There has been a lot of offseason buzz regarding right-hander Reynaldo Lopez. A lot of people had not heard much of the Dominican hurler, but he made a big splash at the end of the season with low Single-A Hagerstown. Lopez went 5-1 with a 0.63 ERA in his final 10 starts, nine of them with the Suns. He is the No. 4 Nationals prospect, according to Baseball Prospectus. No. 4: right-hander Reynaldo Lopez Chris Mellen, the co-director of the Baseball Prospectus prospect team, believes Lopez is a...

Two days from now, I'll be hopping a plane to San Diego, ready for a few days of chaos at the hub of the baseball world - the annual Winter Meetings. Team executives, agents, scouts, trainers, anyone involved in the inner workings of Major League Baseball will be there, making this the most anticipated four days in the offseason. TV networks will have massive sets erected in the hallways, ready to go live with breaking news, radio shows will be going on nonstop as rumors are discussed and...

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette joked about bringing extra security to last night's Babe Ruth Museum benefit at Dempsey's Brew Pub, where he served as the guest speaker and took questions from the audience. Duquette turned and pointed to a long table against one of the walls, where his wife Amy, their children and the kids' friends were eating dinner. I saw what he did there. "I brought half the neighborhood here tonight," he said. As the event ended, fans stood and...

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette took questions from the fans last night at Dempsey's Brew Pub during a benefit for the Babe Ruth Museum. Here are some of the highlights from the nearly hour-long session. On the departures of Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz: "We tried to sign Nick and there were several times I thought we were going to close the deal, but we just couldn't quite get to closure on that. Nick had a nice career with the Orioles and was our longest-tenured player. Have...

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette just finished his Q&A session with fans at the Babe Ruth Museum benefit at Dempsey's Brew Pub at Camden Yards. Duquette won over the crowd despite a week that saw the Orioles lose Nelson Cruz to the Mariners and Nick Markakis to the Braves. I'll pass along a few of the highlights, starting with Duquette's summary of negotiations with Markakis. Keep in mind that he's not going to offer specifics. "We had several discussions with Nick,"...

Adam Jones has shared the Orioles outfield with Nick Markakis for the last seven seasons. He looks to his left and sees more than just a teammate. He sees a friend. It's going to be different next year. Jones spoke to Markakis before news broke yesterday that the longest-tenured Oriole had agreed to a four-year, $44 million contract with the Braves. "It's business," Jones said. "That's the first thing. It's the reality of that, what it boils down to. It's a business, but hey, Nick is my...

The Orioles sent out a release today confirming that Buck Showalter has been named Baseball America's Manager of the Year. I wrote a few days ago that the publication doesn't usually promote the award with an online article, but one has been posted this year. You can read it here. Showalter becomes the third manager to be recognized with the award twice, having also won it in 2012, since Baseball America began giving the honor in 1998. He joins Bobby Cox (2004 and 2010) and Mike Scioscia...

Baseball America today announced that Buck Showalter has been named winner of the 2014 Manager of the Year award. Showalter becomes the third manager to be recognized with the award twice (also 2012) since Baseball America began giving the honor in 1998, joining BOBBY COX (2004 and 2010) and Mike Scioscia (2002 and 2009). He was also the recipient of the publication's inaugural Minor League Manager of the Year award in 1989. The Orioles were the 2014 American League East champions and...

Consider me a bit confused by the Braves' offseason strategy to this point. Atlanta has already traded away Jason Heyward, and has reportedly been in fairly serious trade discussions with teams involving both Justin Upton and Evan Gattis. It had looked like the Braves were intending to drop some salary, dish off some assets who have contracts set to expire in the near future and accumulate younger talent that could lead the team to make a push back toward the top of the division in a couple...

The colder it gets outside, the more fans miss warm summer nights at Nationals Park. The delicious food, great views, exciting home runs and ,of course, those moments that bring you to the edge of your seat. Well, this week I'm throwin' it back to one of those edge-of-your-seat moments. In fact, this was more of a slowly-stand-up-with-your-mouth-gaping-open moment. It's the bottom of the ninth in the nation's capital. The Nationals have a 5-2 lead, but the Mets have two on and the tying run...