When the Nationals decided to non-tender All-Star closer Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey on Nov. 22, they were letting go the only two relief pitchers on their roster who had real major league experience in high-leverage end-of-game situations.

After a spectacular start to the season with a 1.98 ERA and 23 saves on July 4, Finnegan struggled after his first All-Star selection. Over his final 28 appearances, he pitched to a 5.93 ERA with only 15 saves in 17 chances. Although he finished third in the major leagues with 38 saves, his overall 3.68 ERA was the third-highest among relievers with 26 or more saves.

Nonetheless, the Nats’ decision to part ways with Finnegan, who at 33 was projected to make $8.6 million in his last year of arbitration eligibility by MLB Trade Rumors, was unexpected.

The choice to non-tender Rainey, however, was less surprising. The 32-year-old right-hander was still trying to rediscover his form after August 2022 Tommy John surgery. Although he pitched to a 2.14 ERA and 1.000 WHIP over the season’s final two months, his overall numbers of 4.76 and 1.490 weren’t encouraging enough for the Nats to hold onto the last remaining player from their 2019 championship roster for one more year.

So the Nats entered the thick of the Hot Stove Season in need of a closer. And here we are two days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to West Palm Beach where the question still stands: Who’s the closer?

This wintery weather – snow, freezing rain, ice that’s closing schools and turning backyard decks into hazardous rinks – heats up the interest in pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training.

The wait is almost over, with the official arrival date Wednesday and the first workout set for Thursday. Gentlemen, start your bullpen sessions and PFPs.

The first day will bring a media scrum with executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and possible injury news. Last spring’s session confirmed Kyle Bradish’s sprained elbow ligament and platelet-rich plasma injection, John Means being about a month behind the other starters, Gunnar Henderson’s sore oblique and Samuel Basallo’s elbow stress fracture.

Elias reminded reporters at the Birdland Caravan that he traditionally kind of forecasts “anybody who’s off or on an abnormal schedule when we get down to Sarasota, so I’ll probably do that in a couple of weeks.”

We already learned that Jorge Mateo and Félix Bautista will be on a lighter schedule early in camp. Bradish and Tyler Wells won’t be activated until the second half, with their move to the 60-day injured list approaching. The media finally will have access to them.

Kids say the darndest things, don’t they?

A question-and-answer session with Orioles fans at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery left the door open for all sorts of wild sound bites. For the kids asking Jackson Holliday questions, queries ranged from why the phenom wanted to play baseball to his pets at home. His dog is named Coconut, for the record.  

“Jackson, are you a grown man?” asked a fan no older than 6, as laughter filled the room. Holliday met the question with a chuckle.  

After being selected first overall in the MLB Draft out of high school in 2022, the phenom rose to the major leagues just two years later. So by major league standards, the former top prospect is far from “grown.”  

Entering the 2024 season, Holliday was the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball. The former first-overall pick had a meteoric rise through the minor leagues in 2023, soaring through four different levels of the farm in 125 total games. Expectations for 2024 couldn’t have been higher. It was almost impossible for the numbers to match the hype.  

The Nationals have filled almost every need on their roster this offseason. “Almost” being the key word.

Nathaniel Lowe was acquired to play first base.

Josh Bell was brought back to be the designated hitter and first base backup.

Amed Rosario was signed to add depth as a utility player.

Michael Soroka, Trevor Williams and Shinnosuke Ogasawara were brought in to fill out the rotation.

The restructuring of the Orioles’ hitting staff begins at the top with Cody Asche’s bump from offensive strategy coach. A familiar face and voice are put in a new role within a new design.

No more co-hitting coaches in Baltimore. Asche is the lead guy, with Tommy Joseph and Sherman Johnson serving as assistants. Joseph had the same job with the Mariners last summer and Johnson was given additional responsibilities beyond upper-level hitting coordinator.

Asche is entering his third season in the organization. Ryan Fuller left the Orioles to become the White Sox’s director of hitting, and Matt Borgschulte went back to the Twins as their hitting coach.

