It usually comes down to more than this, oftentimes much more, but if the Orioles simply headed north for opening day 2022 with their five most talented pitchers in their rotation, no doubt right-hander Grayson Rodriguez would have a great chance to be one of those five. Could he be in the opening day rotation? He certainly could. Will he? That is a much more complicated question. There is lot to consider beyond whether he one of the best five. There is what the new collective bargaining...

Let's take a look back at a few stories that made news around here this week as we wait for the lockout to end. It's good news that another negotiating session is taking place tomorrow between Major League Baseball players and owners. It's now Jan. 23 and go time for these sides to get moving with spring training camps set to open in less than a month. The players are expected to make a proposal after the owners side did the same about a week ago. Let's see where it leads with fingers...

After a long, slow winter with precious little going on, the Nationals at last made news on multiple fronts last week. And wouldn't you know who happened to be on vacation as this all happened? Yep, it never fails. If you want news, all you've got to do is book me and my family on a flight out of town, then sit back and wait for the alerts to drop. Many thanks, as always, to Bobby Blanco and Pete Kerzel for handling the various items in my absence. But now that I'm back to work, I figured...

Dumping the contents of my mailbag last week was an incomplete task. A few letters stuck to the bottom. How is this possible? Maybe from using the bag to make caramel apples over the holidays. That's one theory. Let's avoid overthinking it and just get to the core of the issue. Here are a few more questions, posted word for word. If you need more clarity or the length challenges your attention span, I can't help you. If Rougned Odor wins the second base job, who will be at third base?...

When I interviewed Baseball America executive editor J.J. Cooper this week about the publication's new top 100 prospects list, it was clear that while the Orioles' Adley Rutschman was ranked as the outlet's No. 1 prospect, he was not an easy choice to be No. 1. As good as Rutschman is, and Baseball America also rates him with three 70-grade tools, two other players had strong cases for No. 1. They are Seattle's 21-year-old outfield prospect Julio Rodriguez from the Dominican Republic and...

A few days ago, we discussed the curious case at first base for the Nationals heading into spring training. It's an interesting situation to think about for the team's long-term future, but it isn't a very pressing matter as it relates to the upcoming season. The same cannot be said for the situation in center field and how it relates to Victor Robles. It's been a hard fall from grace for Robles, formerly the organization's top prospect, who was believed to be even better than Juan Soto....

Kevin Frandsen is back in Washington, D.C. After a nine-year major league career, including the 2014 season with the Nationals and the last four seasons as a member of the Phillies radio broadcast crew, the former utility player is picking up the stick mic and stepping in front of the camera for Nats games this year. MASN and the Nationals announced yesterday that Frandsen was chosen to be the new color commentator alongside play-by-play announcer Bob Carpenter in the broadcast booth for the...

The Orioles opened their second January minicamp yesterday, and the first for hitters, with a modest invite list that featured six of their top 11 prospects per MLBPipeline.com. Four of the other prospects in the elite 11 are pitchers. The only position player who's absent right now is infielder Connor Norby, a second-round pick in 2021 who will participate in the second hitting camp that opens Tuesday morning. (Here's a reminder from earlier this week.) The current gathering is headlined...

On the Orioles farm, a case could be made that no player showed a better speed-power combination in 2021 than outfielder Zach Watson. He was the only player on the O's farm to both hit 20 or more homers and steal 20 or more bases. And he did that during the combined 105 games he played for high Single-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie. Watson, 24, was the Orioles' third-round pick (No. 79 overall) in 2019 out of LSU. He batted .248/.294/.468/.762 between the IronBirds and Baysox last season with...

Orioles pitchers and catchers are supposed to report to the Ed Smith Stadium complex on Feb. 15. The date remains alive during the lockout, but is threatened by the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement. The ticking of the clock is getting louder. Edgar Allan Poe might write a short story about it if he were alive today. The sides reportedly will meet in person Monday, with the union offering its counterproposal. The first bargaining session since a video conference Jan. 13 I've...