MLB.com recently ranked the top 25 prospects who played in the Arizona Fall League. Surprise Saguaros shortstop Luis Garcia was ranked No. 15. He is the Nationals' No. 2 prospect behind Carter Kieboom and ranked No. 91 overall. "Garcia scuffled in Double-A this season as a 19-year-old but looked better in the Fall League," wrote MLB.com. "Though he has yet to tap into his solid raw power, the rest of his tools all could be at least above average once he's fully developed." Surprise lost...

No one is expecting the Orioles to be very active at the top end or even in the middle tier of the new free agent market. For the second year in a row, in MLBTradeRumors.com's projection of its top 50 free agents, none are predicted to head to Baltimore. This is not surprising, of course, and was indeed expected. Predicting where free agents will land might be harder than you think. Who had Manny Machado to San Diego? All O's fans heard and had to deal with for years were rumors that the...

As stated over the last couple of days, the fun is now over and it's time to start looking ahead to 2020. Not that the Nationals wouldn't love to just freeze time for a while and keep celebrating their championship. Unfortunately, the rest of the baseball world doesn't care about that and has already proceeded into the hot stove league. Thus, the Nats have no choice but to start making plans for next season. Which means we have no choice but to start looking at what they need for next...

If the Orioles are going to improve their pitching via free agency, they'll need to spend outside their financial comfort zone or do a lot of sifting to find bargains. It isn't just about ignoring the upper-tier starters such as Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Zack Wheeler, Madison Bumgarner and Hyun-Jin Ryu, and top relievers like Will Smith and Will Harris. Wade Miley was pretty bad with the Orioles unless you can find a way to positively promote a 5.75 ERA and 1.689 WHIP in 43 starts. He...

Remember when you were a little kid and your mom or dad would toss you into the air? It felt so wonderful that you'd immediately say "Do it again!" Over and over until your poor parents wondered why they ever started this in the first place. Well, we at MASN are experiencing that feeling again, having just witnessed the Nationals pull off the most incredible in-season turnaround and postseason run in the history of the big leagues. And we have a feeling that you might be feeling it,...

With pitcher Gabriel Ynoa out of the organization again, is it possible that the Orioles bring him back on another minor league deal? That ship hasn't sailed, from what I can glean. But he isn't in the same hurry to reach agreement and the Orioles aren't devoting their offseason to forging the latest reunion. Ynoa was outrighted Monday afternoon, declined the assignment and became a free agent. The same three-step dance that occurred last year. Except Ynoa wasted no time finding a partner,...

The Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman held a World Series trophy one day and became a free agent the next. The Nationals declined his $18 million option and gave him a $2 million buyout. The 35-year-old first baseman, who has been with the team since their first season in D.C. in 2005, wants to finish his career with the Nationals. He doesn't want to move to a new team and uproot his family. At least with 81 home games, he gets more family time. Chances are good that the Nationals ownership will make...

Five full days have passed since the Nationals won the World Series, and a lot has a lot happened in those five days. The celebration phase of the post-Game 7 victory time period, alas, is over. And now it's time to get down to serious business. Free agency is now fully underway, with all unsigned players free to negotiate with anybody they want. That doesn't mean there's going to be a sudden flurry of moves in the next 48 hours. Baseball, lest you forget, doesn't act that way. It's a...

He was new to the Orioles organization in 2019 and was one of the first minor league coaching hires by the new front office after Mike Elias was hired as executive vice president and general manager last November. Tom Eller was already close by geographically. Eller had spent the previous 12 seasons as the head coach at Harford Community College in Churchville. In his tenure from 2007 to 2018 the Fighting Owls went 433-230-2, winning five Region XX championships, including back-to-back titles...

Right-hander Max Scherzer is a finalist for the National League Cy Young Award and third baseman Anthony Rendon is one of three finalists for NL Most Valuable Player, but the Nationals got as many snubs as finalists when the top three finishers for Baseball Writers' Association of America awards were announced live on MLB Network tonight. Manager Davey Martinez wasn't listed among the top three vote-getters for NL Manager of the Year and right-hander Stephen Strasburg was not among from the...