The Nationals had Gio Gonzalez finish third in the National League Cy Young voting last season. This year, Jordan Zimmermann was the top vote-getting Nats hurler, and he came in seventh. Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, to no one's surprise, took home his second Cy Young award in dominating fashion. Zimmermann received six third-place votes and three fifth-place votes. He finished the season with 19 wins, tied with Adam Wainwright (the Cy Young runner-up) for most in the National...

The GM meetings are supposed to wrap up tonight in Orlando, but Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette has another face-to-face scheduled for Thursday morning before he flies home. I just got off the phone with Duquette, who said he's met with a little more than half the teams. Special assistant Lee Thomas also has met with a few clubs. Here's a sampling of Duquette's quotes: On how he'd characterize the first three days: "We've been meeting with teams and agents and canvassing...

The Orioles have announced the hiring of former Rangers coach Dave Anderson as minor league infield coordinator. Anderson replaces Matt Martin, who held the job for one season and is no longer in the organization. I wrote about Anderson this morning. Quick recap: Anderson played on the Dodgers team that won the 1988 World Series over the Athletics. He's managed in the minors, and he served as Rangers third base coach for four seasons and first base coach in 2013. The Rangers fired him Oct....

Earlier today, I mentioned how David Stockstill signed the Orioles' first player from Guatemala, outfielder Manny Hernandez, back in 2009. Stockstill's contract ran out Oct. 31, and I've received confirmation that the Orioles chose not to renew it. Executive vice president Dan Duquette informed Stockstill of his decision. Stockstill previously served as the club's director of player development before switching roles with his brother, John, and becoming director of international...

News leaked yesterday that the Orioles signed 18-year-old outfielder Juan Diego Montes from Guatemala. Various photos of the kid in an Orioles jersey circulated through Twitter. That part was accurate. The mistake came in the math. Forget what you've read about Montes being the second player from Guatemala signed by the Orioles. A reader of this blog pointed out correctly that Montes is the third. Apparently, outfielder Manny Hernandez has become the forgotten man. Former Orioles farm...

The Manager of the Year awards were handed out last night, and they went to Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle and the Indians' Terry Francona, giving both men their first such honor. Hurdle received 25 of the 30 possible first-place votes for National League Manager of the Year after leading the Pirates to their first above-.500 record since 1992. Pittsburgh finished the regular season with 94 wins and then beat Cincinnati in the Wild Card play-in game before losing to the Cardinals in the...

We've spent some time here this offseason talking about pitching and the Orioles' hopes and goals to add some. So that leads me to a question for the readers today: What do you look for in a pitcher? What stats are important to you in sizing up a pitcher's talents? Do you put emphasis on ERA or WHIP, innings, homers allowed or strikeout, walk and groundball rates? Do you look at sabermetric stats like Fielding Independent Pitching? For me, it's not necessarily about one stat, but getting...

During the 2013 season, we gave Nationals fans the chance to earn points for interacting with us on social media through our "Touch 'Em All" social rewards program. The top 10 finalists would have the chance to meet Ryan Zimmerman, with one lucky fan being selected to win a private hitting lesson with the third baseman. Fingers flew over keyboards, Instagam pictures were posted and MASN Nationals postgame memes were shared on Facebook. Each month, top followers on our social media accounts...

One of the Orioles' top young pitching prospects will start Saturday's Arizona Fall League championship game. Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will start for Surprise against either Mesa or Salt River in the game, which is set for 3 p.m. Eastern time and will be televised live on MLB Network. He is expected to go three innings. Rodriguez is 0-1 with a 5.52 ERA in five AFL games and gave up three runs and seven hits in his most recent outing Friday. Over 14 2/3 innings in Arizona, the...

In a bit of an upset, Cleveland's Terry Francona beat out Boston's John Farrell for American League Manager of the Year. The announcement came tonight on MLB Network. Keep in mind that BBWAA ballots were submitted before the playoffs. The Red Sox's World Series title wasn't a factor. Orioles manager Buck Showalter, a runner-up to Oakland's Bob Melvin last year, received one third-place vote. He finished tied for seventh with Texas' Ron Washington and Kansas City's Ned Yost. Asuka...