Yefry Ramírez celebrated his 25th birthday last week in the Dominican Republic by making it a typical day in his offseason life. Lots of sweat. A sharpened focus on his conditioning. And all of it done with the same infectious smile. A hunk of cake, with its sugary temptations, came with a slice of guilt. Save the rose for someone else. Ramírez dived into a new program as soon as he returned home following his rookie season with the Orioles, when he made 12 starts among his 17 appearances...

Ah, distinctly I remember. It was in the bleak December ... With apologies to one E.A. Poe, we set off on another round of "Orioles Classics" on MASN, the first full week of them in the last month of an eventful 2018. Each game in these telecasts marked a different milestone in Orioles history. We begin with a bittersweet goodbye to an old friend on 33rd Street. The next installment, from eight years prior, lets us relive the start of the final push toward the Orioles' last World Series...

It's been more than six months since he ruptured his right Achilles tendon on a fluke play in left field at Nationals Park, and Howie Kendrick is just now starting to run on an anti-gravity treadmill. That's not necessarily cause for concern. Kendrick insisted he's on schedule in his rehab program from the major injury. His foot feels normal, and he doesn't find himself favoring or thinking about it when he goes through various motions. But Kendrick also knows he still has several more...

There are likely not many players that have had two such very different first two full seasons in pro baseball than Orioles outfield prospect Austin Hays. In 2017, he was ranked among the best minor leaguers in the sport. But in 2018, a slow start at the plate and later an ankle injury left him with 20 fewer homers and an OPS nearly 300 points below the previous season. Between Single-A Frederick and Double-A Bowie in 2017, Hays hit .329/.365/.593 with 32 doubles, five triples, 32 homers, 95...

The newest additions to the Nationals roster for 2019 directly affect right-hander Max Scherzer. Within the past two weeks, veteran catchers Kurt Suzuki and Yan Gomes were added to the roster. So what does the Nats' No. 1 starter, Cy Young Award winner and most important player think about these changes to the person that will call his games? "You're always developing trust," Scherzer said Sunday at Nationals Winterfest. "I go back to Willy (Ramos) and Matt Wieters, there's times where...

Less than a week before the Winter Meetings begin, if we're counting Sunday's flight to Las Vegas and scant opportunities for media access, and the Orioles seem to be in the phase of their managerial search where they compile a list of candidates to interview. Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and his staff have conducted background searches and eliminated names that had grown to more than two dozen, he claimed Thursday night on the "Orioles Hot Stove" show on 105.7...

While the Orioles attempt to keep another tight lid on their managerial search, more names are seeping through the cracks. The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal has confirmed that Nationals bench coach Chip Hale, Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde and Royals quality control/catching coach Pedro Grifol are on the list of candidates. Diamondbacks director of player development Mike Bell, younger brother of new Reds manager David Bell, also will interview, according to MLB Network's Peter Gammons. The Orioles...

While the rest of the baseball world tries to figure out where Bryce Harper is going to play in 2019, astute Nationals fans know an equally important question is where Anthony Rendon is going to play in 2020. Eligible for free agency next winter, Rendon now faces the same dilemma Harper faced last winter. In Harper's case, there was never a doubt he'd play out the season and test free agency. In Rendon's case, the process might well be different. The Nationals and Rendon have engaged in...

With left-hander Gio Gonzalez gone and right-hander Joe Ross returning from injury, the door is wide open for right-hander Erick Fedde to take advantage and grab one of the remaining spots in the Nationals rotation for 2019. The focus for Fedde in the offseason is figuring out a way to be durable enough to make it through an entire season. So his plan is to add weight and add muscle. "Offseason plans are usually the same. It's always been put on weight, put on weight for me," Fedde said...

Sean Doolittle is spending much of his time right now watching do-it-yourself videos on YouTube. He and his wife, Eireann Dolan, recently bought their first house, and that of course has led to home improvement projects. It's not exactly Doolittle's specialty, but he was proud to point out some dried caulk still on the side of his shoe when he met with reporters at Nationals Winterfest. "I'm getting better," he said. "I still would not say I'm handy." That Doolittle's offseason focus...