The Nationals typically go into baseball's non-tender deadline day with some decisions to make. One year ago, they chose not to offer a contract to Javy Guerra (who later re-signed on a minor league deal), were prepared to do the same with Koda Glover before the oft-injured reliever instead announced his retirement, and after some internal discussion chose to retain Roenis Elías, Hunter Strickland and Michael A. Taylor. (None of those three players, it should be noted, remain in the...

The coronavirus pandemic interrupted spring training, shortened the Major League Baseball season, and added COVID-19 testing to the daily routine for players and staff. No way around it, the virus has been felt in every corner of the baseball universe. Even umpires were not immune. The annual visit by the men in blue to Children's National Hospital, where members of UMPS CARE Charities, took on a different look Tuesday when umpires Nic Lentz and Chris Segal conducted a virtual visit to let...

The Orioles provided a vote of confidence yesterday in 27-year-old catcher Pedro Severino. A potential non-tender candidate when the deadline hits tonight, the Orioles made a pre-emptive move to retain a player that has played in 144 games for the club over the last two seasons. The O's agreed to $1.825 million deal with Severino to avoid a possible arbitration hearing and keep him with the club that claimed him off waivers from the Washington Nationals on March 23, 2019. The agreement was...

The Orioles didn't need to remove pitcher Alexander Wells from his home in Australia and dump him into the 60-man player pool over the summer. They were fine with excluding him from the fall instructional league. As executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said a few weeks ago, Wells had "a really good setup" that enabled the team to avoid the hassles of international travel during a pandemic. Wells, a native of Newcastle, was placed on the 40-man roster to protect him from the...

Joe Ross and the Nationals agreed to terms today on a one-year, $1.5 million contract, avoiding arbitration, a source familiar with the deal confirmed. With one day remaining before clubs are required to tender contracts to all of their arbitration-eligible players, the Nats managed to work out a deal with Ross that establishes his 2021 salary right now, though it was a fairly straightforward process. The right-hander's contract is for the same amount he was due to earn in 2020 before he...

The day will come, perhaps in 10 years or 20 years or even more, when someone will mention Michael A. Taylor's name fondly and someone else will look up the outfielder's stats during his time with the Nationals and ask an understandable question. Why was this part-time player with the .237 average, .291 on-base percentage and more than 10 times as many strikeouts as home runs so popular among Nationals fans? Taylor's career stats, of course, don't really tell his story. Not in adequate...

Here is an update on the Nationals' 2020 second-round draft selection, right-hander Cole Henry. The 6-foot-4, 211-lb., Henry was LSU's No. 1 starter in the most recent abbreviated season. He is rated as the Nats No. 4 overall prospect on MLBPipeline.com. Although the Tigers were only able to get four weekends of play in due to the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, Henry still managed to go 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings. He recorded 23 strikeouts with only six walks. On Feb. 28, he beat Texas...

The deadline for teams to offer arbitration eligible players contracts for 2021 is tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The Orioles have some decisions to make with seven remaining arbitration-eligible players. Let's take a look at them in alphabetical order and list the three projected salaries that MLBTradeRumors.com has listed after the shortened 60-game 2020 season. They came to the three figures this way: The first model dealt only with the stats from the 60-game season. The second...

Michael A. Taylor's 11-year tenure with the Nationals officially ended today when the enigmatic outfielder signed a one-year deal with the Royals, hoping a fresh start with a new organization will reinvigorate his career. Taylor had been on the open market since Oct. 15, after the Nationals attempted to outright him to Triple-A and he declined the assignment and elected free agency. Though the club was allowed to re-sign him, it seemed clear from the outset the two sides were ready to part...

The baseball offseason wouldn't feel complete unless the names of arbitration-eligible players and projected raises were recited weekly until the deadline, which mercifully is arriving on Wednesday. There were seven Orioles on the original list. Yolmer Sánchez increased it to eight, but Renato Núñez came off after being designated for assignment and granted his release. Trades are possible in the coming days, just as the Orioles dealt infielder Jonathan Villar and starter Dylan Bundy...