NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Thoughts of the biggest stories on the first day of the Winter Meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center and Hotel. * The Yankees announced that third baseman Alex Rodriguez will have surgery on his left hip and miss the start of the 2013. It's the same story as last season, when he had surgery on his right hip and didn't return until May 8. A-Rod will be out longer this time. The Yankees aren't sure how they will replace A-Rod, but it appears that it will not...

The Washington Nationals today agreed to terms with free-agent left-handed pitcher Zach Duke on a one-year contact. Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. A 2009 National League All-Star, Duke is 49-74 with a 4.52 ERA (530 ER/1054.2 IP) in 189 games/168 starts spanning eight big league seasons with Washington, Arizona and Pittsburgh. He has twice posted a double-digit win total (11 in 2009, 10 in '06) and thrice (2006,...

If Billy Butler is made available in a trade by Kansas City, of course the Orioles would be interested. Who wouldn't want a 26-year-old hitter coming off a year where he hit .313 with 29 homers, 107 RBIs and an .882 OPS? In addition Butler will make only $8 million per season the next two years and his contract calls for a club option of $12.5 million for 2015. He has played 158 or more games the last four years with an OPS that never was lower than .822. Yeah, plenty of teams would take a...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Sean Burnett has been a hot name since becoming a free agent. One report has eight teams in the mix for the left-handed reliever. The Nationals are one of the teams that have interest in Burnett, but given the way the market has played out so far, Nats general manager Mike Rizzo says he doesn't expect to have Burnett back in D.C. next season. "We like Sean, we'd like to bring him back, but it has to make sense for us," Rizzo said. "Right now, I don't see a fit,...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nationals may be located just 35 miles from the Orioles, but that distance along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway might as well be a chasm that can't be crossed when it comes to trade talks between the neighboring teams. The Nationals haven't made a deal with the Orioles since arriving in D.C. from Montreal before the 2005 season. The last deal of substance between the clubs came on March 13, 1996, when the Expos shipped outfielder Tony Tarasco - now the Nats' first...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette will meet with reporters in about 90 minutes. In the meantime, here's the latest from the lobby. Believe as much or as little as you choose. I'm told that the Orioles have "lukewarm" interest in Nationals first baseman Michael Morse, who could be available in a trade. They're monitoring the D.C. situation. Nats general manager Mike Rizzo told MASNsports.com that he hasn't been contacted by the Orioles during the meetings...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Speaking with reporters about half an hour ago in his suite at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said that he's gotten "a lot" of interest in left fielder/first baseman Michael Morse. "He's drawn interest," Rizzo said. "We've fielded calls for him. We've not made one call about him. We've fielded a lot of calls, and you can see the reason why. He's a middle-of-the-lineup hitter that puts up big numbers. He...

Nationals outfielder Roger Bernadina will play for his native Netherlands in the 2013 World Baseball Classic in March beginning in Japan and Taiwan. In 2012, Bernadina hit .291 with 15 stolen bases in 2012, and continued to be a critical utility player for Davey Johnson, as the Nationals won their first ever NL East title. In a release, World Baseball Classic, Inc. today announced the final pool compositions, which include qualifier winners Brazil, Canada, Chinese Taipei and Spain, and the...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - As is seemingly always the case at the Winter Meetings, negotiations for a certain player have taken a bit of a surprise turn. Jayson Stark of ESPN.com has cited an MLB executive on a team that's interested in Adam LaRoche as saying that the Orioles are in on LaRoche "hard." The Orioles weren't expected to be one of the major players for LaRoche given their reluctance to hand him a three-year deal when they offered him a contract in the winter of 2010. Also, the O's...

It doesn't take long for one tweet to create a stir and that tweet came from ESPN's Jayson Stark a few moments ago when he tweeted this: "Here's another team to add to list of Adam LaRoche pursuers: The #Orioles. An exec of one interested team says O's in on him "hard." This would make sense from one standpoint in that LaRoche is an upgrade over Mark Reynolds. I have had more than one person at these meetings tell me they felt the O's didn't non-tender Reynolds so much due to...