The Nationals announced their 2018 spring training schedule today, one that again takes advantage of their conveniently located new complex in West Palm Beach and concludes with a final exhibition against the Twins in D.C. Twenty-five of the Nationals' 31 Grapefruit League games in Florida will be played in Palm Beach County, either at their shared complex with the Astros or a short 15-minute drive up the road at the Marlins and Cardinals' complex in Jupiter. Three more road games will be...

The Washington Nationals announced their 32-game 2018 Spring Training schedule on Monday, featuring 15 home games at their spring home, The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, in West Palm Beach, Fla. The Nationals will begin their 2018 Grapefruit League slate at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, serving as the "road team" on Feb. 23 vs. Houston. They will play their first true road game the following day, taking the short 12-mile trek north to face the Miami Marlins in Jupiter, Fla., on Feb. 24. ...

Happy Thanksgiving, NatsTown! I hope your Turkey Day is filled with family, friends, delicious food and drink, and football! But if your family is more of a baseball-first kind of group, then we've got a treat for you. Instead of watching the traditional slate of football games this afternoon, tune in to MASN for the first of not one, not two, but three(!) "Nationals Classics" from this past season we're airing this week as part of our Throwback Thursdays! Our holiday special is one of two...

The Nationals added third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez and right-hander Jefry Rodriguez to their 40-man roster in advance of today's 8 p.m. league-wide deadline, protecting both prospects from being lost in next month's Rule 5 draft. Neither Gutierrez nor Rodriguez appears on the Nationals' various top-10 prospects list - or is big-league ready - but each is viewed within the organization as worthy of retaining without risk of being lost now. The Rule 5 draft allows teams to select players away...

The Washington Nationals selected the contracts of third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez and right-handed pitcher Jefry Rodriguez on Monday, adding them to the team's 40-man roster. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Gutierrez, 23, is coming off a season in which he was named a Carolina League mid-season All-Star after hitting .288 with 10 doubles, six triples, two homers, 16 RBI, three stolen bases and 34 runs scored for the Single-A...

Before he played to a sold-out crowd at Ram's Head Live earlier this month, country music star Brett Young made a beeline for Camden Yards, where he was hosted by Trey Mancini for a special behind-the-scenes visit of the iconic ballpark. Young, one of Shazam's "Emerging Artists of 2017," played catch with Mancini on the field and got an up-close-and-personal look at the dugout and Orioles clubhouse. CMT was on hand to document Young's visit to the O's nest, and aired a conversation with...

Major league clubs face an 8 p.m. deadline today to add players to their 40-man rosters and thus protect them from being taken away during next month's Rule 5 draft. It's not one of the high-profile deadlines of the offseason, but it can be an important one nonetheless. Consider some of the names the Nationals protected last winter for good reason, as it turned out: Rafael Bautista and Raudy Read. Neither was seen as being all that close to big league-ready at the time, but both wound up...

If the Orioles pursue either or both of free agent right-handers Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn, they would probably be delighted to get either pitcher. And either would be a huge addition to their rotation for 2018 and beyond. But is one the better choice? Lynn went 11-8 with a 3.43 ERA over 186 1/3 innings last season for the St. Louis Cardinals, the team he has pitched for since 2011. He has been a consistent winning pitcher for that club, posting ERAs between 2.74 and 3.97. With a 3.38 career ERA,...

The Orioles must set their 40-man roster by 8 p.m. to protect players from selection in the Rule 5 draft, which takes place on the final day of the Winter Meetings on Dec. 14 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Clubs pay $100,000 for any draftee in the major league phase, the cost doubling last year. The Orioles must decide whether to make their annual pick while also are required to carry outfielder Anthony Santander on their 25-man roster for the first 44 days of the 2018 season. A reliever, outfielder...

The Nationals have done a very good job in recent years building depth in the outfield. Everyone talks about Victor Robles and Juan Soto, but there is another outfielder who is turning heads in their minor leagues and that is Daniel Johnson. Baseball America has Johnson as the No. 8 overall prospect in the Nats system. No. 8 OF Daniel Johnson Johnson played center field for low Single-A Hagerstown and high Single-A Potomac for a combined 130 games. He stole 22 bases in 2017. Carlos Collazo,...