There are many different kinds of miseries in sports. There's the misery that comes from repeated losing year in and year out, as any fan of the National Football League's Cleveland Browns can attest. There's the misery that comes from repeatedly coming oh-so-close to winning the big one, as any fan of the Buffalo Bills can attest. And then there's the misery that comes from repeatedly reaching the playoffs and then finding new ways to squander those opportunities, as any fan of the Kansas...

Let's take a look back at a few stories that appeared in this space in the last week. Feel free to revisit them and post some comments here today on any or all of them. The new year began with this story from Monday expressing a wish for a quick resolution to the Manny Machado situation - essentially the hope for a trade to be completed soon. We are still waiting on that. It could be that the Orioles themselves are now less inclined to deal Machado. It could also be that they are just waiting...

As Brad Brach prepares for a likely role as the primary closer for the Orioles while Zach Britton recovers from Achilles surgery, he's making an adjustment to his offseason routine in order to put together two robust halves. More cardio to correct the discrepancy. Brach has been the reverse of Kevin Gausman. Better before the break. He made the American League All-Star team in 2016 while going 6-1 with a 0.91 ERA and 0.831 WHIP in the first half, but he had a 3.94 ERA and 1.382 WHIP in the...

In his fifth year of eligibility, is this the year for former Orioles and Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina to make the Hall of Fame? According to this Hall of Fame tracker, he is at 73.7 percent of the votes that are known and 75 percent is needed for election. In his first year of eligibility in 2014, he got just 20.3 percent of the vote. But that has gone up to 24.6 in 2015, 43.0 in 2016 and to 51.8 percent last year. He keeps looking better to the voters, I guess, without throwing a single...

It won't be long before Chris Davis' family, which already includes wife Jill and daughter Ella, will expand with the arrival of twin girls. "We're going to go from man-to-man coverage to a zone real quick in our house, but we're fired up about it," Davis said this week while interviewed on the "Orioles Hot Stove Show" on 105.7 The Fan. "I couldn't be happier. We always said that we wanted at least three. I'm still pushing for maybe four, but it's probably not the best time to be...

The Nationals have known for a while now they'd be getting new neighbors down the street from their ballpark. Now they know when those neighbors officially will move in: One day before the beginning of All-Star festivities on South Capitol Street. D.C. United will play its first Major League Soccer game at the brand-new Audi Field on July 14 after spending the season's first 4 1/2 months traversing the country playing 12 road matches and two home matches at other venues in the Washington area...

Orioles first baseman Chris Davis arranged an interview session with some of the beat writers before the final game at Tropicana Field and vowed to dedicate his offseason to working with hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh in Texas while attempting to improve his average and get back to being a threat in the middle of the order. It wasn't just lip service. Davis had just finished another session with Coolbaugh last night and was driving home as he called into the "Orioles Hot Stove Show" on 105.7...

It's no secret the Nationals want to get better production from their catchers in 2018 than they did in 2017. Not that it would be easy to get worse production. Nationals catchers - which means almost entirely Matt Wieters and Jose Lobaton - collectively hit .208 with a .275 on-base percentage, .319 slugging percentage and .594 OPS last season. They ranked 28th, 29th, 30th and 30th in the majors in each of those categories, respectively. So there's basically nowhere to go but up. The issue at...

If Manny Machado is an Oriole in 2018, we still don't know if he will be playing at third base or moved to shortstop, a position he has played before in the majors but not last season. An argument against moving Machado is that he has been an elite defender at third base, winning the Platinum Glove after the 2013 season. That goes to the best defender in the league, no matter the position. One argument for moving Machado is that shortstop is a premium defensive positon and he would be involved...

Need a little something to warm you up on this most frigid day of the winter? Here's some news that might do the trick: Spring training begins in 41 days. The Nationals announced their official reporting dates this afternoon, at which point we learned there are fewer than six weeks to go until we'll be seeing and hearing the sights and sounds of the spring in West Palm Beach. Pitchers and catchers will report to The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on Feb. 14, with position players set to report...