As the news came out this afternoon that Buck Showalter would not continue as the Orioles' manager, it was not unexpected. And, as of this writing, we still have not heard official word from the team. But as reported here, Showalter met twice with ownership representatives in the last few days and this morning was told he would not be back as manager. He will not return in any role with the Orioles. Showalter's legacy is simply this: He was a key person, maybe the key person, in turning a...

The Orioles will move forward with their plans to rebuild while leaving behind the man who has managed them since August 2010. Buck Showalter won't return for the 2019 season, according to multiple sources, with the club allowing his contract to run out at the end of the month. The offseason will include a search for his successor. Showalter won't remain in the organization in any capacity - it's believed that he wasn't offered anything else - and he flew home to Dallas today. He met with...

A player trying to impress in the final month of the season and convince his new team that he deserves a roster spot in 2019 needs to do more than hit and field his position. He has to stay healthy. Breyvic Valera provided a reminder to manager Buck Showalter that he owned a career .299 average in the minors. Not that Showalter needed it. One of baseball's most prepared men already perused the stats and recited them to the media after the Manny Machado trade to the Dodgers that brought Valera...

At a time when the Orioles were last among all teams this year in Major League Baseball, they can at least say that one of their young pitchers ranked as the best in his league in 2018. Baseball America released its list of the top 20 prospects in the Single-A South Atlantic League this season on Tuesday. Delmarva Shorebirds pitcher DL Hall was ranked No. 1. Hall was the Orioles' first-round pick (No. 21 overall) in the 2017 draft out of a Georgia high school. The 19-year-old lefty went 2-7...

If you had to pick one - and only one - defining characteristic of the Nationals during their seven seasons as a contender, the answer would be simple: a good, often great, rotation. This didn't happen by accident. Mike Rizzo's No. 1 goal in building a roster is to assemble an elite rotation. He saw firsthand what a difference that makes when he was farm director for the Diamondbacks during their run to the 2001 World Series title, and he has tried to duplicate it in his decade as general...

The Bob Feller Act of Valor Award Foundation announced today that it has selected Nationals closer Sean Doolittle as a recipient. The foundation honors six recipients annually, including one Baseball Hall of Famer, one current Major League Baseball player and one U.S. Navy chief petty officer. The foundation presents two Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Awards (one for an afloat command and one for an ashore command) and also recognizes a U.S. Marine with the Jerry Coleman Award. The nominees are...

Among all the interviews I had with Orioles players this year, probably the most compelling to me was one that occurred in the Baltimore clubhouse on July 12. Just days ahead of the All-Star break, Trey Mancini poured his heart out about the rough season he was having - and he didn't hold back. At the time, Mancini was 1-for-21 over his previous nine games and that dropped his slash line over 88 games to .220/.296/.362. It was well off his 2017 season, when he finished third in the American...

As we transition into offseason mode around here, we're going to spend a few days looking at the most pressing offseason storylines for the Nationals. And there's no debate that the single most pressing storyline involves the guy who was the pre-eminent storyline of the entire season. You know the deal with Bryce Harper by now. No sense rehashing his wild 2018 campaign. Or trying to read the tea leaves from what he said over the last week as he simultaneously gushed about the only...

The Orioles' season ended on Sunday after a full 162 games, the tormenting weather forcing delays, postponements and doubleheaders but unable to leave them short. The curtain on Chris Davis' season closed on Sept. 22 after an 0-for-5 day at Yankee Stadium that included three more strikeouts. The last pitch he saw, from reliever Jonathan Holder in the 10th inning, was lined to first baseman Luke Voit, who made a lunging grab and saved two runs from scoring in a tie game. How appropriate for a...

Nationals rookie outfielder Juan Soto finished his season like he started it on May 20: on a surge at the plate. He was rewarded today, named the National League Rookie of the Month for September. The announcement was made on the MLB Network. The 19-year-old Soto hit .283 (28-for-99) with six doubles, six homers, 20 RBI, 16 walks and 15 runs scored in 26 games in September. Soto was also the NL Rookie of the Month in June and July. He is the first player Nationals history to win the honor three...