Thanksgiving weekend, of course, marks the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, though obviously this year is a little bit different from the norm. Black Friday did take place, but it wasn't nearly the spectacle it usually is, and for good reason. Baseball's shopping season also is different this year. We've already seen how slow the market has been to develop, and it's probably going to remain that way for a while, at least until clubs know what exactly the 2021 season is going...

When he spoke to reporters early this month, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said the club would pursue signing starting pitching this winter and heading into the 2021 season. They could add major or minor league free agents. The Orioles rotation ended last season in a pretty good spot after Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer made their major league debuts. Jorge López had some nice moments as well, while John Means and Alex Cobb were both pitching well at the end of...

How much would a big league team pay to sign an amateur who becomes a future Most Valuable Player candidate? Many millions, no doubt. But when you sign a young talent, no one can know for sure what will happen many years later. When signing teenagers out of high school and international amateurs at 16 and 17, teams have to project down the road. How big will that player grow to be physically? Does he have the work ethic needed to become a big league regular? Will injuries cause issues? For the...

I had a chance to catch up with current George Washington University and former big league coach Gregg Ritchie prior to the GW women's basketball game in D.C. on Wednesday night, and we talked about how important balls in play are to overall success for major league teams. Ritchie played in the Rangers organization in 1995 and was the Pirates' hitting coach from 2011-2012. He contended that most of the teams that recently played in the World Series did a very good job of putting the ball in...

The hot stove doesn't have much cooking with the Orioles. Rebuilding teams tend to sit on the national media's back burner. And clubs that tend to do some of their heaviest lifting in spring training are going to get lighter coverage in November and December. The Orioles finally are tied to a free agent, with MLB.com reporting again per sources that there's interest in veteran outfielder Yasiel Puig. Makes even less sense to me now than earlier in the year. Anthony Santander and Dwight Smith...

This traditionally is a day to take a step back and appreciate what we have in our lives, big and small, and give thanks for it. But this year? What are we supposed to be thankful for in November 2020? Actually, there's a lot. Though this certainly has been among the most trying years any of has ever experienced, there have been some silver linings. Block out the big ugly things, if you can, and think about the little things we were treated to this year. We got to watch a baseball season. No,...

Happy Thanksgiving, Birdland! I hope everyone gets to be with their family today, but we know that in 2020, that is probably not happening for everyone. Let this be the last Thanksgiving like this one. But here is a wish for all of Birdland to be healthy and happy on this holiday. I'm thankful for the wonderful community of Orioles fans that frequent this blog daily. As it relates to the Orioles, the club may be very thankful at some point for the return they got in the Manny Machado trade....

With the Orioles unable to negotiate a trade prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, Renato Núñez has moved into the next phase of his offseason. Núñez cleared unconditional waivers and was given his release this afternoon, enabling him to enter free agency as a power bat with experience at the infield corners. The Orioles had no plans to tender Núñez a contract with a projected arbitration raise of more than $2 million. They designated him for assignment on Friday while setting...

The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us and traditions are being shut down like a spring training camp. Large family gatherings and out-of-state travel are discouraged due to health concerns rather than the bickering and your weird uncle's inappropriate comments. The two football games today interest me about as much as month-old sweet potato casserole, but I'll still watch them. They were supposed to be pigskin appetizers before Ravens-Steelers, which is going to be as satisfying as month-old...

This has been, unfortunately as expected, an awfully slow start to free agency across baseball. Teams so far have been reluctant to spend anything resembling significant money, perhaps because they want to wait and see what the 2021 season is going to look like before committing, perhaps because they already intended to make players wait as long as possible in the final year of the current collective bargaining agreement. There has, however, been just a tiny bit of movement the last couple...