LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Family members had clued Jerry Blevins in to the fact that his name was being mentioned in trade rumors at the Winter Meetings over the past couple of days. But the left-handed reliever was still surprised when an A's official phoned him Wednesday afternoon to tell him he'd been traded to the Nationals in exchange for minor league outfielder Billy Burns. "I got a call from someone in the A's organization letting me know I'd been traded," Blevins said by telephone...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - With no news to report and another hour remaining before executive vice president Dan Duquette meets with reporters, I decided to flip through my notebook and pass along the latest musings from the hotel lobby. Keep in mind that things change quickly. A few of these nuggets were unearthed much earlier in the day - long before I began stalking agent Scott Boras. * The Orioles met with Shin-Soo Choo's representatives on the first day of the meetings, according to a...

Fans of all ages are invited out to celebrate baseball's return in 2014 when the Washington Nationals host NatsFest on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. Tickets will be available for purchase online at nationals.com/natsfest starting tomorrow, Thursday, December 12, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. Scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the annual fun-filled baseball festival will offer a variety of interactive games and activities, including live batting...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Superagent Scott Boras drew the usual crowd of reporters at the Winter Meetings. Today was his day to talk following an appearance on MLB Network Radio. It looked like field seats at a Springsteen concert. I didn't have the most ideal vantage point, but I slowly crept forward as reporters and cameramen gave up and left the scene. Boras spent most of the session fielding questions about free agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. However, he eventually focused on catcher...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Nationals will leave the Winter Meetings having accomplished their lone remaining major goal - acquiring a left-handed reliever. For the sixth time in the last two years, the Nats and Athletics have combined on a trade, with the A's sending Jerry Blevins to the Nationals for minor league outfielder Billy Burns. Blevins, 30, had a 3.15 ERA and 1.067 WHIP in 60 innings in 2013, and had a 3.06 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He had reverse splits last season, as...

The Washington Nationals today acquired left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for minor league outfielder Billy Burns. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Blevins, 30, has spent parts of the last seven seasons in the Athletics' bullpen, where he's worked to a career 3.30 ERA while averaging 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Working against both left-handed batters and right-handers, Blevins has...

Orioles and American Heart Association to co-host a Healthy Lifestyle Youth Clinic on Friday, December 13 Continuing their partnership, the Baltimore Orioles and American Heart Association will co-host a Healthy Living/ Active Lifestyle themed clinic for 400 Baltimore City Recreation Center youth on Friday, December 13 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. The clinic will take place at the William Myers Recreation Center. The event will feature Orioles staff including Orioles Strength and Conditioning...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Nationals are making progress in their search for a left-handed reliever, a source confirmed, and it appears possible that they could leave the Winter Meetings with their one remaining major offseason need filled. That said, the source cautioned a bit ago that there is "nothing imminent" at this point. There are a host of left-handers available both via the free agent and trade markets, and the Nationals have been linked to quite a few of them over the last few...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - If you want to talk about prospects and a club's minor league system, who better to seek out than Jim Callis? During our now annual Winter Meetings video interview, Jim took some time to talk about the O's organization. By the way after many years with Baseball America, you can now catch Callis' reports and analysis at MLB.com and MLBPipeline.com. I asked Callis where the Orioles farm system ranks right now in baseball. "Probably middle of the pack," he said....

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The local media and Orioles PR representatives will gather today for the annual managers luncheon. We eat, we chat, we keep our notepads in our back pockets. Tape recorders are turned off. Reporters also are instructed to power down their cell phones, a request that largely goes ignored. Conversations are off the record, but nuggets of news can be stored away or used as background information at a later date. Outfielder Nate McLouth reached agreement on a one-year, $2...