The Washington Nationals today released their 32-game 2012 spring training schedule, which features 15 home games at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Fla, including a March 15 afternoon matchup with the New York Yankees. The Nationals host the Astros on Sunday, March 4 to commence the home portion of the 2012 spring schedule. Washington's initial Grapefruit League contest comes one day earlier via a March 3 visit to play the Astros in nearby Kissimmee, Fla. The March 15 visit from the Yankees...

By 5 p.m. Eastern time today, the bidding for the services of Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish will be done. Shortly thereafter - well, maybe early Thursday, since baseball seems to run on its own time schedule - perhaps we'll know if the Nationals placed a bid on the right-hander and, if they did, whether it was the winning one. At least one baseball executive believes the Nationals will go all-in on Darvish, who is widely considered the best pitcher never to have pitched in Major League...

It must seem a little strange for Jeremy Guthrie to be greeted this way by so many people who approach him: "So, are you surprised that you're still here?" It happened again yesterday at Dave and Buster's at the Arundel Mills Mall. Reporters glided over to his table and greeted him warmly. Then it happened. Again. One guy in the group asked if Guthrie was happy that he "was still here." That's quite an opening line. Guthrie wouldn't take the bait. "Yeah, it's great to be back...

I had the opportunity to visit Nationals Park twice in the last month and viewed progression of installation of the brand new field grass. In November, the top picture shows the entire outfield in dirt after the original grass was removed and the new grass was being installed in the infield portion. The bottom picture, taken Tuesday night, shows the new outfield grass in place to match that put in the infield in November. Fortunately, the weather has been fairly mild to start the winter...

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette wouldn't confirm tonight that the Orioles have reached agreement with Japanese left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada on a two-year contract. He only spoke in general terms about the Orioles wanting to "add to our pitching staff." "That's what I've been talking about all along," he said. "We also want to be active in all of the markets - in all the international markets as well as the domestic markets." Wada reportedly has agreed to a two-year deal...

Manager Buck Showalter stays in contact with everyone on his roster throughout the winter. Each time I bring up a name, he'll mention how he recently spoke to that individual over the phone. I'm told that he saw Alfredo Simon in the Dominican Republic over the weekend. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a random sighting, but I assumed that Simon was staying in the U.S. Showalter had a much easier time getting caught up today, since Jeremy Guthrie, Jake Arrieta, Zach Britton and Brian...

Today, we welcome back "What if ...?" Wednesday, which took a hiatus while baseball conducted its Winter Meetings in Dallas (Trivia time: Did you know that the Winter Meetings are actually a gathering for baseball's minor leagues that the majors eventually piggybacked on? Yep, lots of recent grads seeking employment in the bushes and a minor league trade show featuring everything from beer distribution systems and mascot costume makers to luggage distributors and Cal Ripken's Power Shred...

Over the course of this year, we've seen the importance of knowing what to do in the event of a disaster. Hurricane Irene and even a small earthquake struck the east coast within the past six months, leaving a lot of us to wonder how we would handle ourselves should a threat ever arise. Fortunately for those in the Washington area, The District of Columbia Fire Department (DCFD) and the U.S. Marines Corps' Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) will conduct a large-scale...

I just arrived home from the OriolesREACH holiday party and am trying to get caught up on all the breaking news while also passing along a few notes from my morning excursion to the Arundel Mills Mall. (Surviving a trip to that mall is noteworthy in itself, but I've got more.) The Orioles have reached agreement with Japanese left-hander Tsuyoshi Wada, according to several sources, though no announcement has been made by the club. Multiple reports say the deal is for two years and $8.15...

Right-hander Brad Meyers was selected by the New York Yankees in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft at the Winter Meetings on Thursday and is looking forward to the new challenge. "My agent called me at 7 a.m. and woke me up," Meyers said. "I didn't know what time the draft would be, but, yes, I was excited." After getting promoted mid-season from Double-A Harrisburg Senators, Meyers went 6-5 with a 3.48 ERA last season with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, striking out 74 hitters...