delivered one of the harshest punishments in the sport's history after the Astros were...

Milone on workouts, health and uncertain season

Milone on workouts, health and uncertain season
Orioles pitcher Tommy Milone is spending his days and nights working out and finding tasks to stay busy at his home in Santa Clarita, Calif., a city that's located about 45 minutes north of Los Angeles and known for its variety of roller coasters at the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. Milone should be used to the ups and downs. But his first year with the Orioles has been a shock to the system. How could the veteran left-hander have anticipated everything thrown at him? The coronavirus...

Let's make a deal | MASN All Access Podcast

Let's make a deal | MASN All Access Podcast
While negotiations continue, time may be running out. Bobby Blanco and Mark Zuckerman break down MLB's latest proposal to play and the obstacles it faces.

MLB, union seem far apart, but middle ground awaits them

MLB, union seem far apart, but middle ground awaits them
It's hard to look at the competing proposals for the 2020 season offered up by Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association and come to the conclusion that the two sides are anywhere close to striking a deal. But here's a key point that must be taken into consideration when trying to gauge the state of negotiations: Both sides are purposely making proposals that fall at the extreme ends of their acceptable spectrums. Not because anyone believes the opposing side is going to accept...

Dealing with baseball's trade deadline

Dealing with baseball's trade deadline
While owners and players keep digging in their heels and the threat remains that the 2020 season is going to be buried, I wonder about its structure if it can be salvaged. I'm waiting for clarification on the taxi squad beyond the expectation that it would hold 20 players. I'm waiting for clarification on the trade deadline. As in, will one exist? Major League Baseball eliminated the Aug. 31 waiver deadline last year. The July 31 deadline could be pushed back due to the season's late start...

Nationals change course, will keep paying minor leaguers in full

Nationals change course, will keep paying minor leaguers in full
One day after learning their own major league players had pledged to cover the pay cuts the organization was imposing on minor leaguers, Nationals ownership reversed course and elected to continue making full weekly stipend payments to their players, a source familiar with the decision confirmed. The Nationals' intention to reduce the stipends given to minor leaguers from $400 per week to $300 per week throughout June was immediately met with a harsh reaction from the franchise's own big...

This, that and the other

This, that and the other
The length of baseball's shutdown is allowing players to heal and get deeper into their rehabs after sustaining injuries in spring training. It isn't much of a silver lining, but let's try to stay positive today. I've heard that reliever Evan Phillips, sidelined in early March due to a sore right elbow, is feeling much better. The long layoff and rehab process have brought positive results. Phillips could progress to bullpen sessions in a few more weeks. He was a certainty to begin the...

Nats players pledge to cover minor leaguers' pay cuts

Nats players pledge to cover minor leaguers' pay cuts
Nationals players, after learning Sunday the organization is cutting minor leaguers' weekly pay this month, have collectively pledged to cover the difference on their own. The club, which by Major League Baseball mandate had been paying all minor leaguers $400 per week throughout April and May, will reduce that amount to $300 per week in June, a source familiar with the decision confirmed. The reductions come as the organization also released more than two dozen minor league players, a trend...

More of what we're missing without the majors

More of what we're missing without the majors
The weekend was supposed to conclude another month of baseball, most likely leaving the Orioles at the bottom of the division standings, but we'll never know. We do know what happens when we assume. It isn't about wins and losses in a rebuild, the reminders coming at us like line drives. However, we could have checked on the progress of some important players in the organization. Players who are supposed to be pieces rather than placeholders moving forward. Under normal circumstances, if we...

It's time for baseball to help bring us back together

It's time for baseball to help bring us back together
It all seems so trivial right now, doesn't it, the bickering between Major League Baseball and its players over how to fairly set salaries for the 2020 season? Our country is coming apart at the seams, protests and riots consuming cities across America over an issue that has plagued this land of ours for centuries and has now reached a boiling point. All of this, mind you, against the backdrop of a global pandemic and collapsed economy. We're supposed to care about baseball right now? But...

That time I won the Presidents Race at RFK Stadium

That time I won the Presidents Race at RFK Stadium
It's been a particularly tough week, with far too much negative news in both the baseball and larger world. So let's try to end it on a lighter note, with a personal anecdote. About the time I ran in the Presidents Race. It's Aug. 17, 2006, and the fourth-inning Presidents Race is still a new event during Nationals games. First conceived as an animated race on the scoreboard, it became live action in July of that summer, after the Lerner family officially gained control of the organization...

