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FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Nationals don't make many long spring training road trips anymore, not since relocating headquarters from remote Viera to more accessible West Palm Beach. So the few 2 1/2-hour bus rides they still have on the schedule each spring tend to elicit more substantial groans from everyone involved.
Not everyone, though, was upset to ride the bus all the way across the state to Fort Myers for Thursday's game with the Twins. Erick Fedde viewed it as a golden opportunity.
"I...
SARASOTA, Fla. - Spring training games attract baseball scouts in the same way that free food brings sportswriters out of the woodwork. And the media workrooms.
Talent evaluators throughout the industry flock to these games, in some cases making trade or waiver claim recommendations to their employers. And they can offer more accurate assessments of players in a particular organization because they don't have any attachments to them.
One team's hyped prospect can be taken down a few notches...
SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles third baseman Renato Núñez is day-to-day with a bruised left shin after being struck by a foul ball while batting in the fourth inning.
Núñez stayed in the game and singled into left field. Christopher Bostick pinch-ran after Núñez reached third base.
"A little contusion, a bad spot underneath the knee," said manager Brandon Hyde after a 7-6 loss to the Twins at Ed Smith Stadium. "It just sounds like he's really sore."
Hyde downplayed how...
SARASOTA, Fla. - When spring training began, some may have assumed that Cedric Mullins would the Orioles' opening day starter in center field. But Mullins said today that he was not thinking that way. He felt like he's been fighting for a roster spot since the first day.
"I felt like that coming in," he said. "I had my time when I played center every day last year. I had my ups and my downs. You come in and just try to make a strong impression, whether it is offensively or defensively or...
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Michael A. Taylor was forced to prematurely depart today's exhibition game in the third inning, shortly after the Nationals center fielder injured his left knee making a diving catch.
Taylor's impressive catch of Byron Buxton's second-inning drive to right-center drew oohs and applause from the crowd at the Twins' spring training complex, but the reaction turned quiet as Taylor remained on the ground and manager Davey Martinez and director of athletic training Paul...
SARASOTA, Fla. - Results in exhibition games don't matter until they suddenly do. Until the pitcher or hitter needs to get a return for the hard work. When concerns or frustrations start to build and need to be hushed.
Nobody in Orioles camp was in a panic over Dylan Bundy's struggles, but manager Brandon Hyde noted this morning that the time arrived to turn in a more productive start, to feel good walking off the mound.
Bundy could have done cartwheels all the way to the bench if he was done...
FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Nationals plan for both Tony Sipp and Howie Kendrick to hold significant roles on their roster this season. The question, with two weeks to go, is whether either will be on the opening day roster.
Sipp, whose signing of a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2020 was officially announced today, has thrown only one bullpen session so far, according to manager Davey Martinez, who spoke with the veteran lefty this morning in West Palm Beach before the Nationals boarded...
SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles catcher Austin Wynns took some swings this morning and could return in a week from his oblique injury.
Wynns is falling behind in the catching competition, which intensified with Jesús Sucre's arrival in camp. But an oblique strain is slow to heal and the Orioles won't rush Wynns, no matter what's at stake.
Manager Brandon Hyde said the competition remains "wide open."
"I'm trying to get Sucre in there as much as possible because of the amount of time that...
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Hello from the Gulf Coast side of the state. The Nationals have traveled across Alligator Alley for only the second time this spring, this time to face the Twins.
This is AnÃbal Sánchez's day to pitch, but the veteran elected to stay back in West Palm Beach and face minor leaguers on one of the back fields. So it'll be Erick Fedde getting his first actual start of the spring. Fedde, who has had an erratic camp to date, could certainly use a solid outing today, perhaps...
The Washington Nationals agreed to terms on a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2020 with left-handed pitcher Tony Sipp on Thursday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.
Sipp, 35, went 3-1 with a 1.86 ERA in 54 games for the Houston Astros in 2018. He struck out 42 batters in 38.2 innings (9.8 SO/9.0 IP), walked 13 batters (3.0 BB/9.0 IP) and surrendered just one home run along the way. His 1.86 ERA was a career-best and...