Thirteen Nationals players, plus general manager Mike Rizzo, manager Davey Martinez and a skeleton crew of coaches, doctors, trainers and conditioning staff continue to ride out the coronavirus pandemic in West Palm Beach, Fla., though all have been instructed to take steps to ensure social distancing in an effort to prevent spread of the virus. Rizzo, who said three players and other staffers are now in Washington while others have returned to their various hometowns, said no players to date...

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said the organization was ready to step up to pay their minor league players if Major League Baseball did not move swiftly enough. During a morning teleconference, Rizzo said that, as a former minor league baseball player himself, he knows how difficult it is to make ends meet even without the threat of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic canceling games. "Very, very glad to see that Major League Baseball is beginning to take care of minor league players,"...

The Nationals' run last October, when viewed in its entirety, was thrilling. That doesn't mean every single game along the way matched that description. There were a few clunkers mixed into those 17 postseason games. And maybe the biggest clunker of them all came only 48 hours after the euphoric National League wild card win over the Brewers. Flying high from that dramatic victory, the Nats headed west to open their best-of-five NL Division Series with the powerhouse Dodgers. And if you were...

Over the next few weeks, let's take a look at some aspects of the Orioles and how they were shaping up at the time that spring training was halted. Today, a look at the rotation. To me the rotation was setting up this way: No. 1 - John Means: He was slated to be the opening day starter if the opener was going to be on March 26. Everything was pointing to that and Means was on schedule for that start. It just had not been announced yet. Means had a solid spring and looked confident and ready to...

The Orioles trimmed their camp roster to 50 players yesterday afternoon and reached an important date involving left-hander Wade LeBlanc. Well, it seemed to carry a lot more significance prior to the opening of camp and baseball's complete shutdown. LeBlanc's minor league deal, agreed upon in late January, included a March 19 opt-out clause. He could request his release and the Orioles would have 48 hours to add him to their 40-man roster or allow the veteran to reenter free agency. There...

The Orioles haven't emptied their spring training complex in Sarasota, but the number of players are dwindling. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias indicated this afternoon in a conference call that most of the Orioles returned home due to the coronavirus pandemic. They also were given the choice of going to Baltimore for informal workouts. "The general state of affairs in the Orioles organization is we have a small group of players that is still in Sarasota," he said. "Many...

The Orioles held a conference call today with both executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and senior vice president of community development and communications Jennifer Grondahl to discuss the current shutdown of baseball. Check Roch Kubatko's blog for Elias' updates on baseball operations and I will post Grondahl's comments on the business side for the club here. Grondahl's opening comments to reporters: "We're taking this situation one day at a time. As Mike (Elias)...

The Orioles whittled their camp roster to 50 players this afternoon while making their first moves since baseball's shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pitcher David Hess, infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle, outfielder Cedric Mullins and infielder Ramón Urías have been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. No cuts had been announced since left-hander Keegan Akin was optioned to the Tides back on March 10. A few competitions gained some clarity today. Mullins was a candidate to make the...

Minor league players will get some financial help while their seasons are delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Major League Baseball recently suspended spring training camps and announced the regular season would be delayed indefinitely. Minor League Baseball followed suit, announcing operations have been suspended until further notice as governments and public health officials work to contain the pandemic. This left minor league players without any games or financial means until the season...

My continuing conversation with Nationals minor league pitching coordinator Brad Holman got to the point where I asked him if the coaching staff had used the World Series success by Nats starters when working with their future prospects. Holman said they did. Back in January he brought the pitchers together and showed them strategies and pitch selections that Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Max Scherzer and others had implemented all the way to a title in 2019. After all, when you have the...