The Orioles were getting ready to play their 17th exhibition game on March 8. Four days before the team bus pulled out of the complex and circled back, confirmation that baseball was shutting down due to COVID-19. Four days before outfielder Trey Mancini would undergo surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his colon. Alex Cobb can close his eyes and see it all. He remembers the local media gathering to ask about Mancini's departure from camp. How he described the situation as...

The Nationals have set their minor league managers for 2021, according to published reports. At Triple-A Rochester, Matt LeCroy returns to the dugout, moving up from Double-A Harrisburg. Moving to the Senators to manage is Tripp Keister. At high Single-A Wilmington is Tommy Shields. Mario Lisson takes over as manager for low Single-A Fredericksburg. Since 2008, LeCroy, 45, has managed in the Nats system at low Single-A, high Single-A and Double-A and was the bullpen coach on Matt Williams'...

On this cold, wet mid-December morning, here's a warm thought to boost your spirits: Exactly two months from today, Nationals pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report for spring training. Emphasis, of course, on the "are scheduled to" portion of that statement. Anyone who definitively says spring training will begin as scheduled is merely hoping that comes true. "We're planning for an on-time spring training, Feb. 17, and a 162-game major league schedule," Nats general manager Mike...

An offseason exercise that doesn't require a home gym, but makes me sweat as if competing in a triathlon, is creating an Orioles lineup in December. Taking the players on the current 40-man roster and the likely invites to spring training and filling every position. Go nuts and, if you dare, also craft a bench, rotation and bullpen. But only if you've stretched prior to attempting it. A national publication seeks my assistance every winter, with a deadline prior to the Christmas holiday. The...

Alex Cobb has arrived back at a point in his career that looks the same in some aspects and completely foreign in others. The final year of his contract. Shuffled priorities as he stands on the deck and peers out again at free agency. Been there, but doing it differently. Cobb isn't in the hunt for another four-year deal, which the Orioles gave him at a cost of $57 million before the 2018 season to mark the largest for a pitcher in franchise history. He turned 33 in October, is entering a new...

Right-hander Mac Sceroler has got a decent four-pitch mix and an uncle who has helped shape his career and is well known to Orioles fans. He had a strong 2019 season, but when spring training begins, the 25-year-old will be trying to make the jump from the high Single-A Florida State League to the American League. One of the O's two Rule 5 picks, along with right-hander Tyler Wells, Sceroler was the No. 5 pick of the 18 major league-phase players taken. The Orioles selected him from the...

Conducting the usual search for veteran relievers during the offseason, the Orioles are on the verge of signing left-hander Fernando Abad to a minor league contract per multiple sources. Final details are being worked out, but the sides are in agreement. Abad will receive an invitation to spring training, which for the Orioles is supposed to begin with pitchers and catchers reporting to the Ed Smith Stadium complex on Feb. 16. The Orioles also held interest in Abad last winter and made an offer...

Manager Davey Martinez made a point heading into this offseason to get better in outfield defense as the Nationals look to return to the top of the National League East after a fourth-place finish in 2020. In 2019, center fielder Victor Robles led the major leagues with 23 Outs Above Average (OAA) over 155 games. In 2020, in just 52 games, Robles reached only 2 OAA. Adam Eaton had a minus-1 OAA and Juan Soto a minus-2 OAA. Outfielders Michael A. Taylor and Andrew Stevenson did not register an...

Mike Rizzo notoriously doesn't tip his hand when it comes to offseason targets, but if you're willing to take him at his word, it appears the Nationals general manager intends to go into the 2021 season with Yan Gomes catching more than 50 percent of his team's games and a still-to-be-acquired veteran backing him up. During Tuesday's Zoom session with reporters, his first since late September, Rizzo indicated the Nationals are prepared to have Gomes start a majority of games begin the...

Tyler Wells won't be able to truly demonstrate what he offers the Orioles as a pitcher until reporting to spring training and getting on a mound. Until he faces hitters in live batting practice sessions and in exhibition games. What he's done so far is prove that he's going to be one of the more thoughtful, open and articulate members of the organization. Wells was credited with a quality Zoom yesterday afternoon in his first media session after the Orioles chose him in Thursday's Rule 5...