“I expect it to work similarly (to last year),” Asche said in December on WBAL-Radio. “Tommy and Sherman are both people that I hold a very high amount of respect for. I trust them very, very much. Sherman obviously has a ton of familiarity with the organization and our players, so that transition will be smooth. Bringing in Tommy, he’s got the personality to fit right in with our crew. The players are going to love him.

“But I think at the end of the day we all have this mindset: that our No. 1 goal and the people that we are accountable to is the players and their careers. So with that mindset, it just helps everything transition very smoothly.”

We’ve finally hit the final stretch of the offseason! Nationals pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach on Wednesday, kicking off the 2025 season.

So we’re going to use the remaining days leading up to spring training to preview the top storylines that will play out during camp. And to keep with this team’s overall youth theme, we’ll start with a look at the young players still to come.

At this time last year, all the attention was on the arrivals of James Wood and Dylan Crews, and whether or not they could make the Opening Day roster. They didn’t, but they both found themselves as everyday big leaguers by the end of the regular season.

Who are this year’s top prospects to watch in spring training?

Robert Hassell III and Trey Lipscomb will be back as members of the 40-man roster, with the Nationals also inviting Brady House, Yohandy Morales, Cayden Wallace, Daylen Lile, Andrew Pinckney and Caleb Lomavita to big league camp.

The opportunities to empty the offseason mailbag are dwindling. Spring training is right around the corner. Who’s excited?

That’s my only question. The rest must come from the readers.

You ask, I try to answer, and we have the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original.

I don’t tamper with length, style, clarity or brevity. I usually don’t bother to shower. This is a very casual mailbag.

Also, my mailbag reports early and yours has visa problems and a maxed-out AMEX card.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Claimed RHP Roansy Contreras off waivers from the New York Yankees.
• Designated OF Daz Cameron for assignment.
• INF Luis Vázquez has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He has been invited to major league Spring Training.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 40 players.

The days leading up to and through pitchers and catchers reporting to West Palm Beach next week are likely to include more additions to the Nationals roster via minor league signings with big league camp invites.

That trend started this morning when the Nats announced they have agreed to terms with left-handed reliever Colin Poche on a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training.

Poche, 31, has spent his entire four-year major league career in Tampa Bay, going 22-12 with a 3.63 ERA, 1.099 WHIP, 12 saves, 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings and 2.95 strikeouts per walk in 225 relief appearances. After making his debut in 2019, he missed all of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and the 2021 campaign while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery (his first coming after his sophomore season at the University of Arkansas in 2014).

The Rays non-tendered the southpaw in November after he had a 3.86 ERA and 1.152 WHIP in 37 ⅓ innings over 43 appearances in 2024.

Part of his struggles last season came from his inability to get out left-handed hitters. Lefties hit .260 with an .811 OPS off Poche while he held righties to a .193 average and .592 OPS. That was a stark contrast from his career splits, in which he’s held lefties to a .197 average and .679 OPS while righties have hit .202 with a .630 OPS off him.

There are 57 players set to report to Nationals spring training in the next week-plus, 28 of them position players, 29 of them pitchers. That number is a little smaller than in some previous years, but it probably underscores the likelihood of several more free agent signings during these final days of the offseason, or even during the first few weeks of camp.

For now, though, this is your team. Only 26 of them will head north at the end of March and make the Opening Day roster. Obviously, some of them are in far better position to make the club than others, but everyone will get a chance to play in front of the big league coaching staff and front office in West Palm Beach, Fla., and make a case for himself.

You know most of these guys, but you probably don’t know all of them. So with that in mind, let’s run through the entire camp roster, with some quick thoughts on each entering the spring. We did position players yesterday, so today’s let’s run through the pitchers …

DAISON ACOSTA, RHP
The 26-year-old reliever joined the Nats organization last season and put up some impressive numbers at Double-A Harrisburg (2.89 ERA, 1.189 WHIP, 73 strikeouts in 53 innings). He got a non-roster invitation to camp this spring, where he’ll have a chance to prove if his stuff works against big league hitters.

JOAN ADON, RHP
Despite being designated for assignment this winter, the righty is still here, having cleared waivers and been outrighted off the 40-man roster. It would take a lot for him to earn his way back to the majors at this point, though.

The Orioles outfield is crowded. 

