We've moved past the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, also known as baseball's dead zone. The Angels signed veteran left-hander Mark Mulder to a minor league contract yesterday, the Astros signed reliever Jesse Crain to a one-year deal on Tuesday and the Pirates acquired first baseman Chris McGuiness from the Rangers for reliever Miles Mikolas on Monday, so there was a slight pulse. The shelves in the free agent market are far from bare. Still plenty of big-ticket items for...

After putting together the Orioles' top 10 prospects list this winter for Baseball America, the question I was asked the most was about ranking Dylan Bundy as the club's No. 1 prospect with Kevin Gausman No. 2. Some fans wondered how close it was between the two pitching prospects. First of all, keep in mind the editors at Baseball America - as they certainly should - make up the final list and have the final call. I certainly stand fully by the decision to rank Bundy No. 1. That list is...

Well, hey there, folks. I got back from my trip to Europe just in time to ring in 2014 in style, and we've now got a brand new calendar to kick off with less than six weeks separating us from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. It'll be here before we know it, I'm sure. Hope everyone had a great holiday season as well as a happy and safe New Years. Thanks to Byron Kerr and Pete Kerzel for picking up the slack for me while I was on my trip, which was fantastic. I had a...

First of all, happy new year to everyone. As this holiday season is coming to a close, I hope it's been special and wonderful for all of you. Now, back to baseball. Some fans have already made some dire predictions for the 2014 Orioles. They have predicted fourth place. They have predicted a losing record. Heck, one reader here predicted 72 wins the other day. Do you all really believe that? Or is that just venting over the offseason to date? As we officially begin a new year today - a few...

Eligible members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America were required to submit their Hall of Fame ballots by Dec. 31. I mailed in mine a week early, figuring the career stats of each candidate weren't going to change. There's no perfect ballot. Voters will be criticized for playing morality police and excluding candidates who were linked to performance-enhancing drugs. They will be criticized for including cheaters. Can't please everyone. The BBWAA and Hall of Fame allow a...

Former major league catcher Michael Barrett, who started his career with the Expos, is now back in the organization. He's beginning his new venture as manager for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast Nationals. The Atlanta native said he had thought about managing during his playing career and has kept close to the game. Recently, he has coached amateur baseball, ran a baseball school and was a volunteer assistant baseball coach at the University of North Georgia. "I always played around with the...

The 2013 season was another fantastic year at Nats Park. Some of my best memories of the summer are Nationals-inspired, including working events with contest winners and Ryan Zimmerman, watching Jordan Zimmermann retire batter after batter and just taking in a packed Nats Park on a Friday night. On our Instagram feed, we asked you to post your favorite memories of 2013 with #masnNationals. We got a great response, with people sharing pictures of their favorite players, photos of a beautiful...

The 2013 season was another fantastic year at Camden Yards. Spending the summer days at Orioles games led to many great memories for me - Manny Machado's spectacular plays at third base, Chris Davis' insane year at the plate, and simply watching the sun set behind the stadium every night. On our Instagram feed, we asked you to post your favorite memories of 2013 with #masnOrioles. We got a great response, with people sharing pictures of their favorite players, photos of a beautiful sunset,...

The Orioles led the majors with 212 home runs and set records for errorless games (119), fewest errors (54) in a 162-game season and highest fielding percentage (.991). Power and defense weren't in short supply. What needs to get better? I came up with a quick list. Feel free to make your own contributions. * The Orioles ranked 19th in the majors with a .313 on-base percentage. The Red Sox ranked first at .349. They won the World Series by defeating the Cardinals, who ranked third at...

We know the Orioles will need better starting pitching to contend for the playoffs in 2014. Their starting pitcher ERA was 4.42 when they made the playoffs in 2012 and slipped to 4.57 last year which ranked 12th in the American League. We know the starters need to go deeper in games, but the O's starters actually pitched about the same number of innings the last two seasons, going 937 2/3 innings two years ago and 939 innings last season. So far there have not been any key additions to that...