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,...

It is time for another week in review entry, where we take a look back at some of the stories and dicussions featured here in the last week. On Monday, we looked at reliever Mychal Givens and his possible future as a closer for the Orioles. Givens went 8-1 with a 2.75 ERA and 1.042 WHIP last season. His average against dropped from .220 in 2016 to .200 and he reduced his walk rate from 4.3 per nine innings, which was much too high, to a more workable 2.9 walks per nine. Givens seems to have the...

As we transition into offseason mode here, we're reviewing each significant player on the Nationals roster. We continue today with Erick Fedde, who made his highly anticipated debut this year ... PLAYER REVIEW: ERICK FEDDE Age on opening day 2018: 25 How acquired: First-round pick, 2014 draft MLB service time: 39 days 2017 salary: $535,000 Contract status: Under team control in 2018, arbitration-eligible in 2021, free agent in 2024 2017 stats: 0-1, 9.39 ERA, 3 GS, 15 1/3 IP, 25 H, 16 R, 16 ER,...

The Orioles are preoccupied with drumming up potential trade partners, putting the most appealing and affordable free agents on their board and getting their coaches and various staff members under contract for the 2018 season. Extension talks are on the back burner of the hot stove season. Manny Machado's representatives will hear from the Orioles in perhaps a final attempt to keep him from entering the free agent market. I don't see the downside of negotiating during the season - Machado...

Once again, Major League Baseball is talking about pace of play. They don't refer to this as time of game, which was up in 2017 and the longest we've ever seen. But MLB wants more on-field action and wants it to happen it seems, in a more timely fashion. But let's talk time of game for a moment. In 2015 - the first year of new pace of play rules - the average time of game was 2 hours, 56 minutes. That went up to 3 hours in 2016 and to 3 hours, 6 minutes last season. In the 2017 postseason,...