Three everyday starters occupy patches of grass in left, center, and right field. As the 4th outfielder, how can one of the best prospects in the game prove himself without consistent at-bats? 

If this conversation about Heston Kjerstad sounds familiar, it’s because I wasn’t talking about Heston Kjerstad. It’s the conversation that many of us were having at this time last year surrounding Colton Cowser.  

Austin Hays was fresh off an All-Star campaign in 2023. Cedric Mullins hadn’t relinquished his grasp on his center field role since his breakout season in 2021. Anthony Santander had played over 300 games in 2022 and 2023, combining for 61 home runs and a .785 OPS. The starting outfield was set in proverbial stone.  

If Colton Cowser was going to prove himself at the big league level, he was going to have to earn his playing time.  

The Orioles have constructed a full 40-man roster with a revolving door at the end of it.

They began January by signing veteran starter Charlie Morton and designating catcher René Pinto for assignment. The Diamondbacks claimed Pinto on waivers. The Orioles claimed pitcher Roansy Contreras and designated infielder Liván Soto, who was outrighted after clearing waivers. They signed reliever Andrew Kittredge and designated catcher Blake Hunt before trading him to the Mariners. They claimed infielder Jacob Amaya and designated Contreras, who was claimed by the Yankees. They signed outfielder Dylan Carlson and designated Amaya, and they acquired infielder Luis Vazquez in a trade with the Cubs and designated infielder Emmanuel Rivera.

This brings us to February.

The White Sox claimed Amaya, and Vazquez was designated when the Orioles signed outfielder Ramón Laureano. We aren’t even a week into the month.

Let’s take the latest look at the 40-man roster, which used to contain four catchers but now holds seven outfielders.

Unlike your neighbor’s golden retriever, Zach Eflin despises walks. 

“I hate giving people a free pass … It really comes down to… I don’t like giving in to guys and just letting them take first base,” Eflin said with a smile in his first interaction with Baltimore reporters after being traded to the O’s back in July.

The right-hander went on to toss over 55 innings for the Orioles in the second half of last season. In that stretch, Eflin only walked 11 batters. The veteran’s aptitude for limiting free passes helped him allow just 16 total earned runs in his nine starts in Orioles orange. 

Nearly 100 pitchers in baseball had a fastball of at least 95 mph last season, but Eflin doesn’t pitch that way. The righty boasts a six-pitch arsenal, but none exceed an average of 93 mph. He won’t rack up the strikeout numbers, nor tout a huge whiff rate. 

Eflin excels at commanding the strike zone. His 3.5% walk rate put him in the 98th percentile in the majors in 2024. And when he did move out of the zone, he did so intentionally, to the tune of a 32.6% chase rate according to Statcast, good for the 88th percentile in baseball. 

The Orioles today announced that they have invited 26 non-roster players to MLB Spring Training in Sarasota, Fla. The list includes 10 right-handed pitchers, two left-handed pitchers, four catchers, five infielders, and five outfielders. A complete list of the Orioles’ 26 non-roster players for 2025 Spring Training is below:

Pitchers (12)

LHP Raúl Alcantara
RHP Justin Armbruester
RHP Matt Bowman
LHP Jakob Hernandez
RHP Yaramil Hiraldo
RHP Corbin Martin
RHP Robinson Martínez
RHP Rodolfo Martinez
RHP Levi Stoudt
RHP Carlos Tavera
RHP Thaddeus Ward
RHP Nathan Webb

Catchers (4)

Silas Ardoin
David Bañuelos
Samuel Basallo
Maverick Handley

Outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., the Orioles’ first-round draft pick in 2023, highlights their list of spring training invites.

Twenty-six non-roster players will report to the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota – 10 right-handers, two left-handers, four catchers, five infielders and five outfielders. Other players could be added later if the Orioles finalize another minor league contract.

Infielder Terrin Vavra is the most recent example, agreeing to terms yesterday on a minor league deal with a spring invitation.

Bradfield is the No. 6 prospect in the organization, according to Baseball America. MLB Pipeline’s final 2024 ranks placed Bradfield fourth.

The Orioles summoned Bradfield from the Twin Lakes side last spring, and he played in the Spring Breakout game.

