LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Ever wonder what it would be like to help prepare the field at Nationals Park for a game? Ever wish you could have Teddy or Screech visit your school event or birthday party? Or wonder what it's like to cover the Nationals from the press box high atop the ballpark on South Capitol Street? If so, have I got a deal for you. Those are among the items available this year in Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings Charity Auction, which is now ongoing through Thursday at...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Orioles are again offering tantalizing prizes and opportunities for the annual Winter Meetings Charity Auction, which this year benefits the Katharine Feeney Memorial Scholarship Fund in memory of the late baseball executive whose career spanned 40 years. Feeney, 68, passed away in April following her retirement four months earlier. She was visiting relatives in Maine. Fans can bid on a variety of prizes, including an opportunity to play chess at Camden Yards with...

Just when Orioles fans may have been breathing a sigh of relief that two-way player Shohei Ohtani was not going to become a Yankee, yesterday's news came. National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton is going to be a Yankee. He joins a lineup that already featured Aaron Judge and a lineup that helped the Yankees produce a major league-leading 241 homers last year. I guess it was fun while it lasted, but New York and Boston are back on top of the American League East and don't look ready to...

It's the second week of December, snow just fell around here and thousands of folks who work in the baseball industry are en route to Orlando for the next four days. Yes, it's time for the Winter Meetings, which for the fourth time in a dozen years is being held at the Swan and Dolphin Resort near Walt Disney World. Will the Nationals consider this the Happiest Place on Earth by the time they head home Thursday? As always, it depends how aggressive they intend to be during this annual event,...

The Nationals today announced that they have signed right-hander David Goforth to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training. Goforth, 29, is 1-0 with a 5.94 ERA and 1.734 WHIP in 31 relief appearances with the Brewers over the past three seasons. In 2017, he threw one scoreless inning for Milwaukee, and was 3-4 with a 3.98 ERA, five saves and a 1.528 WHIP in 48 appearances out of the bullpen for Triple-A Colorado Springs. He was a seventh-round selection in the...

The left fielder with a .293/.338/.488 slash line, 24 home runs and a third-place finish in American League Rookie of the Year voting isn't convinced that he's got a full-time job in 2018. Trey Mancini is sincere when he says that he needs to compete in spring training to preserve his spot in the Orioles lineup, that nothing will be handed to him and there's room for improvement. He isn't being modest. He's being Mancini. Shouldn't he be able to put himself in left field and Adam Jones in...

To say the least, there is some skepticism out there that the Orioles' decision to reload and not rebuild is the right one. Fans have seen the Chicago Cubs go from 101 losses in 2012 and 96 the next year to World Series champions in 2016. The Houston Astros lost 106 games in the 2011 season, then followed that by losing 107 and 111 the next two years. But they won 101 games and the World Series this past season. Both clubs went from the outhouse to the penthouse. They made a lot of good moves...

One of the two biggest dominoes of the hot stove league dropped Friday. The other is still standing, with the potential to topple at any moment, though not where originally expected. At which point, the rest of the baseball world should be able to proceed with the rest of the offseason. Shohei Ohtani's decision to sign with the Angels caught many by surprise, perhaps most of all the supposed frontrunners to acquire the Japanese two-way star: the Mariners, Padres, Cubs and Rangers. Those clubs...

Two outstanding outfielders round out the list of top 10 Nationals prospects for 2018, according to Baseball America: Juan Soto and Victor Robles. This entry is devoted to Soto and his immense potential for this upcoming season. Baseball America national writer Carlos Collazo said injuries slowed Soto's maturation process in 2017, but that only means that 2018 could be crazy good for the outfielder - if he can stay healthy. And more importantly, Soto, 19, is a different type of baseball player...

We are not breaking any news here when we say the Orioles need starting pitching - at least three starters and certainly more - if they are going to be contenders in the 2018 American League East. The Orioles have Kevin Gausman, who pitched well in the second half after a lousy first half in 2017, and Dylan Bundy at the top of the rotation, but after that, it's all question marks. Baltimore is in catch-up mode. The New York Yankees, who unexpectedly came one win away from making the World...