More memories from the Orioles beat

More memories from the Orioles beat
The baseball shutdown keeps plowing through the month of May, as we knew it would, and the people who cover the sport are digging through a mountain of memories. I've been fortunate to attend some historic moments in a working capacity, including the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park, when players surrounded Hall of Famer Ted Williams during an emotional tribute in the infield - and I got stuck in the elevator afterward - the 2000 Subway Series that shifted between Yankee Stadium and Shea...

Scherzer shoots down MLB plan as clock ticks down for deal

Scherzer shoots down MLB plan as clock ticks down for deal
If you didn't realize how far apart Major League Baseball owners and players were in their negotiations over pay cuts for the proposed 2020 season, Max Scherzer served up a harsh reminder late Wednesday night that the chasm right now is vast. The Nationals ace and member of the MLB Players Association's eight-person executive subcommittee said the union has no intention of accepting any more salary reductions beyond what was already agreed to in late March. And he put the onus on owners to...

Because You Asked - I Want to Believe

Because You Asked - I Want to Believe
Because I've become quite adept at disappointing fans who seek answers from me during the coronavirus pandemic, I'm comfortable opening my latest "mailbag" and also putting the word in quotation marks. With all of the binge-watching that's taking place in households around the world, I'm hoping that you'll happily accept my latest sequel. Try to fit it in between episodes of "Ozark" and "Tiger King." In a related story, I haven't seen either one. I actually thought the latter was a...

Wondering how prospect development works in 2020

Wondering how prospect development works in 2020
No matter what happens on baseball's major league side, the players swatting away another ownership proposal this week as if inhabited by the spirit of Dikembe Mutombo, it appears to be a certainty that the minors will remain shut down until 2021. Fans keep wondering how the Orioles' prospects and the rebuild process are going to be impacted. No one truly knows. These are unprecedented times and there's no history to rely upon. All I can do is assume that it won't be good. What happens with...

Adjustment in Castro's delivery monitored from long distance

Adjustment in Castro's delivery monitored from long distance
The last pitch thrown by Orioles reliever Miguel Castro on March 6 provided evidence that work done on the side, the late tinkering of his delivery, was producing the desired results. But could he keep it going so many miles from the spring training complex? From his home in the Dominican Republic over the past two months? Pitching coach Doug Brocail keeps checking on it while back at his residence in Texas. Again, the video technology that's keeping family and friends connected during the...

Reduced pay, but no layoffs, for Nationals employees

Reduced pay, but no layoffs, for Nationals employees
While Major League Baseball and its players continue to spar over how to restructure salaries for the 2020 season, club employees around the sport are beginning to learn they won't be paid in full this year. The Nationals joined the list Tuesday, informing all full-time team employees they will see their salaries and work hours reduced by a modest amount. According to a source familiar with the club's decision, all full-timers in both the baseball and business sides of the organization will...

State of the Nats roster: Bullpen

State of the Nats roster: Bullpen
We continue today a periodic look at the state of the Nationals roster at the point spring training was suspended and project how things may look whenever baseball is played again. Up next is the bullpen... Team officials are always going to speak optimistically about their roster during spring training. If you can't be positive in February and March, what hope do you have? But the optimism the Nationals displayed in West Palm Beach over their bolstered bullpen was genuine. They legitimately...

This, that and the other

This, that and the other
My optimism is growing that baseball will be played later this summer. Which in the past has meant nothing because I can become skeptical again in a matter of seconds. But it appears that progress is being made toward spring training 2.0 and an opening day in July. Contingencies are in place in case it doesn't happen, which I've heard from people who are close to the game. Have to be prepared for both scenarios. I'm still not buying the argument that fans will never return if there's no...

Flores on Mountcastle's defense and Núñez at third base

Flores on Mountcastle's defense and Núñez at third base
With the exception of the 37 minor league players released last week, the Orioles haven't done much with their personnel since returning home from spring training. The sport is on hold and the camp roster is on ice. Infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle, pitcher David Hess, infielder Ramón Urías and outfielder Cedric Mullins were the last players cut, and those moves became official back on March 19. Five days after I boarded a flight out of Tampa. Mountcastle received most of his work...