The Orioles today announced that they have invited 26 non-roster players to MLB Spring Training in Sarasota, Fla. The list includes 10 right-handed pitchers, two left-handed pitchers, four catchers, five infielders, and five outfielders. A complete list of the Orioles’ 26 non-roster players for 2025 Spring Training is below:

Baltimore’s current Spring Training roster is attached. Orioles pitchers and catchers are scheduled to hold their first workout on Thursday, February 13, while the first full-squad workout will be held on Tuesday, February 18. The Orioles are slated to open 2025 Grapefruit League play at Ed Smith Stadium on Saturday, February 22, against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

There are 57 players set to report to Nationals spring training in the next week-plus, 28 of them position players, 29 of them pitchers. That number is a little smaller than in some previous years, but it probably underscores the likelihood of several more free agent signings during these final days of the offseason, or even during the first few weeks of camp.

For now, though, this is your team. Only 26 of them will head north at the end of March and make the Opening Day roster. Obviously, some of them are in far better position to make the club than others, but everyone will get a chance to play in front of the big league coaching staff and front office in West Palm Beach, Fla., and make a case for himself.

You know most of these guys, but you probably don’t know all of them. So with that in mind, let’s run through the entire camp roster, with some quick thoughts on each entering the spring. We’ll do position players today, then pitchers tomorrow …

CJ ABRAMS, SS
The 2024 All-Star may have biggest spotlight on him of anyone in camp after his surprise, disciplinary demotion in late September. First, he needs to satisfactorily address the situation for the first time, then he needs to prove he can play at an All-Star level the entire season.

RILEY ADAMS, C
The Nationals tendered him a guaranteed contract for $850,000 after a rough 2024 season, but he still needs to earn the No. 2 catching job over Drew Millas and Andrew Knizner. He’s out of options, so the team would have to DFA him and eat his salary if he doesn’t make the roster.

Let Albert Suárez be clear about this again. Practice for the next time that he’s asked.

Would he rather start or relieve? Relieve or start?

Does it matter to him?

“Not really,” Suárez replied at Friday night’s Birdland Caravan stop at PBR Baltimore. “Like last year, it didn’t matter, either. I was just ready for anytime. So this year will be the same mentality.”

Bets could be won by challenging fans to name the Oriole who made the second-most starts last season behind Corbin Burnes’ 32. Súarez tied with Dean Kremer at 24, and his 32 appearances tied Burnes for first among pitchers who didn’t work exclusively in relief.

The Orioles have made the following roster move:

• Agreed to terms on a 2025 minor league contract with INF Terrin Vavra.

OK, you’ve made the decision to go see the Nationals this spring. And if you read yesterday’s article, you know everything you need to know about the complex in West Palm Beach, Fla., and what you can see on any particular day. But you also need to know how to get to West Palm Beach. And where to stay once you’re there. And what to eat and what to do while you’re in town and not watching baseball.

Fortunately, we’re here to help. We’ve accrued plenty of travel advice over the last eight years, and we’re happy to share it with you right now.

Flights from the D.C. area seem to be more plentiful now than they used to be. Both American Airlines and JetBlue fly several nonstops every day from Reagan National to West Palm Beach. United now has two daily nonstops from Dulles. And Southwest has five daily nonstops from BWI. If somehow none of those options work for you, you can also look at flying into Fort Lauderdale, which is only about 45 minutes away to the south.

If you’re not in that much of a hurry and would like to have your own car with you, there’s always Amtrak’s AutoTrain, which leaves from Lorton, Va., in the evening and arrives in Samford, Fla., (near Orlando) the following morning. And if you really want an adventure, you can just make the 980-mile drive straight down Interstate-95. (Good luck with that.)

Where should you stay in the area? There are several hotels located in a cluster about 1 1/2 miles east of CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches off 45th Street, but beware some very elevated prices in late February and throughout March. They know this is the one time of year there’s going to be big-time demand. For slightly lower prices, you can look to the south near the airport, or a few places farther inland. And if you’d rather go the luxury route, there are some very fine hotels and resorts in actual Palm Beach and 15 minutes up the road in Jupiter.